AMERICAS
Obsidian Energy announced that it has extended the expiry of its offer to purchase all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Bonterra Energy untill Monday, March 29, 2021.
"Obsidian Energy is uniquely positioned to be a true 'Cardium Champion', and we have heard from many Bonterra stakeholders who are supportive of our Offer and industry consolidation. Unfortunately, Bonterra's entrenched founder/CEO/Chairman, George Fink, and his fellow Bonterra Board members have continued to seek to discredit Obsidian Energy and our Offer through misinformation, fearmongering and questionable trading activities," Stephen Loukas, Interim President and CEO.
Bonterra is advised by Borden Ladner Gervais, Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg and Laurel Hill. Obsidian is advised by Tudor Pickering Holt, Bennett Jones, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, Stikeman Elliott and Longview Communications. Tudor Pickering Holt is advised by Alston & Bird.
NCR, a global enterprise technology provider for the financial, retail and hospitality industries, agreed to acquire Cardtronics, a non-bank ATM operator and service provider, for $2.5bn. Cardtronics terminated its previously announced acquisition agreement with Apollo Global Management and paid the termination fee of $32.6m.
"This transaction accelerates the NCR-as-a-Service strategy we laid out at Investor Day in December, further shifts NCR’s revenue mix to software, services and recurring revenue, and adds value for our customers,” Michael D. Hayford, NCR President and Chief Executive Officer.
Cardtronics is advised by Goldman Sachs, Ashurst, Weil Gotshal and Manges and Joele Frank. NCR is advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Sard Verbinnen & Co. Debt financing is provided by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Foley Trasimene Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company, agreed to merge with Blackstone-backed Alight Solutions, a cloud-based provider of integrated digital human capital and business solutions, in a $7.3bn deal. Alight will become a publicly traded entity under the symbol ALIT. Completion of the transaction is subject to approval by Foley Trasimene stockholders, the effectiveness of a registration statement to be filed with the SEC in connection with the transaction, and other customary closing conditions, including the receipt of certain regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021.
“Stephan and the leadership team have already positioned Alight as the market leader in employee benefit and business solutions and we believe there is significant opportunity to further transform the business and create value for shareholders. Through our partnership, we will leverage our proven playbook and Alight’s unique position between employees and employers to increase revenue growth and margin expansion. Alight is poised to be the preeminent employee engagement partner, and we look forward to assisting Stephan and the team in achieving this goal,” William P. Foley, II, Foley Trasimene Founder and Chairman.
Alight Solutions is advised by Barclays, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Kirkland & Ellis and Joele Frank. Foley Trasimene is advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Weil Gotshal and Manges and Solebury Trout.
ION Acquisition, a SPAC, agreed to merge with Taboola, a powering recommendations for the open web provider, in a $2.6bn deal. Institutional investors will purchase c. $285m of Taboola ordinary shares in a private investment that is expected to close concurrently with the business combination, of which approximately $150m will be purchased from existing shareholders of Taboola. Investors providing PIPE financing include Fidelity, Baron Capital, BlackRock, Hedosophia, Federated Hermes Kaufmann Funds and Exor Seeds.
"We believe Taboola is an open web recommendation leader that is well positioned to challenge the walled gardens. We were looking to merge with a global technology leader with Israeli DNA and we found that in Taboola. The combination of long-term partnerships built by the company with thousands of open web digital properties, their direct access to advertisers, massive global reach and proven AI technology, allows Taboola to provide significant value to their partners while also achieving attractive unit economics as the company grows," Gilad Shany, ION CEO.
Taboola is advised by Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Latham & Watkins and Meitar Law Offices. ION is advised by Cowen & Company, Goldfarb Seligman & Co and White & Case.
Apollo Global-backed Spartan Acquisition II, a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company, agreed to merge with Sunlight Financial, a US residential solar financing platform, in a $1.3bn deal. Upon the closing of the transaction, existing Sunlight equityholders are expected to own approximately 50% of the combined company, Spartan stockholders are expected to own approximately 26%, and PIPE participants are expected to own approximately 19%.
In connection with the transaction, investors led by Chamath Palihapitiya, Coatue, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Franklin Templeton and accounts advised by Neuberger Berman have committed to invest $250m in a private purchase of Spartan’s Class A Common Stock at $10 per share immediately prior to the closing of the transaction.
