EMEA
Euronext outbids Nasdaq with $786m counter-offer for Oslo Bors.
Amcor wins conditional EU approval for $5.3bn Bemis buy.
Carlyle, Altor continue Europe's PE fundraising boom. (Financial Sponsors)
Smith & Nephew seek to buy NuVasive for over $3bn.
MTN looks for the share sale of African online retailer Jumia.
European VC investment hits €20B for the first time ever. (FS)
AMERICAS
Morgan Stanley acquired Solium for $900m.
Apollo nears $3bn deal to buy Cox TV stations. (FS)
Investor Cat Rock pushes towards Just Eat merger with Takeaway. (FS)
APAC
ANA Holdings, subsidiary All Nippon Airlines to acquire 9.5% stake in Philippines' PAL Holdings for $95m.
Indian investors looking to join Brookfield's investment trust for East-West Pipeline bid. (FS)
Citi dismisses Indosat merger after rumour-driven 100% rally.
India’s Oyo Rooms in talks to acquire Keys Hotels from Berggruen. (FS)
HDFC Capital plans new investment platforms for affordable housing.
|
Latest Deals
Your suggestions and comments support democratisation of M&A data. If you know anything worth sharing about the deals below, follow embeded links and submit your comments on transactions' pages.
|
EMEA
Euronext outbids Nasdaq with $786m counter-offer for Oslo Bors.
Euronext raised its bid for Oslo Bors to around 6.79bn Norwegian crowns ($786m), upping the stakes in a battle with Nasdaq for the Norwegian stock exchange operator.
The bidding war for one of the last independent stock markets in northern Europe follows consolidation which has been driven by the need to spend on technology and new entrants. By raising its offer to 158 Norwegian crowns ($18.3) per Oslo Bors share, hours before its opening gambit of 145 crowns ($17) was due to expire, Euronext outbid Nasdaq’s 152 crowns ($17.7) a share.
Although Euronext’s Chief Executive Stephane Boujnah said its bid offered “clear and superior benefits”, Oslo Bors Chief Executive Bente Landsnes told Reuters that she still backs Nasdaq’s offer, which also has the support from the largest shareholder, Norwegian bank DNB.
Oslo Bors is advised by Arctic Securities. Euronext is advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Rothschild & Co, SEB Corporate Finance, and Schjodt.
The UK’s competition regulator said the “reference period” for considering the proposed takeover of Asda by J Sainsbury will be extended by eight weeks to April 30.
In a brief statement, the Competition and Markets Authority cited the “scope and complexity” of the investigation along with the need to consider issues raised by the two companies and third parties. “It is necessary to allow sufficient time to take full and proper account of comments that will be received in response to the inquiry group’s provisional findings”, it added.
Sainsbury is advised by Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Brunswick. Walmart is advised by Rothschild & Co.
Amcor wins conditional EU approval for $5.3bn Bemis buy.
Australian packaging company Amcor secured EU antitrust approval for its $5.3bn buy of Bemis after agreeing to sell the US company’s medical packaging business in Europe to address competition concerns.
Amcor, the world’s biggest listed packaging company, announced the deal in August last year, which will add some new products to its portfolio and also boost its presence in the Americas.
The European Commission voiced concerns about the combined company’s strength in medical packaging, in which it would be three times larger than the second-ranked player. Amcor subsequently pledged to sell Bemis’s business in this sector.
Bemis was advised by Goldman Sachs, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Faegre Baker Daniels, and MinterEllison. Amcor was advised by Moelis & Co, UBS, Herbert Smith Freehills, and Kirkland & Ellis.
Nordic payments firm Nets, following its recent acquisition of Dotpay/eCard, will attain a majority stake of 51% in the consolidated Polish group that will include Przelewy24 and Dotpay/eCard. No financial terms were disclosed. Piotr Kurczewski will continue as CEO and shareholder of Przelewy24, with 49% of the consolidated group. Andrzej Budzik will continue as CEO of Dotpay/eCard. Poland’s payments landscape is characterised by “solid growth” in e-commerce volumes and “high growth potential” through cash to digital payments conversion. Przelewy24 has a product suite within e-commerce. Its inclusion in Nets aims to provide it with a broader portfolio of e-commerce solutions, increased industrial scale and “synergies” through joint innovation. Kurczewski comments: “With our offerings in the e-commerce area we will further strengthen our combined merchant services portfolio, and as part of the Nets Group we will be able to speed up innovation, building on our joint capabilities.”
