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AMERICAS
T-Mobile US's proposed $59bn merger with its rival Sprint has received the third approval from the five-member agency of US FCC before the deadline of October 9 for the agency to take action.
Sprint is being advised by Centerview Partners, JP Morgan, Mizuho, SMBC, The Raine Group, Morrison & Foerster, Potter Anderson & Corroon, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. SoftBank, the largest shareholder of Sprint before the transaction, is being advised by Morrison & Foerster. Deutsche Telecom is being advised by Deutsche Bank, Evercore, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, PJT Partners, Allen & Overy, Hogan Lovells, DLA Piper, Latham & Watkins, Richards Layton and Finger, and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz.
EU antitrust regulators opened on Friday a full-scale investigation into Boeing’s bid for an 80% stake in Embraer’s commercial aircraft arm, saying the deal may reduce competition and push up prices.
The European Commission said the deal would remove world number three player Embraer from the commercial aircraft industry while potential rivals from China, Japan, and Russia would be unable to fill the gap in the next decade because of the high barriers to entry.
Pinheiro Neto is advising Embraer Commercial Aviation. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is advising Boeing. Citigroup, Barbosa Mussnich & Aragao, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton are advising Embraer.
Carter Validus Mission Critical REIT completed its $3.2bn merger with Carter Validus Mission Critical REIT II. Both companies are registered, non-traded real estate investment trusts focused on investing in income-producing commercial real estate.
Following the merger, the Company is comprised of 150 healthcare and data center properties encompassing 8.7m square feet located across 33 states.
"We believe CVREIT is an excellent complement to our portfolio, bolstering our healthcare investment portfolio and supporting our growth strategy through increased size and scale as well as further diversification of our existing tenancy and geographic distribution. We look forward to continuing to demonstrate value creation for our stockholders." Michael A. Seton, CVREIT CEO and President.
Duff & Phelps, Moelis, and DLA Piper are advising Carter Validus Mission REIT. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Morrison & Foerster, and Venable advised Validus Mission REIT II.
Zelis, a healthcare technology growth company, and RedCard Systems, a leading provider of healthcare payments and communications optimization, merged in a deal backed by Bain Capital and Parthenon Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“The key focus of this combination is to deliver deeper electronic penetration, best-in-class claim cost savings performance and a transformational billing and payments experience, all for the benefit of payers, providers and consumers. Zelis and RedCard have both been disrupting the industry status quo, and we are thrilled to join forces to bring leading-edge payment optimization technology and solutions to our clients and the market broadly.” Doug Klinger, Zelis CEO.
Deutsche Bank and Ropes & Gray advised Bain Capital. Goldman Sachs, Kirkland & Ellis, and Stanton PRM advised Zelis.
TEAM Services Group, a portfolio company of Alpine Investors, invests in AmeriBest Home Care, a home and health care service provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
AmeriBest will continue to operate under its current brand name within TEAM Public Choices, a division of TEAM that serves clients through Medicaid and other state-sponsored disability programs.
“We couldn’t be more excited about entering this new partnership with AmeriBest Home Care. From the start, it was clear that TEAM and AmeriBest shared similar values, including a commitment to quality in the service of their clients. We look forward to supporting them in their mission going forward.” Cullen Knights, TEAM CFO, and COO.
Lincoln International advised AmeriBest. Stanton PRM advised Alpine.
Atlas Partners and Hellman & Friedman-backed Hub International, a leading insurance brokerage firm, acquired ProCorp Financial, a provider of insurance and management services. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The move continues to reinforce Hub’s ongoing Canadian employee benefits growth and services strategy to expand its best-in-class employee benefits and retirement solution to address the challenges clients are facing, including in retirement.
“We are thrilled to welcome Hugh and the ProCorp Financial team to Hub. ProCorp Financial has a comprehensive array of product offerings that are well aligned to further expand our employee benefits solutions in Canada.” Gregory Belton, Hub International Executive Chairman.
Go Global, a brand investment platform in the consumer sector, agreed to acquire the assets of ModCloth, a digitally native retailer of unique women's fashion and accessories, from Walmart. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Go Global will invest in ModCloth's digital capabilities, including artificial intelligence and predictive analytics. ModCloth will continue focusing on its core customers, championing values of female empowerment and inclusivity, and further serving their passionate buying community by celebrating their stories and offering a full range of sizes.
