EMEA
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and peers Union National Bank and Al Hilal Bank merged to create a banking heavyweight with 423bn dirhams ($115bn) in assets, the third biggest in the United Arab Emirates.
The transaction is the latest example of consolidation in the Gulf’s banking sector, where profit margins are being squeezed by lower government and consumer spending because of weak oil prices. The UAE has almost 50 commercial banks in a country of about 9.5m people.
“This is a very exciting transaction that will create a larger, preeminent and resilient banking group. It is a landmark deal for the UAE that will contribute significantly to our national ambitions. A robust and innovative financial sector is crucial to the long-term prosperity of the UAE, as the country forges its transition to a diversified economy, connected to global markets by business and personal networks, trade, and investments,” Al Suwaidi, the Chairman-designate of the new banking group.
Al Hilal is advised by Deloitte and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Union National Banks is advised by Ernst & Young, JP Morgan, and Clifford Chance. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank is advised by KPMG, Barclays, and Allen & Overy.
BASF and LetterOne have successfully completed the merger of Wintershall and DEA. In September 2018, BASF and LetterOne had signed a transaction agreement to merge their respective oil and gas businesses in a joint venture.
To effect the merger, LetterOne contributed all shares in DEA Deutsche Erdoel into Wintershall Holding against the issuance of new shares. The shareholders have decided to rename the company, Wintershall Dea. The joint venture is headquartered in Kassel and Hamburg. Upon formal registration of the corresponding capital increase, BASF will hold 67% and LetterOne 33% of Wintershall Dea’s ordinary shares reflecting the value of the respective exploration and production businesses of Wintershall and DEA. As a result of the merger, Wintershall Dea has a regionally balanced footprint with superior growth opportunities. Based on underlying exploration and production projects, the company is on track to reach a daily production of 750k to 800k BOE between 2021 and 2023 from currently 590k BOE per day.
“With Wintershall Dea we create the leading independent European exploration and production company with international operations in core regions. By combining the two German-based entities, BASF and LetterOne lay the basis for strong profitable growth for Wintershall Dea." Dr. Hans-Ulrich Engel, BASF Vice Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors.
The new chairman of Sainsbury’s said the British supermarket group had been right to pursue a takeover of rival Asda having received the necessary legal advice that deal would get through the competition regulator.
Sainsbury’s and Walmart owned Asda agreed on the £7.3bn ($9.6bn) deal in April 2018 when David Tyler was Sainsbury’s chairman. The deal was blocked by Britain’s competition regulator last week.
European workers at India’s Tata Steel no longer believe that a joint venture with Thyssenkrupp is in the best interests of the company, the European works council said in a statement.
The two companies agreed last year to combine their European steel activities, a move that would create the continent’s second-largest steelmaker but still needs approval from the European Commission, which plans to make a decision by June 17.
At a meeting with Tata Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Works Council chairman Frits van Wieringen confirmed that workers do not support a package of remedies designed to win the support of the European Commission.
“We are now unconvinced the joint venture is in the best interests of Tata Steel Europe. We believe that the agreements we reached with Tata are not being honored,” the works council said.
Tata is advised by Ernst & Young, ALRUD, Bredin Prat, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Hengeler Mueller, and Slaughter & May. Thyssenkrupp is advised by Ramboll, Chestnut Corporate Finance, Deutsche Bank, Ernst & Young, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Macquarie Group, Linklaters, and Finsbury.
OYO Hotels & Home, an international chain of hotels and holiday homes acquired @Leisure from Axel Springer $201m.
The @Leisure Group is one of the leading online platforms for holiday homes in Europe. The offering includes the full-service providers Belvilla and DanCenter as well as the online holiday home marketplace Traum-Ferienwohnungen. OYO Hotels & Homes is South Asia’s largest, China’s second largest, and the world’s sixth largest and fastest growing chain of hotels, holiday homes, and living spaces.
"Over the past four years, @Leisure has become one of the leading providers in the European holiday home rental market. With OYO Hotels & Homes, one of the fastest growing hospitality companies in the world, we have now found a new owner who fits in very well with us and our next development phase.” Tobias Wann, CEO @Leisure.
