AMERICAS
Cornerstone OnDemand, a global provider of people development solutions, completed the acquisition of Saba Software, a global provider in talent experience solutions, from Vector Capital, a private equity firm, for $1.3bn.
“Saba and Cornerstone have always shared a passion for people development, and together we can accomplish great things. The additional depth of expertise and capability from Saba is an ideal complement to Cornerstone. With the combination, our product development team is expected to significantly expand, giving us the ability to develop faster, further increase competitive differentiation, and help millions of people around the world to overcome the skills divide,” Adam Miller, Cornerstone CEO and Founder.
Cornerstone OnDemand was advised by Cooley, Morgan Stanley and Centerview Partners. Morgan Stanley, Jefferies Finance, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Bank of America National Association acted as debt providers to Cornerstone OnDemand. Saba Software was advised by William Blair & Co and Paul Hastings.
The European Commission approved generic drugmaker Mylan’s planned purchase of Pfizer’s off-patient branded drugs business Upjohn, subject to conditions. The Commission, which oversees competition policy in the European Union, said its investigation had focused on genericised medicines, which are sold to pharmacies and hospitals, with overlaps in a number of fields.
Mylan and Upjohn offered to divest Mylan’s certain generic medicines across 20 countries in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom.
Mylan is advised by Centerview Partners, PJT Partners, Cravath Swaine & Moore, Fangda Partners, NautaDutilh, Stibbe, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Sard Verbinnen & Co. Pfizer is advised by Goldman Sachs, Guggenheim Partners, Davis Polk & Wardwell, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and Sullivan & Cromwell.
MGD Acquisition agreed to acquire Dean Foods' Hilo facility and related distribution branches on the Big Island, Kauai and Maui, as well as a license to the Meadow Gold Hawaii brand name and related intellectual property from Dean Foods. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We are pleased to have reached an agreement with MGD Acquisition that will allow our Meadow Gold Hawaii business to continue to operate and serve customers across Hawaii. We thank our employees for their continued patience, dedication and commitment to our customers throughout this process, and are focused on completing this transaction as quickly as possible," Eric Beringause, Dean Foods President and Chief Executive Officer.
Dean Foods is advised by Alvarez & Marsal, Evercore, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Norton Rose Fulbright and Joele Frank.
The acquisition of Victoria’s Secret from L Brands is on the point of collapse after US private equity group Sycamore Partners said the retailer breached the terms of the deal when it cut the pay of senior staff and furloughed store staff in response to the coronavirus pandemic, FT reported.
Sycamore notified executives at the company that it was backing out of the deal to buy a controlling stake 55% for $525m, valuing the retail chain at $1.1bn.
“Whilst we acknowledge that the Covid-19 pandemic is an international tragedy and health emergency,” the private equity firm wrote, “we are equally certain that it does not excuse the performance of L Brands’ obligations under the merger deal."
L Brands is advised by Davis Polk & Wardwell, BridgePark Advisors, Barington Capital Group, and PJT Partners. Sycamore Partners is advised by Kirkland & Ellis.
Halper Sadeh, a global investor rights law firm, is investigating whether the sale of Opus Bank to Pacific Premier is fair to Opus Bank shareholders.
The investigation concerns whether Opus Bank and its board of directors violated the federal securities laws and/or breached their fiduciary duties to shareholders in connection with the proposed sale of Opus Bank to Pacific Premier.
Opus Bank is advised by Piper Sandler and Sullivan & Cromwell. Pacific Premier is advised by D.A. Davidson & Co and Holland & Knight.
Flexpoint Ford, a private equity investment firm specializing in the financial services and healthcare industries, agreed to invest in TigerRisk Partners, a risk, capital and strategic advisor to the global insurance and reinsurance industry. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Our partnership with Flexpoint Ford will provide us with the added resources to help our clients navigate this difficult period, capitalize on a dynamic competitive landscape and continue our strong growth trajectory. As an independent firm with significant employee ownership, TigerRisk will remain committed to providing the same level of high-quality client service, innovation and execution which has served as the foundation of our success over the past 12 years,” Rod Fox, TigerRisk Partners CEO and Co-Founder.
