EMEA
CVC Capital Partners to buy back 75% stake in Ahlsell for SEK18bn. (Financial Sponsors)
AF Consult to buy Poyry, Finish engineering firm for €611m. (FS)
Mid Europa Partners to buy intive from Enterprise Investors for €100m. (FS)
3i-backed Hans Anders to acquire eyes + more for €60m from Vendis Capital. (FS)
EU approves Energizer’s $2bn acquisition of Spectrum.
Thales gained EU approval for $4.8bn Gemalto takeover.
Goldilocks increased its stake in Islamic Arab Insurance Company Salama to 14%.
EU antitrust regulators approve Quaker / Houghton deal.
WM Morrisons rumoured to be subject to a takeover discussions with Amazon.
Goldman Sachs acquired a minority stake in Hurriyet Emlak.
Salini could team up with Italian partners in Astaldi bid.
AMERICAS
Group of investors and issuers to acquire SIMON from Goldman Sachs for $75m.
Rice brothers want to have a say in running Rice Energy. (FS)
Dell gets shareholder approval for VMware deal.
APAC
Vivendi and Argyle Street to a rival for Indonesia's largest media company operations.
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Latest Deals
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EMEA
CVC Capital Partners to buy back 75% stake in Ahlsell for SEK18bn. (FS)
CVC Capital Partners made an offer for Ahlsell, a Swedish construction materials company, of 55 Swedish crowns per share, valuing it at about SEK24bn ($2.65bn). The total value of the offer is about SEK18bn ($2bn). The price represents a premium of 32.5% to the Ahlsell's closing price the day before. CVC Capital Partners listed Ahlsell two years earlier. The private equity firm is Ahlsell's biggest shareholder with a 25% stake. CVC, which is making the bid through Quimper AB, a CVC-backed entity, said it would not increase its offer.
Soren Vestergaard-Poulsen, a Managing Partner at CVC, said: "Our experience and history with the company provides us with the ability to help it grow further across its core segments and industries, delivering top quality services and value for all stakeholders."
Goldman Sachs and Carnegie Investment Bank are financial advisors, and Roschier Advokatbyra, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Clifford Chance are legal advisors to CVC.
AF Consult to buy Poyry for €611m. (FS)
AF AB, Swedish technical consultancy firm, will buy smaller Finnish peer Poyry for €611m ($695m) to create leading European engineering and consulting business. AF would launch a cash tender offer for Poyry at €10.20 ($9.19) per share, implying more than 45% premium above the stock's closing price on the day before the announcement. The combined company, called AF-Poyry, will be led by AF's current chief executive Jonas Gustavsson.
"With our larger scale, more resources and our engaged and talented people, we will improve our ability to take on even larger and more complex assignments, meeting our clients' needs for advanced sustainable solutions for the future generations." Jonas Gustavsson, President, and CEO of AF, commented.
AF was advised by SEB Corporate Finance as the lead financial advisor and the arranger in relation to the Tender Offer, Access Partners as a financial advisor, and White & Case as the legal advisor. Poyry is advised by Advium Corporate Finance as the financial advisor and Hannes Snellman Attorneys as the legal advisor.
Ingevity Corporation reached an agreement with Perstorp Holding AB to acquire the Capa caprolactone division of Perstorp in a cash transaction valued at approximately €590m ($675m). The acquisition is subject to certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, and Ingevity expects to close on the transaction late in the first quarter of 2019. Capa is the global market leader in the production and commercialization of caprolactone and high-value downstream derivatives, including caprolactone polyols, caprolactone thermoplastics, caprolactone lactides, and hexanediol.
"The Capa division is a strong, market-leading business focused on high-growth end-use applications, and as such is a complementary fit with Ingevity's business model and capabilities," said Michael Wilson, Ingevity president and CEO.
Ingevity was advised by JP Morgan as financial advisor and Eversheds Sutherland as legal counsel.
Danske Bank's pension unit Danica has divested the Swedish part of its business to a private equity consortium for around SEK2.6bn ($288m). The consortium is led by Nordic private equity fund Polaris and German private equity fund Acathia. Institutional investors Sampension and Unigestion are also part of the consortium.
