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AMERICAS
First Advantage, a provider of employment background screening, identity, and verification solutions, agreed to acquire Sterling Check, a provider of background screening and identity services, for $2.2bn.
“We are thrilled to announce the acquisition of Sterling, demonstrating our commitment to delivering high-quality, cost-effective employment background screening and identity verification solutions that enhance value for customers by helping them hire smarter and onboard faster, while also positioning First Advantage for long-term value creation,” Scott Staples, First Advantage Chief Executive Officer.
First Advantage is advised by BMO Capital Markets, Bank of America, Barclays, JP Morgan, Jefferies & Company, RBC Capital Markets, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and FGS Global (led by Liz Zale). Debt financing is provided by BMO Capital Markets, Bank of America, Barclays, Jefferies & Company, and RBC Capital Markets. Sterling Check is advised by Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson.
Ares Management, a global alternative investment manager, completed the investment in GI Partners-backed Bluepeak, a provider of reliable high-speed internet. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Bluepeak is committed to providing reliable, high-speed internet and top-tier customer service to our communities. We are incredibly proud of the Bluepeak team's accomplishments to date, and we are excited to bring our services to additional communities with the benefit of this capital injection from Ares," Rich Fish, Bluepeak CEO.
Bluepeak was advised by Bank Street Group, TD Securities, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Ares Management was advised by Kirkland & Ellis. GI Partners was advised by Chris Tofalli Public Relations (led by Chris Tofalli).
Titan International, a global manufacturer of off-highway wheels, tires, assemblies, and undercarriage products, completed the acquisition of Carlstar Group, a supplier of specialty tires and wheels, for $296m.
"I am delighted to announce our acquisition of Carlstar, which closed this morning. This is a transformative deal for Titan as it expands our manufacturing and distribution footprint while also further diversifying our product portfolio and key customer relationships, making Titan a "one-stop shop" within the specialty wheel and tire space. Carlstar's exciting catalogue of products are utilized primarily by consumers, which is a much different market than Ag. In outdoor power equipment and power sports, Carlstar wheels and tires can be found on products such as ATV/UTVs, lawn mowers and golf carts. Their tires can also be found on high-speed trailers where performance is a key differentiator. In the Ag market, Carlstar products are typically found on equipment such as backhoes and small skid-steer units, giving Titan a best in class offering," Paul Reitz, Titan International President and CEO.
Titan was advised by Goldman Sachs and Bodman. Carlstar was advised by UBS, Baker Botts, and Sidley Austin.
VINCI Concessions, a road mobility concessions company, agreed to acquire a 43.3% stake in Northwest Parkway, a Denver-based toll road project, from Northleaf Capital, a private markets investment firm.
“Northleaf’s successful exit from Northwest Parkway showcases the benefits of our infrastructure strategy and our focus on mid-market infrastructure assets with stable cashflow profiles, strong yield and inflation linkage. The ability to proactively source, prudently manage and opportunistically exit core infrastructure assets to deliver attractive returns for our investors is a hallmark of our investment approach," Jamie Storrow, Northleaf Head of Infrastructure.
Endava, a technology services company combining world-class engineering, industry expertise and a people-centric mindset, agreed to acquire GalaxE, a global IT and business solutions provider, for $405m.
“We are delighted for the GalaxE team to join Endava. This acquisition fits with our vision and strategy of providing our clients with a global delivery platform. As our first footprint in India, it gives us access to a deep and sophisticated talent pool and positions us well for meeting increasingly complex customer needs. Additionally, we believe that GalaxE’s deep expertise in Healthcare will help us scale to one of our most desirable and fast-growing industry verticals,” John Cotterell, Endava CEO.
Endava is advised by Bank of America and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. GalaxE is advised by JP Morgan and White & Case.
Devon Energy, a pioneer in shale oil and gas, led a $244m round in Fervo Energy, a company specializing in next-generation geothermal development, with participation from Galvanize Climate Solutions, John Arnold, Liberty Mutual Investments, Marunouchi Innovation Partners, Mercuria, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Capricorn, Congruent Ventures, DCVC, Elemental Excelerator, Helmerich & Payne, and Impact Science Ventures.
