Norwegian exchange operator Oslo Bors recommended that its shareholders accept a sweetened buyout offer made by US-based Nasdaq, and reject a bid from Euronext, a European stock exchange operator with its registered office in Amsterdam and other markets operated in Brussels, London, Lisbon, Dublin, and Paris. Earlier on Monday Nasdaq raised its offer to $789m, matching the one made by Euronext. Nasdaq said it would pay an interest of 6% per annum on the increased offer price until the conditions required for closing the deal are fulfilled or waived.
“We remain confident that our offer is the superior solution for the shareholders, members, issuers, investors and employees of Oslo Bors,” Nasdaq Chief Executive Officer Adena Friedman said.
Arctic Securities advised Oslo Bors. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Rothschild & Co, SEB Corporate Finance and Schjodt advised Euronext. Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom advised Nasdaq.
Jardine Lloyd Thompson, a British insurance, reinsurance, employment benefits advice and brokerage services provider, and Marsh & McLennan, a global professional services firm, headquartered in New York City, offered the EU antitrust regulators to sell JLT’s global aerospace unit in order to obtain approval for the $5.7bn acquisition of JLT by Marsh & McLennan. JLT said it would sell its unit to insurance broker Arthur J Gallagher for about £190m ($251m).
JLT is being advised by JP Morgan, Rothschild & Co, Simon Robertson Associates, Clifford Chance, Linklaters and Brunswick Group. Marsh & McLennan is being advised by Goldman Sachs, Davis Polk, Slaughter & May, Sullivan & Cromwell and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz.
Olaf Swantee, Chief Executive of Sunrise Communications, a Swiss telecommunications provider based in Zurich which recently acquired the Swiss operations of Liberty Global for $6.3bn, said he is confident that the deal will be concluded successfully and that he expects shareholder approval despite initial reaction. “We can create a really strong internet story for Switzerland. We are very confident this will go through,” he said.
The transaction will create the leading converged challenger in the market with scale across all elements of the quad-play bundle. As the #2 player in mobile, TV, fixed broadband and fixed voice, the combined company will have the scale to drive innovation, invest in new services and pursue growth with competitively priced offers.
PwC, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Latham & Watkins, Lenz & Staehelin, Meyerlustenberger Lachenal, NautaDutilh, Slaughter & May and Deloitte advised Sunrise. Credit Suisse, JP Morgan and Lion Tree advised Liberty Global.
Biogen, an American multinational biotechnology company based in Cambridge, acquired Nightstar Therapeutics, a clinical-stage gene therapy company based in London, which is focused on adeno-associated virus (AAV) treatments for inherited retinal disorders, for $800m. Biogen’s offer of $25.50 per share, represents a premium of 68% to Nightstar’s Friday close of $15.16.
“Ophthalmology is an emerging growth area for Biogen, and we are excited about the opportunity to work with the talented employees at Nightstar to advance potentially transformative gene therapy programs for rare retinal diseases,” said Michel Vounatsos, Biogen’s Chief Executive Officer. “With this proposed acquisition, we are continuing to bolster our pipeline and further execute on our strategy to develop and expand a multi-franchise neuroscience pipeline across complementary modalities. Nightstar would accelerate our entry into ophthalmology by contributing two mid- to late-stage gene therapy assets, with the potential to create long-term shareholder value.”
Goldman Sachs and Ropes & Gray advised Biogen. Centerview Partners and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom advised Nightstar Therapeutics.
LetterOne, an investment fund led by Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman, accused Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentación, a Spanish international hard-discount supermarket chain, of misleading investors over its recapitalization plan. LetterOne, through its retail arm Letter Retail, has recently made a bid to acquire all the remaining shares it does not already own in DIA and is proposing a capital increase to rival one put forward by DIA’s board. The offer valued DIA at €400m ($457m).
Reuters reported that
LetterOne said a statement DIA made on Sunday saying the fund’s plan did not provide effective solutions to the firm’s woes was “misleading and aims to cast doubt on the viability of
LetterOne Retail’s recapitalization plan”. It also said that DIA had failed to provide adequate information about accounting irregularities related to a past asset write-down, which emerged when the company unveiled an annual loss in February.
LetterOne is being advised by Camarco and Estudio de Comunicacion.
Sports Direct, a British retailing group, offered to increase its stake in Findel, a British home shopping company, based in Hyde, Greater Manchester, to 36% for £139m ($183m). The bidder offered 161 pence per Findel share.
Sports Direct, which has been an investor in Findel since September 2015, said the offer would help the companies expand on their commercial agreements, which has included test selling of brands from UK’s largest sports good retailer through Findel’s online websites.
Numis Securities advised Sports Direct. N+1 Singer and Tulchan Communications advised Findel.
Delivery Hero, one of the leading global online food ordering and delivery marketplaces, acquired Zomato's United Arab Emirates food delivery business for $172m. Zomato operates a restaurant search and discovery website and application providing in-depth information for restaurants in India and internationally. Moreover, Delivery Hero will participate in Zomato’s latest funding round by investing in Zomato’s global business to become a top 10 shareholder and also enter into a material operational partnership agreement.
