AMERICAS
Private equity firms EQT and CPPIB agreed to acquire a majority stake in Waystar, which provides software to manage revenue for employees, from Bain Capital in transaction valued at $2.7bn. Bain Capital will retain a minority stake in the company.
"We are thrilled to welcome two new growth-oriented investors, EQT and CPPIB, as our partners and to continue our excellent partnership with Bain Capital," said Matt Hawkins, CEO of Waystar. "Waystar's mission is to simplify and unify the healthcare payment process with best in class cloud technology, so that providers can focus on what really matters – patient care. These outstanding investors believe in our goals, value our performance culture and team members, and appreciate our track record of client satisfaction, innovation, and growth. This new investment will accelerate our ability to deliver great value to our clients and partners as they serve their patients and communities."
Barclays, TripleTree and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett are advising EQT. Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Ropes & Gray are advising Bain Capital.
Exact Sciences, a molecular diagnostics company, agreed to acquire Genomic Health, the world's leading provider of genomic-based diagnostic tests, for $2.8bn. Under the terms of the agreement, for each share of Genomic Health common stock they own, Genomic Health stockholders will receive $27.50 in cash and $44.50 in shares of Exact Sciences stock, subject to a 10% collar centered on Exact Sciences' volume-weighted average price for the 45 trading days ended July 26, 2019.
"Uniting the best minds and molecular diagnostics capabilities will advance the fight against cancer. Combining industry pioneers Exact Sciences and Genomic Health is a pivotal step toward building the leading cancer diagnostics company in the world," said Kevin Conroy, chairman and CEO of Exact Sciences. "Exact Sciences is continuing to grow sales and expand adoption of Cologuard at a rapid pace, and Genomic Health's Oncotype DX is the global standard of care to inform treatment decisions for women with breast cancer. Together, with our collective resources and broader platform, we will be able to provide our existing tests to more people, while also accelerating the development and launch of future cancer diagnostic tests. We are excited to join together two teams who are united in their dedication to making a positive impact on patients' lives."
Goldman Sachs, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and Sullivan & Cromwell are advising Genomic Health. Centerview Partners, XMS Capital Partners and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom are advising Exact Sciences.
Parker Hannifin Corporation, the global leader in motion and control technologies, agreed to acquire Exotic Metals Forming Company, a privately held company founded in 1966 that designs and manufactures innovative and technically demanding, high temperature, high pressure air and exhaust management solutions for aircraft and engines, for $1.7bn.
“This strategic acquisition further reinforces our commitment to investing in high growth, attractive margin businesses and accelerates our goal of achieving top-quartile financial performance among our diversified industrial peers,” said Tom Williams, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Parker. “Exotic will significantly bolster our already strong aerospace offering with complementary products for performance-critical applications. As a result of the acquisition, we will be better positioned to accelerate growth through increased aftermarket opportunities and expanded content on industry-leading programs. The acquisition is expected to drive substantial value for Parker’s shareholders. We expect the transaction to be accretive to organic growth, EBITDA margins, EPS and cash flow, excluding one-time costs.”
Lazard and Perkins Coie are advising Exotic Metals. Barclays and Jones Day are advising Parker.
Osaka Gas, a Japanese gas company based in Osaka, agreed to acquire Sabine Oil & Gas, a Texas-based shale gas developer, for $610m.
Through the purchase, Osaka Gas aims to enhance shale gas development operation, one of its three core US businesses which also include the Freeport liquefied natural gas liquefaction and independent power producer projects. Under its long-term business strategy, Osaka Gas plans to boost its earnings from overseas to account for one-third of its total recurring profit in the business year to March 2031, up from 9% in the year ended March this year.
Apollo-backed CEC Entertainment, a leading owner, operator, and franchisor of a global network of entertainment and dining venues, and Leo Holdings, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, terminated their merger agreement. The $1.4bn deal was announced in April 2019.
Jefferies & Company and Morgan Lewis & Bockius advised CEC Entertainment. Citigroup and Kirkland & Ellis advised Leo Holdings.
Future, the global platform for specialist media, acquired SmartBrief, a leading US based digital media publisher, for $45m.