“Demand for around-the-clock clean energy has never been higher, and next-generation geothermal is uniquely positioned to meet this demand. Our technology is fully derisked, our pricing is already competitive, and our resource pipeline is vast. This investment enables Fervo to continue to position geothermal at the heart of 24/7 carbon-free energy production," Tim Latimer, Fervo CEO and Co-Founder.
BlackRock, an investment company, completed the investment in Lone Peak Dental Group, a pediatric specialty dental support organization, with participation from Memorial Hermann, a not-for-profit health system in southeast Texas. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Since our founding, serving overlooked and underserved communities has been central to our investing thesis. We are pleased to partner with the BlackRock Impact Opportunities Fund and help Lone Peak continue its growth and mission to provide quality dental care services to communities in need," Scott Porter, Brightwood Managing Director.
Lone Peak was advised by Robert W Baird (led by Jason Porter). Debt financing was provided by Brightwood Capital and LBC Credit Partners.
Amwins, a global distributor of specialty insurance products and services, agreed to acquire Connected Risk Solutions, an insurance brokerage agency, from BRP Group, an independent insurance distribution firm delivering tailored insurance and risk management insights and solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We are pleased that the Connected Risk Solutions team is joining the Amwins' Brokerage team so that we can collectively leverage our expertise, particularly in the specialty areas of healthcare and cyber," Jeff McNatt, Amwins President.
Microsoft, Nvidia, and Amazon, an American multinational technology companies, led a $675m Series B round in Figure, a financial services company that uses blockchain technology for loan origination, equity management, private fund services, banking, and payments sectors, with participation from Jeff Bezos, OpenAI Startup Fund, Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, Parkway Venture Capital, Intel Capital, Align Ventures, and ARK Invest.
"We've always planned to come back to robotics and we see a path with Figure to explore what humanoid robots can achieve when powered by highly capable multimodal models," Peter Welinder, OpenAI Vice President.
Fiserv, Amadeus vie to acquire Shift4 Payments.
Fiserv and Amadeus IT Group are competing to acquire Shift4 Payments, a payments processor that has a market value of nearly $7bn, Reuters reported.
Fiserv and Amadeus are the two main contenders in a sale process that Shift4 has been running, and are preparing to submit final offers in the coming weeks.
International Game Technology to merge two units with Everi in $6.2bn deal.
International Game Technology said on February 29 that it was separating its Global Gaming and PlayDigital businesses and combining them with gaming machine maker Everi in a deal valued at $6.2bn, including debt, Reuters reported.
The deal follows a review of the two units and will leave IGT a pure-play global lottery business by separating its offerings such as land-based gaming, iGaming, sports-betting and fintech. The lottery business made up over half of its overall revenue in the third quarter.
Shell's US solar unit launches asset sale.
Shell's US solar business Savion has put around a quarter of its assets up for sale as the oil major extends a retreat from owning renewables projects under CEO Wael Sawan, Reuters reported.
Investment bank Jefferies is running the sale of up to 10.6 gigawatts of solar generation and storage assets currently in development or parts of those projects.
Sandoz enters a $265m settlement agreement in a US price-fixing case.
Swiss generic and biosimilar manufacturer Sandoz on February 29 said it had entered into a $265m settlement agreement in a price-fixing case in the United States, Reuters reported.
The company said its US subsidiaries had agreed to pay $265m in a lawsuit with a class of direct drug purchasers, an agreement that does not contain any admission of wrongdoing by the Swiss company. The agreement, which is subject to court approval, would also release Sandoz of all the claims asserted against it by the settlement class members.
Chemours places CEO, CFO on leave amid review; shares tank. (People)
Chemours has placed its top three executives, including CEO Mark Newman, on administrative leave and said it was looking into potential material weaknesses in its financial reporting, sending its shares plunging 37% in premarket trade, Reuters reported.
The weaknesses included the effectiveness of the "tone at the top" set by certain members of senior management, the chemicals maker said on February 28, adding CFO Jonathan Lock and Principal Accounting Officer Camela Wisel were also placed on leave.
