EMEA
Amazon invested in Balyo, provider of technology for self-driving forklifts.
Amazon took a minority stake in warehouse robotics firm Balyo. Warehouse automation is a critical element of Amazon's efforts to cut costs and speed up deliveries. The world's biggest online retailer currently uses robots developed by Kiva Systems, a company it bought for $775m in 2012.
Amazon will receive free stock warrants representing up to 29% of Balyo's capital which it can exercise depending on orders of the company's products.
"This agreement represents an unprecedented opportunity for Balyo to grow its business and supports the soundness of our investments", said Balyo Chief Executive, Fabien Bardinet.
Widex and Sivantos reopen merger application.
Danish hearing aid maker Widex and German rival Sivantos have reopened an application seeking European Commission approval for their planned $8bn merger.
In October 2018 the companies withdrew their previously announced merger. Sivantos owner EQT said at the time that it still remained committed to the deal.
The planned merger would create the sector’s third largest player able to invest more in digital devices and step up the challenge to market leaders Sonova and William Demant.
Widex was advised by J.P. Morgan, Kromann Reumert and Deloitte. EQT and Sivantos were advised by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Plesner, PricewaterhouseCoopers and AON. Latham & Watkins has acted as financing counsel. The Boston Consulting Group has provided additional commercial advice. Financing in connection with the merger is provided by J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank.
N26 announced $300m funding round from IVP and GIC at $2.7bn valuation. (FS)
N26 has announced a $300m Series D funding round led by Insight Venture Partners, valuing N26 at $2.7bn. The round also includes participation from GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, and several existing investors.
The $300m funding represents the largest private equity financing round for a fintech company in Europe in recent years. To date, N26 has raised more than $500m from the world’s most established investors including Tencent, Allianz X, Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, Li Ka-Shing’s Horizons Ventures, Earlybird Venture Capital, Redalpine Ventures and Greyhound Capital.
"A round the world, millions of people still suffer from bad banking experiences and high fees. With Insight Venture Partners and GIC joining our renowned group of existing investors, N26 has the support of the best investors globally to disrupt one of the largest industries in the world.” Valentin Stalf, N26 CEO and Co-Founder.
Fortress about to invest in the owner of FC Copenhagen. (FS)
Fortress Investment expressed interest in buying a 29% stake in Parken Sport & Entertainment, which owns football club FC Copenhagen, from LD Fonde.
The investor could reportedly make a takeover offer this week, with a bid that would value the company at up to 1.27bn Danish kroner ($195m).
AMERICAS
KKR and SemGroup's JV acquired Meritage Midstream, an oil & gas producer, from Riverstone for C$600m ($454m). Meritage will be acquired by SemCAMS Midstream, a Canadian midstream infrastructure platform, recently formed by KKR and SemGroup.
“This transaction captures an attractive valuation for our SemCAMS business and accelerates our Canadian strategy in one of North America's premier energy basins. The acquisition of Meritage enables SemCAMS Midstream to expand and optimize its portfolio of assets, broaden its service offerings and create a more attractive Canadian growth platform. In addition, it delivers on our commitment to strengthen our balance sheet. We are pleased to partner with KKR, an industry-leading investor with extensive experience in the energy sector.” Carlin G. Conner, SemGroup Chief Executive Officer.
Meritage Midstream was advised by RBC Capital Markets, Dentons and Vinson & Elkins. Semgroup was advised by CIBC World Markets, Evercore, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and Osler Hoskin & Harcout. KKR was advised by TD Securities, Simpson Thacher & Barlett and Torys. Riverstone was advised by RBC Capital Markets, Dentons and Vinson & Elkins.
Textron Systems finalized the acquisition of Howe & Howe Technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.
With this acquisition, Textron Systems’ newly combined portfolio positions the company as a global leader in autonomy across the air, sea and land domains.
“Today marks an exciting day for Textron Systems, as we are incredibly proud to welcome Howe & Howe into the Textron Systems family. This acquisition positions us as a global provider of unmanned capabilities across all three domains, demonstrating our commitment to our military customers in support of their vision and future technology needs for autonomy, robotics, and unmanned systems.” Lisa Atherton, Textron Systems President & CEO.
“The wealth of experience and forward thinking of Textron Systems, coupled with the innovation and sheer competitiveness of Howe & Howe, makes for an extremely formidable combination. Our team has become immeasurably greater than the sum of its parts and is now solidly positioned to become the 21st-century world leader in ground robotics and terrestrial mobility.” Michael Howe, Howe & Howe Technologies Senior Vice President.
The deal was originally announced on 17th Dec 2018.
Fidelity to invest $300m into Bird. (FS)
Electric scooter startup Bird is in talks to raise $300m in a round led by Fidelity. The new funding would reportedly maintain Bird's current $2bn valuation. Launched in 2017 by former Lyft and Uber executive Travis VanderZanden, the business has already brought in $418m in VC funding.
Most of that fundraising occurred during a very busy 2018 for the Bird, one that included a series of tussles with regulators and a $300m investment led by Sequoia in June. The year ended with Bird denying reports that it was discussing a possible multibillion-dollar takeover with Uber.
