EMEA
EQT to sell VFS for $2.5bn.
AMERICAS
Apollo closing in on $10bn Arconic deal.
SoftBank to lead a $700m funding round for Katerra.
Rubrik, valued at $3.3bn, raised $261m in a Bain-led financing round.
APAC
Navitas accepted the $1.5bn takeover offer from BGH and Rob Jones.
PAG looking to buy Retail Food Group’s pizza business.
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Latest Deals
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EMEA
JZ Capital Partners sold PetroCorner, a network of petrol stations throughout Spain, to a Spanish subsidiary of British Petroleum. Financial terms were not disclosed.
David Zalaznick, JZCP’s Founder and Investment Advisor, commented: “Petrocorner was a highly successful result of our buy-and-build strategy in the retail petrol sector. For JZCP, the Petrocorner sale represents a further step towards our primary goal to achieve liquidity through realizations and refinancings. We hope to report on additional liquidity events throughout 2019.”
JZ Capital was advised by FTI Consulting.
Cinven invested in RTB House, a leading global provider of state-of-the-art retargeting technology for leading brands, for an undisclosed consideration.
Headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, RTB House leverages deep learning algorithms in order to enable its retail clients to deliver highly relevant digital advertising campaigns to potential customers who have displayed a purchase intent. RTB House has a blue-chip customer base of close to 1,500 clients worldwide including Adidas, Trivago, Orange and Walmart. Established in 2012, RTB House has global operations with 20 offices worldwide and employs more than 400 people across EMEA, APAC and the Americas.
Chris Good, Partner at Cinven, said:
“RTB House is a very exciting business that has demonstrated significant growth, has a strong blue-chip client base, and impressive market-leading technology.
Adam Prindis, Principal at Cinven, added:
“RTB House operates in a highly dynamic and fast-growing segment of the technology sector. As e-commerce continues to grow, retailers are focusing increasingly on ways to improve their marketing mix, with retargeting playing a very important role. We are very excited about the investment in RTB House which offers truly differentiated solutions, based on advanced AI.”
EQT to sell VFS for $2.5bn.
EQT is looking to launch the sale of VFS, an outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide, for approximately $2-2.5bn. The firm is holding meetings with potential buyers including private equity groups and sovereign wealth funds and will send out detailed information packages including full-year VFS figures around late February.
VFS, with headquarters in Dubai, supplies security checks, information dissemination and form checks for visa applicants, as well as the recording of biometric data and identity verification.
Lazard is advising EQT.
AMERICAS
Churchill Capital Corp, a public investment vehicle, and Clarivate Analytics, a global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics to accelerate the pace of innovation, agreed on a $4.2bn merger. The combined company will operate as Clarivate and will become publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Clarivate’s current owners, Onex Capital and Baring Private Equity Asia, will retain 100% of their equity, making them majority owners of the combined company.
Jay Nadler, CEO of Clarivate, said: "Clarivate accelerates the pace of innovation by supporting the world's innovators - the people and organizations behind a new idea, invention or brand. This is an exciting milestone in Clarivate's evolution that will open a wide range of future growth opportunities for the business and allow us to further invest in the brightest minds, game-changing data science, and robust technologies. Jerre is a veteran of the industry and his insights will be invaluable as we enter our next phase of growth."
Credit Suisse and Latham & Watkins advised Clarivate. Citigroup, M. Klein, Blank Rome and Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison advised Churchill Capital Corp. Credit Suisse and Latham & Watkins advised Onex. Credit Suisse and Ropes & Grey advised BPEA.
iSolved HCM, a portfolio company of Accel-KKR acquired the US payroll business of Sage Group, a British multinational enterprise software company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, for $100m. This divestiture is part of Sage's strategy, as set out in the November 2018 results, to focus on subscription software solutions that are in or have a pathway to the Sage Business Cloud.
“iSolved HCM is very excited to be acquiring SPR,” stated Dave Dawson, CEO of iSolved HCM. “SPR payroll customers and licensees will now have access to cutting-edge HCM technology that includes employee engagement, performance and collaboration, benefits enrollment, time and attendance, as well as a payroll platform that is ideal for today’s employer. iSolved HCM has experienced phenomenal growth over the last few years, and this acquisition dramatically expands the users and businesses who trust iSolved for their workforce management needs.”
FTI Consulting advised Sage Group.
Brillio is a global technology consulting and business solutions company focused on digital technologies and big data analytics headquartered in Santa Clara. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“With its focus on new age technologies, partnerships with high-growth cloud ecosystems and a high-quality delivery engine, we believe Brillio is well-positioned to capitalize on digital disruption and look forward to partnering to help the company scale through complementary acquisitions and organic growth,” said Samonnoi Banerjee, a Managing Director at Bain Capital Private Equity.
