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AMERICAS
Supermarket operators Kroger and Albertsons Companies are advancing plans to sell between 250 and 300 stores they hope will alleviate US antitrust concerns over their combination.
The divestitures would come as the Federal Trade Commission, which is reviewing Kroger's proposed $24.6bn acquisition of Albertsons, is under pressure from some US lawmakers and consumer advocacy groups to block it over concerns it could lead to grocery price hikes when inflation has already been raging.
The stores that Kroger and Albertsons may sell could be worth more than $1bn. They are located across all the regions where the two companies operate - for example, the Pacific Northwest, Southern California, Phoenix and Chicago. Between them, Kroger and Albertsons operate a total of 4,996 stores. The companies have started to sound out potential buyers for the stores and have been discussing their plans with the FTC to get its blessing, Reuters reported.
Albertsons is advised by Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs (led by Timothy Ingrassia), Debevoise & Plimpton, Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson (led by Philip Richter), Jenner & Block, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz (led by Adam Emmerich), White & Case and Brunswick Group. Financial advisors are advised by Alston & Bird, Cravath Swaine & Moore and Davis Polk & Wardwell. Kroger is advised by Citigroup (led by Brian Anton and David Finkelstein), Wells Fargo Securities, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, Weil Gotshal and Manges (led by Michael Aiello) and Joele Frank (led by Steve Frankel). Cerberus Capital is advised by Dechert and FGS Global.
Mortgage data vendor Black Knight has decided to put its Empower loan origination software business up for sale in an effort to overcome US antitrust concerns over its $16bn proposed acquisition by Intercontinental Exchange.
The Federal Trade Commission has been scrutinizing the Black Knight deal for months amid concerns from some US lawmakers that the pricing power ICE would gain in the mortgage data market that lenders rely on could lead to higher costs for consumers.
Black Knight has hired Truist Financial to help it explore a sale of Empower and has been soliciting the interest of potential buyers including private equity firms. ICE provided its consent to Black Knight going ahead with the move, Reuters reported.
Black Knight is advised by JP Morgan and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz (led by Edward Herlihy). JP Morgan is advised by Cravath Swaine & Moore. ICE is advised by Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo Securities, Morgan Lewis & Bockius and Shearman & Sterling.
LanzaTech, a provider of a bio-processing platform, went public via a SPAC merger with AMCI Acquisition II in a $1.8bn deal with participation from AMCI, ArcelorMittal, BASF, K1W1, Khosla Ventures, Mitsui, New Zealand Superannuation Fund, Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, Primetals Technologies, SHV Energy and Trafigura.
"LanzaTech's revolutionary, commercially scaled technology offering, top quality team led by Chairwoman and CEO, Jennifer Holmgren, and visible path to rapid, profitable growth in the near term, provided all the elements necessary for a successful transaction in line with the original strategy we established at the time of our founding. We are very excited by the tremendous opportunities presented by LanzaTech as its CCT technology is deployed at scale." Nimesh Patel, AMCI Acquisition CEO.
Home Capital Group announced that it had obtained a final order from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice approving the previously-announced plan of $1.55bn acquisition by Smith Financial.
Receipt of the final order follows Home Capital's special meeting of shareholders held on February 8, 2023, where a special resolution approving the Arrangement was overwhelmingly approved by 99.79% of the votes cast by shareholders.
Home Capital is advised by BMO Capital Markets, Deloitte, TD Securities and Torys (led by Rima Ramchandani and John Emanoilidis). Smith Financial is advised by RBC Capital Markets, Stikeman Elliott and Fundamental Creative.
Flowserve, a provider of flow control products and services for the global infrastructure markets, agreed to acquire Velan, a manufacturer of industrial valves, for $245m.
"We are excited about the opportunity to add Velan and its talented team to the Flowserve family. With its strong positioning in the nuclear, cryogenic, industrial and defense markets and highly complementary product portfolio, the addition of Velan furthers our Diversification, Decarbonization and Digitization strategy. The Transaction also meets our disciplined financial criteria, bringing meaningful aftermarket revenue and synergy opportunities," Scott Rowe, Flowserve President and CEO.
