EMEA
Charter Court Financial and OneSavings are set to create one of Britain’s biggest specialist lenders. The merger marks a significant step toward consolidation among “challenger banks” and gives the firms more heft to take on the bigger competitors.
The deal, which will create a lender with a combined market value of £1.75bn ($2.3bn), also comes amid a softening of the housing market in London after Britain voted to leave the European Union three years ago.
“It would be wrong if I said both boards haven’t thought about the timing of this. We have got a crazy political situation going on in the UK, an overhang of uncertainty,” OneSavings’ Chief Executive Officer Andy Golding told Reuters.
“We will become stronger together, and therefore we lean into that headwind of Brexit with a little weight behind us, and that ... is the rationale for not delaying the timing of the transaction,” he added.
Charter Court is advised by Citigate Dewe Rogerson, Credit Suisse, and RBC Capital. OneSavings is advised by Barclays, Rothschild & Co, and Brunswick Group.
E.ON’s planned acquisition of the retail and network activities of RWE subsidiary Innogy could take longer should Britain leave the European Union without a deal, RWE’s chief executive said.
“A hard Brexit may cause delays, but I’m confident that we will stay on track,” Rolf Martin Schmitz said in the company’s annual report.
Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Lazard, Hengeler Mueller, and Finsbury Hering Schuppene GPG advised Innogy. BNP, PWP, Allen & Overy and Linklaters advised E.ON. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Rothschild & Co and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised RWE, which acts as a seller in this transaction.
Eurazeo Capital has entered into exclusive discussions with Montagu Private Equity to acquire DORC (Dutch Ophthalmic Research Centre) for c. €300m ($339m).
“The acquisition of DORC fits perfectly with our investment strategy to support growing businesses with strong international development potential as they scale up. Widely recognized as innovative and best in a class by surgeons across the world, the Company delivers remarkable financial performance. We expect to leverage our international network to accelerate DORC’s growth.” Marc Frappier, Eurazeo Capital Managing Partner and Head.
DORC operates in the medical technology sector and is one of the leading global specialists of vitreoretinal surgery, through designing, manufacturing and distributing ophthalmic surgery equipment, consumables and instruments.
Montagu is advised by HSBC and RBC Capital Markets. Eurazeo is advised by Havas.
RSK Group has acquired Headland Archaeology, a UK-based, privately owned provider of heritage services to the development and construction sectors. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We have differentiated ourselves in a market saturated by the not-for-profit sector to build a robust, commercial business that put clients’ needs first. Joining with RSK will further enhance the business, enable us to build on our strengths and provide our staff with new opportunities.” Tim Holden, Headland Archaeology managing director.
Primonial, which is backed by Bridgepoint and Credit Mutual, acquired an additional 60% in La Financière de l'Echiquier (LFDE), his domestic competitor. Financial terms were not disclosed.
LFDE is a critical player in Asset Management in France and is trying to expand its functions with the help of Primonial.
"We welcome the progress and tremendous success made by LFDE with the Primonial. We know it is a good time to pursue our development strategy at European level".
VTB to transfer its stake in Venezuela's Evrofinance to Russian state for free.
Russia’s state bank VTB has reached an agreement to transfer its 25% stake in Russian-Venezuelan lender Evrofinance Mosnarbank that is under US sanctions to the Russian state's Federal Property Management Agency for free, Reuters told.
Andrey Kostin, VTB's CEO, also, told reporters that VTB might get a stake in Rostelecom itself, after agreeing to sell its stake in another phone operator, Tele2, to Rostelecom.
Russia and China completed the acquisition of a minority stake in Intergeo, controlled by a Russian oligarch, Mikhail Prohorov.
Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund said it had completed a joint deal with the Russia-China Investment fund and a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund to acquire a 9.5% stake in Russian mining company Intergeo.
Intergeo, a part of Onexim Group, which manages the assets of Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, is developing its Kingash deposit in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region and Ak-Sug deposit in the southern Siberian Tuva region.
AMERICAS
Equitrans Midstream and together with Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners acquired a 60% interest in Eureka Midstream Holdings and a 100% interest in Hornet Midstream Holdings for total consideration of $1bn.
These two pipelines connect the Marcellus and Utica shale basins, the nation’s most significant gas producing region.
“These assets will complement EQM’s basin-leading gathering and transmission system, allowing us to continue being the low-cost provider for gas transportation and, increasingly, for water handling as well. As we continue to implement our plan, we are committed to maintaining our strong balance sheet and to delivering shareholder value.” Thomas F. Karam, EQM CEO.
EQM was advised by Citigroup, Guggenheim Partners, and Latham & Watkins.
SoftBank and Toyota consider $1bn investment in Uber's self-driving unit.
A group of investors led by SoftBank and Toyota is in talks to invest $1bn or more into Uber’s self-driving vehicle unit, which would value the unit at $5bn to $10bn.
The investment would provide a cash injection for Uber’s self-driving program that is costing the money-losing startup hundreds of millions of dollars without generating revenue.
It could also help underscore Uber’s value as the ride-hailing firm prepares for a stock market debut in which its value could top $100bn.
Petrobras asks for participation on Supreme Court divestment cases.
Brazilian state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro has formally requested the right to participate in an ongoing legal dispute that could have implications for its multibillion-dollar divestment program, Reuters reported.