Challenge Group – a logistics recruitment and distribution company – backed by Praetura, has acquired TRG Logistics to form one of the largest independent providers of HGV drivers and warehouse staff in the UK. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Challenge TRG Group, which will have a combined turnover of £120m, will collectively employ around 4k temporary workers and 150 permanent employees, and will continue to operate from two HQ sites in the north and south – Wigan, Greater Manchester and Banstead, Surrey – alongside its regional hub structure, providing UK-wide support to its clients with offices from Livingston to Avonmouth.
“Merging with Challenge Group was a natural move for TRG, as both companies share a number of important synergies – not only in our commitment to service delivery but the culture and ethos that underpins how we operate. I’m confident that together we will provide some of the industry’s biggest players with excellent manpower across the industrial and transport sectors.” Nick Gordon, TRG CEO.
The deal was financed by Praetura and HSBC. Challenge Group was advised by SAS Daniels, Hill Dickinson, and Grant Thornton. TRG Logistics was advised by Gateley, Grant Thornton, and Boxington Corporate Finance.
Atlas Mara, the sub-Saharan African financial services group, announces that it has entered into a binding term sheet with Equity Group Holdings for the exchange of certain banking assets of the Company in four countries for ordinary shares in EGH. EGH would acquire for shares in EGH Atlas Mara’s 62% shareholding in Banque Populaire du Rwanda and, via the Company’s subsidiary ABC Holdings, all of Atlas Mara’s indirect interests in African Banking Corporation Zambia, African Banking Corporation Tanzania, and African Banking Corporation Mozambique. The parties would anticipate mergers of their respective banks within each of Rwanda and Tanzania. This implies the consideration to be paid is the equivalent of approximately $105m.
"The Proposed Transaction is consistent with our previously announced strategic review, and our stated intention to focus on investments in core markets where a path to market leadership is clearly achievable, and to partner elsewhere. These four countries contribute less than 2% of total Group net income, with an implied aggregate return on equity of approximately 2%, and represent substantial carrying costs in terms of capital and liquidity support. TheProposed Transaction represents an opportunity to strengthen the position of these banks, and to refocus on our largest and strongest market positions." Michael Wilkerson, Executive Chairman.
Atlas Mara is advised by Citigroup.
Independent institutional investment platform, Mobius Life, has secured backing from Phoenix Equity Partners, a leading UK mid-market private equity firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The investment will enable Mobius Life to further develop its proposition for clients and advisers and continue to deliver a high-quality institutional platform service.
Mobius Life is the only UK institutional platform which is not owned by an asset manager, investment consultant or large corporate.
“The investment by Phoenix sets us up for our next exciting phase of growth and demonstrates confidence in our business, senior management, and wider team to continue our track record of outstanding performance. We are delighted to have Phoenix on board.” Adrian Swales, Mobius Life Chief Executive.
Inflexion raised £1bn in double fundraising. (FS)
Inflexion Private Equity Partners has held the final close of Inflexion Enterprise Fund V and Inflexion Supplemental Fund V, securing commitments at their hard cap of £400m ($520m) and £600m ($779m) respectively.
Inflexion Enterprise Fund V is focused on the UK lower mid-market. The fund follows the same successful strategy employed by Inflexion for over 20 years, backing high growth, entrepreneurial businesses with ambitious management teams and working in partnership with them to accelerate growth.
Lakestar leads €150m series-D for Spanish startup Glovo. (FS)
Venture capital firm Lakestar has led a €150m series-D funding round for Barcelona-based delivery platform Glovo.
Glovo is a Spanish start-up founded in Barcelona in 2015. It is an on-demand service that purchases, picks-up and delivers anything that is ordered through the app. The service is carried out in less than an hour by independent couriers, called Glovers.
VC houses Idinvest Partners and Korelya Capital also took part in the investment, alongside Drake Enterprises, owner of global pizza franchise Papa John's.
AMERICAS
US Attorney General William Barr has recused himself from the Justice Department’s deliberations on whether to allow T-Mobile to proceed with its $59bn acquisition of Sprint.
The department’s Antitrust Division, headed by Makan Delrahim, is reviewing the deal to determine if it will lead to higher prices for consumers or to slower innovation, as critics allege. The Federal Communications Commission also must approve the transaction for it to go forward, Reuters reported.
