Siemens and Alstom submit to EU requirements to proceed with the €15bn merger.
Germany’s Siemens and France’s Alstom first announced the €15bn ($17bn) merger of their rail operations in September 2017. The companies agreed to reduce their combined sales by more than €500m ($567m) in a bid to get the deal approved.
“The proposed remedies include mainly signaling activities as well as rolling stock products and represent around 4% of the sales of the combined entity,” Siemens and Alstom said in a brief joint statement on Wednesday.
Alstom was advised by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, while Siemens was advised by Goldman Sachs, Rothschild, Latham & Watkins, and Sullivan & Cromwell.
Asda and Sainsbury’s ask to delay an antitrust inquiry into their £7.3bn merger.
Sainsbury’s and Asda, the two British supermarket chains, which first announced their merger in April 2018, asked for a delay in the competition inquiry into their proposed £7.3bn ($9.3bn) deal. The companies said the current timetable did not give them, or the Competition and Markets Authority, sufficient time given the unprecedented scale and complexity of the case.
The CMA, which expects to issue provisional findings early next year, ahead of a final report in March, said its priority was assessing if customers would face higher prices or a lower quality of service. It said it was not unusual for firms under investigation to have to assess a large volume of material in a short timeframe.
Sainsbury’s was advised by Morgan Stanley, UBS and Brunswick. Walmart, which previously owned Asda was advised by Rothschild.
DNO gives Faroe shareholders three weeks to accept the £610m bid.
DNO, a Norwegian oil and gas operator, offered to pay £610m ($762m) for Faroe Petroleum, an independent oil, and gas company, on November 26. Faroe shareholders claim that the offer undervalues the company.
“This full and fair offer provides Faroe shareholders a rare opportunity to exit their relatively illiquid AIM-listed positions at an attractive price in a volatile and uncertain market for oil and equities,” said Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, executive chairman of DNO.
If the offer lapses, DNO cannot make a new one for another 12 months.
DNO is being advised by Brunswick Group, Pareto Securities and Lambert Energy Advisory. Faroe is being advised by FTI, BMO Capital Markets, Rothschild and Stifel Nicolaus.
A consortium led by China’s Jin Jiang International increased stake in Radisson Hotels, a Swedish hotel chain, to 100%. The transaction values Radisson at SEK7bn ($771m). The offer of SEK40 ($4.4) per share, represents a premium of about 10% to the stock’s closing price on Monday. The consortium had already acquired 50.21% stake in the company for SEK35 ($3.8) per share in August 2018.
Elliott takes a €930m minority stake in Pernod Ricard. (FS)
Pernod Ricard is a French company that produces distilled beverages. Elliott Management will work with the family-backed French company to try to improve its performance. According to the hedge fund, Pernod possesses an outstanding portfolio of leading international spirits brands and offers one of the most attractive investment opportunities in the industry, with significant potential for improvement.
Despite the favorable economic backdrop for the spirits industry over the last decade, the company has lost market share across key segments within its portfolio and underperformed its peers on several metrics.
Elliott also sent a letter to the board of Pernod Ricard asking for cost cuts of some €500m ($567m) to help boost its operating performance.
Liberbank and Unicaja confirm deal negotiations.
Unicaja, a Spanish savings bank based in Málaga, and Liberbank, a Spanish bank constituted by a combination of Group Cajastur, Caja de Extremadura and Caja Cantabria, confirmed that they engaged in negotiations regarding a potential deal. Spanish newspaper Expansion earlier reported that the banks were considering a merger to create Spain’s sixth-largest lender by assets, with almost €96bn ($109bn).
Unicaja’s shares rose by more than 14% while Liberbank’s stock was up 12.5% in response to the news.
Axel Springer is looking to spin off its digital classified advertising business.
The German publisher is looking to the precedent set by Norwegian media group Schibsted, which plans to spin off and list its classified ads business to enable it to grow through mergers and acquisitions. Springer’s digital classifieds business, which includes jobs site Stepstone, real estate, and other properties, is growing faster than its news operation.
CEO Mathias Doepfner said he expected revenues growth at digital classifieds of more than 10% over the next three years.
Shell suspends asset swap talks with Gazprom.
The possible swap memorandum was signed in 2015. It was seen as a coup for Gazprom at a time when many Western companies were reducing their exposure to Russia because of Western sanctions over actions in Ukraine.
Strategically crucial for both parties, the memorandum outlined the highlights of the deal that would provide Gazprom and Shell with 25% plus one share in the Sakhalin-II project and a 50% cut in the Zapolyarnoye – Neocomian field.
ABB negotiates the sale of its power grid business with Hitachi.
ABB, a Swiss-Swedish multinational corporation headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, operating mainly in robotics, power, heavy electrical equipment and automation technology areas, is looking to sell its power grid business to focus on more profitable divisions. ABB has been in talks with Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric Corp and State Grid of China to sell all or part of the business since November.
Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported that ABB and Hitachi were closing in on a deal in which Hitachi would pay between JPY600bn and JPY800bn ($5.29-7.05bn) for an initial 50% stake in the business.
Credit Suisse will buy back CHF3bn worth of its shares.
Credit Suisse plans to buy back approximately CHF3bn ($2.4bn) of shares over the next two years and raise its dividend. Switzerland’s second-biggest bank confirmed commitments to distribute half of the net profit to shareholders, mainly through buybacks or special dividends.
The bank this month wraps up the restructuring programme, which cut costs as it shrank risky and capital-intensive investment banking activities, reduced financing costs and wound down non-strategic business, cutting thousands of jobs.
Ferrovie dello Stato wants Easyjet or Delta to get involved in Alitalia.
Ferrovie dello Stato, a state-owned holding company that manages infrastructure and services on the Italian rail network, is working to get airlines easyJet and Delta to help Alitalia, the flag carrier of Italy.
State-appointed commissioners, who run Alitalia, accepted a binding purchase offer by Ferrovie dello Stato. The airline had been put on sale after being in special administration since early last year. The rail company picked up Alitalia on set conditions, including being joined by industrial partners that would help turn Alitalia around.