Carlyle, Altor continue Europe's PE fundraising boom. (FS)
The Carlyle Group and Altor Equity Partners are collectively closing in on around €8.5bn ($9.6bn)-worth of commitments for their European buyout funds, in a sign that the private equity fundraising boom is still going strong.
US investor Carlyle confirmed in an earnings call last week that its fifth European buyout vehicle reached nearly €6bn ($6.8bn)-worth of commitments during 4Q. Reports from last year suggested that the firm's initial target was just €5bn ($5.7bn).
Nordic investor Altor has held a final close of its own fifth fund on a €2.5bn hard cap, after reportedly just four months on the road. The vehicle will look to invest across the Nordic and DACH regions, aiming for companies with revenues between €50m ($57m) and €500m ($570m).
Smith & Nephew seek to buy NuVasive for over $3bn.
Smith & Nephew has held talks to buy NuVasive, a maker of medical instruments used in spinal surgery, in a deal that would be worth more than $3bn and mark the largest acquisition by the British medical devices group.
If a deal is reached, the acquisition would signify the first major move by S&N’s chief executive Namal Nawana since he took up the post less than a year ago.
MTN looks for the share sale of African online retailer Jumia.
African online retailer Jumia is planning an initial public offering in New York this year that could value the business at about $1.5bn. Jumia’s largest shareholder MTN Group is planning to raise as much as $600m from selling its shares through the IPO.
European VC investment hits €20B for the first time ever. (FS)
Europe's venture capital investment eclipsed €20bn ($22.7bn) for the first time ever. Despite the 26% drop in deal volume year-over-year, swelling deal sizes and increased interest from nontraditional investors helped drive deal value to the high-water mark. As an example, the median early-stage deal size increased 87% from 2017, while late-stage median deal size increased by 68% over the same period.
However, with 31% fewer exits completed than in 2017, questions arose on the exit market's ability to ensure strong capital returns to a broader group of GPs and LPs.
International investors, nontraditional investors, and government programs have grown in importance as alternative sources of funding for angel & seed and early-stage startups.
AMERICAS
Ingersoll Rand, a world leader in creating comfortable, sustainable and efficient environments, acquired Precision Flow Systems, a leading provider of fluid management systems, from BC Partners and Carlyle for $1.4bn.
Once completed, PFS would combine with Ingersoll Rand’s Fluid Management business, which designs, manufactures, and markets pump for specialized fluid handling applications under the ARO brand. The PFS product portfolio is complementary to Ingersoll Rand’s Fluid Management portfolio.
“The proposed acquisition of PFS will accelerate the strategic growth of our highly profitable Fluid Management business in our Industrial segment, while significantly diversifying and enhancing our product portfolio. PFS brings a talented, customer-focused team with expertise in sales, service, engineering, and manufacturing, which is a great addition to the company and our Fluid Management team," Michael W. Lamach, Ingersoll Rand chairman and chief executive officer.
Precision Flow Systems is advised by Morgan Stanley and Latham & Watkins. Ingersoll Rand is advised by Goldman Sachs and Kirkland & Ellis. The Carlyle Group and BC Partners are advised by Latham & Watkins.
Morgan Stanley acquired Solium for $900m.
Morgan Stanley acquired Solium Capital, a leading global provider of software-as-a-service (SaaS) for equity administration, financial reporting and compliance for $900m. With this acquisition, Morgan Stanley is positioned to be an industry leader in Workplace Wealth Solutions, bringing together a major stock plan administration platform with a leading Wealth Management business.
Solium’s 3k stock plan clients, with one million participants, include Instacart, Levi Strauss, Shopify and Stripe and a range of fast-growing private companies, as well as newly public companies. Solium has a strong business-to-business salesforce, an industry-leading cloud-based service platform and is a leader in private company equity administration, which will complement and strengthen Morgan Stanley’s offering.
“The acquisition provides Morgan Stanley with broader access to corporate clients and a direct channel to their employees, as well as a greater opportunity to establish and develop relationships with a younger demographic and service this population early in their wealth accumulation years,” James Gorman, Morgan Stanley Chairman and CEO.
Morgan Stanley was advised by Davis Polk & Wardwell and Osler Hoskin & Harcourt.
Apollo nears $3bn deal to buy Cox TV stations. (FS)
Apollo Global Management is nearing a roughly $3bn agreement to acquire Cox Enterprises 14 regional TV stations, the biggest in a series of deals the private equity firm is lining up to become a force in US broadcasting.
Cox, a privately held media conglomerate whose holdings span automotive websites, newspapers and cable TV, has been seeking to exit the regional TV sector, which is going through a wave of consolidation. Operators are looking for a scale to counter the rise of online streaming and the shift of advertising dollars to the internet. Cox and Apollo are also discussing some JV agreements for Cox’s broadcast station in Atlanta, where Cox is headquartered and also has radio stations.