Sprint is advised by Centerview Partners, JP Morgan, Mizuho Securities, SMBC Nikko, The Raine Group, Goodwin Procter, Morrison & Foerster, Potter Anderson & Corroon, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. Deutsche Telekom is advised by Deutsche Bank, Evercore, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, PJT Partners, Allen & Overy, DLA Piper, Hogan Lovells, Latham & Watkins, Richards Layton and Finger, and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz. Softbank is advised by Morrison & Foerster.
Curaleaf Holdings, a leading vertically integrated cannabis operator in the United States, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the state-regulated cannabis business of Cura Partners, owners of the Select brand, in an all-stock transaction valued at C$1.27bn or $949m.
The acquisition includes Select's manufacturing, processing, distribution, marketing, and retailing operations and all adult-use cannabis products marketed under the Select brand name, including all intellectual property. Based in Portland, Oregon, Select is the most well-known cannabis wholesale brand in the country. With its THC products sold in more than 900 retailers, it is the leading cannabis brand in key Western states, including California, Arizona, Oregon, and Nevada.
"The transformational acquisition of Cura and the Select brand is another step in our journey to create the most accessible cannabis brands in the US. The combination of Curaleaf and Select is a perfect fit. With our industry-leading capacity, expansive retail distribution network and Select's impressive sales and marketing capabilities, we intend to meaningfully accelerate our topline growth trajectory with the addition of the Select Oil product range." Joseph Lusardi, Curaleaf CEO.
Curaleaf is advised by GMP Securities and Eight Capital, Beacon Securities Limited, Loeb & Loeb, and Stikeman Elliott. Cura is advised by Canaccord Genuity and Bayline Capital Partners, Dentons, and Goodmans.
Altice USA, one of the largest broadband communications and video services providers in the United States, has reached an agreement to acquire Cheddar, the digital-first news company, for $200m.
With this acquisition, Altice broadens its portfolio of high-quality news businesses by adding Cheddar’s innovative, digital-first, live business, general news and college network focused on young professional and millennial audiences. The transaction is expected to close in the next two months upon receipt of regulatory approval.
“Our goal is to make Altice News a leader in local, business, national, and international news everywhere as we look to build a live news offering for customers in the traditional pay TV ecosystem, as well as those looking to a la carte alternative SVOD services, vMVPDs, and free systems for their non-news entertainment,”Jon Steinberg, Cheddar Founder and CEO.
Cheddar is advised by LionTree Advisors and Cooley.
Imperial Dade, a leading distributor of disposable food service and janitorial supplies in the US, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, today announced the signing of a definitive agreement for Bain Capital Private Equity to acquire a majority stake in the company. Imperial Dade will continue to be led by its current management team, who will remain significant investors in the company. Financial terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.
“With Bain Capital’s extensive resources and experience with industrial distribution businesses, we are excited to drive our next phase of growth and continue to strengthen our value proposition and service offering,” Jason Tillis, Imperial Dade President.
Imperial Dade is advised by Harris Williams and Ropes & Gray. Bain Capital Private Equity is advised by Credit Suisse, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Kirkland & Ellis, and PwC.
McGraw-Hill and Cengage prepare $5bn all-stock merger.
Educational publishers McGraw-Hill Education and Cengage Learning Holdings II are planning an all-stock merger. The merged entity, which could be valued at about $5bn, would help both US-based educational publishers to compete better as the rise of digital books and course materials pressures their businesses.
The merged company will be named McGraw Hill and will hold about $3.16bn in annual revenue, both companies had earlier told the Wall Street Journal.
If the deal stands though, the new company would become the second-largest provider of college textbooks and other higher-education materials in the United States.
Mourant advises IG4 Capital on $107m Iguá Saneamento deal. (FS)
Offshore law firm Mourant has advised Brazilian PE firm IG4 Capital in connection with their agreement with Alberta Investment Management Corporation to inject $107m in the Brazilian water service holding company Iguá Saneamento through the investment vehicles and funds managed by IG4.
The proceeds will be used to finance capital expenditures in Iguá’s 18 existing concessions and public-private partnerships in five Brazilian states.
Alistair Horn "It's fantastic to work alongside a firm like IG4 Capital and to assist with investments that have a positive social and environmental impact."