Velan is advised by BMO Capital Markets, Richter, Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg, McCarthy Tetrault and Norton Rose Fulbright. Flowserve is advised by Citigroup and Baker McKenzie.
Otonomo Technologies, a platform powering the mobility economy, agreed to merge with Urgent.ly, a provider of digital roadside and mobility assistance technology and services. Financial terms were not disclosed.
" Merging Otonomo and Urgently is an exciting step for Otonomo that advances our vision of empowering the future of mobility and connected services. Mobility assistance is a real-world application for connected vehicle data and, by combining both companies' technologies, we will provide new solutions for the betterment of customer safety, security and accessibility," Ben Volkow, Otonomo CEO and Co-Founder.
Urgent.ly is advised by B. Riley Securities, Evercore, Herzog Fox & Neeman and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Otonomo is advised by Needham & Co, Gross Kleinhendler Hodak Halevy Greenberg & Co and Latham & Watkins.
Francisco Partners, a private equity firm, agreed to acquire Sumo Logic, a cloud-based machine data analytics company, for $1.7bn.
"Since founding Sumo Logic in 2010, we have created a trusted, cloud-native, SaaS analytics platform for observability and security, enabling our customers to transform complexity into insights and accelerate their cloud transformation adoption. Today's announcement represents a compelling outcome for our stockholders. We are delighted at the prospect of partnering with Francisco Partners in the next phase of Sumo Logic's journey," Ramin Sayar, Sumo Logic President and CEO.
Sumo Logic is advised by Morgan Stanley, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Joele Frank (led by Scott Bisang). Francisco Partners is advised by Kirkland & Ellis (led by Edward Lee and Chelsea Darnell) and Sloane & Company (led by Whit Clay).
Movella, a developer of motion sensors and associated technology, went public via a SPAC merger with HGGC and Industry Ventures-backed Pathfinder Acquisition in a $537m deal. Francisco Partners participates in the deal.
"We are excited to be joining Nasdaq. Becoming a public company will fuel our growth in digitizing movement and accelerate our progress in enabling our customers to realize extraordinary outcomes across entertainment, health & sports, and automation & mobility markets," Ben Lee, Movella President and CEO.
Equifax, a global data, analytics, and technology company, agreed to acquire Boa Vista Serviços, a credit reporting services provider, for $596m.
"We're energized to expand Equifax's reach internationally with the acquisition of Boa Vista Serviços, and look forward to welcoming Boa Vista Serviços' employees to our global team. This acquisition will mark an exciting new chapter for Equifax and Boa Vista Serviços customers that will bring powerful new insights to Brazilian lenders and service providers to help them better understand their customers and promote greater financial inclusion to meet the needs of the approximately 34m unbanked or underbanked consumers in Brazil," Mark W. Begor, Equifax CEO.
Boa Vista Serviços is advised by Citigroup. Equifax is advised by Bank of America, Hogan Lovells and Machado Meyer Sendacz e Opice Advogados.
Alliance Entertainment, a direct-to-consumer and e-commerce provider, went public via a SPAC merger with Adara Acquisition, a blank check company, in a $480m deal.
"We believe that today's milestone combined with our strong revenue growth, expanding customer base and product offering, and several successful acquisitions, will help accelerate our future expansion initiatives. Alliance Entertainment today is well positioned to continue to capitalize on shifts towards eCommerce and Omni-Channel strategies, especially with retailers and manufacturers vastly increased reliance on their DTC fulfillment and distribution partners. We are at an inflection point that now positions us to execute a multi-prong growth strategy that we expect will deliver a double-digit revenue growth rate with strong cash generation to the bottom line," Jeff Walker, Alliance Entertainment CEO.
Alliance Entertainment was advised by Loeb & Loeb and MZ Group (led by Chris Tyson and Larry Holub). Adara was advised by ThinkEquity and Blank Rome.
Refreshing USA, an automated refreshments company, agreed to go public via a SPAC merger with Integrated Wellness Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company, in a $198m deal.
