EMEA
Fortum has raised its stake in Uniper to 49%.
Permira acquired Hana Group from TA Associates. (Financial Sponsors)
Paulson & Co, activist investor, raised stake in Britain's Premier Food. (FS)
SSE to divest its stake in Stronelairg, Dunmaglass wind farms in Scotland. (FS)
Altice prepares for Portugal cable network sale. (FS)
Sunrise in talks to buy Liberty Swiss cable business. (FS)
AMERICAS
Starboard to seek a stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Delta Air Lines to sell East Coast refinery.
Papa John's seeks investment after failed sale attempt.
Marathon presents a final offer to Galveston Bay refinery workers.
Venezuela's Citgo denies bankruptcy.
PetroRio seeks the acquisition of Petrobras stake in Frade oil field.
APAC
Healthscope, Australia's leading private hospital operator to be acquired by Brookfield led consortium. (FS)
SoftBank Vision Fund to invest $1.5bn in Chinese used cars platform. (FS)
Go-Jek raises $1bn in a round led by Google, Tencent, JD. (FS)
Aeroplane parts maker FACC looks for takeovers and ramps up Brexit production.
Glencore looks to buy iron ore from Brazil's CSN for $500m.
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Latest Deals
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EMEA
Fortum has raised its stake in Uniper to 49%.
Finland’s biggest utility Fortum said it had raised its stake in German energy company Uniper to 49%, while also reporting a rise in comparable operating profit in the fourth quarter, citing higher electricity prices.
Fortum in June closed a €3.8bn ($4.4bn) deal to buy around 47% of Uniper. Uniper has opposed the transaction, saying the combination makes little sense given the energy group’s heavy exposure to gas and coal-fired power plants while Fortum’s focus is on clean technologies.
“Since the closing of the offer, we have increased our shareholding in Uniper in order to further secure Fortum’s voting position in any future Uniper General Meeting. At the end of 2018, Fortum held 49% of Uniper shares and voting rights.” Pekka Lundmark, Fortum’s Chief Executive.
On the original 47% deal Uniper was advised by Morgan Stanley, Rothschild, Shearman & Sterling, Sullivan & Cromwell. Fortum was advised by Barclays, Perella Weinberg Partners, Hengeler Mueller and Roschier. Eon was advised by Goldman Sachs & Co, Linklaters.
Permira acquired Hana Group, a global provider of freshly prepared sushi “on the go” through its 900 points of sale in grocery retailers across 12 markets, from TA Associates. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Global demand for sushi is growing, driven by consumers’ demand for healthy and convenient meals. At the same time, retailers are looking to introduce more theatre and experience into their stores. With its in-store chefs preparing fresh sushi, Hana addresses both of these trends. We believe that Hana’s relentless focus on innovation, customer service and consumer experience, will continue to fuel growth and increasingly strategic collaboration with retail partners.” Tara Alhadeff, Principal in Permira’s Global Consumer Team.
Hana Group and TA Associates was advised by Rothschild & Co, KPMG, Latham & Watkins, Boston Consulting Group. Management was advised by McDermott Will & Emery, Gide and Callisto. Permira was advised by Cambon Partners, McKinsey & Company, Simon-Kucher & Partners, AlixPartners, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Alvarez & Marsal, PwC, Linklaters.
Paulson & Co, activist investor, raised stake in Britain's Premier Food. (FS)
Paulson & Co, the hedge fund firm led by billionaire investor John Paulson, has upped its overall interest in Britain's Premier Foods to 11.9%, a regulatory filing showed on Friday.
The activist investor’s move comes a little over two months after the Bisto gravy and Oxo-cube maker said Chief Executive Officer Gavin Darby would be stepping down, following a shareholder revolt, led by activist hedge fund Oasis Management, that called for a management overhaul.
SSE to divest its stake in Stronelairg, Dunmaglass wind farms in Scotland. (FS)
British energy supplier SSE has agreed to sell nearly half of its stake in the Stronelairg and Dunmaglass wind farms in Scotland to renewables fund Greencoat UK Wind and a UK pension fund for £635m ($832m).
The move is part of SSE’s wider strategy to focus on its core businesses of regulated networks, renewables, flexible thermal generation, and business energy sale. SSE will sell its 49% percent stake in the wind farms but will continue to hold the remaining 50% majority stake and continue to operate both assets.
Greencoat UK Wind, an infrastructure fund managed by Greencoat Capital, is buying the stake in partnership with a large unnamed UK pension fund whose investment is managed by Greencoat.
