AMERICAS
Noble Energy investor sued the company in New York federal court, seeking to halt the independent energy business' proposed $13bn all-stock deal with Chevron until more information is disclosed about the transaction.
Investor David Walsh asserts that Noble Energy's directors breached their fiduciary duty by filing an incomplete and misleading registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to convince shareholders to approve the merger. Walsh seeks to postpone the vote, which is scheduled to take place in a few weeks, until shareholders are given the information necessary to cast an informed ballot.
Noble Energy is advised by JP Morgan and Vinson & Elkins. JP Morgan is advised by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Chevron is advised by Credit Suisse and Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison.
Advent International completed the acquisition of Forescout Technologies, a provider of device visibility and control solutions, for $1.4bn. Advent was joined by Crosspoint Capital Partners, a private equity investment firm focused on the cybersecurity and privacy industries, as a co-investor.
"Together with Advent and Crosspoint Capital, we will be even better positioned to accelerate our innovation roadmap and strategic cloud and business transformation. As we embark today on this exciting new chapter, I want to thank all Forescout employees around the world. This is a testament to their hard work and commitment, and I am proud to continue this journey alongside them as we deliver on our technology, strategy and customer experience goals," Michael DeCesare, Forescout CEO and President.
Forescout Technologies was advised by Morgan Stanley, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Joele Frank. Morgan Stanley was advised by Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. Advent International was advised by Evercore, JP Morgan, Ropes & Gray and Finsbury.
FB Financial, a bank holding company headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, completed the merger with Franklin Financial Network, a financial holding company headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee, in a $611m deal. The merger agreement has been unanimously approved by both companies’ boards of directors.
"We are very excited to complete this transaction. We have joined forces with the leading community bank in two of the most attractive counties in the Southeast. We look forward to building on the strong customer relationships that Franklin has fostered," Chris Holmes FB Financial President and CEO.
Franklin Financial was advised by Evercore and Alston & Bird. FB Financial was advised by JP Morgan and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz. JP Morgan was advised by Sullivan & Cromwell.
CCI and Tokyo Gas-backed Castleton Resources, a Houston-based oil company, completed the acquisition of Terryville upstream assets in Northern Louisiana from Range Resources, a petroleum and natural gas exploration and production company, for $245m.
"We are pleased with the strategic partnership we have developed with Tokyo Gas since their initial investment in Castleton Resources in May 2017. The closing of this transaction is a pivotal moment for Castleton Resources and we look forward to our continued relationship with Tokyo Gas," Nicholas Haslett, CCI Global Head of Principal Investments and CSO.
CCI was advised by Bracewell. Tokyo Gas was advised by K&L Gates. Castleton Resources was advised by Greenhill & Co, Kirkland & Ellis and Hill+Knowlton Strategies.
Sanofi, a global biopharmaceutical company focused on human health, agreed to acquire Principia Biopharma, a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing treatments for immune-mediated diseases, for $3.68bn.
"This acquisition advances our ongoing R&D transformation to accelerate development of the most promising medicines that will address significant patient needs. The addition of multiple BTK inhibitors to our pipeline demonstrates our commitment to strategic product acquisitions in our priority therapeutic areas. Full ownership of our brain-penetrant BTK inhibitor' 168 removes complexities for this priority development program and simplifies future commercialization," Paul Hudson, Sanofi CEO.
Principia is advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Centerview Partners and Cooley. Sanofi is advised by Evercore and Weil Gotshal and Manges.
Flushing Financial, the parent holding company for Flushing Bank, and Empire Bancorp, the parent holding company for Empire National Bank, agree to complete their $111m merger under an extended time frame.
Under an amendment to the current merger agreement, Flushing and Empire will have the flexibility to close the proposed transaction on a basis that may result in all of the merger consideration received by Empire shareholders being taxable, for US federal income tax purposes, including the shares of Flushing common stock received in exchange for Empire common stock. The merger consideration will not otherwise be affected.
Empire Bancorp is advised by Sandler O'Neill + Partners and Fenimore Kay Harrison & Ford. Flushing Financial is advised by Deutsche Bank and Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer.
Shareholders of DelMar Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of new solid tumor cancer therapies, approved the acquistion of Adgero Biopharmaceuticals, a privately held biopharmaceutical company.
Following the closing of the deal, the combined entity will be renamed as "Kintara Therapeutics", and its share are expected to be listed on Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbol "KTRA."
Adgero is advised by Gracin & Marlow. DelMar is advised by Ladenburg Thalmann and Lowenstein Sandler.
