AMERICAS
The Blackstone Group agreed to invest $2bn in Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of RNA interference therapeutics.
"Blackstone is uniquely positioned to provide customized, one-stop-shop financing solutions at scale while establishing development collaborations with the world's leading biotech companies. Alnylam's RNAi technology represents one of the most promising and rapidly advancing frontiers in biology and drug development today, and aligns perfectly with our investment strategy. Our collaboration with Alnylam provides non-dilutive access to capital to advance important new medicines in development across several disease indications including heart disease, the leading cause of death in the US and globally," Nicholas Galakatos, Blackstone Life Sciences Global Head.
Alnylam is advised by Evercore and Goodwin Procter. Blackstone is advised by Ropes & Gray and Willkie Farr & Gallagher.
The Blackstone Group completed the acquisition of a majority stake in HealthEdge, a provider of healthcare IT solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We’re excited to work with HealthEdge’s world-class management team as the company continues to deliver innovative, industry-leading software to its customers. HealthEdge provides a differentiated and dynamic cloud-native solution, and we look forward to supporting the growth of its value-added offerings over time,” Ram Jagannath, Blackstone Global Head of Healthcare.
HealthEdge was advised by Morgan Stanley and Goodwin Procter. Blackstone was advised by TripleTree and Debevoise & Plimpton.
Accel-KKR-backed IntegriChain, a life sciences data and managed services company, completed the acquisition of the Life Science Division of Cumberland, a healthcare consulting and services firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"This acquisition reinforces IntegriChain's market-leading position to help manufacturers drive access and maximize their commercialization success throughout the brand life cycle, from pre-launch through growth. We now deliver the industry's first and only data and managed services platform that unifies all of the critical business functions for commercialization and market access – contracts and pricing, gross-to-net, channel, and patient services – unlocking strategic payer, provider and pharmacy insights for our customers. As a result of this transaction, we are uniquely positioned to address critical therapy access challenges and ensure patients have access to specialty and precision medicines," Kevin Leininger, IntegriChain Co-Founder and CEO.
Cumberland was advised by Lincoln International and Sage Strategic Marketing. IntegriChain was advised by Clearsight Advisors. Debt financing was provided by Lincoln International.
PFA Pension, a pension company, formed a joint venture with Domain Capital Advisors, which provides comprehensive private investment management services and Simpson Housing, a national, fully-integrated real estate development and portfolio management firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We are excited about our new relationship with PFA Pension and look forward to growing our relationship with them through further acquisitions. Our team is also proud to continue its longstanding partnership with Simpson Housing. We have managed equity investments in their portfolio for more than 10 years, while providing asset management and advisory support to our operating partner,” Patrick R. Leardo, Domain Capital Group Executive Managing Director and CEO.
Domain Capital Group was advised by Accord Capital Partners and Cookerly Public Relations.
Private investment firms Veronis Suhler Stevenson and NewSpring Health Capital completed the investment in BRC Recovery, a provider of addiction treatment services. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"BRC has an excellent reputation for its outstanding treatment programs, talented staff and its ability to generate consistently positive patient outcomes. Together with NewSpring, we look forward to empowering BRC with the resources it needs to advance its high-quality continuum of care and pursue potential acquisitions of complementary programs in communities where demand for established behavioural health programs continues to grow," Jeffrey Stevenson, VSS Managing Partner.
VSS was advised by Stanton PRM.
USI Insurance Services, one of the largest insurance brokerage and consulting firms in the world, completed the acquisition of Chapman & Chapman, a regional employee benefit and retirement consulting firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"From Chapman & Chapman's founding, our firm has earned an exceptional reputation for delivering innovative solutions and service to businesses and individuals. Throughout our more than 130-year history, twelve members of our family have joined the firm, spanning the past five generations. This partnership with USI marks an exciting milestone for our firm and one that will advance our longstanding legacy for delivering client-centric solutions built on a shared sense of commitment, innovation and integrity," Walter Chapman, Chapman & Chapman CEO.
Bio-Rad Laboratories, a global provider of life science research and clinical diagnostic products, completed the acquisition of Celsee, a company that offers instruments and consumables for the isolation, detection, and analysis of single cells. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We are pleased to have Celsee join Bio-Rad. Their innovative products and technologies will extend our reach into the rapidly growing world of precision medicine and single-cell analysis, both of which offer enhanced insight into disease, diagnosis, and treatment,” Norman Schwartz, Bio-Rad President and CEO.
