Saudi Aramco, a Saudi Arabian national petroleum and natural gas company, acquired a 70% stake in Saudi Basic Industries Corp, a Saudi diversified manufacturing company, active in petrochemicals, chemicals, industrial polymers, fertilizers, and metals, from Saudi sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund for $69bn. The stock will be purchased on a slight discount from SABIC’s closing price on March 27.
“Solidifying our relationship in this way strategically positions SABIC and Saudi Aramco to accelerate exciting developments in our global chemicals business,” said Yousef Al-Benyan, SABIC Vice Chairman and CEO.
Citigroup advise Saudi Basic Industries Corp. JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley advise Saudi Aramco. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Merrill Lynch advise Public Investment Fund.
Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC acquired a 25% stake in CitizenM, a Netherlands-based hotel chain and fully integrated hotel real estate developer, for €500m ($564m).
Rattan Chadha, Founder and Executive Chairman of CitizenM hotels, said: “We are excited to have GIC as our new investor. This move will help strengthen our position as one of the leading affordable luxury brands in the industry. With our bold expansion plans for the coming years, we are thrilled to have the financial support of investors who trust our vision and are instrumental in securing our future success.”
Mastercard is to invest $300m in Dubai-based Network International, the largest payments processor in the Middle East and Africa. The two companies will also form a "strategic partnership," working together to encourage more adoption of digital payments in the Middle East and Africa. Network International is currently owned by Dubai-based bank Emirates NBD and private equity firms General Atlantic and Warburg Pincus.
Evercore advised Network International.
Unilever, a British-Dutch transnational consumer goods company, made an offer to acquire Garancia, a French dermo-cosmetic brand. The deal is expected to close in Q2 2019. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Vasiliki Petrou, Unilever EVP and CEO Prestige, said: “Garancia is one of the leading brands in pharmacies with a strong positioning between natural and science, offering fantastic beauty products with a touch of magic. Thanks to Savéria’s vision and expertise in derma-cosmetics, Garancia’s hero product Pschitt Magique is much loved and has earned great loyalty from consumers across different generations. We are delighted to have the opportunity to grow this brand globally.”
JTC, a provider of fund, corporate and private wealth services to institutional and private clients, acquired Exequtive Partners, a specialist provider of corporate and related fiduciary services, for €34m ($38m).
Nigel Le Quesne, CEO of JTC, said: "Exequtive Partners is a specialist business in a key strategic location that has demonstrated exceptional performance since its inception. As such, this acquisition is reflective of our focus on high-quality growth and on strengthening our proposition for institutional clients."
Camarco advised JTC.
Singapore Exchange, an investment holding company, acquired a 20% stake in BidFX, an upstart foreign exchange trading platform based in London, for $25m. The strategic investment is part of SGX’s strategy to build core pillars of growth across multiple asset classes. BidFX, a specialized trading platform for global FX markets, plans to utilize the funds to further grow its reach and offering among institutional investors.
Loh Boon Chye, Chief Executive Officer of SGX, who will join the Board of BidFX, said: “FX is one of our key growth pillars and we are excited to strengthen our service proposition to the market. With this investment, we have an opportunity to offer our suite of Asian FX futures alongside the over-the-counter (OTC) products offered on the BidFX platform, bringing together both pools of liquidity. We are confident that over time, they will establish themselves as a global e-FX platform and complement our fast-growing FX business.”
Renault and Nissan to reengage in merger talks within a year.
Reuters reported that Renault would reopen its merger negotiations with Japan’s Nissan Motor Co within the next 12 months and then pursue merger with FCA. The plans signal a return to the strategies supported by former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn who held talks about merging Renault with Fiat Chrysler two to three years ago.
The recent formation of a new alliance board led by Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard has led to an increase in confidence that the two parties can now push ahead with the merger plans.
Steinhoff placed in the market KAP Industrial shares worth $332m.
Steinhoff International Holdings, a South African international retail holding company, sold its 25% stake in KAP Industrial, a diversified industrial group, for a $332m. The proceeds from the placing of shares will be used to pay off debt and shore up the company’s finances. Settlement of the placing is expected to occur on April 1. The shares were sold at a 9.4% discount.
Ford to exit Russia.
Ford Sollers, Ford’s Russian joint venture, said that it would close two assembly plants and an engine factory in Russia. The move means an exit from Russia for Ford and is part of a restructuring that will see Sollers, a leading Russian automotive company, assume control of the venture.
“The new Ford Sollers structure supports Ford’s global redesign strategy to expand our leadership in commercial vehicles and to grow the business in Europe in those market segments that offer better returns on invested capital,” Steven Armstrong, president of Ford of Europe, said in the statement.
Lufthansa is interested in merging its catering unit with a competitor.
Lufthansa, the largest German airline, is looking to merge the European operations of its catering unit LSG with a peer as it struggles with low margins in a competitive market in Europe. Lufthansa has provided information to potential bidders and has asked them to make offers for the business in early April.
Austria’s Do&Co, a company active in segments such as airline catering, train catering and international events catering, and Switzerland’s Gategroup, a company providing services to the travel industry, are expected to make offers.