An agreement between Apollo and Cox could be announced later this week.
Investor Cat Rock pushes towards Just Eat merger with Takeaway. (FS)
An activist investor urged online food delivery firm Just Eat to pursue merger talks with a peer such as Takeaway, saying it did not trust the board to get the appointment of a new CEO right.
Cat Rock Capital, which has stakes in both Just Eat and Dutch-listed Takeaway, said Just Eat was likely to attract significant interest from potential partners if it chose to seek a deal as a route to strong management and growth.
“Cat Rock argues that a merger with a well-run industry peer would be a far better outcome for shareholders than relying on the board to choose a new CEO, particularly given the board’s poor record of CEO selection,” said Connecticut-based Cat Rock which has a stake of around 2% in Just Eat.
APAC
ANA Holdings, subsidiary All Nippon Airlines to acquire 9.5% stake in Philippines' PAL Holdings for $95m.
ANA Holdings, the parent of Japan’s largest carrier All Nippon Airways, has signed an agreement to acquire a 9.5% stake in the Philippines’ PAL Holdings for $95m.
ANA will acquire the shares from Trustmark Holdings Corporation, the largest shareholder in PAL Holdings. The Filipino company operates the country’s flag carrier Philippine Airlines.
Philippine Airlines has to date increased its fleet and network to almost 100 aircraft and 80 destinations. It launched the first Manila-Tokyo flight in 1.9k and currently operates 84 flights weekly on nine routes to Japan.
Passengers from the Philippines to Japan grew by five times over the past five years, said Shinya Katanozaka, ANA Holdings President and CEO. “Asia is a key growth market and we believe Philippine Airlines is in an excellent operational position to capitalise on both the strong uptick in air traffic growth as well as the vibrant, expanding Philippine economy."
Indian investors looking to join Brookfield's investment trust for East-West Pipeline bid. (FS)
A set of Indian investors are keen to join the infrastructure investment trust led by Brookfield Asset Management to buy East-West Pipeline for an enterprise value of 130bn rupees ($1.83bn), the Economic Times reported on Monday, quoting people aware of the development.
Investors such as ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company, the family office of the Poonawallas of Serum Institute and individuals like Uday Kotak - managing director and chief executive of Kotak Mahindra Bank - are expected to join the consortium.
Citi dismiss Indosat merger after rumor-driven 100% rally.
The Indosat's stock has doubled in a month on deal speculation. Citigroup analysts believe that a merger with PT Smartfren Telecom would make no sense for Indonesia’s PT Indosat.
Deal speculation has been rampant in Indonesia, and Communications Minister Rudiantara, a former telecom executive himself, said on Friday that consolidation “is a must” to make the industry more efficient, according to a Detik.com report. Last month, rumors of a deal with Vietnam’s Viettel Global Investment JSC sent Indosat shares for a wild ride and got denied.
India’s Oyo Rooms in talks to acquire Keys Hotels from Berggruen. (FS)
SoftBank-backed budget hotel chain Oyo is in talks to acquire Keys Hotels in India from US private equity and venture capital firm Berggruen Holdings, The Economic Times reported.
The $2bn Berggruen Holdings is the owner of Berggruen Hotels in India, which was founded in September 2006 to build and operate business hotels under the Keys brand.
Keys Hotels has a portfolio of about 21 hotels across 19 locations pan India including Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Gurugram, and Mahabaleshwar. The company had been scouting for buyers for a few years now and was seeking a valuation of $125m.
“Our acquisition strategy is targeted towards acquiring entities that assist us in building capabilities. We, therefore, look at selective but strategic investments that help build capabilities rather than just scale. We do not have any further announcements to make at the moment,” the spokesperson said.
HDFC Capital plans new investment platforms for affordable housing.
HDFC Capital is planning to form three joint venture platforms with real estate developers for investments in the affordable housing space.
HDFC Capital is said to have agreed to form a platform deal with Mumbai-based Rustomjee and is in talks with two other developers for similar deals. Last year, The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF)’s Fund of Funds invested $90m in HDFC Capital Advisors real estate investment platform HDFC Capital Affordable Real Estate – 2 (H-CARE 2).
|
Connect the World of Dealmakers
Expand your network of fellow Dealmakers by inviting your colleagues and coworkers.
Join Now
If you know someone who might enjoy this briefing forward this email. Subscribe to a Daily Review.
|
|
|
|
|
