Daily Review

Hyland, a content services provider, completed the acquisition of Nuxeo, a software company, from Kennet Partners, a private equity investment firm, and Goldman Sachs. Financial terms were not disclosed.

"We're thrilled to welcome our new colleagues, customers and partners to the Hyland community. With the addition of Nuxeo's cloud-native, open-source, low-code platform, Hyland is now the largest open-source content services provider in the market. The expertise the Nuxeo team brings, along with the innovative capabilities of the Nuxeo platform, strengthen Hyland's position as the leader in cloud-based content services platforms and present tremendous opportunities for the organizations we serve,” Bill Priemer, Hyland President and CEO.

Kennet Partners was advised by William Blair & Co and SEC Newgate. Nuxeo is advised by Proskauer Rose.

SoftBank Vision Fund 2 completed a $160m investment in Iyuno-SDI Group, a provider of localization services to the media and entertainment industry. 

The investment will provide Iyuno-SDI with the necessary resources to support its mission of transforming the localization industry.

"SoftBank Vision Fund 2 joining Iyuno-SDI's impressive group of investors is a significant milestone in the evolution of our company. SoftBank Vision Fund 2's portfolio companies are each transformative in their respective industries and Iyuno-SDI is proud to join this network of businesses innovating and advancing the state of the art," David Lee, Iyuno-SDI Group CEO.

 

 

Sporting goods retailer SIGNA Sports United, owned by Austrian investor Rene Benko, is in talks to go public through a merger with a blank check company in a deal that could value the firm at up to $4bn, Reuters reported.

SIGNA Sports United is working with several banks, including Citigroup, on a potential transaction and is in preliminary talks with SPAC, including Yucaipa Acquisition.

SIGNA Sports United is also nearing a deal to buy Britain-based online sporting goods store Wiggle, which is owned by private equity firm Bridgepoint.

Former Major League Baseball player Alex Rodriguez and Jet founder Marc Lore are buying the Minnesota Timberwolves, the basketball team said. The deal may be valued at about $1.5bn, Bloomberg reported.

Rodriguez said about two months ago that he’s looking for deals after Slam, his SPAC, started trading. Last year, the former Yankees all-star lost a bid for the New York Mets baseball team to billionaire Steve Cohen.

Lore, a former Walmart executive and founder of Jet, is a special adviser to Slam. The architect of Walmart’s digital operations, Lore joined the retailer after it bought his startup for $3.3bn in 2016, before retiring in January.

 

 

As US business aviation traffic rebounds to pre-pandemic levels, a niche, fragmented industry providing services ranging from hangars to fueling is drawing interest from private equity funds and infrastructure investors, Reuters reported.

Fixed base operators play a key role in keeping private jets flying, offering services like hangars and fueling, and some buyers are betting the revival in flights could spill over into allied industries.

While business jet orders and deliveries dropped in 2020, private flights, which carry smaller groups and promise wealthy passengers less risk of exposure to the coronavirus, have generally fared better than commercial. That is underpinning investor interest in FBOs.

The sector recently made headlines when Gatwick Airport owner Global Infrastructure Partners joined forces with Blackstone and Bill Gates’ investment vehicle to make a $4.73bn offer for Signature Aviation, a private jet services firm.

Impossible Foods is preparing for a public listing which could value the US plant-based burger maker at around $10bn or more, Reuters reported.

This would be substantially more than the $4bn the company was worth in a private funding round in 2020. It would highlight growing demand for plant-based meat products, driven by environmental and ethical concerns among consumers.

Impossible Foods is exploring going public through an IPO in the next 12 months or a merger with a SPAC. The Redwood City, California-based company has worked with a financial adviser to help manage discussions with SPACs after receiving offers at a lucrative valuation. Going public through a SPAC could dilute existing Impossible Foods shareholders, however, by a greater extent than an IPO.

 

Brazilian payments firm Elo has chosen six banks to manage its initial public offering, in the first concrete sign it is proceeding with a move first proposed by shareholders in August, Reuters reported.

The payments network - launched a decade ago to compete with Visa and Mastercard - is planning an IPO on Nasdaq, following recent successful listings by Brazilian financial services firms such as XP and StoneCo.

