Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings III, a special purpose acquisition company managed by Social Capital Hedosophia, completed the merger with Clover Health, an American healthcare company, in a $3.7bn deal.
“Today marks an important milestone in Clover Health’s mission to improve every life by enabling improved clinical decision making and achieving affordability in healthcare in the US. As a public company, we will continue to pioneer a fundamentally different approach in the Medicare Advantage and Medicare space – investing in technology and partnering closely with physicians to help them make critical decisions for their patients at the point of care – with an overarching commitment to creating value for all stakeholders,” Vivek Garipalli, Clover Health CEO and Co-Founder.
Clover Health was advised by Citigroup, JP Morgan, Jefferies & Company, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, Blueshirt Group and Sard Verbinnen & Co. Social Capital was advised by Morrow Sodali Global, Connaught, Credit Suisse, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Finsbury Glover Hering and Gasthalter & Co.
Devon Energy, an independent energy company that is involved primarily in oil and gas exploration, development and production, completed the merger with WPX Energy, a company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration, in a $12bn all-stock deal. The combined company will operate under the name Devon Energy and be headquartered in Oklahoma City.
"This transformational merger enhances the scale of our operations, builds a dominant position in the Delaware Basin and accelerates our cash-return business model that prioritizes free cash flow generation and the return of capital to shareholders. We are excited to combine our teams and we look forward to executing on our disciplined strategy to create value for all of our stakeholders," Dave Hager, Devon Energy President and CEO.
WPX Energy was advised by Citigroup, Kirkland & Ellis and Brunswick Group. Citigroup was advised by White & Case. Devon Energy was advised by JP Morgan, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Joele Frank. JP Morgan is advised by Cravath Swaine & Moore. Encap was advised by Vinson & Elkins.
Private equity firm Altamont Capital Partners completed the acquisition of Specialized Packaging Group, one of the largest independent manufacturers of protective packaging in North America. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"S PG is an established leader in the highly attractive protective packaging segment, and we are delighted to partner with the team to build on the company's strong foundation and track record of success. Together, we are confident that we will drive value for SPG's customers, employees and other stakeholders in the months and years to come," Randall Eason, Altamont Managing Director.
Specialized Packaging Group was advised by Grant Thornton, BCF Business Law and Morency. Altamont Capital Partners was advised by Raymond James, Robert W Baird, Ropes & Gray and Joele Frank.
Partners Group, a private equity firm, completed the acquisition of Careismatic Brands, a medical apparel manufacturer and distributor, from New Mountain Capital, a private equity firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Since partnering with New Mountain four years ago, I have been consistently impressed by their collaborative approach to business building. We have enjoyed working with the New Mountain team and thank them for helping us to significantly expand and solidify our leading industry position. We look forward to building upon this momentum with Partners Group," Mike Singer, Careismatic Brands CEO.
Careismatic Brands and New Mountain Capital were advised by Jefferies & Company, Robert W Baird, UBS and Kirkland & Ellis. New Mountain Capital was advised by Abernathy MacGregor Group. Partners Group was advised by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ropes & Gray.
Madison Dearborn Partners-backed Navisite, a managed cloud service provider, completed the acquisition of Velocity Technology Solutions, a global cloud managed service provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We look forward to what we can accomplish together with Navisite. With Navisite's resources, global capabilities and complementary expertise, Velocity is positioned to become an even stronger partner for our customers growing and competing in the digital economy. Most importantly, our customers can expect greater breadth and depth of services to help them eliminate IT complexity, lower costs associated with monolithic software deployments and migrate and transform their businesses in the cloud," Steve Kloeblen, Velocity Technology Solutions CEO.
Velocity Technology Solutions was advised by Stifel and Weil Gotshal and Manges. Navisite was advised by Jefferies & Company, TD Securities and Kirkland & Ellis.
SK Group, a holding company, agreed to acquire a 10% stake in Plug Power, a provider of hydrogen fuel cell and fueling solutions, for $1.5bn. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021.
"This partnership between Plug Power and SK will bring significant and solid opportunities in the hydrogen industry, creating value to society. SK Group is focusing and actively investing into the ESG sector and Plug Power would be one of our splendid footprints within this strategy," Hyeongwook Choo, SK Group Head of Hydrogen Business Development Center.
Plug Power is advised by Morgan Stanley, Goodwin Procter and Bulleit Group. SK Group is advised by Citigroup.