Zillah Byng-Thorne, CEO of Future, said: "This acquisition will substantially boost our presence and market position in the B2B sector and enhance our proprietary technology capabilities. SmartBrief is a leading, respected provider of sector-focused newsletters and daily email briefings covering a range of key verticals. The addition of SmartBrief's must-read information products to our portfolio will further extend the reach of our B2B operations."
Numis Securities and Instinctif Partners advised Future.
Alpine Investors, a middle-market private equity firm, acquired Frank Gay Services, a plumbing, HVAC, electrical and mechanical services company based in Orlando, Florida. Terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.
“In such a customer-centric industry, it can be difficult to transition leadership,” said Frank Gay, Founder of Frank Gay Services. “Alpine’s strong focus on people and relationships makes it stand out among financial firms, positioning Apex well to succeed in a competitive, high-touch industry like ours. We could not be more excited about our future and partnership with Alpine.”
Orchard MB advised Frank Gay Services.
RealPage, a software company, acquired SimpleBills, an innovative utility management service dedicated to the student housing market. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Colin Heller, CEO and Founder, SimpleBills: “This is a thrilling opportunity for SimpleBills. We built our company to redefine how utilities are managed so properties and students could experience utilities the way they should be. With the unmatched support and development resources available at RealPage, we will be able to provide even more state-of-the-art simplicity and outstanding customer experiences in student and in entirely new markets.”
Pivotal Acquisition Corp, a public investment vehicle, and KLDiscovery, a leading global provider of electronic discovery, information governance and data recovery services, acquired Strategic Legal Solutions, a global provider of end-to-end eDiscovery, corporate and staffing support, and Compiled, a software tools provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“As we move towards the closing of the merger between KLD and Pivotal, we are excited to see Chris and his team identify and execute accretive tuck-in acquisitions that will drive long term value creation for all shareholders,” said Jonathan Ledecky, Chairman and CEO of Pivotal. “A disciplined M&A strategy is a core tenet to our investment thesis and an important driver of growth for KLD. We look forward to building on this momentum and continuing to execute on KLD’s M&A strategy.”
Rambus, a premier silicon IP and chip provider, agreed to acquire Northwest Logic, a market leader in memory, PCIe and MIPI digital controllers. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Brian Daellenbach, president and CEO, Northwest Logic said: “Northwest Logic’s category-leading digital controllers fit perfectly with Rambus’ leadership portfolio of high-speed PHY solutions. This deal creates a one-stop-shop for SoC designers working on state-of-the-art applications across a broad range of high-performance markets. We look forward to continue serving our existing customers and working with our PHY partners.”
BayWa, a leading global renewable energy developer, acquired National Solar Distributors, a Canadian solar distributor and service provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Matthew Lannigan, Managing Director of National Solar Distributors, commented, "Thanks to our clients, National Solar Distributors has been growing steadily since its inception. We look forward to integrating the knowledge of the experienced team at BayWa r.e. and their global buying power as we continue to scale our business. We believe this strategic move will bring great value to our customers."
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices The Preferred Realty, Pennsylvania’s leading real estate company, acquired Powell & Associates Real Estate, a prominent brokerage. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Tom Hosack, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices The Preferred Realty CEO and President said. “We’re excited to be in the weather capital of the world and be neighbors with the famous Punxsutawney Phil. This merger brings a lot of opportunities to the Punxsutawney area.”
Arthur J. Gallagher, a global insurance brokerage, acquired Oregon-based Gillis, Ellis & Baker, a commercial retail property/casualty broker. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Gillis, Ellis & Baker is a fourth-generation, family-run broker specializing in real estate, healthcare, environmental, scholastic, nonprofit, and private client products and services," said J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr., Chairman, President and CEO. "I am delighted that Parke, Anderson and their associates chose to join Gallagher."
Aalberts, a Dutch manufacturer of mission-critical systems, acquired heat treatment specialist Applied Process. Financial terms were not disclosed.
With this deal, Applied is strengthening the service network in regions where Aalberts is not active yet and vice versa. Besides, the company is able to offer a combination of technologies to its existing customers solving their surface technology challenges.