"We are delighted to partner with Integrated Wellness in this business combination, a significant milestone toward creating value for our shareholders. This merger and entry into the public markets will allow us access to a much larger pool of capital and increase our global profile. We believe that the proceeds from this Transaction will put us in a position to quickly grow in what we see as a $9.5bn industry in the US and a $57bn worldwide market that is projected to grow at a 6.7% CAGR," Ryan Wear, Refreshing USA Founder and CEO.
Refreshing USA is advised by McCarter & English. Integrated Wellness is advised by Alliance Global Partners, BTIG and Ellenoff Grossman & Schole.
Francisco Partners, a private equity firm, completed an investment in GreenSlate, a payroll software company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We are very excited to announce this new investment from Francisco Partners, which will allow us to accelerate our innovation and continue to focus on providing best-in-class service and state-of-the-art technology to our customers. Our approach to supporting production teams and production accountants specifically has been unique from the get-go. We’ve designed our platform from the ground up with digital workflows at the core and a mission to use technology to make every aspect of payroll and production accounting easier, more accurate, and more secure for every customer and the crews they employ. This new investment and partnership with FP will enable us to further advance that mission," John Finn, GreenSlate Founder and CEO.
GreenSlate was advised by American Discovery Capital and Ropes & Gray. Francisco Partners was advised by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison (led by Jeremy Veit and Austin Pollet) and Sloane & Company (led by Whit Clay).
LLR Partners, a private equity firm, completed an investment in Viventium, a software developer. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“The LLR team has extensive experience partnering with both human capital management and healthcare technology businesses to help accelerate their growth. We are excited to leverage their expertise as Viventium continues to grow and deliver a highly specialized, remarkable user experience for our home care and skilled nursing clients," Dan Neuburger, Viventium CEO.
Viventium was advised by BMO Capital Markets and KeyBanc Capital Markets.
Wencor Group, a aerospace and defense company, completed the acquisition of Aero-Glen International, an aerospace component manufacturing company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We are excited to welcome Aero-Glen International and their talented team of employees to Wencor. This acquisition is an excellent fit that accelerates our strategy to provide best-in-class distribution and value-added services to both the defense and commercial aerospace markets. It also enhances our aftermarket hardware offering, allowing us to provide our customers with more comprehensive options to meet their repair needs,” Shawn Trogdon, Wencor CEO.
Aero-Glen International was advised by BMO Capital Markets and Hallett & Perrin.
indie Semiconductor, an Autotech solutions innovator, agreed to acquire GEO Semiconductor, a private fabless semiconductor supplier, for $180m.
"It's rare that acquisition targets are a perfect fit, but this is indeed the case with GEO. Camera processing is at the core of the majority of use cases within ADAS applications. indie's acquisition of GEO Semiconductor immediately rounds out our Computer Vision product portfolio with field-proven, differentiated solutions, enabling us to capitalize on the rapid proliferation of automotive image processors. At a higher level, GEO is complementary in terms of products, customers and global sales channels while, at the same time, highly synergistic operationally with massive cross selling opportunities. Further, this acquisition completes our sensor fusion mosaic spanning Radar, LiDAR, Ultrasound and Computer Vision, bringing us a major step closer towards realizing our strategic vision of enabling the uncrashable car and creating an Autotech powerhouse," Donald McClymont, indie Co-Founder and CEO.
indie Semiconductor is advised by BMO Capital Markets.
Montrose Environmental Group, an environmental services company, completed the acquisition of Environmental Alliance, an environmental engineering and consulting firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Adding EAI's experienced environmental team increases our scale and ability to serve clients throughout the Mid-Atlantic. EAI has extensive experience with all major cleanup strategies, including risk assessment and site permitting, brownfield assessment and investigation, and turnkey remediation. We are excited to join talents with such a highly regarded group," Sean Rome, Montrose Senior Vice President.
Circet-backed KGP, a communications infrastructure services and product supply chain provider, completed the acquisition of Further Enterprise Solutions, a telecommunications company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"The addition of FES provides KGP Services with more robust technical capabilities in the areas of RF Engineering and Optimization, complementary to our current suite of wireless network services. We are very excited to work with the FES team to drive additional value to existing and new customers by providing a true turn-key wireless services offering," Trevor Putrah, KGP CEO.
