EMEA
KKR buys a minority stake in TA Associates funded Söderberg & Partners, in a deal valuing the business at $1bn.
Vinngroup sells Onevinn, Microsoft cloud services, to Haven Cyber Technologies.
OakNorth seeks US expansion after $440m SoftBank cash injection.
INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund holds first closing at €106m.
Carlyle explores £800m ($1bn) sale of Addison Lee.
US hedge fund Hound Partners discloses 5% stake in UK's Metro Bank.
AMERICAS
CCV acquires Burger King and Pizza Hut franchisee Redberry.
Nielsen shortens the list of private equity bidders.
Riverstone Holdings invests up to $500m in Three Rivers IV.
ArcLight completes buyout of Sempra Energy’s non-utility US natural gas storage facilities.
PIR Equities raises €275m for third fund.
Third Point dissolves share stake in United Technologies.
APAC
Brookfield considers a bid for a tower business of India's Reliance Industries.
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Latest Deals
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EMEA
KKR buys a minority stake in TA Associates funded Söderberg & Partners, in a deal valuing the business at $1bn.
KKR has acquired a significant minority stake in Swedish Söderberg & Partners, a leading non-bank provider of wealth management and corporate pension and insurance services in the Nordic region and the Netherlands at an enterprise value of around €1bn from former backer TA Associates.
“We are entering a new and exciting phase with our expansion into other Nordic countries. TA Associates is a stable owner who wants to grow with us in the long term. They have extensive experience investing in growth companies in the financial sector and I am confident that TA will help us achieve our ambitious visions and goals. The future for Söderberg & Partners is very exciting and the plan is to expand into new markets in new countries with our unique business model,” Gustaf Rentzhog, Söderberg & Partners CEO.
The GP is currently investing from its €3.3bn ($3.75bn) KKR European Fund IV, which was 67% invested as of June 2018, and has launched its successor with a target of €5bn ($5.76bn).
TA Associates was advised by Citigroup, Mannheimer & Swartling, and PG Magnusson Advokatbyra.
British retail tycoon Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct has offered on to buy cafe chain owner Patisserie Holdings out of administration to enlarge an empire stretching from department stores and sofa shops to lingerie.
He has more recently bought stakes in, or assets from, British retail businesses that have struggled to cope with challenges ranging from the rise of internet shopping to higher business property taxes and sluggish consumer spending.
These businesses have included department store groups Debenhams and House of Fraser, home furnishings firm Sofa.com, Evans Cycles and Lingerie brand Agent Provocateur.
Patisserie Holdings ran around 200 outlets, employing about 2.5k people, and had a stock market value approaching £500m ($646m) before it ran into trouble.
Patisserie Holdings is advised by KPMG.
Vinngroup sells Onevinn, Microsoft cloud services, to Haven Cyber Technologies.
VinnGroup sells Onevinn, the leading Swedish provider of Microsoft cloud services and solutions to Haven Cyber Technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.
After years of successful growth and partnership, VinnGroup sold Onevinn, the leading provider of Microsoft cloud services and solutions to Haven Cyber Technologies. The acquisition reflects Haven’s continued focus on strengthening its solutions, products and consulting competencies and becoming the leading European Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP). Onevinn offers security solutions for the cloud and the mobile connected world.
“The acquisition of Onevinn brings a lot of opportunities to Haven. The transition to cloud services is ongoing and matures currently all over Europe. Onevinn will help Haven to be a leader in this space and provide world-class solutions to its customers as well as supporting the geographic reach of the group." Olivier Weddrien, Haven Executive Chairman.
Burton’s Biscuit has completed the acquisition of premium sweet and savory biscuit manufacturer, Thomas Fudge’s from Livingbridge, one of the UK’s leading mid-market private equity investors. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The acquisition is another important milestone in Burton’s strategy of putting great baking at the heart of everything it does, with the objective of building partnerships and delivering growth through the baking of great biscuits for customers and consumers.
“Having listened to our customers around the innovation and category leadership they want, we feel this acquisition enhances our ability to meet those objectives, and we are excited to work with our trade partners to build new category value with this premium capability alongside our existing great brands and retailer brand offerings." Nick Field, Burton’s Biscuit CEO.