Rheinmetall Canada, a subsidiary of the Düsseldorf-based Rheinmetall Group, acquired Canadian robotics specialist Provectus. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We have already been working closely with Provectus in our unmanned ground vehicle project. This vertical integration gives us a decisive advantage in the field of autonomous mobility technology," said Stéphane Oehrli, president and CEO of Rheinmetall Canada. “Since this capacity is also a key enabler for the Automotive division, the whole Rheinmetall Group will hence benefit from Provectus’ expertise. The automation of other Rheinmetall mobile platforms is actually an innovation we are already thinking of.”
ESW Capital acquired Sococo, a leader in empowering distributed teams in the virtual online workplace. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Sococo is excited about the potential for our innovative technology and extensive intellectual property to propel the Sococo vision and community forward as a part of Think3," said Marc Kirshbaum, former chairman and CEO of Sococo.
BlackRock in talks to take over Cofense. (FS)
BlackRock, an investor in Cofense, is in advanced talks to take over the US cybersecurity firm, after a US national security panel asked buyout firm Pamplona Capital Management to sell its stake. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which scrutinizes deals by foreign acquirers for potential national security concerns, has not disclosed why it asked Pamplona to sell its 47% stake in Leesburg, Virginia-based Cofense, which helps protect email users from phishing attacks.
US college education could be more expensive after the merger of textbook publishers.
Reuters reported that college education could get even more expensive if two top college textbook companies combine as planned.
The planning merger of textbook publishers McGraw-Hill Education and Cengage Learning Holdings, announced in May, would reduce the number of major textbook publishers from four to three.
“The merger threatens to consolidate more power in the grasp of a handful of publishers, who have used their enormous market share to drive up prices for consumers over the course of the past few decades,” said the letter signed by PIRG Education Fund, a consumer advocacy group.
Colony Capital considers the purchase of a minority stake in Legendary Entertainment. (FS)
Colony Capital, the investment company, considers the purchase of a minority stake in Legendary Entertainment, the film and TV company. Colony has held talks about buying the stake in the media company from Chinese Wanda Group.
The investment could value the company significantly lower than the $3.5bn Wanda acquired it for in 2016.
The investment would be made via a new fund called Colony Media Partners.
Qatar Petroleum buys stake in Total's Guyana assets.
Qatar Petroleum has agreed with Total to acquire a stake in the French energy company's two oil and gas blocks offshore Guyana. Qatar Petroleum will hold 40% of Total’s 25% participating interest in the Orinduik block, and 405 of Total’s 25% participating interest in Kanuku.
EMEA
Mylan, a global generic and specialty pharmaceuticals company , agreed to combine with Pfizer's off-patent medicines unit. Under the terms of the agreement, which is structured as an all-stock, each Mylan share would be converted into one share of the new company. Pfizer shareholders would own 57% of the combined new company, and Mylan shareholders would own 43%.
Under the terms of the agreement, which is structured as an all-stock, each Mylan share would be converted into one share of the new company. The transaction will allow the new company to meaningfully expand the geographic reach of Mylan's existing broad product portfolio and future pipeline – including significant investments that have been made across complex generics and biosimilars – into new growth markets where Upjohn has existing sales infrastructure and local market expertise. The new company is expected to have pro forma 2020 revenues of $19 to $20bn.
"The combined organization will have a presence across nearly every continent and major market, establishing a new leadership position in Asia and offering products capable of treating all major therapeutic areas. This combination also further accelerates Mylan's longstanding strategy to create the operational scale and commercial capabilities necessary to provide the world's more than 7bn people with access to medicine." Robert J. Coury Chairman of Mylan.
Centerview Partners, PJT Partners, Cravath, Swaine & Moore and NautaDutilh are advising Mylan. Goldman Sachs, Guggenheim Securities, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek and Davis Polk and Wardwell are advising Pfizer. Sullivan & Cromwell is advising Guggenheim Partners and Goldman Sachs.
Takeaway, a Dutch dot-com company specialized in online food ordering and home delivery, offered to acquire and merge with Just Eat, an online food order and delivery service, in a $11bn deal. Just Eat shareholders would own approximately 52.2% and Takeaway shareholders would own approximately 47.8% of the share capital of the combined group. The per share price represents a premium of 15% to Just Eat's closing share price on 26 July 2019.