"We believe that together with current management, ModCloth has the ability to become a stronger player in the premium fashion market, nationally as well as internationally. Our team of experienced retail and brand practitioners will supplement existing management in areas of digital strategy, supply chain, and operations." Jeff Streader, Go Global's Founder and Managing Director.
Alteryx, an end-to-end analytics platform that empowers data analysts and scientists, has acquired Feature Labs, a data science software company that automates feature engineering for machine learning and artificial intelligence applications. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Feature Labs' feature engineering capabilities, combined with the ease of use of the Alteryx Platform, creates an environment that further accelerates time-to-insight and time-to-value for analysts and data scientists alike.
"Alteryx maintains its leadership in the market by continuing to evolve its best-in-class, code-free and code-friendly platform to anticipate and meet the demands of the 54 million data workers worldwide2. With the addition of our unique capabilities, we expect to empower more businesses to build machine learning algorithms faster and operationalize data science. Feature engineering is often a time-consuming and manual process and we help companies automate this process and deploy impactful machine learning models." Max Kanter, Feature Labs Co-founder and CEO.
Pasha Brands, a craft cannabis brand organization, has acquired the Beard Brothers Collective, a provider of craft cannabis concentrates, extracts, tinctures, oils, flower, topicals, edibles, rosin, distillate. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Pasha has acquired all of Beard Brothers Collectives' trademarks, names, and intellectual property and will launch the brand in the Canadian regulated market in the coming months.
"Adding an established brand like Beard Brothers to our family of craft cultivators and purveyors shows that Pasha is setting the bar for craft products in all areas, including extracts and concentrates. Bradley and Elissa have truly captured the essence of craft, both with their premium products and their patient-first model. We're committed to upholding that dedication as we prepare to provide Canadian cannabis consumers with access to these fantastic products." Patrick Brauckmann, Pasha Brands Executive Chairman.
The Jordan Company-backed Capstone Logistics, a logistics company offering technology-enhanced labor solutions, agreed to acquire all of the assets of MileZero, a software company providing logistics tools to the last mile delivery industry. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Through MileZero, Capstone expands its last-mile capabilities and establishes a broader international footprint, adding operations in Australia.
"The combination of MileZero software and Capstone's industry-leading executional capabilities allows us to provide our partners with a seamless, end-to-end, last mile delivery solution." Steve Taylor, Capstone CEO.
Cedar Fair rejects a $4bn offer from Six Flags.
Cedar Fair, a US-based amusement park operator, rejects a $4bn cash-and-stock takeover offer from its Six Flags Entertainment, the largest regional theme park operator, stating the offer value was inadequate.
Six Flags had offered to acquire Cedar Fair for around $70 per share, to be paid for the most part by using Six Flags shares as currency, but also funded with a small cash component, Reuters reported.
Cedar Fair responded that Six Flags’ bid was too low, not least because it did not compensate Cedar Fair shareholders for giving up on the company’s tax-advantageous publicly traded partnership. This allows the company to pay out the majority of its earnings to shareholders without first paying US federal or state income taxes.
Platinum Equity in advanced talks to acquire TruckPro for $500m. (FS)
Platinum Equity, a leading private equity firm, is in advanced talks to acquire TruckPro, a heavy-duty truck parts retailer, from Harvest Partners, for $500m.
The deal could be announced as early as this week. No final decision has been made, and the deal could fall through.
Fidelity and T. Rowe fund to acquire stakes in StepStone. (FS)
Fidelity Investments and T. Rowe Price Group funds have acquired stakes in StepStone Group, an investment advisory firm, ahead of its potential IPO as soon as 2020, Bloomberg reported.
Fidelity and T. Rowe vehicles and a US family office collectively bought a 14.4% stake in the company, with the Fidelity funds snapping up about 8%.
StepStone raised $115m from 12 investors, according to a 28 August filing.
Chevron acquires a 40% stake in Mexican portfolio from Shell.
Chevron, a US-based oil explorer, acquires a 40% stake in three deepwater blocks in the Mexican Gulf from Royal Dutch Shell. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“This agreement further strengthens the company’s upstream Mexico portfolio and advances its growth strategy in deepwater exploration,” Ray Fohr, Chevron spokesman.
Barneys considers a takeover proposal form a retail consortium.
Barneys New York, a luxury retailer, is in advanced talks with a consortium of retail industry investors for a $220m bankruptcy rescue takeover bid.
The effort is being led by Sam Ben-Avraham, known for his roles in starting the New York retail store Atrium and streetwear brand Kith, Bloomberg reported.
Agera Energy files for bankruptcy protection and mulls a sale of retail assets to Constellation.