"The sale does not affect Danske Bank's growth strategy in the Nordic markets," said Jacob Aarup-Andersen, the head of the bank's wealth management activities said.
Mid Europa Partners to buy intive from Enterprise Investors for €100m. (FS)
Mid Europa Partners is to acquire intive SA, a provider of software development services with over 1,600 qualified specialists in 19 offices worldwide, from Enterprise Investors. Mid Europa will acquire 100% stake for €100m ($113.9m).
Kerim Turkmen, Partner of Mid Europa, said: "We are excited to be teaming up with intive's management team and have been particularly impressed by the Company's highly-skilled workforce and their ability to develop best-in-class software and digital applications for leading companies worldwide. Combined with a strong reputation and a unique geographical delivery footprint, intive is well-positioned to continue benefiting from the accelerating digital transformation trend driving the demand for software engineering and design services."
Mid Europa was advised by William Blair, Avendus, White & Case, Clifford Chance, Dechert, BCG, and PwC.
3i-backed Hans Anders acquired eyes + more for €60m from Vendis Capital. (FS)
3i Group plc and Hans Anders acquired eyes + more, a fast-growing value-for-money optical retailer in Germany with additional presence in the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria. The sellers are Vendis Capital and a group of managers and private investors. 3i expects to invest up to c. €60m ($68.4m) in Hans Anders to support the transaction. Founded in 2005 in the Netherlands, eyes + more operates 170 stores.
Boris Kawohl, Partner, 3i Private Equity, said: "This is an important acquisition for Hans Anders and fits well with 3i's investment strategy of driving international growth in the value-for-money space. It brings a strong geographical fit and an organic growth platform in the sizeable German optical retail market."
Vodafone’s $21.8bn purchase of Liberty Global’s assets in Germany and East Europe may hit competition in Germany and the Czech Republic, EU antitrust regulators said, as they opened a full-scale probe into the deal.
The European Commission said it was concerned some rivals might be shut out of the Czech market where Vodafone offers mainly mobile telephony services and Liberty Global offers fixed telecoms services. In Germany, the deal might reduce competition in the retail fixed telecoms markets and retail TV markets, curb investments in next-generation networks and give the merged firm more power as a TV broadcaster.
EU approves Energizer’s $2bn acquisition of Spectrum.
The deal was first announced in January 2018. To gain approval Energizer, an American manufacturer of batteries, headquartered in Town and Country, Missouri, agreed to sell a Spectrum unit in Europe. The European Commission said the sale of Spectrum’s Varta consumer battery business addressed its concerns.
The deal has already secured unconditional approval in the United States and Australia.
On the deal, Energizer was advised by Barclays and King & Spalding. JP Morgan and Barclays provided debt financing.
Thales gained EU approval for $4.8bn Gemalto takeover.
Thales Group, a French multinational company that designs and builds electrical systems and provides services for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security markets, bid for Gemalto, an international digital security company, in December 2017. Thales sold its global general purpose hardware security modules business nShield to gain antitrust approval. The European Commission said the sale of nShield addressed competition concerns.
On the deal, Gemalto was advised by Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Allen & Overy and Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier. Thales was advised by Lazard, Messier Maris & Associes, Societe Generale, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and NautaDutilh.
Goldilocks Investment Company increased its stake in Islamic Arab Insurance Company Salama to 14.1%.
Goldilocks Investment Company is an indirect subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Financial Group. Salama is a Dubai-listed company. Goldilocks raised its stake from 9.9%. Combined, Goldilocks and ADFG continue to hold around 29.9% of Salama's issued shares. ADFG launched Goldilocks in 2015 as an investment fund with a mandate to invest in listed equities.
EU antitrust regulators approve Quaker, Houghton deal.
EU antitrust regulators approved Quaker Chemical Corp’s acquisition of Hinduja Group’s Houghton International’s European lubricants businesses related to aluminum and steel. Houghton is a British electro-mechanical engineering company operating globally in the repair, maintenance and life extension of rotating electrical machines. The $172m transaction was first announced in April 2017.