The boards of Just Eat and Takeaway believe that the combination is a highly compelling opportunity to create a combined business that will benefit from strong leadership positions in many of the world's largest food delivery markets, including the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and Canada.
Brunswick Group, UBS, Oakley Advisory and Goldman Sachs are advising Just Eat. Lazard and Bank Of America Merrill Lynch are advising Takeaway.
British aerospace and defense parts manufacturer Meggitt is in the early stages of evaluating whether it should submit a rival offer for Cobham, a UK defence contractor which recently agreed to be acquired by Advent International for $5bn.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Rothschild & Co, Allen & Overy and MHP Communications are advising Cobham. Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Linklaters, Weil Gotshal & Manges and Finsbury are advising Advent. GSO provided debt financing and was advised by White & Case.
Tikehau Capital, alternative asset management and investment group, invested $32m in DoveVivos, a co-living company in exchange, for a 19% stake in the business.
Thanks to this funding round, the company intends to pursue a plan with the goal of positioning itself as a key player in co-living in Europe for students and young professionals.
"We are enthusiast about the plan to support the growth of the company in Italy and abroad. DoveVivo represents our first growth equity deal in Italy." Luca Bucelli, Head of Tikehau Capital in Italy.
"This round is a milestone in building DoveVivo up into a corporate entity, a business with a distinctive identity, a clear plan, and solid organization without equal in Italy and Europe in its market sector. Our ambition is to become the 'home' for the community of tens of thousands of students and young professionals by being at their side in their co-living experience." Valerio Fonseca, CEO of DoveVivo.
DoveVivo was advised by Alantra, Gattai, Minoli & Partners and Alberto Picariello. Tikehau was advised by BonelliErede.
Holding company Elco agreed to buy Granite Hacarmel Investments involved in marketing and producing oil products from Israeli real estate developer Azrieli Group for $290m.
The move by Azrieli to sell Granite Hacarmel is part of Azrieli's strategy to focus on its core real estate business.
Eurazeo PME, Eurazeo's investment division specializing in mid-cap companies, agreed to sell Léon de Bruxelles, a chain of restaurants that known for primarily serving moules-frites, to Groupe Bertrand, the leading French restaurant group. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Pierre Meignen, Managing Director and Member of the Executive Board of Eurazeo PME, said: "We have supported the group in its transformation and played an active role over the course of our partnership. In a rapidly evolving market, we see Groupe Bertrand as the right home for Léon de Bruxelles and its employees as they embark on their next phase of development".
Rothschild & Co is advising Eurazeo.
NEC Corporation, a Japanese multinational provider of information technology services and products, acquired OncoImmunity, a Norway-based bioinformatics company that develops proprietary machine learning software to support the fight against cancer. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“NEC strongly believes that healthcare based on genomics paves the way for individualized medicine. OncoImmunity is a recognized player in the neoantigen prediction field, and their compelling systems are expected to form valuable synergies with NEC. We are confident that this acceleration of development will provide promising new avenues that lead to better cancer treatments,” said Osamu Fujikawa, Senior Vice President, NEC Corporation.
Sumitomo Corporation, one of the largest worldwide Sogo shosha general trading companies, acquired a stake in Sekal, a software technology company offering real-time dynamic analytics and automated drilling process control for the oil & gas sector. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Together with Sekal, who embrace a vision of shaping the future of automated drilling, Sumitomo Corporation looks forward to supporting further development of Sekal technology to bring further efficiency and safety to the Oil and Gas development.
nVent Electric, a global leader in electrical connection and protection solutions, announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Eldon, a privately held European-based enclosures business, for a cash purchase price of approximately $130m.
“Eldon is a great fit for nVent. The combination of Eldon and our enclosures business will strengthen our ability to quickly respond to customers around the world and provide advanced and flexible solutions,”Beth Wozniak, nVent CEO.