“We are excited to team up with Sunlight to enable the energy transition by providing affordable, responsible financing for customers to own their residential solar systems. Matt and the Sunlight team have built an outstanding, proprietary fintech platform to pursue that mission. The business has substantial operating leverage, which well prepares Sunlight to grow and profit for years to come,” Geoffrey Strong, Spartan
CEO and Apollo Senior Partner, Co-head of Infrastructure and Natural Resources.
Sunlight Financial is advised by Citigroup, Hunton Andrews Kurth and ICR. Spartan Acquisition II is advised by Cowen & Company, Credit Suisse, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Latham & Watkins and Vinson & Elkins.
TS Innovation Acquisitions, a SPAC established by real estate manager Tishman Speyer, agreed to merge with Latch, a maker of the full-building enterprise software-as-a-service platform, in a $1.6bn deal. Upon completion of the transaction Latch will have up to $510m in cash, including $190m in pipe investments anchored by funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, D1 Capital Partners, Durable Capital Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Chamath Palihapitiya, The Spruce House Partnership, Wellington Management, Arrowmark Partners, Avenir and Lux Capital. Latch existing shareholders will own 64% of the combined entity.
"This transaction provides the capital for Latch to accelerate our product and market expansion and drive bookings growth. Furthermore, Latch will be able to harness Tishman Speyer's global real estate platform to more rapidly create new products, leveraging their vertically integrated real estate business and on-the-ground teams across the globe," Luke Schoenfelder, Latch CEO and Co-Founder.
Latch is advised by Goldman Sachs, Latham & Watkins, Current Global and Joele Frank. TSIA is advised by Allen & Company, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Sullivan & Cromwell and Rubenstein Associates.
Landcadia Holdings III, a special purpose acquisition company, agreed to merge with The Hillman Group, a hardware and home improvement company, in a $2.6bn deal. Landcadia III will commit $500m of cash in trust upon completion. In addition, investors led by Wells Capital Management and Columbia Threadneedle Investments have committed to invest $375m in the form of a PIPE. CCMP will remain the biggest shareholder.
“We are excited to team up with Landcadia III and continue partnering with CCMP. With our new capital structure, we expect to accelerate our growth across both existing products and channels, as well as pursue attractive opportunities in adjacent categories, both organically and through M&A,” Doug Cahill, Hillman Chairman and CEO.
Hillman is advised by Barclays, Jefferies & Company and Ropes & Gray. Lancadia is advised by Jefferies & Company and White & Case.
Rocky Brands, a manufacturer of premium footwear and apparel, agreed to acquire performance and lifestyle footwear business from Honeywell, a Fortune 100 technology company, for c.$230m. The deal is scheduled to close by the end of the first quarter of 2021.
"These are well-respected brands beloved by professionals and outdoor enthusiasts for work and play, and we're proud of our team that has grown this business in recent years. We are excited for them to join Rocky Brands, who will continue to accelerate growth by leveraging its significant industry knowledge and expertise," John Waldron, Honeywell Safety and Productivity Solutions President and CEO.
Rocky Brands is advised by B. Riley FBR and Porter Wright Morris & Arthur. Honeywell is advised by Crowell & Moring and Centerview Partners.
MultiPlan, a provider of data analytics and technology-enabled end-to-end cost management solutions, agreed to acquire Discovery Health Partners, an analytics and technology company, for c. $155m. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of Q1 2021, subject to satisfaction of closing conditions including customary regulatory approvals.
“Waste in the US healthcare system accounts for about a quarter of total healthcare spending and presents a tremendous opportunity to deliver affordability, fairness and efficiency to the industry. This acquisition of Discovery will extend the reach of our program integrity solutions not only across the claim value chain but also across multiple payor lines of business. We look forward to joining forces with Discovery to deepen our value to healthcare payors and the healthcare industry as a whole,” Mark Tabak, MultiPlan Chairman and CEO.
MultiPlan is advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Kirkland & Ellis. Discovery Health Partners is advised by TripleTree and Goodwin Procter.