IG4 Capital is advised by Mourant.
Uber IPO is oversubscribed by day two of the roadshow.
Uber Technologies has demand for all of the shares offered in its initial public offering days after it began marketing the sale, Bloomberg reported.
Uber Technologies's price range of $44 to $50 per share for its initial public offering likely captures much of the near- to intermediate-term upside potential.
The initial investor feedback comes after Uber kicked off its IPO roadshow with meetings in London on Monday. Uber met potential buyers in New York Tuesday and will head to cities including Boston and San Francisco as it seeks to raise as much as $9bn in its IPO next week in what will be the biggest listing of the year so far.
WeWork Europe expansion faces growing competition before the IPO.
WeWork gets a lot of headlines for its breakneck expansion into new markets, and that’s only likely to increase now that it plans to go public. Yet the nine-year-old company faces stiff competition in Europe from established work-space providers like IWG and local startups.
The number of serviced and co-working offices across Europe has ballooned by more than 200% in the last five years, according to a report by real estate broker Colliers International Group. WeWork has helped to drive this growth: it has nearly 50 locations in London and has added sites from Manchester to Moscow.
Beyond Meat aims its IPO to raise $241m.
Beyond Meat has upped the price range and size of its initial public offering and is now seeking to raise as much as $241m.
The maker of vegan chicken and beef substitutes plans to sell about 9.63m shares for $23 to $25 each, according to an updated filing Tuesday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The California-based company would be valued at about $1.5bn if it sold shares at the top of that range, the filing shows.
Thomas Cook sets May 7 deadline for interest in the airline business.
Thomas Cook has set a deadline of May 7 for expressions of interest in its airline business, with Indigo Partners and Lufthansa among the likely bidders, Reuters reported.
The heavily-indebted British travel group put its profitable airline business up for sale in February after profit warnings in 2018 left it needing to raise cash. Thomas Cook’s airlines business consists of Germany’s Condor, as well as British, Scandinavian and Spanish operations.
A sale of the business, in whole or in part, would enable the world’s oldest tour operator to invest more in its own hotels and improve its online sales.
APAC
MakeMyTrip Limited has acquired a majority shareholding interest in Mumbai based Quest 2 Travel.com, an internet-based corporate travel management company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Through Q2T’s enterprise software, large corporate clients are able to manage their end-to-end employee travel needs on a real-time basis, in a transparent and secure manner. Its online booking platform offers the entire workflow of travel procurement, including an employee’s travel request approval, corporate policy compliant online booking, invoice generation, expense management, reimbursement, and final invoice settlement.
“This investment will help us extend our service offerings to large corporates for their travel requirements while helping Quest2Travel benefit from the travel expertise and depth of supplier relationships that MakeMyTrip has forged over the years. We have historically focused on providing travel solutions for retail customers and with this investment, we are making a decisive foray into providing travel solutions for corporate customers as well.” Deep Kalra, MakeMyTrip Founder & Group CEO.
Japan’s SoftBank will invest $1bn in Colombian delivery app Rappi, marking the first move by its newly created Innovation Fund for Latin America.
Rappi represents a new era for Latin American technology startups.
“SoftBank’s vision of accelerating the technology revolution deeply resonated with our mission of improving how people live through digital payments and a super-app for everything consumers need. We will continue to focus on building innovations for couriers, restaurants, retailers, and start-ups that translate into new sources of growth.” Sebastian Mejia, Rappi co-founder.
CHJ seeks to raise up to $500m.
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker CHJ Automotive is seeking to raise $300m to $500m in its latest funding round, joining its peers in tapping more investors to finance growth.
CHJ, founded by entrepreneur Li Xiang, sees itself valued at at least $2.5 billion ahead of the new funding round and has hired Goldman Sachs to advise on the fundraising, they said.
The proceeds will be mainly used to finance mass production of its first EV, Leading Ideal One, and research and development.
Walmart-owned Flipkart in talks to buy Indian grocery chain.
Walmart-owned e-commerce firm Flipkart is in talks to buy Indian grocery chain Namdhari’s Fresh.
Namdhari's operates over 30 stores in the southern city of Bengaluru, and the acquisition will help Flipkart expand its food and grocery segment.
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