Provident Financial, a British sub-prime lender, successfully defended against the nil-premium $1.7bn bid from Non-Standard Finance, a consumer finance company led by Provident’s former CEO. Provident’s chief executive Malcolm Le May said the company was firmly on the front foot once more, and saw a bright future as a bank rather than a subprime lender, adding that a merger with NSF was “fraught with regulatory risk.”
Provident Financial was advised by Barclays, JP Morgan, and Brunswick Group. Non-Standard Finance was advised by Shore Capital & Corporate, Deutsche Bank, Ondra Partners, Slaughter & May, and Maitland.
Private equity firm Olympus Partners acquired the plastics division of DS Smith, a leading British-based international packaging business, for $585m. The plastics division comprises the plastics operations of DS Smith, including flexible plastics, rigid plastics and foam products.
This sale represents an important step in DS Smith's continued progress as a leader in sustainable packaging and accelerates the programme of deleveraging, alongside organic cash flow growth. The cash proceeds are expected to be used to reduce the financial gearing of DS Smith.
Sullivan & Cromwell advised DS Smith.
Assa Abloy, a Swedish lock manufacturer and the world's largest lock manufacturer by sales volume, increased its holding in Agta Record, one of the world leaders in automatic door systems, to 93% for €502m ($568m). The purchase price represents a 6% premium to Agta's share price. The stake was acquired form CM-CIC, 3B Finance and Credit Mutuel Alliance Federale.
"Agta record will complement both our product offering as well as geographic coverage. Agta record has with "record" a well-known brand, a strong culture, high-quality products and a very strong workforce and management. Our intention is to keep the record brand and keep Agta record as a separate Business area, in parallel to our pedestrian door activity, with headquarter in Fehraltorf, Switzerland," said Mogens Jensen, Executive Vice President of Assa Abloy and Head of Division Entrance Systems.
CMS advised the sellers.
Walterscheid Powertrain Group, provides a full range of preventative, predictive and engineering services for heavy industrial, petrochemical and marine drive systems.
“Walterscheid is known for its leading engineering technology, product quality, and customer service. We look forward to working with the Company to reinforce that reputation,” said Joseph Huffsmith, Managing Director, OEP. “Walterscheid will be well positioned to grow through further investment, and to support the increasing demand of its world-class customers in the agricultural, construction, mining and industrial industries.”
Investment fund LetterOne, led by Mikhail Fridman, which recently made a €300m ($339m) bid for struggling Spanish retail chain DIA, said that it had received strong signals of shareholder support for its plan to take over the company. Stephan DuCharme, LetterOne’s managing partner who briefly acted as DIA’s interim chairman last year, said he had held meetings with investors in Spain and Britain to discuss Letter One’s bid for the 70% of the company it does not already own.
“We are getting strong signals of support,” he said. “I have had a number of emails after my shareholder meetings, coming back to me saying: Thank you, I get it, I’m going to support you at the shareholder meeting.”
On March 20 DIA shareholders will meet and choose between the restructuring plan proposed by LetterOne and the one proposed by the board of the company.
LetterOne is being advised by Camarco and Estudio de Comunicacion.
AIMCo completed its acquisition of Eolia Renovables, a leading independent power producer in the Spanish renewable energy sector from funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management. The deal was initially announced in November 2018. Financial terms were not disclosed.
AIMCo’s investment in Eolia Renovables provides its clients exposure to a company that owns a large portfolio of renewable energy assets with long-term revenues contracted under the Spanish regulatory regime, as well as, a pipeline of potential development opportunities in Spain. Eolia Renovables will complement AIMCo’s existing portfolio of global investments in utilities, power generation, and transportation of over $6.5bn.
RBC and Linklaters advised AIMCo.
One Equity-backed Orion Business Innovations, a fast-growing digital transformation firm headquartered in New Jersey, acquired and merged with MERA, an outsourced product development business headquartered in Switzerland. One Equity Partners is making a significant investment in MERA to support the transaction. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Orion shares MERA’s values and commitment to developing innovative, industry-leading products and providing best-in-class services that customers have come to expect of both our businesses,” said Alex Bogachek, CEO of MERA. “Their core competency in enabling operational efficiencies through enterprise automation solutions aligns well with our outsourced product development capabilities, enabling us to provide a large number of solutions and services for customers across our joint geographies.”
Cognizant, an American multinational corporation that provides IT services, acquired Meritsoft, a privately-held financial software company based in Dublin, from private equity investors Synova Capital and 22C Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Increased compliance and regulatory obligations, focus on operational efficiency, and a range of new digital technologies are among the forces that have led many of the world's leading financial institutions to automate processes using Meritsoft and its FINBOS platform," said Sean Middleton, President, Cognizant Accelerator. "Banking and financial services is one of the largest industries that Cognizant serves. Meritsoft brings proven automation expertise in case management, regulatory compliance, payment and settlement of claims, and tax and brokerage cash flows to help our clients in transforming their businesses for the digital era."