Revelstoke Capital Partners, a Denver-based private equity firm, completed the investment in Empire Portfolio Group, a franchisee and area representative of Orangetheory Fitness. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"After a multi-year outbound search in the health and wellness sector, we are very excited to partner with Empire. Orangetheory Fitness is designed to produce results for its members inside and out, giving people a healthier, happier and more vibrant life," Simon Bachleda, Revelstoke Co-Founder and Managing Partner.
Empire Portfolio Group was advised by Piper Sandler and Greenberg Traurig. Revelstoke was advised by Winston & Strawn and Lambert & Co.
Private equity firm Riverwood Capital Partners completed the investment in HG Insights, a technology intelligence company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"HG Insights represents a golden opportunity for Riverwood to continue to use our capital and expertise to accelerate the growth of innovative technology companies addressing demonstrated but unmet market needs. Elizabeth and her team have built an organization poised to disrupt the traditional go-to-market process for companies of virtually any size, and we're very excited about the potential of this partnership," Jeff Parks, Riverwood Capital Managing Partner.
Riverwood Capital was advised by AQ Technology Partners, Cooley and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
SK Capital Partners, a private equity firm, completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Tilley Chemical Company, a distributor of specialty chemicals and lubricants. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“The Tilley family, including John and Sean Tilley and their team, have built a tremendously successful platform with an industry-wide reputation for customer service, supply chain solutions and quality products. We look forward to partnering with the Tilley team to continue to serve its customer base and expand the platform’s reach and capabilities," Mario Toukan, SK Capital Managing Director.
SK Capital was advised by Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg and BackBay Communications. Debt financing was provided by Madison Capital.
Ascensus, an American financial services company, and Empower Retirement, a retirement services provider, agreed to acquire the Recordkeeping Retirement Business of Truist, an American bank holding company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"This transaction brings a large group of clients to the Ascensus platform, and we're delighted to reach this agreement with Truist. Our commitment to helping savers in America prepare for retirement is strong, as is our promise to provide differentiated solutions in recordkeeping, financial wellness, managed accounts, and analytics capabilities that help our clients better manage their retirement programs," Raghav Nandagopal, Ascensus Chief Corporate Development Officer.
Truist was advised by Truist Bank and Alston & Bird.
OneDigital Investment Advisors, a strategic advisory firm, completed the acquisition of the Institutional Retirement Business of Truist, a financial services company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Under the terms of the OneDigital agreement, investment advisory services for approximately 1.2k, representing $10bn in plan assets, will now be delivered by OneDigital.
Truist was advised by Truist Bank and Alston & Bird.
LafargeHolcim, a provider of building solutions, agreed to acquire Firestone Building Products, a provider of commercial roofing and building envelope solutions, from Bridgestone, a provider of sustainable mobility and advanced solutions, for $3.4bn.
"I am excited to be entering the highly attractive roofing business. With Firestone Building Products we are strengthening our biggest market, the US, while also building a global growth and innovation platform for the company. Today's milestone is a strategic leap on our journey to become the global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions, to build a world that works for people and the planet. I have great respect for the high-caliber leadership and expertise of the Firestone Building Products' team and look forward to welcoming them into the LafargeHolcim family," Jan Jenisch, LafargeHolcim CEO.
LafargeHolcim is advised by Citigroup.
Altimeter Capital and Dragoneer Investment Group, two investment firms, led a $520m Series H funding round in Roblox, a global online platform, valuing the company at $29.5bn. The round was joined by The Investment Group of Santa Barbara and Warner Music Group.
"We're thrilled to welcome Altimeter, Dragoneer and the other new investors. We look forward to working with all of them as we continue our mission to build a human co-experience platform that enables shared experience, from play to work, and learning among billions of users," David Baszucki, Roblox CEO and Co-Founder.
Roblox was advised by Brunswick Group.
The Carlyle Group agreed to invest $374m in Amp Energy, a Canadian-based global energy transition platform.
"This transaction demonstrates Carlyle's continued focus on identifying and executing upon attractive investment opportunities such as solar projects and battery storage technologies around the world that are being propelled by the energy transition. We see significant value in working with proven management teams through differentiated development platforms with significant global reach such as Amp Energy," Pooja Goyal, Carlyle Head of Renewable and Sustainable Energy and Co-Head of Carlyle Infrastructure.
Water Street Healthcare Partners, a strategic partner and investor in three distinct sectors of healthcare, agreed to invest $100m in Southern Scripts, a transparent pharmacy benefit manager.
