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AMERICAS
The US Federal Trade Commission is expected to file a lawsuit to block Amgen's $28.3bn deal to buy Horizon Therapeutics, Reuters reported.
Amgen, an American multinational biopharmaceutical company, agreed to acquire Horizon Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on researching, developing, and commercializing medicines, for $28.3bn. The deal would give Amgen two fast-growing drugs, the thyroid eye disease treatment Tepezza and Krystexxa. Amgen hopes they can act as a bulwark against competition for its blockbuster arthritis drug Enbrel.
Microsoft won EU antitrust approval for its $69bn acquisition of Activision, in a significant boost that could prompt Chinese and South Korean regulators to follow suit despite a British veto of the deal, Reuters reported.
The US software giant still faces a battle to clinch the world's biggest gaming industry takeover, however. It has until May 24 to appeal a decision by Britain's Competition & Markets Authority to block it. A final decision may take months.
HEICO, a company engaged primarily in the design, production, servicing and distribution of products and services, agreed to acquire Wencor Group, a commercial and military aircraft aftermarket company, from Warburg Pincus, a private equity firm, for $2.05bn.
"I am excited about the opportunity to combine HEICO and Wencor's impressive teams who share the same culture and commitment to our customers, suppliers and employees. The unmatched combination will further accelerate growth, innovation, and development of highly reliable cost-saving solutions for our customers. I am proud of our team's achievements to date and look forward to continuing our journey of growth with HEICO. I want to thank the Warburg Pincus team for their support and partnership that has helped enable our success," Shawn Trogdon, Wencor CEO.
Wencor is advised by Alderman & Company, Citigroup, Jefferies & Company, William Blair & Co and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. HEICO is advised by Lazard, Moelis & Co, Morgan Stanley, RBC Capital Markets, Truist Securities, Akerman (led by Jonathan Awner) and Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison.
Northern Oil and Gas, a company with a primary strategy of investing in non-operated minority working and mineral interests in oil & gas properties, and Vital Energy, an oil and gas company, agreed to acquire a 30% stake in Delaware Basin assets from Forge Energy, an exploration and production company, for $162m.
“This transaction crystallizes NOG’s position as a reliable and consistent partner for the purchase and development of high-quality properties. We are excited to work alongside our partners at Vital to develop the Forge Assets with strong alignment and cooperation," Nick O’Grady, NOG CEO.
Northern Oil and Gas is advised by Houlihan Lokey and Kirkland & Ellis. Forge Energy is advised by RBC Capital Markets and O'Melveny & Myers.
Court Square Capital-backed Five Star Parks & Attractions, an operator of family entertainment centers, completed the acquisition of Scene75 Entertainment, an entertainment center with four locations. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We are pleased to bring together Five Star’s unique platform for value creation with the recognized innovation and award-winning excellence of Scene75,” Joseph Silvestri, Court Square Co-Founder and Managing Partner.
Scene75 Entertainment was advised by Solomon Partners and Katz Teller Brant & Hild. Five Star Parks & Attractions was advised by Honigman Miller Schwartz & Cohn.
JAB Holding, a company invests in consumer-focused industries, completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Pumpkin Insurance Services, a provider of preventive care and pet insurance, from Zoetis, an animal health company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We are thrilled to partner with Zoetis and invest in Pumpkin, a fast-growing pet insurance brand in North America, as we build on our commitment to provide innovative insurance solutions for the benefit of pets and their families. In line with our ambition to create the leading pet insurance platform globally, Pumpkin brings both a world-class team and new technology using data and diagnostics to improve care decisions, both of which will benefit our global business moving forward,” Frank Engelen, JAB Senior Partner.
JAB Holding was advised by H/Advisors Abernathy (led by Tom Johnson and Jake Yanulis). Zoetis was advised by Guggenheim Partners.
Novo, a life sciences company, led a $100m Series A round in Ray Therapeutics, an optogenetics company, with participation from Deerfield Management, Norwest Venture Partners, Platanus, MRL Ventures Fund, and 4BIO Capital.
“This Series A financing marks a significant milestone in our mission to address the urgent unmet medical need of patients with blinding diseases. We are incredibly grateful for the support of 4BIO Capital, our other early investors and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine who have been instrumental in our growth. We are excited by this new funding, led by Novo Holdings, with a top-tier investor syndicate which will accelerate our pipeline of potential first-in-class optogenetic gene therapies for patients," Paul Bresge, Ray Therapeutics CEO & Co-Founder.
Ray Therapeutics was advised by KKH Advisors (led by Kimberly Ha).
