EMEA
Carlyle, Altor continue Europe's PE fundraising boom.
EQT to sell a stake in the pet care group IVC.
Bowmark prepares £89m ($115m) bid for Tax Systems.
European VC investment hits €20B for the first time ever.
AMERICAS
Airgas, an Air Liquide company acquired CI Capital Partners-backed Tech Air.
Apollo nears $3bn deal to buy Cox TV stations.
Investor Cat Rock pushes towards Just Eat merger with Takeaway.
Health Catalyst raised $100m in a Series F led by OrbiMed.
APAC
Indian investors looking to join Brookfield's investment trust for East-West Pipeline bid.
India’s Oyo Rooms in talks to acquire Keys Hotels from Berggruen.
Avendus Capital launches a $1bn fund to invest in ESG value.
SoftBank invests $940m in driverless delivery start-up Nuro.
TPG closes over $4.6bn new Asia fund.
KKR and General Atlantic near to invest in Flipkart’s payments arm PhonePe.
Warburg-backed Indonesian real estate platform NWP Retail gathers $200m.
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EMEA
Carlyle, Altor continue Europe's PE fundraising boom.
The Carlyle Group and Altor Equity Partners are collectively closing in on around €8.5bn ($9.6bn)-worth of commitments for their European buyout funds, in a sign that the private equity fundraising boom is still going strong.
US investor Carlyle confirmed in an earnings call last week that its fifth European buyout vehicle reached nearly €6bn ($6.8bn)-worth of commitments during 4Q. Reports from last year suggested that the firm's initial target was just €5bn ($5.7bn).
Elsewhere, Nordic investor Altor has held a final close of its own fifth fund on a €2.5bn hard cap, after reportedly just four months on the road. The vehicle will look to invest across the Nordic and DACH regions, aiming for companies with revenues between €50m ($57m) and €500m ($570m).
EQT to sell a stake in the pet care group IVC.
Buyout group EQT is set to sell a 20%-25% stake in Independent Vetcare Group to institutional investors in a deal that will value one of Europe’s biggest veterinary services providers at over €1.5bn ($1.7bn).
Swedish private equity firm EQT Partners, IVC’s controlling investor, is bringing in co-investors and will refinance the company. The deal is expected to be announced this week.
Bowmark prepares £89m ($115m) bid for Tax Systems.
Bowmark Capital is in advanced talks to acquire compliance technology provider Tax Systems in a deal which would value the business at around £89m ($115m). The 110 pence per share offer would net the firm a company which posted revenues of £8m ($10m) in the first half of 2018, as well as EBITDA of £4m ($5m).
European VC investment hits €20B for the first time ever.
Europe's venture capital investment eclipsed €20bn ($22.7bn) for the first time ever. Despite the 25.9% drop in deal volume year-over-year, swelling deal sizes and increased interest from nontraditional investors helped drive deal value to the high-water mark. As an example, the median early-stage deal size increased 87% from 2017, while late-stage median deal size increased by 68% over the same period.
However, with 30.5% fewer exits completed than in 2017, questions arose on the exit market's ability to ensure strong capital returns to a broader group of GPs and LPs.
International investors, nontraditional investors, and government programs have grown in importance as alternative sources of funding for angel & seed and early-stage startups.
AMERICAS
Ingersoll Rand, a world leader in creating comfortable, sustainable and efficient environments, acquired Precision Flow Systems, a leading provider of fluid management systems, from BC Partners and Carlyle for $1.4bn.
At the time of acquisition close, PFS would combine with Ingersoll Rand’s Fluid Management business, which designs, manufactures, and markets pump for specialized fluid handling applications under the ARO brand. The PFS product portfolio is complementary to Ingersoll Rand’s Fluid Management portfolio.
“The proposed acquisition of PFS will accelerate the strategic growth of our highly profitable Fluid Management business in our Industrial segment, while significantly diversifying and enhancing our product portfolio. PFS brings a talented, customer-focused team with expertise in sales, service, engineering, and manufacturing, which is a great addition to the company and our Fluid Management team," Michael W. Lamach, Ingersoll Rand chairman and chief executive officer.
Precision Flow Systems is advised by Morgan Stanley and Latham & Watkins. Ingersoll Rand is advised by Goldman Sachs and Kirkland & Ellis. The Carlyle Group is advised by Latham & Watkins. BC Partners is advised Latham & Watkins.
Airgas, an Air Liquide company acquired CI Capital Partners-backed Tech Air.
Airgas, an Air Liquide company acquired by Tech Air, previously owned by CI Capital Partners. The sale is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Founded in 1935, Tech Air is a major distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases; welding equipment; and supplies. Tech Air serves more than 45k customers.
“We are grateful to have had the opportunity to support Myles and his team in its buy-and-build strategy, which allowed Tech Air to become a leading packaged gas distributor. We congratulate the Tech Air management team on their unrelenting commitment to value creation. We wish them and Airgas all the best in the future.” Joost Thesseling, CI Capital Managing Director.
Tech Air is advised by Harris Williams, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison and Berenson & Co.
Apollo nears $3bn deal to buy Cox TV stations.
Apollo Global Management is nearing a roughly $3bn agreement to acquire Cox Enterprises 14 regional TV stations, the biggest in a series of deals the private equity firm is lining up to become a force in US broadcasting.
Cox, a privately held media conglomerate whose holdings span automotive websites, newspapers and cable TV, has been seeking to exit the regional TV sector, which is going through a wave of consolidation. Operators are looking for a scale to counter the rise of online streaming and the shift of advertising dollars to the internet. Cox and Apollo are also discussing some JV agreements for Cox’s broadcast station in Atlanta, where Cox is headquartered and also has radio stations.