Snowflake shares sink on weak forecast, surprise CEO retirement. (People)
Snowflake shares slid 21% on February 29 after the cloud data storage services provider projected annual revenue below Wall Street estimates and disclosed a surprise retirement of long-time CEO Frank Slootman, Reuters reported.
The company, valued at $76bn as of the February 28 close, was on track to about $16bn in market capitalization if losses hold. Snowflake expects product revenue of $3.3bn in fiscal year 2025, and between $745m and $750m for the quarter ending April, both below Wall Street expectations.
Trucking firm J.B. Hunt names Shelley Simpson as new CEO. (People)
US trucking firm J.B. Hunt named Shelley Simpson as its new CEO on February 29, succeeding John Roberts, Reuters reported.
Shelley, who also serves as the president of the company, will assume the new role effective July 1. The company said its current executive chairman of the board, Kirk Thompson, will retire from his role and will take on an advisory role. J.B. Hunt's outgoing CEO, John Roberts, will take over Thompson's role.
EMEA
US-based warehousing firm GXO Logistics offered to buy UK peer Wincanton, for about £762m ($964m), topping an offer by CEVA Logistics. The offer of 605 ($7.6) pence per share is about 26% higher than CEVA's offer of 480 pence. Wincanton's shares jumped as much as 19.6% to a record high of 609 pence, indicating that investors may be hoping for a higher bid.
"Wincanton is a world class business, and we have long been impressed by their high-quality people and diverse customer relationships across key industries. The combination of GXO’s technological capabilities and global reach with Wincanton’s proven expertise in the UK and Ireland markets will enhance our offering for the benefit of both companies’ current and future customers. Our superior offer reflects our conviction in the value of this business and the opportunities the combined company will realize," Malcolm Wilson, GXO Chief Executive Officer.
VAALCO Energy, a company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration, agreed to acquire Svenska Petroleum Exploration, a privately-held exploration and production company, for $67m.
“Building a diversified portfolio of high performing assets is a key component of our strategic vision. We believe that this acquisition enhances all the key aspects of our strategy. It provides us with additional diversification, strong production and reserves from a proven producing asset, significant organic upside opportunity that is well defined, enhances our ability to generate sustainable cash flow and continue to return cash to shareholders," George Maxwell, VAALCO Chief Executive Officer.
Svenska is advised by Evercore, GKA Advisors and Fieldfisher. VAALCO is advised by Stifel (led by Callum Stewart), Mayer Brown, Al Petrie Advisors (led by Al Petrie) and Buchanan (led by Ben Romney).
Bruker, an international life science research and diagnostics solutions provider, agreed to acquire ELITech, a global manufacturer of in-vitro diagnostics, from PAI Partners, a private equity firm, for $744m.
“ELITechGroup is the company that it is today thanks to our teams' hard work and drive for innovation, and our partnership with PAI. Establishing this unique business within Bruker - a well-respected global life-science tools and specialty diagnostics company - provides an exciting opportunity to further grow our molecular diagnostics, microbiology and biomedical systems portfolios. We expect to capitalize on infectious disease portfolio and commercial synergies for opportunities to further expand our portfolio, utilizing R&D innovations and global customer support within Bruker,” Christoph Gauer, ELITechGroup CEO.
Apheon, a mid-market private equity investment company, completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Fiabila, a cosmetics supplier specialized in nail products. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Fiabila is a full-service solution provider, offering R&D to packaging for clients, both local and international, from prestige to mass market, across all categories. Over the years, Fiabila has become the global leader in the development, manufacturing and packaging of nail polish and nail care products worldwide with 10 state-of-the-art production sites in France, the US, Brazil, India, Japan and Poland.
Fiabila was advised by DC Advisory (led by David Benin).
Elevation Advisors, a specialist investment manager in the European senior living, agreed to acquire UK activities from Clariane Group, a company that provides nursing homes, post-acute, rehabilitation care clinics, for £207m ($243m).
"The good conditions in which this operation was carried out testify to the quality of the work carried out by our teams to set up and develop the Berkley Care network. Elevation is a long-standing partner that shares our values and our commitment to social and environmental issues, and that will be able to continue to develop the business with the full association of local management team to the success over the long term. With this first transaction, and the sale of 6 property assets in the Netherlands we were announced on 5th February, we are demonstrating our ability to rapidly implement actions to reduce our debt in order to strengthen our financial structure, in line with the commitments announced on 14 November,” Sophie Boissard, Clariane Chief Executive Officer and Director.