Agera Energy, a retail energy supplier, and its affiliates have filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court and are in advanced talks to sell retail assets to Constellation, a subsidiary of Exelon.
“Due to unforeseen circumstances impacting the viability of Agera Energy’s business and its objectives, the company’s management team has decided to facilitate a sale under chapter 11 to minimize disruptions to our customers,” Mark Linzenbold, Agera Energy CFO.
Vista considers disposing of a stake in Finastra. (FS)
Vista Equity Partners, a leading private equity firm, is considering the potential sale of a stake in Finastra, a leading financial technology firm. This sale of the stake could value the firm at more than $10bn, including debt. It is rumored that Vista is considering a sale of at least a 50% stake.
Goldman Sachs is advising Vista on the sale.
BMG to raise $395m in IPO.
BMG, a leading Brazil-based bank is set to raise $395m in the public offering.
BMG issues 103.4m new shares, and its shareholders will dispose of 16.5m shares. The price of the shares range between $2.8- $3.3 per share. The price of the IPO will be disclosed on the 24th of October.
EMEA
Shareholders of the London Stock Exchange Group called on Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing to sweeten its $39.5bn takeover offer and increase its cash portion. The offer, made in early September, was initially rebuffed by LSE, which is leaning towards its pending deal with Refinitiv. After receiving conditional support from some key shareholders, HKEX announced that it would increase its offer sometime this week.
"I sense that HKEX will improve the offer, such as including a better cash component and perhaps a higher overall price.” Guy de Blonay, a fund manager at Jupiter Asset Management, an LSE shareholder.
Barclays, RBC Capital Markets, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Robey Warshaw, and Teneo are advising LSEG. UBS, HSBC, Cravath Swaine & Moore, Slaughter & May, Moelis & Co, and Headland Consultancy are advising HKEX.
AMS, the leading chipset manufacturer, failed to secure the 62.5% minimum acceptance threshold necessary for completing the $4.5bn all-cash takeover of Osram.
AMS, which is now the largest single shareholder in Osram with a 19.99% stake, said it was still committed to pursuing a takeover, adding that such a move was “strategically compelling given that it would enable the creation of a global leader in sensor solutions and photonics,” Financial Times reported.
Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Macquarie Group, Kirkland & Ellis, Camarco, and FTI are advising Bain. Osram is advised by Lazard, Perella Weinberg Partners, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Gleiss Lutz, and Hengeler Mueller. AMS is advised by PwC, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, HSBC, UBS, Herbst Kinsky, Linklaters, Allen & Overy, Schellenberg Wittmer, and Brunswick Group.
CBPE Capital, a leading private equity firm, is set to invest in Centralis Group, a provider of corporate services. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Centralis offers a full range of corporate services (incorporation, corporate secretarial, accounting, management, tax compliance, payroll, and HR activities), treasury services and debt administration services to its global client base.
“We are delighted to have the opportunity to partner with Aidan and the rest of the team to help them develop Centralis into a leading global corporate services provider. We look forward to supporting the group as it pursues further international expansion both organically and through acquisition.” Ian Moore, CBPE Partner.
Deloitte, Allen & Overy, and Wildgen are advising Centralis. AJ Gallagher, Oliver Wyman, Duff & Phelps, Reed Smith, KPMG, and Intuitus are advising CBPE.
CVC Capital Partners, a leading private equity firm, acquires a minority stake in ironSource, a leading mobile marketing company for $400m. The partnership reflects a shared long-term vision to further strengthen ironSource's position as a global market leader in the high-growth mobile advertising and mobile gaming technology markets and will serve to accelerate strategic growth.
"We are delighted to be partnering with such an innovative and exciting technology business. The investment in ironSource is a unique opportunity to support a well-respected founder-led organization to accelerate its growth. We look forward to working with Tomer Bar Zeev and his team to take the company to the next level." Daniel Pindur, CVC Partner.
Thomson Reuters, a leading electronic information and solutions company, acquired FC Business Intelligence, a global business-to-business events specialist from LDC, a UK-based private equity firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
FCBI delivers high-end conferences and exhibitions to diverse sectors, including energy, insurance, pharmaceuticals, transportation, travel, strategy, and technology. The business will be rebranded Reuters Events and will be operated as part of the Reuters News division of Thomson Reuters.