OakNorth seeks US expansion after $440m SoftBank cash injection.
British banking start-up OakNorth is targeting international expansion after closing a $440m fundraising round led by Japan’s SoftBank Group.
The specialist business and property lender will use the cash injection to launch in the United States before considering further overseas opportunities, Rishi Khosla, the firm’s co-founder and chief executive, told Reuters on Friday.
The fundraising also represented a vote of confidence in British lending, despite mounting concerns over the potential impact of Brexit on the country’s economy, Khosla said.
INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund holds first closing at €106m.
INVL Asset Management, one of Lithuania’s leading asset management companies, has completed a first closing of the INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund, a closed-end private equity fund intended for professional investors, at €106m ($120m).
The INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund became the largest private equity investment fund in the Baltic countries.
Carlyle explores £800m sale of Addison Lee.
Carlyle Group is eyeing the possible sale of Addison Lee Group in a deal that could value the London-based taxi company around £800m ($1bn).
The buyout group has appointed bankers from Bank of America Merrill Lynch to handle the process, which is likely to start later in 2019 when there may be more clarity about the U.K.’s planned departure from the European Union.
The possible sale comes amid intensifying competition from US ride-hailing apps Uber and Lyft, which are slated in 2019 for initial public offerings that will value the companies at as much as $120bn and $15bn respectively.
Founded in 1975 by entrepreneur John Griffin, Addison Lee has a fleet of roughly 5k cars in London and serves more than 10m customers a year in that city alone.
US hedge fund Hound Partners discloses 5% stake in UK's Metro Bank.
US hedge fund Hound Partners disclosed a 5% stake in British lender Metro Bank. The stake would make Hound Partners Metro Bank's sixth biggest investor.
Metro Bank last month announced a sharp rise in exposure to higher-risk mortgages and said profits would be hit by slowing growth, raising fears of a shareholder cash call.
AMERICAS
An investor group led by CC Capital, Cannae Holdings, Bilcar, Black Knight and Thomas H. Lee Partners has closed its previously announced take-private buyout of Dun & Bradstreet, the global leader in commercial data, analytics and insights for businesses. The deal was reported to be $6.9bn, according to a source familiar with the transaction.
“We are pleased to have completed this momentous transaction for the benefit of all stakeholders and look forward to the next chapter in Dun & Bradstreet’s storied, 177-year history,” CC Capital, Chinh Chu, Senior Managing Director, and Founder.
nvestor group was advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup RBC Capital Markets, Kirkland & Ellis, and Joele Frank. Dun & Bradstreet was advised by JP Morgan, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, and Joele Frank.
CCV acquires Burger King and Pizza Hut franchisee Redberry.
City Capital Ventures acquired Redberry Group. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Redberry is one of the largest quick-service restaurant franchisees in North America with 134 total restaurants consisting of 111 Burger King restaurants and 23 Pizza Hut restaurants, all located in Canada. Redberry is the largest Burger King franchisee in Canada with roughly 40% of the brand’s footprint in Canada.
“We are thrilled to be acquiring two iconic restaurant brands in the highly attractive Canadian QSR market. The Burger King brand is underpenetrated in Canada relative to other QSR burger brands, and we see a compelling opportunity for expansion. Similarly, Redberry has a strong Pizza Hut presence in Alberta with a base of nicely profitable units. The opportunity to continue to develop new units in the market is quite attractive to us.” Dan Kipp, CCV Co-Founder and Managing Partner.
Redberry Group was advised by Metronome Partners. CCV was advised by CIBC, Scotiabank, McCarthy Tetrault and Perkins Coie.
Arconic said it would split into two companies and slashed its quarterly dividend by two-thirds, just weeks after the U.S. aluminum products maker spurned a buyout offer from Apollo Global Management.
The company, formed following a split of Aloca in 2016, plans to spin off one of its core divisions later.
Arconic has been under pressure from its biggest shareholder Elliott Management to sell itself and Apollo’s offer last month could have valued the company at about $17bn. However, potential legal liabilities from its smaller building and construction systems unit likely put a question mark on the valuation.