Cromwell Property confirmed its intent to acquire RDI REIT.
Australia-based global real estate investment manager Cromwell Property Group confirmed that it had approached London-listed RDI REIT, a property investment business, about a possible takeover offer as part of its efforts to expand in the UK and Europe. The company said that any transaction would be consistent with its strategy to work with its capital partners to grow funds under management and continue to expand its investment footprint in the UK and Europe. Over half of Cromwell's A$11.5bn ($8.2bn) of assets under management as of 31 December, 2018 is concentrated in Europe.
Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are advising Cromwell Property.
Vivendi and Elliott Management prepare to fight for the control of Telecom Italia. (FS)
Financial Times reported that Vivendi and Elliott Management Corporation, two significant shareholders of Telecom Italia, are bracing for a fight over control of Italy's main ICT group. Until two weeks ago, the battle for control was being fought along traditional lines of corporate governance and determining who was to blame for the company’s failings, but that changed when US hedge fund Elliott targeted Vincent Bolloré, the French billionaire who runs Vivendi, and his family.
Telecom Italia, which used to be Europe’s largest telecommunications provider, will try to stabilize the situation during the upcoming shareholder meeting on March 29.
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners acquired Lostock Sustainable Energy Plant. (FS)
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, a fund management company, acquired Lostock Sustainable Energy Plant. The acquired project, which is still being developed, will process 600k tonnes of waste per annum, which will contribute to the UK government’s strategy to reduce landfill and export of waste. With a capacity of 60MW, the Lostock facility will be among the biggest EfW plants in the UK as well as Europe and is expected to power roughly 110k homes, offsetting more than 200k tonnes of CO2 per year.
“The project will convert waste into renewable energy and create hundreds of local jobs during the construction and operation phases. We look forward to utilizing our unique competences and experience from our existing thermal renewable energy projects, working closely with the local community and our partners,” said Christina Grumstrup Sørensen, Senior Partner at CIP.
Herbert Smith Freehills advised Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.
Mike Lynch and his defense accused HP of mishandling the $11.1bn acquisition of Autonomy.
Reuters reported that Mike Lynch, founder of tech business Autonomy which was sold to Hewlett Packard for $11.1bn in 2011 is defending himself in court against accusations of accounting fraud. HP is suing Mr. Lynch and his former finance chief Sushovan Hussain for more than $5bn after the Autonomy deal went disastrously wrong for the Silicon Valley group. HP’s lawyers said that Autonomy had inflated its true value through a series of fraudulent transactions, such as selling hardware at a loss and so-called round-trip deals - a type of barter with no real commercial rationale - masterminded by Mr. Lynch.
In his opening argument for Mr. Lynch’s defense, Robert Miles QC said HP had only discovered a small number of historical deals which were said to have some or other wrongful feature, despite spending several years and huge sums of money on its search.
“All the deals now attacked were real commercial deals with real counterparties. The suggestion that Dr. Lynch was in the business of conning HP is unreal,” he told London’s High Court.
TPG entered discussions to sell its stake in Lenta to Severgroup. (FS)
Private equity firm TPG Capital entered negotiations to sell its 34% stake in Lenta, one of the largest retail chains in Russia and the country's second-largest hypermarket chain, to Severgroup, a Russian investment company. Severgroup intends to make an offer for all other shares of Lenta once it finalizes its deal with TPG. The stake is valued at approximately $550m.
Novalpina Capital closed its inaugural fund at €1bn. (FS)
Novalpina Capital, an independent European private equity firm that invests in middle market companies, held the final closing of its first fund, Novalpina Capital Partners I SCSp, with total commitments in excess of its target of €1bn ($1.1bn).
Park Hill Group and Brooklands Capital Strategies acted as placing agents. Macfarlanes and Loyens & Loeff provided legal advice.
Aztec Group will administer the €2.5bn Altor Fund V. (FS)
Independent fund and corporate services provider, the Aztec Group, has been selected by Altor to provide administration and depositary services to Altor Fund V, a fund domiciled in Sweden. Focused on investing in and developing mid-market companies in Europe, with a particular focus on the Nordic and German-speaking DACH regions, Fund V was substantially oversubscribed, reaching its hard cap target of €2.5bn ($2.8bn) in a single closing.
Simon King, Director and Private Equity Specialist for the Aztec Group, said: “Congratulations to Altor for another extremely successful fundraise, which underlines the enormous confidence their investor base and the market continues to have in their investment strategy. We’re delighted to have the opportunity to build on our long-standing partnership with Altor, and look forward to supporting them with this exciting new fund.”
Ufenau Capital closed Ufenau VI German Asset Light at €560m. (FS)
Ufenau Capital Partners, a small cap private equity firm investing in German-speaking Europe, held the final close of Ufenau VI German Asset Lights – plus parallel funds – at €560m ($632m) hard cap.
In the course of the past six years since its first institutional fundraising, Ufenau has significantly grown its team to a total of five partners and more than 20 investment professionals overall. This team is further supported by more than 50 industry partners, who are also investors in Ufenau’s fund.