Y Combinator, a technology startup accelerator, CRV, a venture capital firm, and Tiger Global, an investment firm, led a $100m Series C round in Zip, an intake-to-pay platform.
“We continue to invest in Zip because we believe in this outstanding team’s ability to achieve their mission to solve a ubiquitous business problem: spend control. Zip is one of YC’s most successful B2B companies from the last few years. We are thrilled to have been one of Zip’s earliest partners as they revolutionize one of the most critical functions in the enterprise," Garry Tan, Y Combinator President and CEO.
Zip was advised by Bhava Communications.
Azelis, a global innovation service provider in the specialty chemicals and food ingredients industry, agreed to acquire Gillco Ingredients, a specialty ingredient provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“In line with our strategic vision to be the preeminent innovation service provider in all territories where we operate, we are happy to welcome Gillco to the Azelis family. This acquisition strengthens our lateral value chain for the food and nutrition market, as well as the broader life sciences segment in the US, and allows us to offer a truly compelling proposition to both principals and customers," Hans Joachim Müller, Azelis CEO.
Constellation Software-backed Perseus Group, an operating group, completed the acquisition of Winklevoss Technologies, a provider of defined benefit pension plan valuation and administration software. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We are excited to be joining the Perseus Group, which marks a significant milestone in WinTech’s story. We look forward to continuing to develop market leading benefits software for our customers and appreciate that the Perseus Group gives us a permanent, nurturing home to help us build upon our strong foundation,” Mark Tillman, WinTech General Manager.
10Pearls, a digital transformation company, completed the acquisition of Oiga Technologies, a high-tech product development company based in Colombia specializing in artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, and blockchain. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We are delighted to welcome Oiga Technologies to our team at 10Pearls. We share a vision of leveraging advanced software technologies to disrupt the economics of innovation and increase competitiveness for our clients globally. Above all, both companies are aligned with values of creating a positive impact and making a difference in the world,” Imran Aftab, 10Pearls CEO.
Glencore's Teck bid spurs call for Canada pensions to up equity stake.
Glencore's hostile bid for Teck Resources has galvanized some Canadian institutional investors, who have lobbied the federal government to push the nation's biggest pension funds to lift their exposure to domestic companies, Reuters reported.
Politicians and business lobby groups have asked the federal government to block the $23.2bn bid and Ottawa has said Glencore would face rigorous scrutiny.
FPA Energy Acquisition files for a $100m IPO.
The Alpharetta, GA-based FPA Energy Acquisition, a carbon neutral-focused blank check company targeting real estate businesses, plans to raise up to $100m in an initial public offering.
The company plans to target businesses that operate in or derive a large component of revenue from real estate, with a focus on opportunities involving transforming existing office buildings into mixed use developments.
FPA Energy is advised by Ellenoff Grossman and Shearman & Sterling.
Illumen Capital closes $168m vehicle. (FS)
Illumen Capital, a fund-of-funds focused on racial and gender diversity in investing, has closed its second fund on $168m, led by the Ford and WK Kellogg foundations along with more than 100 other investors.
The firm's second fund was oversubscribed, passing its initial target by around $50m and nearly doubling the fundraising of its $88m predecessor.
Shake Shack settles with activist investor, adds independent director. (FS, People)
American fast casual restaurant chain Shake Shack added an independent director in agreement with Engaged Capital, avoiding a potential proxy battle between the activist investor and the restaurant chain, Reuters reported.
The shareholder activist had determined ways to double the company's profitability within two years and believes the chain should get rid of its staggered board, meaning not all directors are up for election at the same time
Catalyst Partners names Dan Pogue new Vice President. (FS, People)
Dan Pogue has joined Catalyst Partners, a private equity anchor and seeding platform backed by Moelis Asset Management, as a vice president. Pogue joins Catalyst from Asset Consulting Group, an investment consulting firm based in of St Louis.
Prior to ACG, Pogue served as a Principal at Mercer following its acquisition of Summit Strategies Group, where he began his career.
Top Barclays TMT investment bankers decamp for UBS. (People)
Top Barclays TMT investment bankers decamp for UBS in the United States in the last few days, Reuters reported.
UBS has hired Laurence Braham, Richard Hardegree, Richard Casavechia, Ozzie Ramos, Jason Williams, Neil Meyer and Ken Tittle from Barclays. These bankers follow Barclays ex-colleagues Marco Valla, Jeff Hinton and Kurt Anthony, whose moves to UBS were announced in April.