Clearlake and SkyKnight-backed symplr, a global healthcare governance, risk management, and compliance software-as-a-service platform, agreed to acquire Phynd, an information management platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"This is an impressive milestone for symplr as the acquisition of Phynd provides highly complementary cloud provider directory management technology, expanding the company's capabilities and addressable market," Behdad Eghbali, Clearlake Co-Founder and Managing Partner.
symplr is advised by Harris Williams & Co, Healthcare Growth Partners and Lambert & Co.
One Rock Capital Partners-backed GPD Companies, a holding company, agreed to acquire Distrupol, a subsidiary of Univar Solutions, an European distributor of thermoplastics to the polymer processing industry. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2021. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Our acquisition of Distrupol adds to One Rock’s existing holdings in the plastics industry, increases our scale and continues the execution of our strategy to build a leading group of global distributors. Distrupol has established a reputation for product and technical expertise, innovation and reliability among its deep network of European suppliers and customers, and we look forward to stewarding the continued success of the company and its valued partners,” Tony W. Lee, One Rock Managing Partner.
One Rock is advised by Gasthalter & Co.
San Francisco Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused exclusively on partnering with growth-oriented companies in the consumer sector, completed the acquisition of Smith & Vandiver, a manufacturer of natural beauty and personal care products. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“SV Labs has a long and rich heritage and is well-positioned to continue to scale as a manufacturing partner of choice to leading natural brands. We look forward to supporting the Company with operational and strategic support during its next phase of growth,” Scott Potter, SFEP Managing Partner.
Smith & Vandiver was advised by Blueshirt Group.
Red Cat, which provides products, services and solutions to the drone industry, offered to acquire Skypersonic, a provider of drone products and software solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Skypersonic presently collaborates with multiple Automotive OEM (original equipment manufacturer) customers and Commercial Energy Industries located in US, Brazil, Europe, Middle East, and Asia. The transoceanic direct-fly platform has enabled our customers to perform real-time inspections with pilots and inspectors located all over the world. Combining the software solutions provided by Sklyoc, and those being developed in Dronebox by Red Cat, could result in a leading software operating platform across the entire drone industry," Giuseppe Santangelo, Skypersonic CEO.
Couche-Tard seeks to reassure befuddled shareholders following failed Carrefour bid.
Alimentation Couche-Tard, a Canadian multinational operator of convenience stores, has been softly reassuring shareholders about its growth strategy after its plan to buy French retailer Carrefour confused investors and cast doubt about the stock’s short-term prospects,
Reuters reported.
Couche-Tard’s $20bn offer to Carrefour was rejected by the French government earlier this month on food security concerns. The offer pushed the Quebec-based company into an untested market, a relative new business segment and its biggest deal yet, surprising shareholders.
Despite the failed attempt, Couche-Tard intends to revive its bid if it sees a change in the French government’s stance. Buying a grocery chain would help Couche-Tard diversify from its core fuels business, which faces a threat from rapid growth in electric vehicles.
Apollo CEO to step down following review of Jeffrey Epstein ties. (People)
Leon Black plans to step down as chief executive of Apollo Global Management after an independent review revealed larger-than-expected payments to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein that it nevertheless deemed justified,
WSJ reported.
The monthslong review by Dechert found no evidence that Mr. Black was involved in the criminal activities of the late Epstein, who was indicted in 2019 on federal sex-trafficking charges involving underage girls.
Dechert found the fees that the billionaire had paid Epstein were for legitimate advice on trust- and estate-tax planning that proved to be of significant value to Mr. Black and his family. Mr. Black paid Epstein a total of $148m, plus a $10m donation to his charity - far more than was previously known.
EMEA
Apax Partners, a global private equity advisory firm, agreed to acquire PIB Group, an independent specialist insurance intermediary, from The Carlyle Group. Financial terms were not disclosed.
”With further investment and the significant experience that Apax will offer, we look forward to continuing our ambitious growth plans both in the UK and internationally while putting our customers and colleagues at the forefront of everything that we do. We look forward to our continued success with both Apax and Carlyle as partners,” Brendan McManus, PIB CEO.
Apax is advised by Kirkland & Ellis and Greenbrook. is advised by Jamieson, KBW Ventures, Dickson Minto and Linklaters.
Flexpoint-backed Cortina Bidco, an acquisition vehicle, agreed to acquire AFH Financial Group, an independent financial advice services provider, for $307m.