"Southern Scripts plays a critical role in addressing rising prescription drug costs, one of the most severe health care pain points for US employers. The company has an outstanding industry reputation for its commitment to providing customers with straightforward pharmacy benefit services that deliver results. We are honored that Southern Scripts' founders chose Water Street as their partner," Ned Villers, Water Street Partner.
Running Specialty Group, an operator of footwear and athletic specialty retailers, completed the merger with Shoescom, an American footwear retailer. Both companies are owned by CriticalPoint Capital, a private equity firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We are excited about the integration of Shoescom into our family of specialty businesses as it further expands our product portfolio while providing customers greater access to top-tier brands through our full-service stores and powerful digital platform," Bill Kirkendall, RSG CEO.
Twitter agreed to acquire Ueno, a full-service creative design agency. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"As an existing client of Ueno's, we've seen firsthand how innovative and impactful they've been to our teams so we're looking forward to bringing them on and continuing our work together," Dantley Davis, Twitter Chief Design Officer.
The Sterling Group-backed Artisan Design Group, a dealer of flooring products and services, providing design, procurement, installation and quality control of flooring and complementary products for homebuilders and multi-family developers, completed the acquisition of Nonn's Flooring, a provider of installation services for flooring, countertops, cabinets, and appliances. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We view this partnership with ADG as a win for both our customers and our employees. ADG's entrepreneurial approach was a perfect fit for us, and their capabilities and technology will help our team continue to deliver on our customer promise to provide best-in-class installation services for flooring and related products," Adam Nonn, Nonn's Flooring CEO and President.
Dover, an American conglomerate manufacturer of industrial products, completed the acquisition of Innovative Control Systems, a provider of car wash controllers, payment terminals, point-of-sale and wash site management software solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The addition of ICS expands Dover's participation in the secularly-growing vehicle wash market and enhances Dover's offerings, business mix and recurring revenue stream with high-value hardware and software solutions critical to vehicle wash workflows and operations.
CGI, a Canadian multinational information technology consulting and systems integration company, completed the acquisition of the Professional Services Division of Harris, Mackessy & Brennan, an information technology solutions provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"HMB's Professional Services Division brings 165 highly-skilled consultants as well as robust consulting capabilities, a deep commercial client portfolio, expertise in the utilities market, and additional relationships with the State of Ohio to further expand CGI's footprint in Central Ohio and particularly within the Columbus metro market," CGI.
S.i. Systems, one of Canada's largest IT staffing companies, completed the acquisition of Annex Consulting Group, an IT staffing company in Vancouver. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Together we have one core purpose, to connect human potential to meaningful work. We share common values, common culture. I have known Stacey for 20 years and have always been impressed by his leadership and our strikingly similar values. This acquisition is a very good fit for both parties in so many ways. We warmly welcome all Annex staff and consultants into S.i. Systems," Derek Bullen, S.i. Systems CEO.
BoxUnion, a California-based fitness boxing brand, completed the acquisition of TITLE Boxing Club, a fitness studio with 166 clubs across the United States, Mexico and the Dominican Republic specializing in boxing and kickboxing fitness classes. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"TITLE Boxing Club is the biggest player in the fitness boxing and kickboxing category. Our goal is to triple the studio base while also providing a state-of-the-art, engaging digital experience to the at-home market. We are excited to bring together TITLE Boxing Club's scale and brand awareness with BoxUnion's culture of innovation to drive the first, true omnichannel fitness boxing offering to millions of consumers anytime, anywhere. I'm thrilled to partner with the TITLE Boxing Club team, the franchisees and all the partners within the TITLE Boxing Club brand as we embark on the next stage of growth," Todd Wadler, BoxUnion CEO.
LG, a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation, completed the investment in Alphonso, a TV data and measurement company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"LG and Alphonso have a shared vision for advancing the smart TV ecosystem through innovative software and services oriented toward modern new consumer experiences on one end, and highly flexible, lucrative advertising, planning, and measurement offerings for brands, agencies, and broadcasters on the other," Ashish Chordia, Alphonso Founder and CEO.
Investment companies Coatue Management and Tiger Global led a $300m Series D round in Hinge Health, which develops health care software, with participation from Atomico, Insight Partners, Quadrille, 11.2 Capital, Lead Edge Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Heuristic Capital.