EMEA
Edenred, a digital platform for services and payments, agreed to acquire Reward Gateway, a software development company, from Abry Partners and Castik Capital, fund managers, for £1.15bn ($1.4bn).
"Edenred has successfully extended its portfolio into non-Meal & Food benefits over the years. The Group has notably developed a leading offer in Employee Benefits and Savings platforms in 17 countries as part of its Beyond 22-25 strategy. This acquisition marks a major milestone in the roll-out of our strategic plan, putting Edenred in the best position to be the most trusted global Employee Benefits & Engagement platform. It opens the door for Edenred to accelerate the strengthening of its Employee Benefits value proposition. This move offers global corporations and enterprises international consistency in every market that we operate in," Arnaud Erulin, Edenred Global COO of Employee Benefits Solutions.
Reward Gateway is advised by Hard Number.
Avilon to acquire Volkswagen Russian assets for €125m.
Avilon, a Russian auto dealer, agreed to acquire Volkswagen's Russian assets for €125m ($136m).
"Currently Volkswagen is in the process of selling its shares of Volkswagen Group Rus, and thereby also the Kaluga plant with its more than 4k employees, to a reputable Russian investor," Volkswagen.
Macquarie raises hurdles to join the bid for TIM grid. (FS)
TIM directors have set a final deadline of June 9 for potential improved offers by the US private equity firm and a rival consortium comprising CDP and Macquarie, worth $22.8bn and $21bn respectively.
Vodafone-Three UK deal takes longer time than expected.
Vodafone's CEO said a long-awaited $19bn plan to merge its British business with CK Hutchison's Three UK mobile network is "progressing" but is not there yet, dampening hopes of a deal being imminent, Reuters reported.
The companies have been in talks since at least October to combine Britain's third and fourth-largest networks. Vodafone and Hutchison say they need to join forces to afford to roll out the 5G networks the British government wants, but getting a deal done has proved tougher than expected.
Saudi Arabia moves closer to another Aramco stock offering.
Saudi Arabia's plans for another multibillion-dollar offering of Aramco stock are gaining fresh momentum, with any deal set to be one of world's largest share sales in recent years, Bloomberg reported.
The kingdom has been working with several advisers to study the feasibility of a follow-on offering on the Riyadh exchange. It could make a decision as soon as the coming weeks about whether to proceed.
APAC
Essity starts the sale process of a majority stake in Vinda.
Sweden's Essity has kicked off the sale process for its 52% stake in Hong Kong-based Vinda International, a maker of tissues and diapers, Reuters reported.
The stake was worth $1.7bn as of May 16's close. Interested parties are looking at potential deal structures and an offer for Essity's 52% stake could trigger a buyout of the entire company.
Carlyle, Prabhu in talks to buy $640m stake in Quest Global. (FS)
Quest Global Services's co-founder and Carlyle are in talks to buy separate minority stakes in the engineering services firm worth a combined $640m, Bloomberg reported.
The US investment firm and Quest Chief Executive Officer Ajit Prabhu are lining up financing for a deal that would value the Singapore-based company at about $1.8bn.
Visa picks 7 Asian startups for the payments-focused accelerator program.
Digital payments major Visa announced that it had picked seven new startups from more than 450 applicants to partner with and accelerate payments innovations in the region through its Visa Accelerator Program in the Asia Pacific, DealStreetAsia reported.
The startups chosen for the 2023 cohort include digital financing firm Dowsure from Mainland China; trade platform Doxa Holdings and digitization company Pixcels from Singapore; and salary payments platform Kadmos from Germany. Web3 community platform Playbux from Thailand and payments firm Transpure and rewards-based payment network Twid from India also comprise the startups that will have the opportunity to collaborate with Visa payment experts, business development teams, and customers over a six-month period.
Dongfang Jingyuan Electron seeking to rival ASML weighs IPO filing.
Dongfang Jingyuan Electron, a semiconductor software firm, is weighing filing for an initial public offering in China as soon as next year as the country spars with developed democracies over access to chipmaking technology, Bloomberg reported.
China is looking to support semiconductor technology companies to counter a US-led campaign to block its firms' access to cutting-edge technologies. In 2021, Dongfang was designated as a "little giant," referring to startups that have been selected under an ambitious government program aimed at fostering a tech industry that can compete with Silicon Valley.
Credit Suisse head of the Philippines will join Ayala. (People)
Credit Suisse's head of the Philippines Mark Robert Uy is leaving the bank and joining Ayala in August, Bloomberg reported.
Uy will help with mergers and acquisitions at the Philippine conglomerate.
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