AMERICAS
Furhat, a social robotics company, completed the acquisition of Misty Robotics, a hardware company that builds personal robots for homes and offices. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Misty is an incredibly well designed and engineered robot that one falls in love with at first sight. Very likable and social, yet highly sophisticated in terms of hardware and software. There are more than 1k Mistys out in the world, and the range of applications users are building with Misty is very inspirational. We have admired the work of the Misty Robotics team over the past years and their focus on developers. To be joining forces is an exciting moment for everyone at Furhat, and I believe for the whole social robotics industry,” Samer Al Moubayed, Furhat CEO and Co-founder.
XMachina-AI, a provider of a platform for the acquisition of AI, completed the acquisition of Bain Public, a management consulting firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We see the Bain Public acquisition as part of a strategic growth strategy for XMachina. Firstly we have an opportunity to grow XMachina revenues through the continued development of the Bain Public brand while adding a layer of in house product expertise for the targets that we acquire. Paul’s personal expertise developed in the Silicon Valley and Montréal ecosystems and proprietary management coaching programs have enabled him and his team to build a successful niche services company geared towards the enhancement of enterprise value through defined approaches to product roadmap delivery. Bain Public’s presence across the Montréal AI accelerator ecosystem will also bring top rated deal flow and presence to XMachina," Claude Theroret, XMachina AI CEO.
Bain in talks to acquire VXI Global Solutions from Carlyle for up to $2bn. (FS)
Bain Capital, a private equity firm, is in talks to acquire VXI Global Solutions, an outsourcing firm, from Carlyle Group, an American multinational private equity, alternative asset management and financial services corporation, Bloomberg reported.
VXI Global Solutions could be valued from $1.5bn to $2bn in a sale. The company had drawn interest from buyout firms Bain Capital and Baring Private Equity Asia last month.
Mubadala puts Rota das Bandeiras highway up for sale. (FS)
Mubadala Investment Company, a sovereign wealth fund, has hired Banco BTG Pactual, an investment banking company, as adviser for the sale of Rota das Bandeiras highway, Reuters reported.
Mubadala is likely to sell the highway for over $723m. Rota das Bandeiras highway located in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo.
Moody's places all Citibanamex ratings and assessments on review for downgrade.
Moody's Investors Service, a ratings agency, placed all ratings and assessments of the Citibanamex, a consumer banking arm of Citigroup in Mexico, on review for downgrade.
Citigroup's announcement triggered the review that it would sell its Citibanamex consumer banking operations, which will end a two-decade retail presence in Mexico.
Gores Holdings IX completes a $525m IPO. (FS)
Gores Holdings IX, a SPAC sponsored by an affiliate of The Gores Group, a global investment firm, announced the closing of its IPO of 52.5m units. The offering was priced at $10 per unit, resulting in gross proceeds of $525m before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses payable by the company.
The company's units began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "GHIXU" on January 12, 2022. Each unit consists of one share of Class A common stock and one-third of one warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of the Class A common stock at a price of $11.5 per share.
EMEA
Ardian, a private equity investment company, agreed to acquire a majority stake in Biofarma Group, a company specializing in the development, manufacture and packaging of food supplements and medical devices, from White Bridge Investments, a private equity firm, for $1.26bn.
"The nutraceutical sector is already benefitting from strong growth driven by secular trends, such as the importance attributed by customers to prevention, and Italy represents an excellence in this market recognised worldwide. Biofarma is undoubtedly the technological leader and natural consolidator of the industry, so we are very pleased to partner-up with the Group's management and the Scarpa family on this project, which will lead to an acceleration of Biofarma's growth, also at an international level,” Yann Chareton, Ardian Managing Director.
Ardian is advised by Boston Consulting Group, Tauw, BNP Paribas, Houlihan Lokey, Mediobanca, Nomura, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli & Partners, Weil Gotshal and Manges, Image Building and Gitti and Partners. White Bridge Investments is advised by Canson Capital Partners, Deloitte, Ethica Corporate Finance, Giovannelli e Associati and Gatti Pavesi Bianchi. Scarpa Family is advised by Studio Molaro Pezzetta Romanelli Del Fabbro.