Circet was advised by Shearman & Sterling (led by Lara Aryani).
SoftBank considers stake sale in Raine Group.
SoftBank Group is considering selling its stake in the holding company of Raine Group, the merchant bank that’s advised on some of the Japanese company’s biggest deals.
The potential stake sale would fit into SoftBank’s retrenchment from a deal-hungry technology conglomerate to one more focused on core businesses including telecommunications and smaller investments.
Masayoshi Son, SoftBank’s founder and chief executive officer, invested in Raine when it was launched in 2010 by Joseph Ravitch, an ex-partner at Goldman Sachs, and Jeffrey A. Sine, a former senior banker at UBS Group, Bloomberg reported.
Aurora Cannabis CEO says open to more M&A deals.
Canada's Aurora Cannabis would be open to undertake more merger and acquisition deals in the future to expand its medical cannabis business, the company's chief executive said.
The upbeat comments followed the cannabis producer's surprise second-quarter core profit, helped by cost saving measures it had been taking since early 2020, Reuters reported.
"The net cash position gives us the opportunity to do M&A. The company will likely focus on acquiring medical assets or medical infrastructure - something that's additive to medical would be more interesting to us than maybe others," Miguel Martin, Aurora Cannabis CEO.
Citi under pressure to retain stake in Mexican consumer arm.
Citigroup is under pressure from Grupo Mexico to retain a portion of its retail banking business in Mexico. Citigroup residual stake will be sold later in a public offering.
Grupo Mexico is negotiating the portion of Banamex Citigroup would retain if a sale agreement is reached. No final decision has been reached and the talks could still fall apart.
The rationale behind Grupo Mexico’s efforts is that it wants Citigroup to remain engaged and provide certain services while the New York-based bank would separate its retail and institutional business operations in the country, Bloomberg reported.
Kellogg opts to keep Morningstar Farms.
Kellogg will keep its iconic plant-based Morningstar Farms brand as part of its global snacking company rather than spin it off as a standalone business or sell it - backtracking on an idea floated by CPG last summer when it revealed plans to split its snack and cereal empire into multiple companies.
“When we began this process, valuation for peer companies were stratospheric compared to where they are today. They’ve come down quite substantially. So, the thesis when we started the process was to truly unlock shareholder value. If we could attract the same types of multiples in the public market, we should pursue that. The environment has clearly changed,” Steven A. Cahillane, Kellogg Chairman, President and CEO.
Tonal Systems in talks to raise funding that could slash its valuation.
Tonal Systems, an at-home fitness startup, is seeking to raise capital at less than a third of its previous valuation.
The company is in talks for funding that would value it at $500m or lower. That’s a deep cut compared to last year’s $1.9bn valuation, reflecting the slowdown in the home fitness industry, but talks are still ongoing and the number could change.
Tonal also expects to find a new CEO to replace founder Aly Orady this year. Orady, who founded the company in 2015, could potentially still be involved and have a role, they added. The plans aren’t finalized and Orady could still stay on, Bloomberg reported.
Orange is set to secure EU antitrust approval for its bid for a majority stake in Belgian peer VOO after the French telecoms provider signed a deal with Liberty Global's Telenet to address the regulator's concerns, Reuters reported.
Acquiring VOO would give Orange control of the Belgian company's cable network in the Wallonia region in the south of Belgium and part of the Brussels area. Orange may get the EU green light by the end of February.
The EU competition enforcer had previously said it was concerned the deal would reduce the number of operators from three to two in areas covered by VOO's own fixed networks, and affect third-party mobile networks.
Orange is advised by Linklaters. Nethys is advised by Rothschild & Co.
Waterland Private Equity-backed Team Farner, a pr advisory firm, agreed to acquire communications and pr agencies komm.passion and Kirchhoff Consult. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"With Team Farner, we are establishing a completely new type of communications provider in Europe. Through the merger and the long-term partnership with successful partner-managed communication consultancies in the European core markets, we can offer our customers a completely new quality of advice - fully integrated in the range of services and with a clearly independent, entrepreneurial DNA. Therefore, we are thrilled to have won two national champions for our market entry in Germany with komm.passion and Kirchhoff Consult," Roman Geiser, Team Farner Executive Chairman.