“This acquisition allows us to combine Reuters globally trusted brand, scale, and editorial excellence with FCBI’s deep expertise in highly specialized events for professionals. Moreover, this will create a new platform for our world-class journalism. I am thrilled that FCBI is joining Thomson Reuters.” Michael Friedenberg, Reuters President.
Eurobank struggles to sell its loan-recovery business to PIMCO.
Past the deadline of September 30, Eurobank, Grece's 3rd largest bank, is still struggling with the sale of a majority stake in its Loan-recovery business FPS to PIMCO, a leading investment management firm.
On July 1, Eurobank picked PIMCO, its sixth-biggest investor, as the preferred bidder for an 80% stake in its Financial Planning Services unit, setting a three-month deadline to reach an accord.
The sale is a key component of clean-up efforts at Greece’s third-biggest bank, which has pledged to quickly cut the problem loans that comprise more than a third of its total lending.
ADNOC looking to strike a $5bn gas pipeline deal. (FS)
Abu Dhabi’s government-owned energy giant has kicked off the potential sale of a stake in its natural gas pipelines, in a deal that could fetch about $5bn, Bloomberg reported.
The sale is likely to draw interest from infrastructure funds and private equity firms. Saudi Arabia is taking a different track, selling a stake its oil producer to pump cash into local industries and other investments.
Spirit AeroSystems in advanced talks to acquire Bombardier's Belfast and Morocco units.
Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, a manufacturer of aircraft parts, is in advanced talks to acquire Bombardier aerostructures facilities in Belfast and Morocco.
A deal for the plants would be strategic for US aerospace components maker Spirit, which is diversifying its customer base. Bombardier announced that it would sell off the two aerostructures operations, including a wing-making facility in Belfast, as the Montreal-based company sheds its commercial aviation businesses to focus on more profitable corporate jets and passenger rail cars businesses, Reuters reported.
EasyJet eyes Thomas Cook assets.
EasyJet, a British low-cost carrier airline, is looking forward to acquiring some of the assets of the fallen travel and tourism firm Thomas Cook.
“Of course, like all airlines and tour operators, we will look at what might be of interest to us from the Thomas Cook network. But there is no decision yet,” Johan Lundgren, EasyJet CEO.
RCF aims at a valuation of $620m in IPO.
RCF, a leading audio equipment manufacturer, received approval for its stocks listing at the Milan Stock Exchange, with valuation expected to be $620m.
The offer will consist of new shares, and the free float will be 33.7% of the capital. The IPO will run from October 7 to 17, and the company’s shares should start trading on October 22.
Banca IMI, BNP Paribas and Goldman Sachs, and Lazard are advising RCF.
Giochi Preziosi plans an IPO in the first half of 2020.
Giochi Preziosi, Itali's biggest toymaker, is working on an IPO listing at the Milan Stock Exchange as early as the first half of 2020. Giochi Preziosi is expected to be valued at $770m.
The initial public offering was expected in the first half of 2019 but was postponed due to the acquisitions of Famosa and smaller Italian plush toy maker Trudi.
Ethiopian Airlines weighs buying stake in South African Airways.
Ethiopian Airlines Group, a state-run airline, is looking to acquire a stake in the struggling South African Airways, should the South African government sought to sell equity in the debt-ridden airline.
BP CEO Bob Dudley retiring in 2020, to be replaced by Bernard Looney. (People)
British Petroleum Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley, the longest-serving CEO in the world's oil majors, will step down from the office in 2020 after a 40-year career with BP and over nine years as group chief executive.
Bob Dudley has decided to step down as group chief executive and from the BP Board following delivery of the company's 2019 full-year results on 4 February 2020 and will retire on 31 March 2020.
"The board is also pleased to announce that Bernard Looney, 49, currently chief executive, Upstream, will succeed Dudley as group chief executive and join the BP Board on 5 February 2020. Looney will continue in his current role until this date." BP said.
APAC
Silver Lake Partners agreed to acquire a stake in TEG, Asia Pacific's leading live entertainment and ticketing company, from Affinity Equity Partners, a Singapore-based private equity firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"High quality live sports and entertainment content is more sought after now than ever and represents a massive global addressable market for the company. We believe TEG's innovative and integrated ticketing, content, digital marketing, and analytics platform is well-positioned to continue to benefit from increasing consumer demand worldwide," Stephen Evans, Managing Director at Silver Lake.
Goldman Sachs and King & Wood Mallesons are advising TEG. Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Latham & Watkins, Brunswick Group, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett are advising Silver Lake Partners.