Altice prepares for Portugal cable network sale. (FS)
Debt-burdened telecom carrier Altice Europe is gearing up to sell a stake in its high-speed fiber network business in Portugal, with an auction process expected to kick off within a fortnight.
Altice, which took control of Portugal Telecom in 2015, is looking to replicate its recent sale of a 49% stake in French fiber optic business SFR FTTH to three investment funds for €1.8bn.
The group, whose founder is billionaire Patrick Drahi, has hired Lazard to sound out potential bidders including U.S. funds KKR and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners.
Sunrise in talks to buy Liberty Swiss cabel business. (FS)
Swiss telecommunications company Sunrise is apparently in advanced talks to buy Liberty Global’s cable business in Switzerland, UPC.
Liberty Global has been favorable towards consolidation in the Swiss market with its total of four full-service providers, but the company was expected to rather buy than sell.
Discussions between Liberty Global and Sunrise regarding a combination of their assets in Switzerland have been going on for a while. Exiting Switzerland would be in line with Liberty Global’s recent moves to sell its cable subsidiaries in Austria as well as in Germany and Eastern European countries.
AMERICAS
Starboard to seek a stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Starboard Value has taken a stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb, the pharmaceutical giant that agreed to acquire Celgene in a record $74bn deal last month.
The size of the stake and any plans that Jeff Smith’s activist hedge fund might have for its investment in the $81bn drugmaker couldn’t immediately be learned.
Purchasing Celgene will give Bristol control of one of the most successful cancer drugs of recent years, the top-selling blood-cancer therapy Revlimid, which costs more than $100k a year. But that drug is the subject of patent litigation which has the potential to open it up to generic competition.
Delta Air Lines to sell East Coast refinery.
Delta Air Lines wants to sell its oil refinery in Trainer, Pennsylvania, after attempts to offer a partial stake in the plant late last year failed.
The Atlanta-based airline hired investment banks last year to organize the sale of a stake in its Monroe Energy refining subsidiary, signaling it wanted to share the risk of running an energy business. The offer failed to attract sufficient interest because a refinery on the East Coast is viewed as an undesirable asset given the rising costs of acquiring crude oil.
“We have continued with that process and have received some interest in having discussions with parties. There’s no update on the strategy broadly as we articulated. We’re looking for ways to enhance the value and the strategic value to Delta of the refinery through a partnership and those discussions can be complicated.” Morgan Durrant Delta spokesman.
Papa John's seeks investment.
Papa John’s International, the world’s third largest pizza delivery company, is pursuing the sale of a stake in itself after acquisition offers from private equity firms did not meet its valuation expectations.
Any such deal would come amid a battle for control of Papa John’s with the chain’s founder John Schnatter, who owns about 30% of the company. Schnatter resigned as chairman last July following reports that he had used a racial slur on a media training conference call. He retains a seat on the company’s board.
The transaction, which could be structured as a private investment in public equity, would boost Papa John’s finances, as the company seeks to recover from low franchisee profitability and boost its sales through promotional discounts.
Marathon presents a final offer to Galveston Bay refinery workers.
Marathon Petroleum gave a final contract offer to the United Steelworkers union (USW) local representing workers at its Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas.
USW members from Local 13-1, who work at the refinery in Texas City, Texas, are expected to vote on the offer next week. Company spokesman Sid Barth said Marathon was optimistic about reaching mutually satisfactory agreements with the USW locals that have not yet agreed to terms.
Venezuela's Citgo denies bankruptcy.
U.S. refiner Citgo, owned by Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA, denied a report on Thursday that it was considering filing for bankruptcy in the United States amid a row between the Trump administration and Venezuela’s leftist government.
The Wall Street Journal had reported that Citgo was considering various options including a bankruptcy to protect its operations as it deals with a looming governance crisis and competing creditor claims on its assets.
“Citgo has no intention of entering into bankruptcy proceedings. We continue to maintain a strong balance sheet, flat debt levels and liquidity of more than $1bn into the new year” Citgo spokesman.
PetroRio seeks the acquisition of Petrobras stake in Frade oil field.
Brazilian independent oil firm PetroRio, which already owns 70% of the Frade oil field, has approached Petrobras about buying its 30% stake in the field.
PetroRio recently signed a deal to buy Chevron’s majority stake in the mature deepwater oil field. PetroRio, seeking more flexibility to pursue the Petrobras transaction and other upcoming deals, struck an agreement with Chevron for a deferred payment scheme in return for its stake in the field.