"Looking ahead, the independent directors believe that Flexpoint and Bidco will be excellent partners to AFH and support the continued growth of the business and that the Acquisition is in the best interests of all stakeholders of the Group. The independent directors of AFH therefore intend unanimously to recommend that shareholders vote in favour of the resolutions relating to the acquisition," John Wheatley, AFH Chairman.
AFH is advised by Keefe Bruyette & Woods, Shore Capital & Corporate and Eversheds Sutherland. Flexpoint is advised by Raymond James and Kirkland & Ellis.
GlobalWafers, a silicon wafer manufacturing company, makes a final attempt to acquire Siltronic, a supplier of silicon wafers by lowering the minimum acceptance threshold and extending offer deadline.
The $5.3bn deal now has a 50% minimum acceptance threshold instead of 65%, and the deadline for acceptance was extended until February 10, 2021.
Siltronic is advised by Hengeler Mueller. GlobalWafers is advised by Nomura, Linklaters, White & Case and Brunswick Group.
ICONIQ, an investment firm led the $530m round for Wolt, a Helsinki-based technology company providing food delivery platform. Tiger Global, DST, KKR, Prosus, EQT Growth and Coatue joined as new investors. Existing investors 83North, Highland Europe, Goldman Sachs Growth Equity and Vintage Investment Partners also participated in the round.
“We raised this round of financing to further strengthen our balance sheet, allowing us to think long-term and double down on building even stronger positions across our markets while continuing to expand our offering beyond the restaurant.” Miki Kuusi, Wolt CEO & Co-Founder.
Wolt was advised by Arma Partners and Roschier.
The Carlyle Group completed the acquisition of Jagex, an online video game company, from Platinum Fortune, a holding company that invests in video game companies. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We will continue to expand our game teams to create and deliver more great content for RuneScape and Old School RuneScape. We will continue to create exciting experiences for our players, grow our global communities, build new games to expand and further explore the RuneScape universe, lend our expertise to publish third-party games from like-minded online game developers, and invest in the incredible tech and talent that powers this all,” Phil Mansell, Jagex CEO.
The Carlyle Group was advised by Kirkland & Ellis.
Providence Strategic Growth-backed Imaweb, an independent developer and provider of automotive and dealership digital software solutions in Europe, to acquire Procar, an automotive digital software solutions provider in the DACH market. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Procar’s position as a market-leader in DACH, combined with the strength of our existing offering across Europe, will take Imaweb to its next phase of growth into a truly continental European player,” Julian Ciccale, Imaweb Co-Founder and Deputy CEO.
Imaweb is advised by Prosek Partners.
Bertrand Camus, CEO of Suez, a French waste and water management company, repeated he wants a friendly solution to the hostile takeover approach from rival Veolia, and noted that investors GIP and Ardian can participate.
Both parties agreed to continue discussions about the potential deal, but ultimately they want different things. Suez requires autonomy from Veolia, raising job losses and competition concerns, while Veolia does not condone such an approach to the deal.
Royal Dutch Shell, a multinational oil and gas company, agreed to acquire ubitricity, an EV charging solutions provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Working with local authorities, we want to support the growing number of Shell customers who want to switch to an EV by making it as convenient as possible for them. On-street options such as the lamp post charging offered by ubitricity will be key for those who live and work in cities or have limited access to off-street parking. Whether at home, at work or on-the-go, we want to provide our customers with accessible and affordable EV charging options so they can charge up no matter where they are," István Kapitány, Shell Global Mobility Executive Vice President.
Dr. Martens shareholders seek up to $1.8bn in London IPO.
Permira Holdings and other shareholders are planning to raise $1.8bn in an initial public offering of Dr. Martens shoemaker on the London Stock Exchange, speculating on the lasting popularity of its cult leather boots.
The company doesn’t plan to raise any money itself in the IPO. Permira, a private equity firm, and other investors are selling as many as 350m shares at $4.5-$5 apiece, according to
Bloomberg.
Shareholders can sell another 53m shares in the IPO if there’s enough demand, which would bring the size of the offering up to $1.8bn.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are joint global coordinators, while Barclays, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, HSBC and RBC will be joint bookrunners in the event the offer proceeds. Lazard is the company’s financial adviser.