"Hinge Health is eliminating variability in healthcare quality and instead delivering better outcomes through consistent digital-first clinical care no matter where a person lives across the country. We are investing in deepening our MSK clinical capabilities by building advanced technologies and tripling our clinical team of doctors, physical therapists, and health coaches," Daniel Perez, Hinge Health CEO and Co-Founder.
Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment arm of Bayer, led a $105m Series B round in Senti Bio, a biotechnology company, with participation from Matrix Partners China, Mirae Asset Capital, Ridgeback Capital, Intel Capital, New Enterprise Associates, 8VC, Amgen Ventures and Lux Capital.
"Leaps by Bayer's mission is to invest in breakthrough technologies that may transform the lives of millions of patients for the better. We believe that synthetic biology will become an important pillar in next-generation cell and gene therapy, and that Senti Bio's leadership in designing and optimizing biological circuits fits precisely with our ambition to prevent and cure cancer and to regenerate lost tissue function," Juergen Eckhardt, Leaps by Bayer Head.
Atos makes a $10bn DXC bid approach.
French IT firm Atos confirmed it has made a bid approach for US rival DXC Technology in what would be the deal-hungry IT consulting group’s biggest ever acquisition. Discussions are still at a preliminary stage and there is no certainty that the deal will go through.
The French firm, led by chief executive Elie Girard, made a formal approach to DXC this week, valuing the New-York listed company at more than $10bn including debt.
Atos is working with advisers on the potential offer for the former Hewlett Packard business, which would boost its presence in the United States, giving it access to a wide range of clients and B2B products, including analytics and cloud applications as well as IT outsourcing services, Reuters reported.
SoFi nears deal to go public with Chamath Palihapitiya-backed SPAC.
Online lending startup Social Finance is nearing a deal to go public through a merger with Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings, a blank-check acquisition company led by venture capital investor Chamath Palihapitiya, Reuters reported.
The deal would value SoFi at more than $6bn and could be announced in the coming days. The talks could still collapse and the terms could be changed.
EQT joins race for FirstGroup's US unit with a c.$3.7bn offer. (FS)
EQT's infrastructure fund joined the race for the US operations of FirstGroup, a transport operator. EQT Infrastructure proposed an offer of c.$3.7bn for First Student and First Transit just days before Christmas, SkyNews reported.
KKR is among the other contenders to acquire FirstGroup's US business.
Fifth Wall plans to raise funds through a property technology-focused SPAC. (FS)
Fifth Wall, a Los Angeles-based venture firm, is planning to raise capital through a special purpose acquisition company. The firm, founded by Brad Greiwe and Brendan Wallace, selected underwriters for a blank-check company that’s set to seek out a target in the property-technology sector. A listing could occur as soon as the current quarter.
Blank-check companies that may compete against the Fifth Wall vehicle for property-technology targets include PropTech Investment, Property Solutions Acquisition, and Lionheart Acquisition.
Roblox switches to direct listing from investment. (FS)
The funding will allow Roblox to go public without having to raise capital in an IPO. While the US Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a New York Stock Exchange proposal to allow companies to raise capital in a hybrid type of direct listing, no company has tested that model yet.
Roblox had been working with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan on the IPO, planning to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RBLX, Bloomberg reported.
CVC, CPPIB-backed Petco aims at a $4bn Nasdaq IPO. (FS)
CVC Capital and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board-backed Petco Health and Wellness Company, a retailer of pet products, aims to raise as much as $816m in its initial public offering, giving it a valuation of nearly $4bn.
Petco plans to price its offering of 48m shares, which will be listed on Nasdaq under the ticker 'WOOF', between $14 to $17 each.
Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are the lead underwriters of the IPO.
Princeville-backed Poema Global Holdings announces pricing of upsized $300m IPO.
Princeville Capital-backed Poema Global Holdings, a special purpose acquisition company, announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 30m units at a price of $10 per unit. The units were listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market and trade under the ticker symbol "PPGHU".
The company has granted the underwriter a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 4.5m units at the initial public offering price to cover over-allotments. Each unit consists of one Class A ordinary share of the company and one-half of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Class A ordinary share of the company at a price of $11.50 per share.
Poema Global is advised by Citigroup and UBS.
Access Holdings raises $340m for its inaugural private equity fund. (FS)
Access Holdings, a Baltimore-based mid-market investment firm specializing in a purposeful buy-and-build investment approach, closed its inaugural fund, raising $340m from 15 institutional investors. This is one of the largest inaugural closed-end funds raised by a Mid-Atlantic private equity firm.