“Eldon’s vision is to become a global enclosure manufacturer and serve customers throughout all continents. Achieving such a challenging vision on our own would have been possible but would have taken quite some time. By joining forces with nVent, we will realize our vision much faster. Together we can speed up research and development, drive digitalization efforts and offer an extensive product portfolio,” Alexander van der Weide, CRO of Eldon
Outright Games, a videogame publisher, signed a deal with specialist financier ExWorks Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We were approached by Outright Games to support its growth. Working closely with the company, we were able to give the business an extra boost to give them room to grow in the global market. We were able to structure the deal quickly and provide a solution that suited the company’s unique needs.” Ben Boateng, Senior Director at ExWorks Capital.
“Working alongside ExWorks, we have been able to continue and even accelerate the global expansion of the business.” Terry Malham, CEO at Outright Games.
AromataGroup, manufacturer of natural flavors and colors for applications in the food and beverage, pharma, nutraceutical, and cosmetics industries, bought a controlling stake in Ipam, a producer of food ingredients. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"AromataGroup intends to continue its expansion path with the ambition to become an international player able to offer a rich portfolio of natural flavors and colorings of very high quality. " Hans Udo Wenzel, President of AromataGroup.
Vitale & Co was advising to Manenti family.
Cranswick, a leading UK food producer, agreed to acquire Katsouris Brothers, a leading processor and multi-channel supplier of Continental and Mediterranean food products, for £50m ($62m).
Adam Couch, CEO of Cranswick, commented: "We have made a positive start to the year and our capital investment program, which is building a platform for future growth, remains firmly on track. We continue to make pleasing progress on the new Eye poultry facility and our new continental products facility in Bury is now performing strongly and in line with the original business case."
LSE shares rally on group’s plan to buy Refinitiv for $27bn. (FS)
FT reported that London Stock Exchange Group’s shares surged to their biggest gain in more than a decade, as investors hailed plans for a $27bn acquisition that would transform it into one of the world’s biggest suppliers of market data and infrastructure. The more than 300-year old exchange is in talks to buy Refinitiv, the data company best known for the Eikon desktop terminals that feed market data and news to traders and portfolio managers across the world.
Canson Capital Partners and Evercore are advising Refinitiv. Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Robey Warshaw are advising LSE.
Apax Partners closing in on €2.5bn Amey deal. (FS)
Private equity firm Apax Partners is closing in on €2.5bn ($2.8bn) deal to buy Amey, Britain’s troubled bin collector, pothole filler and railway engineer. Amey is currently owned by Ferrovial, the roads, airports and construction conglomerate that is Heathrow’s biggest investor.
Dana Gas sells its Egyptian assets.
United Arab Emirates' Dana Gas is collaborating with investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co to sale of its Egyptian assets, Reuters reported. The estimated value of the assets is worth over $500m.
Dana wants to focus its resources on investments in Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where it has large capital expenditure requirements and sees the potential for growth.
Trian urges Ferguson to sell UK business. (FS)
Reuters reported that Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management has urged Ferguson to sell its UK business, a month after the activist fund raised a 6% stake in the plumbing products distributor. The company's UK operations could be worth around $866m.
Deutsche Borse does not expect successful completion of FX business units talks with Refinitv.
The executive board of Deutsche Börse concluded, following the statement by London Stock Exchange Group confirming discussions about a possible acquisition of Refinitiv Holdings, that it does not expect its discussions with Refinitiv on a potential purchase of certain FX business units to be successfully completed.
Proactis Holdings reviews strategic options.
Proactis Holdings, the global spend management and B2B eCommerce solution provider, announced that it received a preliminary unsolicited approach from a US-based investor with regard to an offer for the company and a number of preliminary unsolicited expressions of interest from other parties. At this early stage, there can be no certainty that any offer will be forthcoming or the terms of any such offer.
finnCap is advising Proactis.
Qatar Petroleum struck a deal on three Kenyan offshore blocks.
Qatar Petroleum, a state-owned petroleum company of Qatar, signed an agreement to enter three offshore exploration blocks in Lamu Basin, east of Kenya, the company said in a statement. Following regulatory approvals by Kenya, the consortium will be comprised of Eni (the operator) with a 41.25% participating interest, Total with 33.75% and Qatar Petroleum with 25%, the statement said.
HEGMANNS Group acquired material assets from Envicon.