Greg Coffey is in talks to buy EMSO and create a $13bn hedge fund firm. (FS)
Greg Coffey is in talks to acquire Emso Asset Management to create a money manager with $13bn in combined assets as the macro trader diversifies his hedge fund firm, Bloomberg reported.
Discussions are at an advanced stage between Coffey's Kirkoswald Asset Management and emerging markets-focused EMSO, which manages $5bn. The transaction would see EMSO founder Mark Franklin and his team move over to Kirkoswald.
BC Partners revives plans for $9.7bn Springer Nature sale. (FS)
Springer Nature's private equity backer is dusting off plans to list the German academic publisher amid growing optimism around initial public offerings, Reuters reported.
BC Partners is in the early stages of exploring options for its 47% stake in Springer Nature, including a potential IPO as soon as the second half of the year. Springer Nature, the publisher of the science journal Nature and Scientific American, could be valued at up to $9.7b, including debt. Deliberations are still preliminary, and there is no certainty that a transaction will happen.
Billionaire Kretinsky is said to weigh renewed bid for Atos.
Billionaire Daniel Kretinsky is weighing a renewed takeover offer for parts of Atos after walking away from a previous bid for a unit of the embattled French IT company, Bloomberg reported.
Kretinsky's decision may depend on whether Atos' court-appointed mediator asks his group to take part in ongoing discussions with creditors about refinancing the tech company's debt and restructuring its business.
LSEG confirms £1bn buyback after in-line 2023 earnings. (FS)
London Stock Exchange Group reported preliminary income for 2023 at the higher end of guidance and confirmed plans to buy £1bn ($1.27bn) in shares this year directly from Thomson Reuters and Blackstone, Reuters reported.
"We continued our track record of broad-based growth, despite an uncertain environment, and delivered on all the targets we set at the time of the Refinitiv acquisition," David Schwimmer, LSEG Chief Executive.
Puma launches €100m share buyback programme.
German sports apparel company Puma plans to return up to 50% of its net income to shareholders. The company will now return between 25-40% of the Group's net income in dividends, up from 25-35%, Reuters reported.
The first tranche of a share buyback programme will begin in March 2024 and end on May 6 2025 with Puma expecting to buy back and then cancel €100m ($108m) worth of shares.
Dubai's housing boom prompts Emaar to start a $21bn project.
A Dubai-based developer, best known for their work on the world's tallest tower, is splashing out $21bn to build two luxury neighbourhoods in the city and capitalize on the booming real estate market, Bloomberg reported.
Emaar Properties is starting sales at The Heights Country Club, an 81m square feet development. Residences are also up for grabs at Grand Club Resort, a project that will stretch over 60m square feet and is set to feature a wellness resort.
Siemens energy takes on €4bn credit line after Gamesa loss.
Siemens Energy has obtained a €4bn ($4.3bn) credit line that replaces an existing facility of its own as well as for its loss-making Gamesa wind turbine unit, Bloomberg reported.
The new five-year revolving facility refinances an existing €3bn ($3.2bn) credit line for Siemens Energy and a €2bn ($2.2bn) one for Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. A consortium of 26 international banks committed to the new debt.
Geely-backed EV maker Polestar secures $950m via debt financing.
Swedish luxury electric vehicle maker Polestar has secured a $950m three-year syndicated loan facility from 12 international banks, as the firm expects cash flow to break even next year, DealStreetAsia reported.
The syndicates of global banks that joined the debt financing round include BNP Paribas, Natixis, Standard Chartered, BBVA, HSBC, and SPDB. The funding will finance Polestar for its next stage of development as well as cover a large majority of its financing needs. Polestar delivered around 55k vehicles globally in 2023, which fell short of its target of 60k-70k. In another whammy, the EV maker is planning 15% job cuts this year, after laying off 10% employees since mid-2023.
Grifols tumbles as earnings fail to calm jittery investors.