“After a rigorous and comprehensive process...the board sees more shareholder value creation through a restructuring of the company,” John Plant, Arconic Chairman.
HIG Capital has partnered with the management team of Taconic Biosciences to support the Company's growth as a leading global provider of research models and services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, CRO, and academic research industries. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Taconic is a global leader in genetically engineered models and service solutions used in mission-critical life sciences research. With its strong market position and long-standing relationships, Taconic is well-positioned to benefit from the significant growth in the broader healthcare services market and more specifically in genetically engineered models growth.
"HIG's investment and deep resources, particularly around M&A, will help catalyze our continued expansion and allow us to more quickly address unmet customer needs." Nancy Sandy, Taconic's new Chief Executive Officer.
Nielsen shortens the list of private equity bidders.
A private equity consortium led by Blackstone Group and Hellman & Friedman and a group that includes Advent International and Goldman Sachs buyout arm has advanced to the second round of bidding for Nielsen Holdings.
Nielsen said in September it would expand a review of strategic alternatives to include a sale of the entire television rating company after coming under pressure to do so from hedge fund Elliott Management, which in August reported it owned up to 8.4% of the company’s shares.
Private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Bain Capital also went to the next round of bidding in the Nielsen auction, which is expected to be completed by March.
Riverstone Holdings invests up to $500m in Three Rivers IV.
Three Rivers Natural Resource Holdings IV (Three Rivers IV), a newly-formed, Austin-based oil and gas company, has secured an equity commitment of up to $500m from funds managed by energy private equity firm Riverstone Holdings, and additional amounts from the Company's management team.
Three Rivers IV represents the fourth partnership between Riverstone and Three Rivers IV's management team after the successful sales of substantially all of the assets of Three Rivers Natural Resource Holdings, Three Rivers Natural Resource Holdings II, and Three Rivers Natural Resource Holdings III.
"We are excited at the opportunity to form another partnership with Riverstone. Our longstanding relationship with the firm has enabled us to be uniquely responsive to a rapidly changing environment for energy investments, and we look forward to prosecuting our plan of targeting high-quality assets that will benefit from our team's financial and operating expertise." Mike Wichterich, Three Rivers IV CEO.
ArcLight completes buyout of Sempra Energy’s non-utility US natural gas storage facilities.
ArcLight Capital Partners has closed its previously announced acquisition of Sempra Energy‘s non-utility US natural gas storage facilities. The transaction was for $328m in cash.
“With the sale of these assets, we can reallocate capital toward growing our core electric and natural gas infrastructure businesses. We are focused on expanding our leadership position in the most attractive markets as we strive to become North America’s premier energy infrastructure company,” Joseph A. Householder, Sempra Energy president, and chief operating officer.
Sempra Energy’s was advised by Wells Fargo Securities and Jones Day.
PIR Equities raises €275m for third fund.
PIR Equities, an employee-owned private equity firm, has raised €275m ($312m) for its third flagship fund.
Established in 2008 by Joseph Aaron Horowitz and Oded ‘OD' Kobo, PIR Equities manages a varied portfolio including interests in property, securities, technology, and ownership in operating businesses with over $650m in assets.
"We are proud of the strong and continuous support we have received from our partners. We plan to remain patient in deploying capital, but will be ready to invest when we see the right opportunities emerge,” Joseph Aaron Horowitz, Managing Partner.
Third Point dissolves share stake in United Technologies.
Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb’s Third Point filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission showing it had dissolved its share stake in United Technologies, though it was not immediately apparent whether the hedge fund may own the same position in the company through derivatives.
Loeb has been active in calling for change at United Technologies. Third Point owned about 8.4m shares in the company at the end of the third quarter.
APAC
Brookfield considers a bid for a tower business of India's Reliance Industries.
Canadian private equity firm Brookfield Asset Management is in preliminary talks with India’s Reliance Industries to buy a stake in its optical fiber and telecom tower assets, The Times of India reported.
Reliance Industries said in December it planned to separate its fiber and tower business from its telecom arm Reliance Jio Infocomm, commonly known as Jio.
“The end objective of that is to find a different set of investors who would be wanting to run these kinds of assets,” V Srikanth, Reliance Industries joint chief financial officer.
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