APAC
Healthscope, Australia's leading private hospital operator to be acquired by Brookfield led consortium. (FS)
Brookfield together with institutional partners agreed to acquire up to 100% of Healthscope for approximately A$5.7bn ($4.1bn).
Healthscope is the second largest private hospital operator in Australia and the largest pathology services provider in New Zealand.
“Healthscope is a leading business offering best-in-class, essential services to the well-established and growing private healthcare sector in Australia and pathology services sector in New Zealand,” Len Chersky, Brookfield Business Partners Managing Partner. “As a long-term operator of and investor in service businesses globally, and one of the largest builders of hospitals in Australia, we are confident in the prospects for Healthscope to strengthen, grow, and continue to provide quality healthcare services to the community under our ownership.”
Healthscope was advised by UBS and Herbert Smith Freehills. Brookfield was advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, King & Wood Mallesons and MinterEllisonRuddWatts. BGH was advised by Allens.
LafargeHolcim has completed the sale of its Indonesia business in a deal which valued the unit at $1.75bn. Proceeds from the sale to Semen Indonesia will be used to pay down LafargeHolcim’s debts. LafargeHolcim held 80.6% in the business, giving it $1.41bn from the sale.
LafargeHolcim said last year it wanted to raise around 2bn Swiss francs ($2.0bn) from selling assets and could leave two or three countries to concentrate on the United States, Latin America, India, and Africa.
Semen Indonesia was advised by BNP Paribas and Latham & Watkins. LafargeHolcim was advised by Citigroup and Baker McKenzie.
Blackstone managed funds acquired 70% stake in Aadhar Housing Finance, home loans providers from Wadhawan Global Capital and its unit Dewan Housing Finance. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“The transaction with Blackstone is a part of our multi-pronged strategy to reduce the corporate debt levels and strengthen our balance sheet,” Kapil Wadhawan, Wadhawan Chairman.
SoftBank Vision Fund to invest $1.5bn in Chinese used cars platform. (FS)
The SoftBank-led Vision Fund is in talks to invest up to $1.5bn in Chinese used car trading platform Guazi.
That would mark the latest Chinese deal by the mammoth $100bn investment fund as it looks to expand in the world’s No.2 economy, and would come after it invested €460m in German used car dealing platform Auto1.
The fund is likely to invest up to $1.5bn in Guazi in a deal that would value the firm at $8.5bn before the investment. Vision Fund had in the past few months held talks with Guazi’s direct rival, Renrenche, which is backed by Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing.
Go-Jek raises $1bn in a round led by Google, Tencent, JD. (FS)
Indonesian ride-hailing firm Go-Jek had finalized the first close of its series F funding round, led by Alphabet’s Google, JD and Tencent, with Mitsubishi and Provident Capital joining as investors.
Aeroplane parts maker FACC looks for takeovers and ramps up Brexit production.
Austrian aeroplane parts maker FACC is ready to spend €500m ($572m) on acquisitions to make it less dependent on suppliers, add new technologies and strengthen its core business.
The Chinese-owned group makes components for wings, tail assemblies, and fuselages as well as engines and cabin interiors for plane makers including Airbus, Boeing, and Bombardier. It expects revenue of €760-770m ($881m) for its 2018/19 business year that ends in February.
“Half a billion (euros), that is the amount of money we could use to make acquisitions in the next five years,” Robert Machtlinger.
In recent months, the firm has been increasing production of parts it makes for Airbus and Rolls Royce that are needed for assembly in Great Britain, the CEO said, as it prepares for Britain’s exit from the EU. Components for about four weeks of production are being sent to Britain, Machtlinger said. Quite a stretch for the company as normally the buffer would be two to four days.
Glencore looks to buy iron ore from Brazil's CSN for $500m.
Global trader Glencore is close to finalizing a deal to make a $500m payment to the mining arm of Brazil’s Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) for iron ore cargoes to be delivered over five years.
Glencore, which would receive 20m tonnes of iron ore over the period, would sign the deal no later than the first quarter.
The Brazilian steelmaker is aiming to reduce debts that piled up after an iron ore and steel price rout in 2015-2016 and a severe recession in Brazil, prompting investors to demand asset sales.
The deal with Glencore comes against a backdrop of rising iron ore prices, after the collapse of a tailings dam run by Brazilian mining giant Vale that forced the firm to announce plans to cut 10% of its output.
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