TigerRisk Partners is advised by TigerRisk Capital Markets & Advisory and Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Flexpoint Ford is advised by Kirkland & Ellis.
Medallia, an experience management company, agreed to acquire Voci Technologies, a provider of speech to text solutions, for c.$59m.
“Voci transcribes 100% of live and recorded calls into text that can be analyzed quickly to determine customer satisfaction, adding a powerful set of signals to the Medallia Experience Cloud. At the same time, Voci enables call analysis moments after each interaction has completed, optimizing every aspect of call center operations securely. Especially important as virtual and remote contact center operations take shape,” Leslie Stretch, Medallia President and CEO.
Digital Colony to acquire a data centre in Brazil. (FS)
Colony Capital investment arm Digital Colony Management is expanding in Latin America with the purchase of data centre assets from Brazil's Grupo Folha, at a time when stay-at-home orders around the world are boosting demand for digital infrastructure.
"The situation in Latin America is no different to the situation here - companies are asking employees to work from home, and in addition to that, cloud growth in Latin America is significant, and we have a huge opportunity to deploy capital behind some of our best relationships in the region," Marc Ganzi, Digital Colony Chief Executive Officer.
EMEA
Total, a France-based oil and gas company, agreed to acquire a stake in Uganda Lake Albert project from Tullow, an international oil and gas company, for $575m. The transaction is subject to the approval of Tullow’s shareholders, to customary regulatory and government approvals and to CNOOC’s right to exercise pre-emption on 50% of the transaction.
“We are pleased to announce that a new agreement has been reached with Tullow to acquire their entire interests in the Lake Albert development project for less than $2/bbl in line with our strategy of acquiring long-term resources at low cost, and that we have an agreement with the Uganda government on the fiscal framework. This acquisition will enable us, together with our partner CNOOC, to now move the project forward toward FID, driving costs down to deliver a robust long-term project,” Patrick Pouyanné, Total Chairman and CEO.
Tullow is advised by Barclays, JP Morgan and Robey Warshaw.
Future, a British media company, completed the acquisition of TI Media, a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, from Epiris, a UK private equity firm, for £140m ($180m).
"This acquisition provides an outstanding opportunity to accelerate Future's strategy and to bolster its growth levers. TI Media's long-established market leading brands, industry events and quality content are an exceptional fit with our business and our strategy. TI Media will substantially expand our presence in existing verticals and bring a number of new content verticals that will significantly enhance the Future portfolio," Zillah Byng-Thorne, Future CEO.
Future was advised by N+1 Singer, Numis Securities and Instinctif Partners. Epiris was advised by PwC, Macfarlanes and Greenbrook.
Paragon Partners, an independent private equity firm in Europe, agreed to acquire Castolin Eutectic, a global provider of wear protection and repair solutions for industrial equipment, from Messer Group. Financial terms were not disclosed.
We are looking forward to working with Paragon Partners and are convinced that, together, we can further capitalize on the group’s strengths and strong market positioning. Fresh capital will allow us to invest in various strategic initiatives and continue to pursue M&A opportunities,” John Kirkwood, Castolin Eutectic CEO.
Anders Invest, a private equity firm focused on SME, completed the acquisition of a 50% stake in Topvorm Prefab, a producer of prefabricated roofs for residential construction in the Netherlands. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Despite the short-term challenges, there is a significant housing shortage and the long-term prospects for housing construction are good. Anders Invest therefore sees sufficient opportunities to achieve further growth together with the management and employees of the company.
KKR agreed to acquire a stake in Mirastar, a specialist developer, investor and manager of industrial and logistics assets in Europe, from M7 Real Estate, a multi-let real estate asset manager. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Logistics real estate continues to be an attractive market for KKR, despite the challenges of the current market environment, with strong investment fundamentals and future growth drivers. We look forward to building on our existing relationship with Mirastar to leverage these trends, investing in the continued supply of high-quality assets to meet the growing tenant demand evident across Europe and further building KKR's footprint in European logistics," Guillaume Cassou, KKR Partner and Head of European Real Estate.