HEGMANNS Group, a leading provider of innovative engineering services to the process industry, acquired the material assets of Envi Con Engineering, an engineering services provider, from von der Heydt Industriekapital.
Through the acquisition, HEGMANNS Group will expand its basic engineering capabilities and strengthen its competitive positioning in the field of power plant construction.
DZ Bank advised HEGMANNS Group.
Novartis will not sell Sandoz generics unit.
Chief Executive of Novartis Vas Narasimhan pledged not to sell the Swiss drugmaker's generics unit Sandoz.
"We will make Sandoz autonomous within Novartis, so it's more competitive. Our plan is to focus on Sandoz and make it better in the long-term." said Vas Narasimhan.
HNA-backed Swissport International plans to refinance debt.
Bloomberg reported that Swissport International, the airport-cargo handler owned by Chinese troubled conglomerate HNA Group, said it plans to refinance some of its outstanding debt amid stable earnings growth. The company plans to use about €712m ($792m) of proceeds to fully repay existing term loan facilities, it said. It will deploy about €628m ($699m) to fully redeem outstanding existing notes of Swissport Financing issued in 2017.
Quanta raised $48m in Series C funding round. (FS)
Quanta Dialysis Technologies, a British medical technology company developing a personal haemodialysis system for patient use in the clinic and the home, announces that it has successfully raised $48m in a first closing of its Series C funding round. The round was led by a Swiss private family office in combination with btov Partners and co-led by Wellington Partners and Seroba Life Sciences, along with participation from other existing investors.
John E. Milad, Chief Executive Officer of Quanta, said: “This is an exciting time for Quanta and a pivotal moment as we prepare to launch our updated SC+ personal haemodialysis system to our first commercial users in the UK later this year. We are grateful for this support from both new and existing investors, who share our vision to help more dialysis patients take greater control of their lives, both in the UK and beyond.”
Eurazeo looking to sell its stake in Elis. (FS)
Eurazeo, a multinational publicly listed private equity firm, announced that it intends to sell, via its subsidiary Legendre Holding 27, a 5.67% stake and 9.36% of the voting rights of Elis, an international multi-service provider, offering textile, hygiene and facility services solutions, through a private placement by way of an accelerated book building reserved for institutional investors.
Rothschild & Co and Morgan Stanley are advising Eurazeo.
Reach with new CEO. (PEOPLE)
Reach announced that Chief Executive Officer Simon Fox, who oversaw two transformative acquisitions, will step down in half of August. He’ll be replaced by Jim Mullen.
Reach is preparing itself to continue its consolidation of the UK newspaper industry.
AXA buys Paris shopping centers from Hammerson and Eurocommercial for $752m. (RE)
AXA Investment Managers has agreed to buy two Paris shopping and leisure centers.
AXA’s is buying a 75% stake in Paris’ Italie Deux retail and leisure center from British property group Hammerson for $526m and a 50% stake in the Passage du Havre complex from Eurocommercial Properties for $225m.
BCB Group and Bitstamp announce partnership to enable GBP transfers.
Bitstamp, Europe's largest cryptocurrency exchange, and BCB Group, one of the world’s leading global digital asset prime brokers, announced a new partnership to enable investors from the UK to transfer GBP directly to and from their Bitstamp accounts.
DSA Investments looking to bid for Glencore mines.
Bloomberg reported that Dubai’s DSA Investments is considering forming a venture with a South African labor union to bid for coal assets that Glencore, a British–Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining company, was pressured into selling to a company controlled by the politically-connected Gupta family in 2015. The venture would be between Orchid Mining, a unit of DSA, and Nehawu Investment Holdings, which invests funds on behalf of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union.
“Our investment focus is extractive resources investment opportunities in Africa,” DSA said. “Once we are able to comment on specific opportunities we will provide an official release.”
APAC
FNZ Group, a financial technology company specializing in providing investment platforms to major financial institutions, reached an agreement to acquire GBST, which provides custom technology solutions for the financial service sector, for $186m.
"We are pleased to have now entered into a binding agreement for FNZ to acquire GBST at $2.66 per share on terms acceptable to the Board," says GBST chairman Allan Brackin. "FNZ's offer represents a significant premium and provides a high degree of certainty of value for our shareholders through the cash offer and limited conditionality."
