AMERICAS
Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings III, a special purpose acquisition company managed by Social Capital Hedosophia, agreed to merge with Clover Health, an American healthcare company, in a $3.7bn deal.
"I launched Clover eight years ago to fix fundamental flaws in our healthcare system, including unequal access, abysmal customer service and wasteful spending. Chamath and the SCH team are fervent believers and true champions of Clover's mission to improve every life. Our philosophy is that everyone should be able to afford great healthcare. The Clover team empowers physicians to deliver the best possible outcomes for our members, and the Clover Assistant does just that by delivering vital clinical insights to physicians at the point of care," Vivek Garipalli, Clover Health CEO and Co-Founder.
Clover Health is advised by Citigroup, JP Morgan, Jefferies & Company, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and Blueshirt Group. Social Capital Hedosophia is advised by Connaught, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Finsbury Glover Hering and Gasthalter & Co.
STERIS, an American Irish-domiciled medical equipment company, agreed to acquire Key Surgical, a global provider of consumable products serving hospitals and surgical facilities, from private equity firm Water Street Healthcare Partners for $850m.
"Key Surgical strengthens, complements and expands STERIS's product offering and reach around the globe. Their focus on the sterile processing department, operating room and endoscopy fits perfectly with our core Healthcare Customers. The business has demonstrated an ability to grow at rates above industry levels with its product portfolio breadth, a steady stream of new products and a highly effective commercial model. We welcome the Key Surgical people to the STERIS team, and we look forward to working together to enhance our service to our customers and the value for our shareholders," Walt Rosebrough, STERIS President and CEO.
Key Surgical is advised by Piper Sandler, Stinson and Winston & Strawn. STERIS is advised by Goldman Sachs, Jones Day and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz.
Canadian Natural Resources, a company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration, completed the acquisition of Painted Pony Energy, a publicly-traded natural gas company based in Western Canada, for $461m. The price included the assumption of Painted Pony's total debt of approximately $350m.
"This acquisition further strengthens Canadian Natural's natural gas assets and production base in key operating areas and complements the company's diversified portfolio. This transaction also allows us to further insulate against natural gas costs in our oils sands operations and has minimal impact on the company's low overall corporate decline rate. We look forward to working together with the staff currently employed by Painted Pony," Tim McKay, Canadian Natural President.
Painted Pony Energy was advised by Gryphon Advisors, RBC Capital Markets, Raymond James, TD Securities and Blake Cassels & Graydon. Canadian Natural Resources was advised by Bennett Jones.
BridgeBio Pharma, a company focused on genetic diseases, agreed to merge with Eidos Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company, in a $175m deal.
"With the completion of screening in the Phase 3 ATTRibute-CM study of acoramidis and expected enrollment of more than 600 participants, now is the time to begin laying the groundwork for a global launch. This transaction removes the operational complexity of the current ownership structure and allows us to fully unlock the potential of this investigational medicine for patients and investors. Bringing Eidos fully back to BridgeBio positions us to invest in all opportunities around acoramidis, including subsequent studies to potentially broaden the evidence for its usage, and accelerate its commercial development using BridgeBio's established infrastructure. We are excited to welcome acoramidis back into an ecosystem where cutting-edge science is being done across inherited diseases and targeted oncology," Neil Kumar, BridgeBio Founder and CEO.
Eidos Therapeutics is advised by Centerview Partners and Cravath Swaine & Moore. BridgeBio is advised by Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.
Real estate investment trust Pacific Oak Strategic Opportunity REIT completed the merger with Pacific Oak Strategic Opportunity REIT II, creating a combined company with c. $2.6bn in gross real estate and real estate-related assets. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We appreciate the trust and confidence of our stockholders and thank them for their support and votes in favor of the merger. We believe the merger creates a stronger and more robust company, and provides significant benefits to stockholders, including improved access to capital markets and reduced operating costs," Keith D. Hall, Pacific Oak Strategic Opportunity REIT CEO.
Pacific Oak Strategic Opportunity REIT was advised by Houlihan Lokey, DLA Piper and Morrison & Foerster. Pacific Oak Strategic Opportunity REIT II was advised by SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and Rogers & Hardin.
Stable Road Acquisition, a special purposes acquisition vehicle, agreed to merge with Momentus, a provider of in-space transportation and infrastructure service, in a $1.2bn deal.
“We set out to identify a disruptive company and Momentus was the most unique and compelling opportunity to create value through our investment, as we believe the Company is primed to be a leader in the rapidly growing new space economy. As the only public, pure-play commercial space company capable of revolutionizing space infrastructure, Momentus is poised to capitalize on its market-defining position. We are excited to partner with Momentus as the Company develops its technology portfolio, continues to leverage deep customer relationships across diverse private and public sector applications, and expands its experienced leadership team," Brian Kabot, Stable Road Chairman and CEO.