MAG Aerospace, an American-owned military contractor, completed the acquisition of Remotely Piloted Solutions, a provider of C5ISR services and mission solutions headquartered in Dallas. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"When we think of flawlessly executing C5ISR mission and technology integration on large unmanned systems worldwide- RPS' reputation is second to none. The rapid growth RPS has shown over the last few years is a testament to the fantastic leadership team that will be joining the MAG Aerospace team in making the world smaller and safer," Joe Fluet, MAG CEO.
Remotely Piloted Solutions was advised by Jackson Walker. MAG Aerospace was advised by Cooley and Ropes & Gray.
Diageo, a British multinational beverage alcohol company, agreed to acquire Aviation Gin, a brand of gin, and Davos Brands, an alcoholic beverages provider, for $610m.
"We are delighted to announce this transaction, which supports our participation in the super-premium gin segment in the United States. The acquisition of Aviation American Gin and the Davos Brands portfolio is in line with our strategy to acquire high growth brands with attractive margins that support premiumization. We are confident that Aviation American Gin will continue to shape and drive the growth of super-premium gin in North America and we are looking forward to working with Ryan Reynolds and the Davos Brands team to accelerate future growth," Ivan Menezes, Diageo CEO.
Diageo is advised by Sullivan & Cromwell.
Autodesk, an American multinational software corporation, completed the acquisition of Pype, a provider of cloud-based solutions for automating construction project management workflows. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"I could not be more optimistic about the future of the building industry. Even in challenging times such as those we are currently facing, Autodesk remains focused on making the jobs of people who build easier. Pype's robust machine learning capabilities will empower Autodesk customers to connect workflows across the building lifecycle in new ways and optimize their businesses for long-term resiliency," Andrew Anagnost, Autodesk CEO.
Autodesk was advised by Morrison & Foerster.
TransUnion, an American consumer credit reporting agency, agreed to acquire Signal, a Chicago-based technology company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"For more than a decade, Signal has been a leading solution for real-time data collection and distribution, enabling marketers to better understand and react to their customers' needs. The opportunity to join TransUnion and leverage our combined strengths is extremely exciting," Lisa Weinstein, Signal CEO.
Private equity firm Laurel Oak Capital Partners completed the acquisition of Roadrunner Temperature Controlled, the cold chain transportation solutions provider of Roadrunner Transportation Systems, an asset-light transportation and supply chain solutions provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"With the actions announced today, we have completed our evolution from a troubled roll-up to a focused, national LTL carrier. We are eternally grateful to our team for the long hours and hard work through the prolonged period of transition," Chris Jamroz, Roadrunner Executive Chairman.
Otis, an American company that develops, manufactures and markets elevators, escalators, moving walkways, and related equipment, completed the acquisition of Bay State Elevator, a provider of elevator services. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"This acquisition expands our scale and density in the Northeast region and demonstrates our commitment to strategically accelerate service portfolio growth. The Bay State Elevator team is well-respected within our industry, and we welcome them to Otis. We look forward to working together to serve existing Bay State customers and introducing them to our service offerings and comprehensive range of Otis products," Jim Cramer, Otis Americas President.
Silver Lake exceeds past $18bn target for Fund VI. (FS)
Private equity firm Silver Lake exceeded past its $18bn target for its sixth flagship private equity fund, Silver Lake Partners VI.
The fund will focus on sectors including semiconductors, software, cloud computing, transaction processing, IT infrastructure, e-commerce, energy, healthcare, financial services and media.
Blackstone amassed more than $10bn for core property fund. (FS)
Blackstone Group exceeded the $10bn mark in commitments to its core real estate fund, which has focused recently on growth segments such as warehouses for distributors and production studios for digital content creators, WSJ reported.
Blackstone Property Partners fund and related vehicles had collected more than $10.14bn so far, raising more than $1.2bn in little more than a year. The perpetual fund dates back to 2014 and remains open-ended.
Sixth Street Partners raises $10bn for new flagship fund. (FS)
WSJ reported that Sixth Street Partners, a former affiliate of private-equity firm TPG, amassed one of the biggest pools of private capital on record as investors seek opportunity from the economic uncertainty unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Sixth Street Partners brought in $10bn for its flagship fund, a nine-year-old vehicle known as Tao, since it was reopened to new investment in April. It now totals $22.5bn and the firm has told investors it would cap the fund at around $24bn at the end of September.