Elo has picked Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan as the main underwriters, along with the investment banking units of its owners Banco Bradesco, Banco do Brasil and Caixa Economica Federal. Elo is pursuing a valuation of around $7bn through the flotation, which another source said is likely to happen in the second half of the year. 

 

South Africa’s MTN, the continent’s biggest mobile phone company by subscribers, is looking to value its mobile money arm at more than $5bn as it prepares to sell or list a minority stake to draw global investors enticed by fast-growing fintech assets, FT reported.

Chief executive Ralph Mupita told the Financial Times that the unit, which added almost 12m new users to a total of more than 46m last year, should be worth at least $5bn to $6bn and that the group would spin it out within the next year.

Johannesburg-listed MTN, which has 280m global subscribers, unveiled the separation plan last month as part of a strategy shift to refocus its business and cut R43bn ($3bn) of net debt.

Talks with the European Commission on restructuring EDF are not stuck and the French firm remains on track to start operating its next-generation nuclear reactor at Flamanville next year, Reuters reported.

France hopes to place state-run EDF’s debt-laden and capital hungry nuclear business in a holding company that would be fully state owned. It would control a separate entity housing the more lucrative parts of the business and free of its liabilities.

With more nuclear reactors than any country other than the United States, France is keen to ensure a profitable EDF has the money it needs to replace ageing reactors, develop new technology and compete globally.

“The negotiations are not at all bogged down,” Jean-Bernard Levy CEO. He said talks between Paris and the Commission were being held almost daily.

 

 

AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group, a global critical materials company at the forefront of CO2 reduction trends, successfully raised proceeds of approximately €100m ($119m) through an accelerated book-building offering of new shares, priced at an offer price of €32.5 ($38) per share. 

The net proceeds of the offering will be utilized to fund and expedite AMG’s projects in the lithium value chain in its Clean Energy Materials reporting segment.

“The CEM segment is at the center of AMG’s growth investments, each of which fit within AMG’s core strategy to enable C02 reduction utilizing advanced material technologies. Energy storage materials add a new dimension to this strategy as batteries enable higher efficiency in the intermittent renewable energy sector. We are very pleased with the investor reception to AMG’s capital increase, which was more than 2 times oversubscribed, and is indicative of the market’s appreciation for our growth strategy,” Heinz Schimmelbusch, AMG CEO.

Citigroup, ABN Amro, De Brauw Blackstone, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison and Clifford Chance advised on the transaction.​

 

The battle for control of Arm’s China business is escalating with new lawsuits aimed at keeping the unit’s controversial chief executive in power, further complicating SoftBank’s efforts to sell the business to Nvidia, Bloomberg reported.

The dispute erupted almost a year ago in June after the board voted to oust Arm China CEO Allen Wu for conflicts of interest, but he refused to leave. Now the Chinese unit, which remains under Wu’s control, has filed lawsuits against three senior executives the board designated to replace him. The previously unreported suits could take years to resolve, suggesting Wu may remain entrenched.

Wu fired the three men - including co-CEO Phil Tang - but they were subsequently reinstated by the board. In the new lawsuits, Arm China is suing the trio, demanding they return company property.

 

China slapped a record $2.8bn fine on Alibaba Group after an anti-monopoly probe found it abused its market dominance, as Beijing clamps down on its internet giants, Bloomberg reported.

The penalty is triple the previous high of almost $1bn that US chipmaker Qualcomm had to pay in 2015, and was based on 4% of Alibaba’s 2019 domestic revenue. The company will also have to initiate comprehensive rectifications, from protecting merchants and customers to strengthening internal controls. The fine - about 12% of Alibaba’s fiscal 2020 net income - helps remove some of the uncertainty that’s hung over China’s second-largest corporation. But Beijing remains intent on reining in its internet and fintech giants and is said to be scrutinizing other parts of billionaire founder Jack Ma’s empire, including Ant Group’s consumer-lending businesses and Alibaba’s extensive media holdings.

Alibaba used its platform rules and technical methods like data and algorithms to maintain and strengthen its own market power and obtain improper competitive advantage, the State Administration for Market Regulation concluded in its investigation. The company will likely have to change a raft of practices, like merchant exclusivity, which critics say helped it become China’s largest e-commerce operation.