Private equity firm Triton Partners raised its offer for pharmaceutical company Clinigen Group to win shareholders' backing, including activist Elliott Investment Management.
The revised offer values the pharmaceutical company at about $1.8bn on a fully diluted basis. The price offered is 14 times Clinigen's adjusted Ebitda and 19 times its free cash flow, Bloomberg reported.
Clinigen is advised by RBC Capital Markets, Numis Securities, Ashurst and Consilium Strategic Communications. Stepstone Group is advised by Alston & Bird and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. Triton Partners is advised by Barclays, HSBC, JP Morgan, White & Case and Greenbrook.
VDK Group, a collection of companies active in the installation industry, completed the acquisition of Mur Conditioning, an installation company active in the field of climate control. Financial terms were not disclosed.
VDK Group is a provider of technical installation and maintenance services in the Netherlands. The company offers installation technology, painting, finishing and project designing services, thereby helping the installation industry with all its needs.
Mur Conditioning was advised by Create Capital and DeBreij. VDK Group was advised by KPMG, DLA Piper and Meijburg.
NTS shareholders have offered to acquire NTS, a public transport company, for $1.5bn.
The rationale for the offer is to seek to protect and further develop share values in NTS by continuing to explore alternatives for the company's shareholders, including selling the shares. The shareholders further wish to improve the corporate governance of the company.
NTS shareholders are advised by Carnegie Investment Bank and Thommessen.
Rheem, a provider of gas furnaces, heat pumps, air conditioners, air handlers, indoor air quality products, gas and electric water heaters, completed the acquisition of De Jong, a supplier of stainless-steel hot water tanks, from Nordian Capital Partners, a private equity firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Rheem and De Jong are aligned on many fronts, including our commitment to sustainability. Together, we will continue to lead through innovation and develop products that reduce dependance on carbon fuel sources while expanding De Jong’s presence beyond Europe and North America," Chris Peel, Rheem President and CEO.
Nordian Capital was advised by DLA Piper and Van Campen Liem.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management led a $335m Series D funding round in Exotec, a robotic equipment manufacturer. Additional investors include 83North, Dell Technologies Capital, Bpifrance, Iris Capital and Breega Capital.
"Exotec will leverage the funds to continue to launch large-scale deployments in North America, Europe, and Asia for global brands. The company also plans to hire 500 new R&D engineers by 2025 to accelerate the development of its high-performance warehouse automation technology," Exotec.
Iris Capital was advised by Chammas & Marcheteau.
Berlin Packaging, a hybrid packaging supplier of glass, plastic, and metal containers and closures, completed the acquisition of Le Parfait, a major glass-making company, from O-I, an American Fortune 500 company that specializes in container glass products, for $83m.
"Acquisition of the Le Parfait brand would strengthen our leadership in the glass packaging industry and further establish Berlin Packaging as the leading and trusted partner for high-quality glass containers, not only in the business-to-business market but also in the business-to-consumer market," Paolo Recrosio, Berlin Packaging EMEA CEO.
Berlin Packaging was advised by Omnicom Group.
Wren House, a global infrastructure investment manager, agreed to acquire Voyage Care, a specialist care services provider, from private equity firm Partners Group and Duke Street. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Voyage Care has a strong operational and reputational track record which has been driven by the successful execution of our growth strategy. Partners Group and Duke Street have been hugely supportive, investing in the key resources needed to maintain our position as a leading specialist care provider in the UK. We strive to deliver the highest possible levels of care across all our communities, as well as attract and retain the most skillful and dedicated care professionals," Andrew Cannon, Voyage Care CEO.
Wren House is advised by JP Morgan.
GlaxoSmithKline said it had rejected a $68bn offer from Unilever for its consumer goods arm, saying it "fundamentally undervalued" the business and its future prospects and that it would stick to its plan of spinning off the unit.
"The board of GSK is strongly focused on maximising value for GSK shareholders and has carefully evaluated each Unilever proposal. In doing so, the board and its advisers assessed the proposals relative to the financial planning assessments completed to support the proposed demerger of the business in mid-2022, including the sales growth outlook set out below," GSK.