An agreement between Apollo and Cox could be announced later this week.
Investor Cat Rock pushes towards Just Eat merger with Takeaway.
An activist investor urged online food delivery firm Just Eat to pursue merger talks with a peer such as Takeaway, saying it did not trust the board to get the appointment of a new CEO right.
Cat Rock Capital, which has stakes in both Just Eat and Dutch-listed Takeaway, said Just Eat was likely to attract significant interest from potential partners if it chose to seek a deal as a route to strong management and growth.
“Cat Rock argues that a merger with a well-run industry peer would be a far better outcome for shareholders than relying on the board to choose a new CEO, particularly given the board’s poor record of CEO selection,” said Connecticut-based Cat Rock which has a stake of around 2% in Just Eat.
Health Catalyst raised $100m in a Series F led by OrbiMed.
Health Catalyst, the creator of a healthcare data analytics platform, has raised up to $100m in a Series F led by OrbiMed, with participation from Sequoia and Norwest Venture Partners. Founded in 2008, the Salt Lake City-based business is now valued at more than $1bn. Health Catalyst raised $55m at a valuation of $625m in July 2018.
Additional Investors are Sands Capital Ventures, UPMC Enterprises, Kaiser Permanente Ventures.
APAC
Indian investors looking to join Brookfield's investment trust for East-West Pipeline bid.
A set of Indian investors are keen to join the infrastructure investment trust led by Brookfield Asset Management to buy East-West Pipeline for an enterprise value of 130bn rupees ($1.83bn), the Economic Times reported.
Investors such as ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company, the family office of the Poonawallas of Serum Institute and individuals like Uday Kotak - managing director and chief executive of Kotak Mahindra Bank - are expected to join the consortium.
India’s Oyo Rooms in talks to acquire Keys Hotels from Berggruen.
SoftBank-backed budget hotel chain Oyo is in talks to acquire Keys Hotels in India from US private equity and venture capital firm Berggruen Holdings, The Economic Times reported.
The $2bn Berggruen Holdings is the owner of Berggruen Hotels in India, which was founded in September 2006 to build and operate business hotels under the Keys brand.
Keys Hotels has a portfolio of about 21 hotels across 19 locations pan India including Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Gurugram, and Mahabaleshwar. The company had been scouting for buyers for a few years now and was seeking a valuation of $125m.
“Our acquisition strategy is targeted towards acquiring entities that assist us in building capabilities. We, therefore, look at selective but strategic investments that help build capabilities rather than just scale. We do not have any further announcements to make at the moment,” the spokesperson said.
Avendus Capital launches a $1bn fund to invest in ESG value.
Avendus Capital launched a $1bn fund to invest solely in companies that promote the environment, social, and governance (ESG) values. The Avendus India ESG Fund, housed under the company’s alternative asset management arm, will raise money from domestic and international investors. The fund said it will invest on the basis of predetermined ESG factors, alongside in-depth financial analysis, with the aim of generating long-term risk-adjusted returns.
Avendus had said in August that it plans to launch an ESG fund. ESG investing, while seeking positive returns, also considers and evaluates the long-term impact that business practices have on society, the environment, and the performance of the business itself.
TPG closes over $4.6bn new Asia fund.
Global private equity firm TPG Capital Management said on Monday it has closed its seventh Asia-focused private equity fund with over $4.6bn in commitments.
The fund, the firm’s largest to date for the region, exceeded its initial target size of $4bn-$4.5bn. TPG Asia’s new fund has already invested more than 40% of its capital across 12 companies, including Chinese internet company Baidu’s financial spin-out Du Xiaoman, Healthscope’s unit Pathology Asia Holding, agricultural firm UPL and Australian pet care platform Greencross.
SoftBank invests $940m in driverless delivery start-up Nuro.
Softbank’s Vision Fund has made another massive bet on autonomous driving technology, leading a $940m investment into Nuro.ai, a maker of robot delivery vans.
The deal adds to Softbank’s expanding portfolio in the transportation-technology market, following its Vision Fund’s $2.3bn investment in General Motors’ self-driving car unit, Cruise, last May.
Nuro was founded in Silicon Valley in 2016 by Jiajun Zhu and Dave Ferguson, two veterans of Google’s self-driving car team — now known as Waymo — after they decided that delivering groceries was a more achievable goal for autonomous vehicles than passenger-carrying robo-taxis.
KKR and General Atlantic near to invest in Flipkart’s payments arm PhonePe.
KKR and General Atlantic have expressed interest in investing in Flipkart’s digital payments arm, PhonePe.
Some existing investors of Walmart-owned Flipkart, such as Tiger Global and Tencent, are also likely to invest in PhonePe. They said that Walmart is yet to finalize a plan to spin off PhonePe and may still decide against it. Also, Walmart will retain a majority stake in PhonePe even if it is spun off as an independent unit, sources added.
Warburg-backed Indonesian real estate platform NWP Retail gathers $200m.
Indonesian real estate platform NWP Retail has raised about $200m in its latest funding round. The fresh funding comes from new investors Korean Teachers’ Credit Union and the CITIC Securities One-Belt-One-Road Fund, as well as from existing shareholder Warburg Pincus.
Founded in 2015 by Warburg Pincus and PT City Retail Developments, NWP Retail focuses on developing multi-tenanted modern shopping malls across key cities in Indonesia to capitalize on the significant growth in these areas being driven by rapid urbanization, emerging middle-class consumption and outsized economic expansion.
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