The fund, Access Holdings Fund I, was oversubscribed and exceeded its target of $250m by 36% despite difficult circumstances imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the significant drop in the number of first-time private equity funds closings.
“I believe today’s fund closing demonstrates that Access Holdings is well-positioned to continue our purposeful buy-and-build approach. We are humbled by the confidence our new and existing investors have placed in us. I’m incredibly proud of our team’s hard work amid the economic uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and we are excited to continue identifying new business opportunities across North America in the coming year," Kevin McAllister, Access Holdings Founder and Managing Partner.
EMEA
Entain, a sports-betting and gaming group, offered to acquire Enlabs, a gaming company, for c. $343m. The acceptance period is expected to commence on or around January 21, 2021, and expire on or around February 18, 2021.
"The acquisition of Enlabs is perfectly aligned with our strategy of expanding across new regulated international markets. We are hugely excited by the growth opportunities it presents both in its existing markets and through new market opportunities. Enlabs is already a strong and rapidly growing business in its own right, but we now have a fantastic opportunity to turbocharge its growth by leveraging the power of our unparalleled proprietary technology, scale, product and marketing expertise," Shay Segev, Entain CEO.
Enlabs is advised by Mangold Fondkommission, Carnegie Investment Bank and Gernandt & Danielsson. Entain is advised by Lazard, Cobalt, Mannheimer Swartling and Powerscourt.
LIVEKINDLY, a collective of plant-based heritage and start-up brands, agreed to acquire No Meat, a vegan meat alternative company, from Iceland Foods, a British supermarket chain headquartered in Deeside, Wales. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"This acquisition is very complementary to our current portfolio further strengthening our position in the frozen sector of the fast-growing plant-based meat category. No Meat has been such an incredible success with its award-winning, great value and great tasting products. This acquisition is a big step in delivering our mission of making plant-based food the new norm," Domenico Speciale, LIVEKINDLY General Manager.
Iceland Foods is advised by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. LIVEKINDLY is advised by Morrison & Foerster.
Private equity firm HIG Capital agreed to invest in Makios Logistics, a provider of integrated logistics services and a specialist in temperature-controlled warehousing in Greece. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We are partnering with the company and its management as the ideal platform to grow and execute on HIG's logistics strategy in the region. Makios already possesses state of the art facilities and systems and together with HIG's hands-on operational approach, we plan to grow it into a regional champion. This transaction is another example of our ability to source off-market deals with significant value-add potential. We look forward to supporting the Makios team through the company's next exciting phase of organic and inorganic growth," Stelios Theodosiou, HIG Principal.
Lone Star shelves $4bn Quintain sale. (FS)
US private equity group Lone Star shelved the $4bn sale of its UK residential property company Quintain, blaming the worsening coronavirus situation, FT reported. Formal bids for Quintain, which owns the Wembley Park development site, were due to be submitted later this month. A sale at that price would make the deal the largest ever in the UK’s rented housing sector. But the sales process was aborted after a dramatic spike in coronavirus cases prompted a third national lockdown.
The company had attracted interest from three bidders: German fund manager Patrizia; Li Ka-shing-backed investment manager Long Harbour; and a consortium of investors behind Get Living, another major rental housing developer which owns the former Olympic Village in east London.
UniCredit's Italian investors opposed to Monte dei Paschi deal.
Eyewear tycoon Leonardo Del Vecchio, who owns 1.9% of UniCredit, opposes the lender taking over rival Monte dei Paschi and is in touch with other large Italian investors who share concerns about a potential deal, Reuters reported.
Rome is working on plans to make an MPS takeover more palatable to UniCredit and its shareholders. Rome is trying to reduce its 64% stake in Monte dei Paschi, after spending $6.6bn in a 2017 bailout of the world’s oldest bank. MPS now needs up to another $3bn to bolster its finances.
Playtika to raise $1.6bn on Nasdaq at c.$10bn.
Playtika Holding, an Israeli gaming company, is looking to raise as much as $1.6bn in the US initial public offering, giving it a valuation of nearly $10bn as it tries to cash in on demand for mobile-gaming during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Playtika is selling 21.7m new shares and its Chinese owners will sell 47.8m shares. In addition, the company's controlling shareholder, a Chinese consortium controlled by Playtika Holding, will sell 47.8m shares for about $1.1bn, and lower its holding from 96.7% to 80%.
Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse are acting as lead bookrunners for the IPO, with Goldman Sachs, UBS, Bank of America Merill Lynch, Baird, Stifel, Cowen, and Wedbush acting as additional bookrunners.