Sproule, an energy consulting and advisory firm, agreed to acquire Subsurface Consultancy of SGS, a testing, inspection, and certification company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"This acquisition further cements our business within the European market. It positions us to compete more effectively and deliver better solutions for our global client base, by further deepening our technical and commercial expertise. We look forward to welcoming the SSC team to Sproule, where we will provide critical continuity and offer new services to existing SSC clients," Jim Chisholm, Sproule CEO.
TenneT to explore the sale of German unit to Berlin.
Dutch electricity grid operator TenneT will explore the possibility of a full sale of its German operations to the German state to ensure sufficient investment in networks in both the Netherlands and Germany.
TenneT, which operates the Dutch high-voltage grid and part of the German grid, will need billions of euros in the coming years to meet investment needs as Germany and the Netherlands expand their wind and solar power capacity.
German government sources last November said Berlin wants to buy either a majority stake or all of the German subsidiary of TenneT, which is fully-owned by the Dutch state, as part of Germany's planned transition towards sustainable energy use, Reuters reported.
First Abu Dhabi Bank reiterates not eyeing an offer for Standard Chartered.
First Abu Dhabi Bank, the United Arab Emirates' biggest lender, said it was not currently evaluating an offer for Britain's Standard Chartered, the second time it has quashed reports of an imminent bid.
News of the potential offer first came on January 5, when FAB said it had considered a bid for London-listed Standard Chartered but was no longer doing so.
FAB was considering offering $30bn to $35bn. StanChart, which has for decades been the subject of takeover rumours without a deal ever materialising, had a market value of nearly $27bn, Reuters reported.
Advent, CVC among bidders for Viatris European consumer-health assets. (FS)
Advent International's Zentiva generics business and Bain-backed drugmaker Stada Arzneimittel are evaluating offers for Viatris consumer-health assets, which could see €3bn ($3.2bn) in a sale.
The European over-the-counter portfolio is attracting possible interest from CVC Capital Partners. Viatris asked for preliminary bids for the business this month with some buyers only interested in parts of the portfolio, Bloomberg reported.
Orange is said to weigh options for African towers.
Orange is considering strategic options for its African and Middle Eastern mobile towers business, including stake sales.
The French phone company, which operates in 18 countries across the region, could also carve out the assets into units based on geography. Orange is studying a range of options, including selling the towers by country, offloading the portfolio as a whole, sharing towers with other operators or holding an initial public offering.
While Orange has discussed the proposal with potential advisers, the talks are at an early stage and no final decisions have been made. The African tower portfolio under review is separate from Orange’s mobile-mast company Totem, which it created last year, Bloomberg reported.
Canal+ acquired additional stakes to 30.3% in MultiChoice Group.
French broadcaster Canal+ has increased its stake in South African pay-TV company MultiChoice Group to more than 30%, moving closer to a level that would trigger a mandatory offer to other shareholders, Bloomberg reported.
Canal+, which is owned French billionaire Vincent Bollore's Vivendi, has gradually acquired tranches of shares. It now owns 30.3% of the Johannesburg-based company, compared with 20% seven months ago.
ValueAct acquired a stake in Spotify Technology. (FS)
Investment firm ValueAct Capital Management has built a position in Spotify Technology, in a move that supports the music-streaming company's strategy led by Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek to tighten its spending and become more efficient, Bloomberg reported.
ValueAct Chief Executive Officer Mason Morfit disclosed the position — which he described as the firm's "newest investment" — during a presentation at a Columbia University event Friday in New York, touting the music-streaming giant's innovative business model. Shares jumped as much as 4.7% to $126.55.
Fresenius may give up control of FMC dialysis business. (FS)
Fresenius, a European multinational health care company, is exploring steps to relinquish control of its dialysis subsidiary as Elliott Investment Management puts pressure on the German healthcare company to simplify its business.
Fresenius Chief Executive Officer Michael Sen is discussing a move to deconsolidate Fresenius Medical Care with its dominant shareholder, the Else Kroener-Fresenius Stiftung, which is in favor of the plan, Bloomberg reported.