According to the legal document, the company filed a request that would allow it to present arguments and defend its points of view regarding a significant case before Brazil’s Supreme Court, which concerns the sale of subsidiaries by state-run firms.
Brazil's Azul seeks to take over Avianca Brasil's planes at lower lease rates.
Brazilian airline Azul hopes to take over 30 of struggling Avianca Brasil’s aircraft at cheaper lease rates, take control of two-thirds of Avianca’s airport slots and rehire many of its workers while avoiding its crippling debts and any labor disputes, Chief Executive John Rodgerson said.
If the bid is successful, it will restructure the domestic Brazilian air travel market, reducing the number of big players from four to three.
APAC
Cube Highways acquired a special purpose vehicle of Reliance Infrastructure in northern India, which is holding and operating the toll road for an enterprise value of 36.09bn rupees ($519m).
This will help the Reliance Infrastructures to reduce its debt by 25%. The decision is in line with the company’s strategy to monetize non-core business and aim to be debt-free by the end of the financial year.
AVID Property offered $197m for Villa World, an Australian-based real estate developer. The deal value represents a share premium of 12.1%.
The offer comes at a time of significant downturn in Australia’s once-booming property market. Housing prices have declined consistently since late 2017 amid tighter lending restrictions.
Villa World has also been a casualty of the economic downturn with the company saying in December it would not achieve its fiscal 2019 guidance, due to deteriorating residential housing market conditions and customer sentiment.
Everstone, through its healthcare platform Everlife, has acquired a stake in Chennai-based CPC Diagnostics. Financial terms were not disclosed.
CPC Diagnostics supplies a wide range of products and services to research and clinical laboratories. With this strategic investment, Everlife plans to support CPC’s manufacturing and distribution capabilities within India and South-East Asia, to become the leading IVD distributor in India.
“We are delighted to invest in CPC Diagnostics and help scale up its presence across the diagnostics sector. Its strong manufacturing and R&D capabilities make them an ideal partner for us, and we will help them expand in markets beyond India. Everlife can also leverage on CPC to grow its value segment range of products, to cater to the growing demand of quality medical devices within emerging markets.” Arjun Oberoi, Vice Chairman, Everlife and Managing Director, Everstone Capital.
Permodalan Nasional and Employees Provident Fund completed the acquisition of $2bn London commercial assets. (RE)
Malaysia’s government-linked investment funds Permodalan Nasional (PNB), and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) had completed the acquisition of commercial assets in Phase 2 of the Battersea Power Station development in London for £1.6bn ($2bn).
The Battersea Power Station is set to start operations by late 2020, accounting for some six acres of the overall 42-acre site and is regarded as the jewel in the crown of the project. UK-based Battersea Power Station Development (BPSDC) will continue as the development, estate and asset manager for all phases of the overall event.
“The closure of this transaction marks a significant milestone for all parties involved as it allows the parties to focus on what they do best respectively and specifically enhance the roles each plays in the overall Battersea project,” said BPSDC chairman Wong Tuck Wai.
Audi considers the stake increase in its China JV.
VW Group, premium brand Audi is reviewing whether to raise its stake in its Chinese joint venture partner companies, the brand’s China chief Alexander Seitz said.
“At the end of this year or beginning next year we will know more. We welcome the opening of the Chinese market. Any decision on how to proceed will not be taken only by ourselves - all our stakeholders will be included in the process.” Seitz said to Reuters.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia holds its planed demerger.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia had halted preparations for the planned demerger of its wealth management and mortgage broking businesses, amid regulatory uncertainty and unfinished work to compensate wronged clients.
Australia’s largest lender said that while it would “ultimately” exit the business, it would instead prioritize refunding customers, remediating past “issues” and implementing some of the recommendations from a year-long misconduct inquiry.
Baring nears the acquisition of AGS Health for $320m. (FS)
Baring Private Equity is close to acquiring medical revenue cycle management (RCM) company AGS Health for around $320m.
According to the news report, Baring Asia topped a rival offer from home-grown private equity firm Everstone Capital to emerge as the top bidder.
EQT open to exploring opportunities in Asia with its new $10.2bn infrastructure fund. (FS)
EQT Partners has announced the final close of its fourth infrastructure fund – EQT Infrastructure IV – at its hard cap of €9bn ($10.2bn), with plans to opportunistically explore opportunities in the Asia Pacific region.
APG and Piramal are planning to raise $500m for second India fund. (FS)
Dutch pension fund manager APG Asset Management and Piramal Enterprises are planning to raise a second fund of about $500m to invest in infrastructure projects in India.
For the first fund, the two entities had announced a joint corpus of $750m in 2014, most of which has already been invested. In 2014, the duo had published a strategic alliance for investing in rupee denominated mezzanine instruments issued by infrastructure companies in India with a target investment of $1bn over the next three years. PEL and APG had each initially committed $375m for investments under the strategic alliance.
Pernod considers the sale of its wine division.
Pernod Ricard is considering a sale of its wine division, which includes Australia’s Jacob’s Creek and Spain’s Campo Viejo labels.
The world’s second-largest distiller has held early discussions on a potential sale of the unit, which has sales of about $500m. Deliberations are at a preliminary stage, and Pernod may ultimately decide to retain the business, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.
“As a matter of policy, the company doesn’t comment on rumor or speculation,” Pernod Ricard said.
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