Initialized raises $230m for its fifth fund. (FS)
Venture capital firm Initialized Capital Management raised $230m for its fifth fund, Initialized V. The fund intends to back about 45 startups over the next three years. Its focus will be seed investing, typically the first time a company raises money and often before it has launched a product or service.
The firm plans to lead financing rounds with checks of $1m to $4m. Initialized averaged 15% ownership stakes across the 45 companies backed by its fourth fund, which closed in 2018 with $225m.
Jim Momtazee launches Patient Square Capital. (FS, People)
Jim Momtazee, a former dealmaker at KKR, launched Patient Square Capital, a private equity company which focuses on deals in the healthcare sector, together with Maria Walker, a former partner at consulting firm KPMG.
“We’re going to be broad-based in our focus on all aspects of healthcare, bringing depth of knowledge, scale, expertise, and long-term view to our investments,” Jim Momtazee.
EMEA
Assa Abloy, a Swedish conglomerate and a 39% shareholder of the Swiss company agta record, received clearance by the EU Commission to indirectly acquire the 54% shareholding in agta record, a manufacturer of automatic door systems. The purchase price for the acquisition amounts to approximately €506m ($599m). The acquisition is expected to close during August 2020.
"I look forward to finally welcoming agta record and all of its employees into the Assa Abloy. I am convinced Assa Abloy will be a good home for agta record, which is a strategic addition to the group and will bring important competence, products and services. I am also glad that the divested businesses, with its employees and customers, will be in good hands and I wish them future success," Nico Delvaux, Assa Abloy President and CEO.
CM CIC is advised by CMS.
Tencent, a Chinese multinational conglomerate, completed an investment in Voodoo, a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris, at a $1.4bn valuation.
"We are thrilled to welcome Tencent, a company we admire for its leading game and consumer mobile apps. We look forward to developing new products together for the Asian market, and publishing games created by the many talented games studios in the region," Alexandre Yazdi, Voodoo CEO.
Tencent is advised by Rothschild & Co.
National Marine Dredging Company, a dredging division of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, offered to merge with Senaat-backed National Petroleum Construction Company, which offers oil and gas engineering services, in a $300m deal.
The proposed transaction would create a new national and regional integrated EPC powerhouse with an established footprint in key markets within MENA and South Asia. The combined group would be one of the largest integrated oil and gas and marine services EPC players in the MENA region.
Senaat is advised by Edelman.
LLCP-backed Capsa, a provider of mobile workstations, medication management products, and pharmacy automation solutions, completed the acquisition of RoboPharma, which creates and implements pharmacy automation solutions for some of the largest pharmacies in Europe. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We are excited to demonstrate our continued support of Capsa through this acquisition. RoboPharma strengthens Capsa's ability to provide highly-valued, comprehensive pharmacy automation solutions to its clients across the globe," Andrew Schwartz, LLCP Partner.
LLCP was advised by Kekst CNC.
Inflexion-backed Bollington Wilson, an independent insurance broker, completed the acquisition of Watson Laurie, a corporate insurance broker. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"This is a tremendous opportunity to bring together two fantastic businesses. We've long admired Watson Laurie as an entrepreneurial, well-run insurance broker with an impressive portfolio of specialisms that are highly complementary to our own. This acquisition helps to cement our position as one of the UK's largest independent insurance groups," Paul Moors, Bollington Wilson CEO.
Deutsche Beteiligungs, a listed private equity company, completed an investment in Multimon, a provider of fire protection systems, at a $57m valuation.
"Fire protection is an attractive market. We entered this market two years ago and brought our experience to bear with Kraft & Bauer. Multimon's strong market position appeals to us, alongside the prospects for attractive organic and inorganic growth. As the number of installed systems increases, we will also see further growth in the attractive service revenues," Rolf Scheffels, DBAG Board of Management Member.
Microsoft considers acquiring TikTok UK.
Microsoft considers acquiring the popular music video app TikTok's UK business, expanding beyond the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand units that are already under discussion,
Bloomberg reported.
It's unclear whether ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, wants to sell the UK unit and if a formal offer for UK unit will be made.
The UK government said in early August that it has no plans to block the ByteDance platform in the country. TikTok is sitting on a plan to move its headquarters from the US to London as it waits for a public statement of support from the British government.
DNEG considers a stake sale.
DNEG, a British motion picture visual effects and computer animation and stereo conversion company, is considering selling a stake after shelving plans for an IPO in London last year, Bloomberg reported.
The company is working with JP Morgan on funding options. DNEG aims to reach out to a select group of investors about a potential stake sale, which could value the business at as much as $914m.