Arma Partners advised Meritsoft.
SOCO, an international oil and gas exploration and production company, said it is not interested in making another bid for Ophir Energy, an oil and gas exploration and production company based in London after Ophir rejected SOCO’s last $437m bid in January. SOCO said it believes that a share-based combination with Ophir would be challenging to accomplish after Indonesian oil and gas group Medco agreed to buy Ophir for a sweetened cash bid of $511m in January.
Ophir was advised by Investec, Morgan Stanley, Brunswick Group and Lambert Energy Advisory. Medco was advised by Peel Hunt, Standard Chartered Bank, Sidley Austin and Tulchan Communications. SOCO was advised by Evercore.
Aon abandoned takeover talks with Willis Towers Watson.
Aon, a British global professional services company, said it had abandoned negotiations regarding a potential takeover of Willis Towers Watson, an Irish-domiciled global multinational risk management, insurance brokerage and advisory company. The firm did not give a reason for its decision.
An Aon-Willis merger would have been the largest deal in the UK insurance industry that is consolidating in the face of uncertainty arising from Britain’s impending exit from the European Union and trade tensions between the United States and China.
EasyJet CEO says no fixed timetable for Alitalia talks.
EasyJet’s talks on the future of Italian carrier Alitalia with Delta and Ferrovie dello Stato, a state-owned holding company that manages infrastructure and services on the Italian rail network, have no fixed timetable, easyJet Chief Executive Johan Lundgren said on Wednesday.
“We’re having discussions with them. We just need to see if this leads to something or not,” he told
Reuters.
Ascom’s biggest shareholder encouraged the company to explore sale. (FS)
Veraison, the biggest shareholder of Ascom, a telecommunications company focusing on on-site wireless communications, is demanding that the Swiss telecom company consider all options including a sale on grounds that it is not fulfilling its potential in the health care sector. Veraison, which holds an 8% stake in the company, has “no confidence in the current operative leadership,” as it said.
Stock of Ascom dropped by 50% since January 2018 due to not achieving the company’s sales and profitability goals.
Vivendi sold its remaining stake in Ubisoft.
Media conglomerate Vivendi sold its remaining shares in French video game producer Ubisoft making a capital gain of $249m. The 5.9% stake was sold for $485m.
“Vivendi is no longer a Ubisoft shareholder and maintains its commitment to refrain from purchasing Ubisoft shares for a period of five years,” Vivendi said in a statement. “Vivendi, which already owns Gameloft, a global leader in mobile video games, confirms its intention to continue to strengthen its position in the video games sector.”
US sanctions stopped Volkswagen from buying stake in GAZ.
German multinational automotive giant Volkswagen is unable to buy a stake in Russian automaker GAZ because the company is under US sanctions. Talks on a deal have been suspended. Sanctioned businessman Oleg Deripaska has been seeking to divest his stake in GAZ as part of a potential deal with the United States to lift its sanctions on the company and VW was viewed as a possible buyer.
Logitech CEO said the company is considering M&A deals.
Bracken Darrell, CEO of Logitech, a Swiss provider of personal computer and mobile peripherals, said the company could make much bigger deals than it has before to accelerate growth in areas such as controllers for players of blockbuster computer games like Fortnite.
“It is possible we could do a larger deal. I wouldn’t put a number on it, but it certainly could be that size,” Darrell told
Reuters when asked if Logitech could pay $1-2bn for an acquisition. “If you asked me five years ago would we look at anything large, I would have said no. If you roll forward, we have done a lot of acquisitions and have tended to be quite good at them.
Lufthansa will be active in airline consolidation.
Lufthansa, the largest German airline, will be an active player in consolidation among European airlines, Chief Executive Carsten Spohr said on Wednesday, declining to comment on whether the German airline group was interested in Thomas Cook’s Condor, a German leisure airline based in Frankfurt.
“We don’t comment on M&A speculation,” he told
Reuters when asked about Lufthansa’s reported interest in Condor.
IAG CEO said that bid for Norwegian Air is unlikely.
Willie Walsh, CEO of IAG, owner of British Airways, said that the company is unlikely to make a bid for Norwegian Air, a Norwegian low-cost airline and Norway's largest airline. IAG exited the capital of Norwegian Air in January 2019.