Grifols shares fell in Madrid after the company released an upbeat full-year earnings report that failed to calm investors still stunned by a short-seller attack earlier in the year, Bloomberg reported.
The stock fell as much as 10% — the most since January 12 — following the unaudited release, which showed profit up 27% in the fourth quarter, a result that had been expected to help the embattled company recover from fraud allegations by a short-seller.
Galderma's net sales top $4bn in 2023 ahead of potential IPO.
Swiss dermatology company Galderma on February 29 said it generated more than $4bn in net sales during 2023, up 8.5% on 2022 on a constant currency basis, driven by momentum across its dermatological skincare and injectable aesthetics products, Reuters reported.
The results come ahead of a possible initial public offering, as Galderma is among a handful of companies considering going public on Europe's stock exchanges in the first half of the year if market conditions allow.
APAC
Sony is said to have withdrawn the agreement to merge its India operations with Zee Entertainment from a local company court, taking the final step in scrapping a two-year-old plan that sought to create a $10bn media giant, Bloomberg reported.
The Japanese entertainment firm filed multiple filings to India's National Company Law Tribunal on February 29 to pull out of the merger pact with Zee. While the court filings officially bring the curtain down on the long-drawn saga that was beset by delays, drama over who'll lead the merged entity and a regulatory probe on Zee's founders, legal wrangles will likely continue.
ErudiFi, a mission-driven technology company focused on making education affordable in Southeast Asia, completed the acquisition of Doyobi, an edtech startup. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Doyobi empowers students to excel academically and develop life skills for the real world.
India okays $15bn of milestone chip plant investments.
India's government has approved $15bn worth of investments in semiconductor fabrication plants, including a Tata Group proposal to build the country's first major chipmaking facility, Bloomberg reported.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet approved Tata's plan to build an $11bn site that can fabricate about 50k wafers per month. The government also cleared Tata's separate proposal for a $3bn-plus chip assembly plant and a packaging venture between Japan's Renesas Electronics and the Murugappa Group's CG Power and Industrial Solutions.
Japan's SoftBank cuts stake in India's Paytm to under 3%. (FS)
Japan's SoftBank Group has further reduced its stake in beleaguered Indian payments firm Paytm to 2.83% from 5.01%. The conglomerate, which held a 17.5% stake in Paytm in September 2022, has trimmed its ownership for more than a year through multiple open market deals, with its most recent cut being in January, Reuters reported.
While some global investors like Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and China's Alibaba Group exited the firm in 2023, others, including a Netherlands-based unit of Chinese fintech firm Ant Financial, cut their stake.
IFC proposes $150m investment in Vietnam-based commercial bank OCB. (FS)
The International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, has proposed an investment of up to $150m in Vietnam-based Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank, DealStreetAsia reported.
The financing package, which is in the form of a 5-year senior loan, will be used to expand OCB's lending to eligible climate and social sustainability projects and support the growth of its sustainability portfolio. Established in 1996, the Ho Chi Minh City-headquartered bank provides a wide range of commercial banking products and services to both retail and commercial clients.
Foreign investors withdraw from Japanese stocks amid record highs.
Japanese stocks experienced a slight outflow of foreign capital last week, following a series of robust purchases in previous weeks. In the holiday-shortened week that ended February 22, foreigners withdrew a net JPY2.8bn ($19m) out of Japanese stocks, marking their first weekly sale in three weeks, Reuters reported.
In cash equities, they ended a seven-week buying streak with withdrawals of about JPY79bn ($524m) on a net basis. On the contrary, they still purchased about JPY76bn ($505m) of derivatives contracts. The Nikkei share average hit a record high on February 27, surpassing the 1989 bubble-era peak, driven by a tech rally, corporate governance reforms, and a weaker currency.
Thai PE firm Lakeshore Capital eyes up to $250m for third fund. (FS)
Thailand-based private equity firm Lakeshore Capital is seeking to raise $250m for its third fund. The firm has not yet launched its next fund, and the target corpus could change, DealStreetAsia reported.
Lakeshore's predecessor fund, Lakeshore Capital II LP, made its final close in early 2021 at a hard cap of $150m. The second fund corpus was more than double the size of its debut vehicle, which closed at $60m in 2015.
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