Hope Education Group, an investment holding company, agreed to acquire a 95% stake in Hebi Automotive Engineering Professional College, the only automobile engineering general college in the province of Henan, for $23m.
The acquisition of Hebi will be a good integration of the resources of the Group’s automotive colleges. It will also strengthen Hebi's ability to run a school and enroll students, to cultivate outstanding graduates and better serve society.
Shareholders of Australia's Mackay Sugar have voted to accept a takeover offer from Germany's Nordzucker. Nordzucker will acquire a 70% majority stake in Australia's second-largest sugar producer Mackay Sugar for A$60m ($41m). The offer was approved by a 75% majority of Mackay's shareholders.
"Growers have shown the courage to back the deal in order to secure the future of their crop and stabilize the industry after several years of uncertainty." Paul Schembri, Chairman of the committee representing the shareholders.
Tencent, GIC, BlackRock increase stakes in China’s Weimob. (FS)
Bloomberg reported that Tencent Holdings, Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC and BlackRock increased their stakes in Weimob. The estimated deal value is $180m.
Weimob, which has a market value of about $1.2bn said it will use the proceeds to bankroll technology development.
SoftBank to invest $2bn in Indonesia through Grab.
Grab announced it would invest $2bn into Indonesia over a period of five years with the capital invested by SoftBank, to accelerate the development of the country's digital infrastructure. The investment will go towards creating a next-generation transportation network for cities and transforming how critical services, like healthcare, are delivered.
Masayoshi Son, Chairman & CEO of SoftBank Group, said, "Indonesia's technology sector has huge potential. I'm very happy to be investing $2bn into the future of Indonesia through Grab."
AB InBev denies reports about Oriental Brewery company sale.
AB InBev, a multinational drink and brewing holdings company based in Leuven, Belgium, denied media reports about a potential sale of its Korean subsidiary Oriental Brewery Company. Carlos Brito, CEO of AB Inveb, directly dismissed a series of speculations, announcing that "there are no further asset sales."
Two Canadian pension funds bidding for GIP’s roads portfolio. (FS)
Pension funds Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec are competing to acquire Highway Concessions One, a roads portfolio owned by infrastructure fund manager Global Infrastructure Partners. The two pension funds have bid at around $465m in enterprise valuation for the roads portfolio.
Aurora drops plans to bid for Yowie. (FS)
Aurora Capital, a private equity firm, abandoned its planned takeover of Yowie and said it would instead support winding up the troubled Australian chocolatier if management cannot plot a convincing near-term turnaround strategy. The private equity firm accused the Yowie Group, whose shares dropped by as much as 12% after emerging from a trading halt on Friday, of rationalizing a continued poor performance.
TPG Capital and Advent International in talks to infuse funds in Yes Bank. (FS)
TPG Capital’s Indian private equity arm and buyout firm Advent International are among institutional investors that will infuse fresh capital into Yes Bank, India's fourth-largest private sector bank. The amounts to be invested are currently being negotiated. The private equity firms are rumored to be interested in investing $350m each in the bank.
Traveloka looking to raise funds at $4.5bn valuation.
Traveloka, one of the largest online travel companies in Southeast Asia, is in talks to raise fresh funds that could value the Indonesian startup at as much as $4.5bn. The company is looking to raise $500m in its next funding round.
Askul Corp to force Yahoo Japan Corp stake sale.
Askul Corp, a Japan-based company mainly engaged in the sale of office products, plans to exercise its right to demand Yahoo Japan Corp to sell its 45% stake, escalating a public dispute between two major Japanese internet companies. Chief Executive Officer Shoichiro Iwata said he intends to propose the move at a board meeting scheduled for Aug 1.
The company is in advanced talks with at least four potential bidders for the stake. They include a foreign private equity firm, a Japanese industrial company, a financial institution and a local fund, the CEO said.
China Renaissance raises $945m.
Huaxing Growth Capital, the private equity arm of China Renaissance Holdings, has raised over CNY6.5bn ($945m) for its latest yuan-denominated fund, as the investment bank prepares to invest further.
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