KAA Gent seeks to sell a stake.
KAA Gent, one of Belgium’s top football teams, is seeking to sell a stake in the club.
Potential buyers are being offered a “unique opportunity to acquire an iconic, stable and well-managed top-tier Belgian football club,” Tifosy, which is advising the club’s owners.
Gent, which is fifth in the standings in Belgium’s top division, the Pro League, has played 15 times in Uefa’s Europa League and once in the elite tournament, the Champions league, Bloomberg reported.
OQ draws PIF as an anchor investor. (FS)
Oman’s OQ, an energy investment company, plans to raise as much as $244m from the initial public offering of its oil-drilling unit and has brought in Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund as an anchor investor.
Anchor investors will subscribe for 40% of the shares at the maximum price. Saudi Omani Investment Company, a unit of Riyadh’s Public Investment Fund, will buy 20%, while Royal Court Affairs and Schlumberger Oman will each take 10%.
Abraj Energy will take orders from institutional investors from February 20 to March 2, while retail buyers may bid until March 1. Final pricing will be announced on March 6, with trading in the shares due to start March 14, Bloomberg reported.
APAC
K1 Investment Management, a private equity firm, completed the acquisition of ELMO Software, a software developer, for $319m.
“The ELMO Independent Board Committee has carefully considered the proposal and believes the offer price of $4.85 cash per share represents compelling value for ELMO shareholders. Whilst ELMO has achieved considerable success to date in Australia/New Zealand and the United Kingdom, the IBC has balanced this against the macroeconomic and execution risks in achieving future plans and has unanimously concluded that the Scheme is a compelling option which relates attractive value for our shareholders," Barry Lewin, ELMO Chairman.
ELMO Software was advised by UBS, Arnold Bloch Leibler and Citadel Magnus. K1 Investment Management was advised by Morgan Stanley and Gilbert + Tobin.
Masan Group, a private sector company with a focus on the consumption and resources sectors, agreed to acquire a 25% stake in Trusting Social, a consumer credit scores services provider, for $105m.
The project is part of Masan's strategic goal by 2025 to create a Consumer - Retail - Technology ecosystem capable of capturing 80% of Vietnamese consumers' wallet.
Kotak Mahindra Bank, a private sector lender, agreed to acquire Sonata Finance, a non-banking finance company, for $65m.
"Sonata is a leading microfinance player and has built a strong enterprise over the last two decades.This acquisition is in sync with our broad vision and strategy. We had successfully acquired BSS Microfinance in 2017 and since then have been able to integrate & steadily grow our presence in the financial inclusion segment with an advances book in excess of $642m serving ~1.3m borrowers. There are significant potential synergies to be realized as a result of this acquisition and we look forward to continue serving the customers in a smooth and consistent manner and ensuring their needs are well-served going forward," Manish Kothari, Kotak Mahindra President of Commercial Banking.
Alibaba sold the remaining $167m worth of Paytm stock.
China's Alibaba Group has sold its remaining stake in the Indian digital payments firm Paytm for about $167m through a block deal, DealStreetAsia reported.
The exit comes days after Paytm posted its first-ever quarterly operating profit as a listed firm, nine months ahead of its own target.
Citicore prepares for IPO, to invest $4bn in renewable energy.
Citicore Renewable Energy, one of the Philippines’ biggest solar power producers, is planning to go public this year to fund a $4bn investment in new solar projects over the next five years.
Citicore will file documents for an initial public offering in the second quarter and complete its listing within the year. It will be large enough to attract foreign investors for an international tranche.
Fresh capital from the listing will allow Citicore, which has an installed capacity of 241 MW via solar panels, to invest $800m this year to increase output to 1 GW, and around $4bn to reach 5 GW within five years, DealStreetAsia reported.
SK On targeting to raise up to $2.4bn.
The electric vehicle battery business of South Korea’s SK Innovation Co Ltd, SK On, has begun a new funding round, targeting $1.6bn to $2.4bn.
The fundraising will mainly target international investors. There will also be domestic participation, and that the company aims to finalise the fundraising as early as the end of March, DealStreetAsia reported.
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