AUTO1 seeks to raise €1.5bn in IPO.
AUTO1, German used-car trading platform, set a range of $39-$46 per share for its initial public offering, indicating that its Frankfurt flotation will raise at least €1.5bn ($1.83bn),
Reuters reported.
AUTO1 plans to issue 31.25m new shares, worth at least €1bn, and invest 75% of that into its Autohero brand to expand into the fully-digital car retailer in Europe. Existing shareholders will sell another 15.625m shares.
The subscription runs until February 2, opening this year’s IPO market in Germany. AUTO1’s first day of trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange will be February 4.
InPost IPO price to come at top of the range.
The initial public offering price in InPost, a Polish parcel locker firm, is expected to come at the top of the range at $19.48 per share,
Reuters reported.
InPost announced its IPO plans this month and set its price range in the deal at $17-$20 per share, with a valuation at $8.5-$9.7bn.
The company is expected to debut in Amsterdam around January 29.
APAC
Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, a Canadian pension giant, completed the investment in Olympus Capital Asia, a Singapore-based private equity firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Growing our investment footprint in Asia is a strategic priority for OMERS and this investment is an important initiative in achieving our goals,” Ashish Goyal, OMERS Capital Markets Asia Senior Managing Director.
Investors NMTUF, Bosch, Shenzhen Capital Group and CCI Investment completed the $154m investment in Uisee, an autonomous driving startup.
Uisee plans to dedicate funds to R&D of its technologies to further advance self-driving solutions. The company wants to cooperate with industry partners to promote autonomous driving technologies.
Trustbridge Partners, an investment firm, led the $150m round in Huohua Siwei, an online math and science education platform. Existing shareholders including Tencent also participated.
Since its founding in 2016, the company accumulated $700m from seven investment rounds. After the completion of the funding round, the business is valued at $1.5bn amid increased interest in China's e-education sector.
Huawei in talks to sell smartphone brands P and Mate.
Huawei Technologies is in early-stage talks to sell its premium smartphone brands P and Mate. This move could see the company ultimately exit from the high-end smartphone-making business,
DealStreetAsia reported.
The talks between the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker and a consortium led by Shanghai government-backed investment firms have been going on for months. Huawei started to investigate the possibility of selling the brands as early as last September. However, Huawei has yet to make a final decision on the sale, and the talks might not conclude successfully, as the company is still trying to manufacture at home its in-house designed high-end Kirin chips, which power its smartphones. The Shanghai government-backed investment firms may form a consortium with Huawei’s dealers to take over the P and Mate brands.
Lalamove is close to completing $1.5bn F series round. (FS)
Lalamove, a technology company providing on-demand, same-day and advance order delivery services, raised $1.3bn as part of the first two tranches of its series F funding round led by Hillhouse Capital. The logistics firm is also looking to raise another $200m to close out the round.
The financing round would bring Lalamove's valuation to around $10bn.
“The market will further expand and penetrate into fourth and fifth-tier cities, and we believe that the transformation of China’s freight industry by mobile internet is far from being over,” Zhou Shengfu, Lalamove Founder.
Grab selects Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan for $2bn IPO.
Grab Holdings, a Singaporean multinational ride-hailing company, has picked banks for a potential US initial public offering, planning to raise at least $2bn.
Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan have been selected to work on a listing that could happen as soon as the second half of this year. More banks could be added, and details of the offering could change as deliberations continue,
Bloomberg reported.
The listing may happen as soon as the second half of 2021. Grab’s offering details are still in the deliberation process, with more banks to potentially be added in the coming months.
Zimbabwe plans to list company mining assets.
Zimbabwe, banking on mining with the aim to end two decades of economic stagnation, plans to list the company in which it has placed state mining assets to raise cash to meet government obligations.
Last year, the government created Kuvimba Mining House, in which the state pension fund and sovereign wealth fund hold 65%, to house its holdings in platinum, gold and nickel. It plans to use revenue from the company to meet a laundry list of requirements ranging from compensating White farmers for infrastructure on farms seized two decades ago to improve pensions.
The creation of Kuvimba is the latest attempt by the government to kickstart its mining industry,
Bloomberg reported.