“I’d never say never, but I think it’s unlikely,” Walsh told reporters on the sidelines of the Airlines for Europe summit in Brussels. “If there was a case that we might have done that (renewed our interest), we probably would have retained the shares in Norwegian.”
Beechbrook Capital’s second fund reached £128m. (FS)
Beechbrook Capital, a specialist direct lender, reached the first close of its second UK SME Credit Fund, with commitments of £128m ($168m). The fund has also made its first two investments, in Hosted Desktop UK and Gravity Global. The fund will provide mainly senior secured loans to non-private equity-backed companies to support acquisitions, buy-outs, shareholder re-alignments, refinancings and general expansion plans.
Beechbrook partner Paul Shea said: “We are delighted with the support we have received from both existing and new investors. There remains an acute shortage of development and expansion finance available in the UK lower mid-market and we will continue to play our part in helping fund growth in this important segment of the market.”
Bristol-Myers Squibb, an American pharmaceutical company, urged its shareholders to approve the $90bn acquisition of Celgene Corporation, an American biotechnology company that discovers, develops and commercializes medicines for cancer and inflammatory disorders. The deal, which was initially announced in January 2019, has recently faced opposition from two of company’s investors: Starboard Value and Wellington Management.
Starboard, an activist investor with a track record of opposing deals it is unhappy with, maintained its view that the merger was “ill-advised” and recommended that fellow Bristol-Myers shareholders vote against it at a shareholder meeting slated for April 12. The New York-based hedge fund has also presented a slate of five nominees to Bristol-Myers’ board, including Starboard Chief Executive Jeffrey Smith. Wellington Management, one of Bristol Myers’ top shareholders with 8% of shares, said it finds the deal to be too risky and expensive.
Citigroup, JP Morgan, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz advise Celgene. Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Morgan Stanley, Dyal, Evercore, Morgan Stanley, Kirkland & Ellis and Joele Frank advise Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Reuters reported that US House lawmakers plan to hold a March 12 hearing to review a proposed $26bn merger of T-Mobile and Sprint Corp with the telecommunications companies’ chief executives. A House of Representatives Judiciary subcommittee will “examine the potential impact of the proposed merger of Sprint and T-Mobile on consumers, workers and the Internet.”
Sprint Corp was advised by Centerview Partners, JP Morgan, Mizuho, SMBC, The Raine Group, Morrison & Foerster, Potter Anderson & Corroon, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. SoftBank, the largest shareholder of Sprint prior to the transaction, was advised by Morrison & Foerster on legal matters. Deutsche Telecom was advised by Deutsche Bank, Evercore, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, PJT Partners, Allen & Overy, Hogan Lovells, DLA Piper, Latham & Watkins, Richards Layton and Finger and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz.
Private equity firm Wind Point Partners sold Paragon Films, a leading manufacturer of high-performance transit packaging films within North America, to Wellspring Capital Management. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Alex Washington, Managing Director at Wind Point, commented: “Paragon is a case study in Wind Point’s investment strategy of assisting family-owned companies to affect a successful leadership transition and unlock additional areas for equity value creation. We thank Darin and the management team for their partnership in delivering an outstanding outcome.”
Kirkland & Ellis, Rothschild & Co and Robert W. Baird advised Paragon Films. McDermott Will & Emery advised Wellspring Capital Management. NXT Capital, Antares Capital, Blackrock Kelso and Newstone Capital provided debt financing.
KKR closed its acquisition of BrightSpring from Onex and successfully merged the company with PharMerica, a provider of pharmacy services across the US. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The strategic combination of BrightSpring and PharMerica creates a uniquely positioned diversified health care services company with comprehensive care capabilities across clinical, non-clinical and pharmacy services in multiple care settings.
“This transaction provides both significant strategic and day-to-day benefits for the client and patient bases and valued customers of both organizations. With BrightSpring’s daily presence in care settings and PharMerica’s national pharmacy footprint, the combined business will offer existing and new customers expanded access to comprehensive care and pharmacy services, including augmented and clinically focused programs to best serve patients and meet our customers’ needs,” PharMerica Greg Weishar, President and Chief Executive Officer.
Latham & Watkins advised KKR. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett advised PharMerica.
Private equity firm SE Capital Partners acquired TLC Companies, the nation's largest transportation specific Professional Employer Organization in the United States, providing outsourced human resource services, including payroll processing, workers compensation insurance and other employee benefits for the transportation industry. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We view TLC as an impressive company with a strong management team and a dominant market share in the transportation-focused PEO space," said Jeff Kvam, partner at SE Capital. "TLC serves as a great platform from which to build the marketplace for transportation company clients."