Lampert looks to improve bid to save Sears from a shutdown. (FS)
Eddie Lampert’s ESL Investments hedge fund raised its bid to keep Sears Holdings in business with an offer of about $5bn that covers severance for workers and bills from its suppliers.
Advisers for the hedge fund crafted a bid that commits ESL to cover more than $40m of existing severance costs, and more for workers hired in a reorganized Sears. Lampert is adding $120m that a bankruptcy court said he needed to post in advance to qualify for an auction set for next week. ESL would pick up tax and supplier bills that Sears incurred during bankruptcy proceedings.
Uber and Lyft IPO threaten by the U.S. government shutdown.
Uber Technologies and Lyft, both of which have filed confidentially with regulators for initial public offerings, believe the shutdown could slow the timeline of their listings. While the final outcome depends on how long it takes for the Securities and Exchanges Commission to reopen and how substantial the feedback is when it does, neither company has gotten any comments from the agency.
APAC
Pan-European real estate services corporation Patrizia has acquired Tokyo-based real estate advisory and asset management firm Kenzo Capital and the fund management and placement activities of Kenzo Japan Real Estate. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Patrizia said, the acquisition of Kenzo will further support the demand from Asian investors, from whom it has raised about €3bn ($3.4 bn) in equity over the past few years.
“Through working with Kenzo over the past two years, building up the Kenzo Japan Residential Fund together and growing the fund as its fund administrator, we recognized the team’s high-quality work, market experience, and network and acknowledged Kenzo as a trusted partner to the real estate investment community. This has triggered our decision to further advance the relationship and start our new subsidiary PATRIZIA Japan KK and business in Japan on the foundations that KENZO has prominently set in the Japanese real estate market.” Wolfgang Egger, Patrizia Founder, and CEO.
Essel Group seeks investment from KKR and AION Capital. (FS)
Essel Group is in talks with investors to raise as much as $400m in a structured credit transaction. The group will raise funds to refinance a part of the promoter debt which will mature over the next few quarters.
Structured credit transactions typically offer flexible repayment terms compared with bank loans and are often tapped into by borrowers to tide over short-term cash flow issues, which do not allow them to service bank debt at periodic intervals.
Jet Airways in bail-out talks with Tata Group.
Jet Airways India is running out of money, forcing it to weigh re-starting bailout talks with Tata Group, the nation’s biggest conglomerate.
Jet reported its third straight quarterly loss in November as liabilities surged. It has fallen behind on payments to staff and lessors.
Tata said in November that it held “preliminary” talks with Jet Airways though no proposal was made. Acquiring Jet Airways' business could give the conglomerate’s fledgling aviation unit a shot at dominating the fastest-growing major air-travel market.
State Bank of India selected underwriters for a $1.4bn share sale.
State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, has selected underwriters for an institutional share sale that could raise at least 100bn rupees ($1.4bn).
SBI’s sale will help bolster its capital buffers as it attempts to grow loans at a faster pace. Credit growth in India’s banking system is rising at the fastest pace in five years after a cash crunch in 2018 curtailed new loans from shadow financiers.
The government-run lender picked Bank of America, CLSA, HSBC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and SBI Capital Markets to arrange the offering.
AI Start-up SenseTime to prepare for $2bn financing round.
SenseTime Group, the world’s most valuable artificial-intelligence startup, is beginning preparations for a new financing round. The Chinese company aims to raise about $2bn in fresh funding this year.
The Beijing-based firm raised more than $1.2bn last year including a round announced in May that valued it at more than $4.5bn. The funding from firms including Fidelity, Silver Lake, and Hopu Capital followed a deal to sell a stake to Qualcomm in 2017 that valued SenseTime at a more than $1.5bn.
The merger of Thailand's banks could allow Bank of Nova Scotia to exit South-east Asia.
Thai lenders Thanachart Bank and TMB Bank are in talks to merge in a deal supported by Thailand’s government. Such a transaction could give Canada’s Scotiabank — which owns 49% of Bangkok-based Thanachart Bank — the opportunity and motivation to downsize or even exit its investment.
While Scotiabank’s involvement in Thai consumer banking goes back more than a decade, the Canadian lender has been reviewing a sell-down or exit for three years as CEO Brian Porter focused his attention on Latin America’s four Pacific Alliance nations: Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Colombia.
Malaysian central bank clears merger between MIDF and Al Rajhi Banking.
The central bank of Malaysia has shown the green light to Malaysian Industrial Development Finance (MIDF) to proceed with its merger negotiations with Saudi’s Al Rajhi Banking & Investment's local arm in Malaysia.
“It should be noted that this should not be construed as implying that a final merger agreement will be reached or that BNM has approved the merger. MIDF will have to obtain prior approval from BNM or the Minister of Finance, with the recommendation of BNM. If an agreement is achieved, it will also be subject to various conditions, including all relevant legal requirements and the approval of all regulatory authorities involved, in both Malaysia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” MIDF spokesperson.
|