Niklas Östberg, CEO of Delivery Hero, commented: “Zomato has built a successful food delivery business in the UAE and India on the back of its restaurant search and discovery app and website. The acquisition will allow us to further improve our service to customers in the UAE. We are also excited to become a shareholder in Zomato’s rapid food delivery growth story in India and share our learnings.“
Astorg, a leading European private equity firm, agreed to acquire a minority shareholding in Acturis Group, a leading supplier of insurance software from the existing investor Summit Partners. Acturis employees will continue to own the majority of the company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Benoit Ficheur, Partner at Astorg said: “Acturis is an outstanding business of rare quality that we have admired for a long time. We are extremely excited to partner with the Acturis team and look forward to helping the team expand on their already strong market positions by entering new markets and segments of the industry. This investment highlights our commitment to backing innovative software leaders.”
Jefferies and Dickson Minto advised Acuris. Paul Hastings advised Astorg. Kirkland & Ellis advised Summit Partners.
Energias de Portugal, one of Europe’s major electricity operators, invested in Israeli cybersecurity company Sepio Systems. Also participating in the financing round were Mindset Ventures, Pico Venture Partners and Founders Group. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The partnership with EDP will help Sepio Systems accelerate development and deployment of its technology among utilities, financial institutions and large enterprises in Europe, Sepio said.
Archimed, a pan-European private equity healthcare specialist, made a €70m ($79m) bid for Bomi Italia, a medtech and pharma services provider. The bid for Bomi Group, listed on Borsa Italia’s AIM market translates into a per share offer of €4.00 ($4.5), which is 30.67% above last official closing price of €3.06 ($3.47).
“In addition to its sector expertise and industry networks, ArchiMed intends to make significant investments, allowing Bomi Group to expand more rapidly, both organically and through acquisitions. The entry of such a strong and specialized stakeholder represents clear added value when it comes to the fulfillment of our ambitious growth targets,” said Bomi Group Chief Executive Marco Ruini.
Simmons & Simmons advised Bomi. Equita, Georgeson, KPMG, Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli & Partners and Bonafe Grifoni e Associati advised Archimed.
Advent International and Evonik agreed on the €3bn methacrylates plastics unit acquisition. (FS)
Buyout group Advent International and Evonik Group, the largest specialty chemicals company in the world, agreed on key terms of the deal in which Advent will acquire the methacrylates plastics unit of Evonik for €3bn ($3.4bn). Evonik’s supervisory board has yet to sign off on the sale of the manufacturer of clear acrylic sheet and precursor materials, but the purchase agreement is being put together.
Advent had vied for the business with rival bidders SK Capital and a consortium of Triton and Rhone Capital, as well as petrochemicals group Ineos.
Altice considers sale of its Israeli operations.
Altice, a Netherlands-based multinational telecoms company, is rumored to be looking to sell its Israeli unit HOT. The unit could be valued at approximately $1bn. The company recently agreed on the sale of a 49.99% stake in its French fiber network to a consortium comprising Allianz Capital Partners, AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets and OMERS Infrastructure last year in a deal that gave the Altice-owned SFR FTTH business an enterprise value of €3.6bn ($4.1bn).
Both Altice and HOT denied the rumors.
Morgan Stanley is advising Altice.
OCI received takeover interest in its methanol assets.
OCI, a chemical company which produces and distributes natural gas-based fertilizers and industrial chemicals to agricultural and industrial customers, reported that it has received takeover interest in its methanol assets. OCI said in a statement that no decision had yet been taken on the interest it had received and it would give more information at the appropriate time.
OCI did not name the potential buyers however
Bloomberg reported that Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, the Middle East’s biggest petrochemicals maker, is exploring an acquisition of OCI’s methanol assets for up to $4bn.
Fitch, Moody’s and S&P Global lead the race for BC Partners' Acuris. (FS)
Rating agencies Fitch, Moody’s and S&P Global are leading the bidding race for Acuris, a media company that provides specialist news, research, analysis and data on financial markets. The firm is being auctioned off by BC Partners for up to £1.2bn ($1.6bn).
Documents went out last week to strategic bidders for financial information provider Acuris, whose suite of news and research products is used by fund managers, investment bankers and M&A lawyers around the world.
JP Morgan is advising BC Partners.
Boparan Restaurant Group to close more than a third of Giraffe and Ed’s Easy Diner outlets.
Boparan Restaurant Group, a company based in Birmingham, England that owns food production and restaurant businesses, will close more than a third of Giraffe and Ed’s Easy Diner outlets in order to reduce its debt. BRG, which also owns the Harry Ramsden restaurant chain, bought Giraffe from Tesco in 2016, before combining it with Ed’s Easy Diner, which it had also snapped up in the same year. The two brands have a retail partnership agreement with the supermarket giant.
“The combination of increasing costs and over-supply of restaurants in the sector and a softening of consumer demand have all contributed to the challenges both these brands face,” BRG CEO Tom Crowley said.
KPMG is advising Boparan.
EFG Hermes advises on a $500m deal in Saudi Arabia.
Egypt’s EFG Hermes is working on a $500m merger and acquisition in Saudi Arabia and expects more deals to come out of the kingdom this year, especially from the private sector, its head of investment banking told
Reuters. The bank is also advising on an IPO in Saudi Arabia. EFG Hermes is one of the banks advising on the potential $1bn listing of Fawaz Alhokair Group’s Arabian Centers Company expected in the second quarter. The investment bank said that it is also working on numerous IPOs in Egypt.
In addition, Fahmi said there were deals underway in the automotive, banking, and facilities management sectors in the kingdom and in the United Arab Emirates.