Meysan Partners, a law firm in the corporate space, completed the merger with Arkan Legal Consultants, a legal group. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We are delighted to announce this merger with Arkan, by joining forces, our clients will benefit from the collective talent and resources of two market-leading firms, which will in turn help Meysan expand its services and confirm its position as the leading law firm in Kuwait," Waleed Al Tattan, Meysan Partners Chairman and Partner.
Infracorp plans $800m perpetual green sukuk sale. (FS)
Infracorp, an infrastructure fund, aims to issue around $800m in perpetual green sukuk, Islamic bonds, in the first quarter.
Proceeds from the sukuk sale will be eligible to finance environment, social and governance goals. Infracorp's roughly $1bn in capital will come from the sukuk as well as $200m in equity.
Infracorp is advised by Allen & Overy and KPMG.
Saudi-Polish deal dents Russian oil dominance in Baltic.
Planned purchase of Polish refining assets by Saudi Arabia is set to put country in charge of 2/3 of Poland's oil supply, breaking previously dominant supplier Russia's leverage, Reuters reported.
Moscow and Warsaw have clashed over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Poland has a long history of seeking to reduce its dependence on Russian energy imports through deals with alternative suppliers
Barclays hires Beattie and Connellan in the Australian banking push. (People)
Barclays, a British multinational universal bank, has hired two managing directors, Duncan Beattie and Duncan Connellan, to bolster its Australian investment banking unit.
Duncan Beattie from JP Morgan and Duncan Connellan from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group will get on board. Beattie will lead Barclays' capital markets financing team, and Connellan will be responsible for leverage and acquisition financing.
Credit Suisse chairman resigns. (People)
Antonio Horta-Osorio, Credit Suisse Chairman, resigned after a series of missteps, including reported breaches of Swiss and UK quarantine rules.
The chairman resigned after being nine months in the role. Breaking quarantine rules eroded confidence in his leadership. Credit Suisse, a global investment bank and financial services firm, named board member Axel P. Lehmann as a successor of Horta-Osorio.
APAC
CICC. a private equity firm, led a $200m series D funding round in DST Car, an electric vehicle rental and services provider. Additional investor include Ingka, the parent of IKEA.
The capital will be used to spruce up the company’s supply chain, digital platform and network operation.
DST was advised by Taihecap.
Private equity investors Qiming Venture, Meituan, Longzhu Capital and Inno-Chip, led a $126m series A++ round in Axera Tech, a startup developing artificial intelligence chip for computer vision applications. Additional investors include Dragon Ball Capital, Heju Investment, GGV Capital, Legend Star and Glory Ventures.
The fund will use the fresh capital to recruit talent, expand business scale, and forge cooperation with new partners in the industry.
A consortium of investors led a $117m Series D round in WayCool Foods & Products. (FS)
A consortium of investors led a $117m Series D round in WayCool Foods & Products, an agri-tech company. Investors included LightRock, LightBox, FMO, Lightsmith, IFC, Redwood Equity Partners and Gawa Capital.
"We will also deploy the funds to deepen our footprint in our target geographies, adding up to 50 more distribution points over the next 18 months. Finally, we will be investing to create a keiretsu of businesses, who bring complementary capabilities and are aligned to our purpose,” Karthik Jayaraman, WayCool Foods & Products CEO and Co-Founder.
Yoma Strategic to acquire a 51% stake in Myanmar from Telenor Group for $53m. (FS)
Yoma Strategic, an investment company, agreed to acquire a 51% stake in Myanmar, a telecommunications company in Myanmar, from Telenor Group, a provider of tele, data and media communication services, for $53m.
“This acquisition reinforces Yoma Strategic’s desire to build a strong financial and technology ecosystem in the country over the long term. The digitization in the economy, in particular in financial services, has been remarkable for Myanmar. We are pleased that Wave Money has positively transformed the way of life of people in Myanmar, bringing financial inclusion to the mass,” Melvyn Pun, Yoma Strategic CEO.
Riverhead Capital makes first close of its second RMB fund. (FS)
Riverhead Capital, the private equity arm of the Sunshine Insurance Group, closed its second RMB-denominated fund, securing 70% of the targeted $315m, DealStreetAsia reported.
The new fund will continue to invest in healthcare and technology sectors. With Riverhead plans to extend its investments in companies looking for both early and growth-stage capital.
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