US judge will not conduct a hearing into Sinclair’s failed $3.9bn bid for Oaktree Capital’s Tribune Media, an American conglomerate headquartered in Chicago. Given the deal was terminated proceedings would be an “academic exercise,” the judge said. But Administrative Judge Jane Halprin said allegations that Sinclair, the largest US broadcast station owner, may have misled regulators “are extremely serious charges that reasonably warrant a thorough examination.”
Tribune Media was advised by Guggenheim Securities, Covington & Burling, Latham & Watkins and Debevoise & Plimpton. Sinclair was advised by JP Morgan and Sullivan & Cromwell.
Centerbridge Partners in talks to finance Ice Cube’s acquisition of sports network from Disney. (FS)
Centerbridge Partners entered negotiations to provide a significant investment contribution that will back an offer from rapper and actor Ice Cube to buy a group of regional sports networks being sold by Walt Disney. The deal could be worth approximately $10bn. Apollo Global Management and Platinum Equity also expressed interest in acquiring the assets. Disney is selling its regional sports networks to get antitrust approval for its takeover of 21st Century Fox.
Centerra Gold to reinstate dividend after closing Kumtor deal.
Centerra Gold, a Canadian-based gold mining and exploration company engaged in the operation, exploration, development and acquisition of gold properties in North America, Asia and other markets worldwide, said it would reinstate its dividend to shareholders after it closes a deal with Kyrgyzstan to resolve a longstanding dispute over the Kumtor gold mine. The agreement, which has been delayed by environmental and financial disputes, is expected to be reached by June.
Included in the agreement is the removal of restrictions placed on the company in 2016 regarding the repatriation of cash to Canada, which saw Centerra cease its dividend payments. Centerra is also considering the increase of the size of the mill facility at Kumtor, and is currently studying the economic feasibility of such an expansion, and expects to make a decision by summer.
Zayo Group explores potential sale. (FS)
Zayo Group, a publicly traded company which provides communications infrastructure services, including fiber and bandwidth connectivity, colocation and cloud services, is exploring a potential sale. The company, which is valued at $6bn, is being urged by activist hedge fund Sachem Head Capital, to consider a sale.
Zayo could reconsider a previously rejected offer from a consortium led by Blackstone Group. If the consortium succeeds in acquiring Zayo, it would represent one of the largest leveraged buyouts of the year.
Advent International and Blackstone started gathering funds. (FS)
Blackstone and Advent International have begun gathering commitments for their latest respective mega-funds. Blackstone Capital Partners VIII will have a target of approximately $20bn while Advent GPE IX will be seeking $13bn. Minnesota State Board of Investment committed $150m for both funds. It also unveiled commitments to new funds being raised by Arsenal Capital Partners, Oak Hill Capital Partners and Värde Partners, among others.
Wavecrest Growth Partners closed inaugural fund at $190m. (FS)
Wavecrest Growth Partners held the close of its first fund, with over $190m in commitments. Investors include public pension funds, endowments and foundations, fund-of-funds, insurance companies, and family offices. To date, Wavecrest has led investments in three leading B2B software companies.
"We are excited by the opportunity to partner with entrepreneurs who have proven their business models but are earlier in their life cycles. These companies are hard for the larger funds to back. Founders at this stage want real partners with sector-focused knowledge and experience who can help them to maximize the value of their market opportunity and to avoid costly mistakes," said Founding Partner Deepak Sindwani. "Our target companies are primed to change their respective industries and grow rapidly with the right infusion of strategic advice, team members, and best practices. Our goal is to enable entrepreneurs to realize their greatest potential as quickly and efficiently as possible."
Secura Bio secured $145m in financing. (FS)
Secura Bio, an integrated biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the worldwide commercialization of significant oncology therapies, announced the closing of Secura Bio's $145m equity and debt financing with funds managed by Athyrium Capital Management, a leading healthcare-focused investment firm.
"We are pleased to be partnering with Athyrium and appreciate their history of impressive investment results in life sciences," said Joseph M. Limber, President and Chief Executive Officer of Secura Bio. "We believe Athyrium's profile matches our ambition to aggressively build a profitable company based on worldwide commercialization of meaningful oncology therapies."
Beam Therapeutics raised $135m in Series B financing. (FS)
Beam Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing precision genetic medicines through base editing, announced the successful completion of a $135m Series B financing. Participants in the Series B included new investors Redmile Group, Cormorant Asset Management, GV, Altitude Life Science Ventures, and additional undisclosed investors, along with continued support by existing investors, including F-Prime Capital, ARCH Venture Partners, Eight Roads Ventures, and Omega Funds.
Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance the company’s development of next-generation CRISPR technologies, expand its pipeline of base editing programs, and further extend its scientific and technical leadership.