Delivery Hero considers raising up to $1.6bn in the war chest for deals.
Delivery Hero is raising as much as $1.6bn in a share sale, building a war chest for potential deals as the fight to dominate the food delivery market intensifies, Bloomberg reported.
The German company will sell as many as 9.44m new shares in an accelerated offering to bolster its cash position and take advantage of attractive investment opportunities. Delivery Hero has gathered enough orders for all the shares on offer.
JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley are the global coordinators on the share offering, alongside bookrunners HSBC and UniCredit.
Foresight Group holds close of FEIP at $530m. (FS)
Foresight Group, a private equity firm, held an interim close for Foresight Energy Infrastructure Partners with commitments of c.$530m. Including co-investments to date, this represents a total capital pool in excess of $740m.
“We are delighted to welcome our new investors. FEIP remains on track to become one of the leading platforms designed specifically to capture opportunities from the evolving energy infrastructure sector in Europe. We believe the sector is poised for significant growth given the well-publicised EU support for green recovery and the accelerating global transition to decentralised, digitised and decarbonised networks," Dan Wells and Richard Thompson, Foresight Partners.
APAC
Private equity firms, CarVal and Nithia Capital, completed the acquisition of Uttam Value Steels, a manufacturer of steel products, and Uttam Galva Metallics, an iron and steel manufacturer, for $273m.
"This transaction has been a great learning curve for us in doing business in India. In the process, we have been successful in fostering stronger ties with local institutions and businesses," Rajib Guha, Nithia Capital Partner.
CarVal was advised by AZB & Partners.
CATL, a Chinese battery manufacturer and technology company, led a $400m Series C2 funding round in Horizon Robotics, a provider of AI chips to robots and smart mobility and autonomous driving solutions. The round was joined by Baillie Gifford, YF Capital and CITIC PE.
Horizon has completed nearly 80% financing goal for its Series C round, with a total of $550m raised. The proceeds will be used to speed up the R&D and commercialization of the next-generation Level 4/5 smart automotive chips.
Hanwha Asset Management, a private equity firm, completed a $300m investment in Grab Financial Group, a provider of financial services.
This investment marks the first time that Grab has raised money from outside investors for the unit. The move suggests that the financial arm may go public separately from its parent company, although Grab hasn't publicly discussed its IPO plans.
ADQ, a holding company, agreed to invest $75m in Biocon Biologics, a biopharmaceutical company, valuing the company at $4.17bn.
"This investment is an endorsement of the value that the Biocon Biologics business has built as a fully integrated pure-play biosimilars company and will enable us to expand our capabilities further. We are committed to pursue our affordable innovation model to generate savings for the healthcare systems worldwide," Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Biocon Executive Chairperson.
SoftBank prepares six more IPO's for its portfolio companies.
SoftBank Group is preparing to take at least six more of its portfolio companies public this year, Bloomberg reported.
Among the companies heading for an IPO are Coupang, an e-commerce pioneer, Tokopedia, an Indonesian online mall operator, and Didi Chuxing, China's ride-hailing giant. The IPOs could give Masayoshi Son another round of enormous gains after successful offerings from DoorDash and KE Holdings in 2020.
Baidu picks CLSA, Goldman for its $3.5bn Hong Kong listing.
Chinese search engine giant Baidu selected CLSA and Goldman Sachs for its planned second listing in Hong Kong, which could raise at least $3.5bn. Baidu plans to sell shares in the Asian financial hub as soon as the first half of this year. The company could sell about 5% to 9% of its share capital, meaning the offering could raise at least $3.5bn based on its latest market value of almost $70bn.
Baidu joins a wave of US-listed Chinese firms in seeking a trading foothold in Hong Kong amid simmering tensions between the world’s two biggest economies. The past week has been a whirlwind for Chinese companies trading on American exchanges, Mint reported.
Goldman Sach, ADIA, and CPPIB-backed ReNew Power mulls a foreign IPO. (FS)
Goldman Sachs, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board-backed ReNew Power, a renewable energy company, is looking for an overseas listing of shares to raise funds as it invests in growth for the coming decade.
“As far as our own IPO plans are concerned, it’s something we are certainly evaluating and at an appropriate time we will certainly look at going forward on that side. ESG investing as a theme is becoming bigger and will continue to grow, and so I think the capital markets do offer us a good opportunity to raise capital at some point," Sumant Sinha, ReNew Power Chairman and Managing Director.
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