EMEA
Saudi Telecom, Saudi Arabia's biggest telecoms operator, needs more time to complete processes related to a planned deal to buy Vodafone Group's 55% stake in Vodafone Egypt, according to a Reuters report.
Saudi Telecom in January struck a preliminary deal to buy the stake for $2.4bn, seeking growth in the Arab world's most populous nation.
STC extended its memorandum of understanding with Vodafone Group for 90 days and attributed the reason for the delay to logistical challenges caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Saudi Telecom is advised by Barclays. Vodafone is advised by Goldman Sachs.
LOT, the flag carrier of Poland, terminated its $328m deal to buy Condor, a German leisure airline based in Frankfurt. Reasons for the termination were not disclosed.
The coronavirus-induced crisis raised concerns about whether the agreement will be implemented, as LOT suffered financial losses as a result of the crisis and the demand for charter flights has fallen dramatically with no prospects for an immediate improvement.
EU's Vestager promotes stake buys among EU members to avoid Chinese takeovers.
Margrethe Vestager, The European Union Competition Chief, urged EU members to acquire stakes in companies to fend-off Chinese takeovers, Reuters reported.
"We don't have any issues of states acting as market participants if need be, if they provide shares in a company, if they want to prevent a takeover of this kind. It's very important that one is aware that there is a real risk that businesses that are vulnerable can be the object of a takeover. The situation now really underlines the need so we work really intensively," Margrethe Vestager.
APAC
Vietnam Airlines mulls divesting a 49% stake in Cambodia's Angkor Air.
Vietnam Airlines, the 49% shareholder of the Cambodian national airline, Cambodia Angkor Air, is looking to divest its shares in the airline. Cambodia Angkor Air currently has five A321 aircraft and is said to be currently in an advanced stage of negotiations to sell the aircraft and the stake to an undisclosed buyer.
This information was revealed in post-audit notes to Vietnam Airlines' audited 2019 consolidated financial statement, which explains how the company has been impacted by the Covid-19 epidemic this year.
China central bank raises stake in India's HDFC.
Reuters reported that The People's Bank of China increased its stake in Housing Development Finance, an Indian financial services company based in Mumbai, to 1.01% from 0.8%. China's central bank held about 17.5m shares in HDFC, as of March-end.
A selloff in broader markets over fears of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic wiped out over 25% off the Indian lender's stock value in March.
SoftBank expects Vision Fund to record $16.5bn in full-year losses. (FS)
Softbank Group announced it expects Vision Fund to record $16.5bn in losses incurred in the financial year ended March due to the lower performance of tech investments. This is the SoftBank Group's first loss in 15 years, DealStreetAsia reported.
The global impact of coronavirus outbreak imposed hurdles concerning attempts to recover the Masayoshi Son's reputation among investors. These circumstances will push the whole group to an annual operating loss of $16.5bn after three consecutive not profitable quarters.
India's sovereign fund is planning to raise foreign capital for its shadow bank. (FS)
Temasek Holdings-backed India's National Investment & Infrastructure Fund plans to find foreign investors for its shadow bank unit, Bloomberg reported.
Aseem Infrastructure Finance, the shadow bank unit, will be providing long-term loans, according to Sujoy Bose, Aseem Infrastructure Finance CEO. The lending target has been set at $1.3bn to finance greenfield and brownfield infrastructure projects in India. $170m has been gathered so far.
"We will scale up the capital to $1.3bn over a period of time by tapping overseas institutional investors from Japan to Canada. We want to create a classic project finance institution," Sujoy Bose, Aseem Infrastructure Finance CEO.
LaSalle Investment closes $681m China logistics fund. (FS)
LaSalle Investment Management completed the first close of its LaSalle China Logistics Venture. The fund and its co-investment vehicle received initial capital commitments of $681m.
The fund is LaSalle's first dedicated China logistics vehicle and reportedly attracted a diverse mix of investors from Europe, the Middle East and Asia, including both existing LaSalle investors and investors that are new to LaSalle.
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