PwC and Kirkland & Ellis advised Bain Capital. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati advised Brillio.
Hinge Consulting is a digital commerce company that works with Fortune 1000 brands to increase their e-Commerce revenues. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The investment will support Hinge with continued global expansion, as well as access to data and technology support and services. The acquisition makes Hinge the industry leader and only choice for brands looking to significantly grow their digital e-Commerce sales.
“We are thrilled to have Hinge as part of our portfolio, which is our second acquisition in B2B commerce space in the last year, “said Mahendra Vora, Executive Chairman of Vora Ventures. “We believe that the B2B2C commerce market is poised for explosive growth globally. Hinge’s proven value to its clients, trusted brand and committed team will benefit from our global resources, strategic and infrastructural support, and business development expertise. We expect Hinge will continue its double-digit CAGR for the foreseeable future.”
Able Machinery Movers is a heavy machinery moving and rigging company that serves customers in a variety of sectors, including manufacturing, medical, semiconductor, and food and beverage. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We care about our customers and our team members, and it was important to us to ensure those priorities would remain in place when we took on an investment partner,” said David Krieger, Able's President. “Satori understands the value of what we’ve built, and they’re helping us grow the right way. We’re enthusiastic about the possibilities for expanding our reach both geographically and through aligned partnerships – while preserving what we value.”
Beauchamp Lawn & Snow Service is a provider of commercial grounds maintenance services and residential landscaping services. No financial terms were disclosed.
Salt Creek Capital’s Vice President, Daniel Price, said: “Beauchamp is an exciting opportunity for us to build upon a platform with a long track record of success. We look forward to working with David and supporting the company through its next phase of profitable growth.”
80 Acres Farms is a leader in the rapidly growing indoor vertical farming industry. Terms of the financing were not disclosed.
"We are excited to partner with highly experienced food industry leaders Mike Zelkind and Tisha Livingston to bring great tasting, freshly picked produce to local markets year round," said Eli Aheto, partner of Virgo Investment Group. "The 80 Acres investment is an expression of Virgo's longstanding focus on investing in energy efficiency opportunities driven by reduced equipment costs. Virgo has completed investments in utility-scale wind, community solar, electric vehicle charging and now an LED lighting driven business."
Apollo closing in on $10bn Arconic deal.
Apollo Global Management is nearing a deal to buy US aluminum products maker Arconic for more than $10bn. The private equity firm would pay between $21 and $22 per share in a deal that is likely to be announced this week, representing a 10% premium to Arconic's share price.
Elliott Management Corp, which sits on Arconic board, is working to address potential liabilities weighing on the sale process for the aluminum products maker.
SoftBank to lead a $700m funding round for Katerra.
The new funding round of Katerra, a California-based construction company, would value it at more than $4bn. The $700m investment will be led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund and will pull Katerra’s total equity capital past $2bn. Last year, SoftBank had also led Katerra’s $850m Series D round of financing.
Rubrik, valued at $3.3bn, raised $261m in a Bain-led financing round.
Rubrik, a data management company based in Palo Alto, raised $261m in a series E financing round led by Bain Capital. The round valued the company at $3.3bn. Existing stakeholders - Lightspeed Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures and IVP - also participated.
“This new capital will speed the introduction of exciting new products in 2019 that will solve customer challenges and significantly expand our strategic footprint in the enterprise,” co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Bipul Sinha said.
APAC
Navitas accepted the $1.5bn takeover offer from BGH and Rob Jones.
Navitas, an Australian adult education provider, announced that it would accept the sweetened $1.5bn takeover offer from its founder, Rob Jones, and private equity company BGH - the new firm of TPG Capital Management’s former Asia boss Ben Gray. The new offer represents an 18.9% premium to the share price close on Monday.
Navitas is being advised by Ashurst and Goldman Sachs. BGH is being advised by Morgan Stanley and Gilbert + Tobin.
PAG looking to buy Retail Food Group’ pizza business.
Hong Kong-based PAG is in talks to acquire Crust Gourmet Pizzas from its current owner Retail Food Group, an Australian bakery franchiser based in Southport, Queensland. PAG is in pole position to take the asset, after edging in front of Pizza Hut Australia's owner Allegro Funds.
The sale of Crust Gourmet Pizzas could bring Retail Food Group, which is under pressure from its banks to sell assets and reduce its debt pile, approximately $100m. The asset is the biggest part of Retail Food Group's domestic quick service restaurant division, which also includes the Pizza Capers brand.
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