Singapore investors consider reviving Newcastle acquisition. (FS)
A Singapore-based private equity firm is planning to acquire Newcastle United after the controversial Saudi-led takeover broke down, PE Insights reported.
The Magpies were previously subject to interest from a consortium consisting of Saudi Arabia’s Private Investment Fund, the Reuben Brothers and businesswoman Amanda Staveley. However, after being asked to go through an independent tribunal process by the Premier League, their bid was withdrawn. This came after a lengthy period of silence by both sides and Newcastle fans reacted angrily to the takeover falling through.
Andera Partners seeks $529m for its venture fund. (FS)
Andera Partners, a private equity firm focused on early- and late-stage venture investments, is seeking $529m for their largest ever venture fund, as growing maturity in Europe’s biotechnology start-up sector draws more investor attention, PE News reported.
Andera’s life sciences team began raising BioDiscovery 6 early this year and expects to hold a first closing in the fall and to complete fundraising in 2021.
APAC
Yinke Merger, a vehicle owned by Yintech management, agreed to merge with Yintech Investment Holdings, a provider of investment and trading services for individual investors in China, in a $540m deal.
The company will be acquired by a group of rollover shareholders that includes the target's management. They will also contribute the ordinary shares of the Yintech, with par value $0.00001 per share held by them to Yinke Merger in exchange for newly issued ordinary shares of Yinke Holdings.
Yintech is advised by Duff & Phelps, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Harneys, Kirkland & Ellis and Walkers. Yinke is advised by Conyers Dill & Pearman and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.
Baring Private Equity, a Hong Kong-based buyout firm, made a $1.4bn counterbid for Nichiigakkan, a medical services company in Japan, beating Bain Capital's $1.2bn offer to which Nichii agreed previously.
The news could force Bain to sweeten terms once again, favoring minority shareholders who previously felt neglected with low offers. Lim Advisors, one of the investors of Nichiigakkan, asked the company to get Bain to raise its offer to c. $2bn to give the target a fair value.
Nichiigakkan is advised by Deloitte. Bain Capital is advised by Ropes & Gray. Debt financing is provided by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Securities, Nomura and SMBC Nikko.
Bain Capital's acquisition of the collapsed airline Virgin Australia drew the attention of large bondholders who want to save the company themselves without Bain involved.
Large financial institutions and creditors like UBS and Deutsche Bank that hold over $570m of struggling airline's bonds support the claim to push Bain out to rescue Virgin Australia themselves, the court filings show.
Bain said in the statement that, the bondholder group's plan is "not credible, nor capable of progressing".
Virgin Australia is advised by Deloitte, Houlihan Lokey, Morgan Stanley and Clayton Utz. Bain Capital is advised by Herbert Smith Freehills
A STIC Investments-led consortium, which also included SoftBank Korea, Korea Investment Partners and Korea Investment Securities, completed the acquisition of SYSTRAN, a provider of AI-based translation technology. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"This acquisition is exciting and will give us more resources to increase our innovation, delivery speed and geographical footprint, enabling us to further expand through our new Cloud Marketplace offering as well as provide secure, on-premises or cloud-based customized translation products for all industries and organizations of all sizes," Jean Senellart, SYSTRAN CEO.
Centurium Capital, a private equity investment firm in China, completed a $150m investment in Beijing Jingdu Children's Hospital, the largest private children's hospital in China.
"As the largest private tertiary children's hospital in China, Jingdu has become a leading children's specialty health services platform, and it has accumulated extensive medical resources and service capabilities. We highly value Jingdu's brand and professionalism, and firmly believe Jingdu will further solidify its leadership in the industry through continued investment in its medical team and service quality," Zhixing Chen, Centurium Capital Executive Director.
Japanese officials sought Nissan, Honda merger.
Government figures tried to bring Nissan Motor and Honda Motor together for merger talks earlier this year, but the project run out due to the companies' rejection of the idea,
FT reported.
The suggestion was made to the companies at the end of 2019, amid intensified global competition in the auto sector to shift toward self-driving electric vehicles.
Reliance in talks to acquire Urban Ladder and Milkbasket.
Reliance Industries, an Indian multinational conglomerate company, is in talks to acquire Urban Ladder, an omnichannel furniture and decor retailer, and Milkbasket, a milk delivery firm, to strengthen its e-commerce business,
Reuters reported. A deal could be pegged at around $30m.
The news comes as the Covid-19 pandemic forces many Indians indoors, spurring a wave of online shopping, including for daily groceries such as milk.