Shinhan Financial Group, a leading Korean financial holding company, invests in Bukalapak, a leading e-commerce group. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Apart from its core online marketplace business, Bukalapak offers a slew of products such as streaming video features, offering mutual funds, and fintech products. It also allows users to purchase phone credit and pay electricity and insurance bills.
The current Series F funding round helped Bukalapak to raise its valuation to $2.5bn.
SoftBank Group struggles to raise funds for Vision Fund 2 after WeWork fiasco. (FS)
Masayoshi Son, SoftBank Group Founder and CEO, is struggling to raise money for a second massive technology investment fund in the wake of the failed IPO of office-rental company WeWork and sliding valuations of other significant investments.
Son is still determined to go ahead with Vision Fund 2 even though some lieutenants have urged a delay. However, it is likely to be far smaller, at least at the outset, than the $108bn that SoftBank said it had lined up when it announced the fund in July.
Allianz RE enters the Japanese market with a $1.2bn asset purchase from Blackstone. (FS, Real Estate)
Allianz Real Estate, the real estate managing subsidiary fo the German insurance firm Allianz Group, is set to acquire a portfolio of multi-family residential assets in Japan from Blackstone.
Upon closing of the transaction, Allianz will own a total of 82 assets covering 4.6k units with 160k sq m in the net rentable area. This acquisition is in line with Allianz’s strategy of acquiring core income-producing assets for a long-term hold.
Tata Steel considers selling a 50% stake in mjunction Services.
Tata Steel considers selling its 50% stake in mjunction Services, an online marketplace for commodities from steel, diamonds to grains and tea, for about $197m, Deal Street Asia reported.
A sale will help Tata Steel raise cash at a time the company is struggling with a fall in demand for the alloy as cooling economic growth dents consumption. The firm reported the lowest profit in more than two years for the three months ended June.
“As a part of our strategy, we continuously look at opportunities to rationalize our portfolio including divestment of assets and investments which are non-strategic and non-core.” Tata Steel said.
Crescent Capital is considering disposing of Steel Mains. (FS)
Australian private equity firm Crescent Capital Partners is in advanced talks to dispose of Steel Mains, a manufacturer of water pipelines.
Steel Mains is the largest manufacturer of industrial water pipelines with corrosion protection coatings for water infrastructure projects in Australia.
Crescent hired KPMG to conduct an initial strategic review of Steel Mains.
Accel considers raising $700m sixth India VC fund. (FS)
Venture capital firm Accel is planning to raise $600m - $700m for it's sixth India fund. The firm had last closed a $450m India fund in December 2016. Accel’s Indian investments include e-commerce market place Flipkart, food delivery firm Swiggy, scooter-sharing startup Bounce, B2B industrial goods marketplace Moglix, online insurance startup Coverfox, debt-financing startup Indifi Technologies, among others.
Zomato mulls $600m fresh funding led by Ant Financial. (FS)
Food ordering and delivery platform Zomato is in the process of raising $600m in a fresh funding round, which is likely to be led by its existing Chinese investor Ant Financial, Deal Street Asia reported.
The infusion of about $200m from Ant Financial will make it the largest shareholder in Zomato at a 29% stake. Singapore’s state investment arm Temasek is also expected to pump in significant capital into the round, which is expected to value Zomato at a whopping $3bn. Moreover, a bunch of hedge funds may also pool in about $150-200m.
Petronas sets up a $350m VC fund. (FS)
Malaysia's state-run energy firm Petronas set up a $350m venture capital arm for industrial and energy investments.
The newly launched Petronas Corporate Venture Capital will look to invest in startups in advanced materials, specialty chemicals as well as those involved in the future of energy.
Apollo Global Management to invest in Altico Capital India. (FS)
Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm, has offered to invest between $100-150m in Altico Capital India, a real estate lender, Deal Street Asia reported. Part of this investment will be used for interest payments.
Apollo wants the lenders to provide Altico with new debt financing of $200-250m to help it expand its loan book.
“While we do not comment on market speculation, we reiterate that Altico and its shareholders remain deeply committed to the Indian market,” Altico said.
GPIF re-appoints Hiromichi Mizuno as CIO. (FS, People)
Government Pension Investment Fund, a leading retirement savings fund has re-appointed Hiromichi Mizuno as the Chief Investment Officer. Mizuno, former private equity and banking executive at Coller Capital, a London-based private-equity firm, has served as CIO of the fund since January 2015.
Mizuno, whose term ended on September 30, 2019, captained sweeping changes to the investment strategy of the world’s largest pension fund over the past five years.
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