The European Commission said the asset divestment addressed its concerns that the deal would reduce competition in some markets.
WM Morrisons rumoured to be subject to a takeover discussions with Amazon.
WM Morrisons shares jumped on Tuesday as traders cited market rumours that the supermarket chain could be subject to a takeover approach by U.S. online retail giant Amazon. They rose as much as 2.9% in midday trade and closed up 1.3%.
The UK supermarket chain has struck wholesale supply deals with Amazon and is widely seen as a potential takeover target for the U.S. company as it moves into physical retailing after its takeover of Whole Foods.
Goldman Sachs acquired a minority stake in Hurriyet Emlak.
Hurriyet Emlak is a Turkish website specialising in real estate and a unit of Turkish conglomerate Dogan Holding, which is amongst the biggest conglomerates in Turkey, operating in the energy, media, industry, trade, insurance and tourism industries.
The acquisition is subject to Competition Authority approval.
Salini could team up with Italian partners in Astaldi bid.
Salini, Italy’s biggest infrastructure builder by sales, said last month it had presented a non-binding expression of interest in Astaldi. Salini, Italy’s biggest infrastructure builder by sales, had presented a non-binding expression of interest in Astaldi in November.
Astaldi, which is focusing on securing a bridge loan to stay afloat, has until Dec. 16 to present a rescue plan to the court but is expected to ask for 60 more days to better assess bids. Astaldi’s creditor banks include Italy’s top 3 banks Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit and Banco BPM.
AMERICAS
Group of investors and issuers to acquire SIMON from Goldman Sachs for $75m.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sold a majority stake in SIMON, its proprietary platform that distributes complex investment products, to a consortium including Barclays, Credit Suisse's NEXT Investors, HSBC, JP Morgan, Prudential and Wells Fargo. Financial terms were not disclosed. According to the news, it values SIMON at just over $75m.
The bank started the platform to help retail brokers offer structured notes, and it was meant to attract rivals to sell the securities, but Goldman's ownership made competitors slow to embrace it. The separation into an independent entity is aimed at easing some of those concerns.
Rice brothers want to have a say in running Rice Energy Inc. (FS)
Toby Z. Rice and Derek A. Rice, the co-founders of Rice Energy Inc., which they sold to EQT Corp., want to have a say in the natural gas operations they used to oversee, and they have the backing of hedge fund giant D.E. Shaw & Co. and the energy company's former CEO.
Rice brothers said that the company's operations and stock price are underperforming. They outlined a plan to cut costs and improve cash flow and said they had private talks with EQT Chairman Jim Rohr and Chief Executive Officer Rob McNally in recent weeks, but there wasn't "reciprocal engagement."
D.E. Shaw, which holds 3.6% of EQT believes the company needs to replace members of its board including its chairman, and that it needs to bring in outside operational leadership, including Toby Rice, to improve its performance.
Dell gets shareholder approval for VMware deal.
Dell Technologies Inc received shareholder approval for its earlier announced deal to buy back shares tied to its interest in software maker VMware. The company raised the offer for the VMware stockholders to $23.9bn from $21.7bn in November, helping it win backing from shareholders, including Carl Icahn. Icahn, who owns 9.3% stake in Dell, along with other hedge fund investors had opposed the first offer from Dell, saying it massively undervalued the tracking stock.
The deal, announced in July, allowed Dell to become a publicly listed company without an IPO, which would likely have involved grilling by stock market investors over Dell’s $52.7bn debt.
APAC
Vivendi and Argyle Street to a rival for Indonesia's largest media company operations.
Vivendi SA, the French conglomerate backed by billionaire Vincent Bollore, is competing with Argyle Street Management to invest in the television operations of Indonesia's largest media company PT Global Mediacom.
Vivendi is said to spend over $400m buying stakes in two units of Global Mediacom, roughly 50% of PT MNC Vision Networks and 10% of PT Media Nusantara Citra.
Argyle Street expressed interest in buying 49% of MNC Vision Networks. It has proposed first buying 25% of the company from Global Mediacom in a deal valuing the business at $550m.
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