TIM and Vodafone sell stake in Italian mobile towers unit.
Telecom Italia and Vodafone completed the sale of an 8.6% combined stake in Italy’s biggest mobile towers company INWIT as part of efforts to cut debt, Reuters reported.
Poland to require notification of takeovers by investors from outside EU.
Reuters reported that the Polish government will require to be notified of any planned takeovers of Polish companies by investors from outside the EU. Deputy Prime Minister Jadwiga Emilewicz, who also serves as development minister, said the new proposals regarding takeovers would not include specific regulations regarding listed companies.
The government said it would introduce legislation to help protect Polish companies facing difficulties due to the coronavirus.
Saudi Aramco considers $10bn pipeline stake divestment.
Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil producer, hired advisers to review a potential multi-billion dollar stake sale in its pipeline business, Bloomberg reported.
The energy giant is working with JP Morgan as it makes early preparations for the potential deal. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group also has a role on the transaction. Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan is looking for ways to raise money from assets that are not central to the company's operations. A sale could raise more than $10bn.
Orion will not close retail parks acquisition by April 23. (RE, FS)
Hammerson, a major British property development and investment company, said that private equity firm Orion does not plan to complete the acquisition of its seven retail parks by April 23. Hammerson did not specify the reason why Orion was not able to close the acquisition, which was required to complete on Thursday.
The shopping centre operator said it would serve a notice to Orion and terminate the sale agreement if does not complete by May 6.
Travelex is up for sale.
Travelex, the British foreign exchange group, put itself up for sale in the latest blow to parent Finablr, the global payments group that admitted last month it might need to prepare for possible insolvency, FT reported.
Travelex, the world's largest retail currency dealer, was founded by Lloyd Dorfman more than 40 years ago. It was acquired by Indian businessman BR Shetty in 2014, who went on to float the business as part of the wider Finablr group last year at a valuation of about £1.2bn ($1.5bn).
Abdulhadi Mana Al-Hajri revealed as a new owner of London's Ritz. (RE)
Abdulhadi Mana Al-Hajri, a 40-year-old Qatari businessman who is the brother-in-law of the Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, is the new owner of London's Ritz Hotel, FT reported.
An unnamed Qatari investor agreed to buy the Mayfair hotel from the billionaire Barclay family last month, inflaming tensions in a bitter family fight between Sir Frederick and Sir David Barclay.
Mr Al-Hajri took control of a company called Green Park on February 25. This company acquired the group that ultimately owned the Ritz a month later on March 25, two days before UK law firm Macfarlanes announced it had advised an unnamed Qatari buyer of the London hotel.
Sculptor and Farallon among hedge funds readying for NMC restructuring talks. (FS)
Sculptor Capital Management and Farallon Capital Management are among top distressed debt investors preparing for restructuring talks involving NMC Health, the hospital operator whose collapse has entangled global and regional banks, Bloomberg reported.
Redwood Capital Management and Silver Point Capital are also among bondholders. Distressed investors typically buy the debt of troubled companies at a discount, with the aim of making a return from its turnaround.
APAC
Didi Chuxing eyes payment firm deals.
China ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing is upbeat that business overseas has turned a corner after dropping to a mid-March low amid the coronavirus pandemic, a senior executive said, and is already looking into new markets and payment firm acquisitions.
Though bullish over future prospects, Tony Qiu, Chief Operating Officer of Didi's international operation, conceded that business sees a "double-digit" percentage hit in the short term, echoing gloom across an industry squeezed by travel restrictions in many countries to contain the virus.
"Overseas business has recovered a little since reaching a low in mid-March. In the short term it will impact our business by double-digit, but we hope by doing what we do during the epidemic, we will overcome the virus," Tony Qiu, Didi COO.
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