Momentus is advised by Evercore, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, and ICR. Stable Road is advised by Cantor Fitzgerald and Kirkland & Ellis.
Thoma Bravo-backed Quorum Software, a provider of digital transformation for the oil and gas industry, completed the acquisition of Landdox, an innovator in cloud-first land technology. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Over the last two decades, Quorum has become the de facto standard in enterprise land management. Where we excel in the breadth and depth of functionality for land management, Landdox shines at delivering accelerated innovation through cloud-native technologies and processes. Landdox aligns perfectly with, and in some areas already integrates with, our cloud-based SaaS applications for upstream, which means that we can deliver on the speed, power, and cost-savings potential of modern SaaS technologies quickly and comprehensively," Gene Austin, Quorum CEO.
Landdox was advised by Reiter Brunel & Dunn. Thoma Bravo was advised by Kirkland & Ellis and PAN Communications.
Progress, a provider of application development and digital experience technologies, completed the acquisition of Chef, a provider of complete infrastructure automation to build, deploy, manage and secure applications in modern multi-cloud and hybrid environments, as well as on-premises, for $220m.
"This acquisition perfectly aligns with our growth strategy and meets the requirements that we've previously laid out: a strong recurring revenue model, technology that complements our business, a loyal customer base and the ability to leverage our operating model and infrastructure to run the business more efficiently. We're thrilled to add Chef to our product portfolio and are confident that this acquisition will provide benefit to both organizations, as well as our customers, partners, investors and the Chef community," Yogesh Gupta, Progress CEO.
Chef was advised by Guggenheim Partners, WilmerHale and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
Private equity firms MidOcean Partners and Huron Capital completed the investment in InterVision Systems, an IT solutions and managed services provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"MidOcean has been evaluating the IT services space for a number of years and is thrilled to partner with InterVision's exceptional management team and Huron Capital in the company's next phase of growth. We believe InterVision's end markets will continue to enjoy strong growth for years to come as companies both small and large make investments in cloud and other areas of IT infrastructure to make their businesses more efficient, scalable and dynamic. We will continue to support an aggressive acquisition plan for InterVision that focuses on cloud services, networking, security, and managed services," Elias Dokas, MidOcean Managing Director.
InterVision Systems was advised by KPMG and Honigman Miller Schwartz & Cohn. MidOcean was advised by Gibson Dunn & Crutcher.
Private equity investors L Catterton and Pamplona Capital Management agreed to invest $200m in ICON Health & Fitness, a provider of fitness equipment and software.
"We welcome L Catterton onboard at this incredibly exciting time in our company's history. L Catterton has an exceptional history of successful investing in consumer and fitness businesses. I look forward to working alongside Scott Dahnke and his team as we continue to accelerate growth across our various platforms and distribution channels," Scott Watterson, ICON Founder, Chairman and CEO.
ICON Health & Fitness is advised by Brunswick Group. L Catterton is advised by Kirkland & Ellis and Joele Frank.
Future, the global platform for specialist media, completed the acquisition of CinemaBlend, a US-based premium digital entertainment publisher from Gateway Blend, a global digital media company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We are delighted to be adding CinemaBlend to our portfolio of leading entertainment brands. CinemaBlend is a great cultural fit for Future, producing content we are passionate about," Zillah Byng-Thorne, Future CEO.
Future was advised by Wit Strategy. Gateway Blend was advised by JEGI.
OMERS Private Equity led a $100m Series E round in Dialpad, a cloud-based communications platform for businesses, with participation from GV, Andreessen Horowitz, Iconiq Capital, Section 32, Felicis and Work-Bench.
"We have seen a huge increase in demand for cloud communications tools, and we are raising additional capital to meet this demand. Users want a single platform to handle voice, video and messaging. They also want that platform to be smart; to do things like automate note-taking and provide real-time insights and answers in response to what's happening on a call or meeting. We have invested in real-time speech recognition, natural language processing and voice analytics on a system that works anywhere, on any device. Our goal has always been to empower the future of work, and we are thrilled to join the OMERS Growth Equity portfolio and to continue to innovate," Craig Walker, Dialpad CEO.
Dialpad was advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian.
Investment company Pritzker Private Capital completed the investment in Energy Distribution Partners, a distributor of propane and light fuels. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"EDP is a recognized leader in the propane distribution industry with multiple avenues for continued growth and a terrific leadership team. We are delighted to partner with EDP's management team to support the continued expansion of the company's national footprint and build on its proven track record of success," Ryan Roberts, PPC Investment Partner.
Energy Distribution Partners was advised by Stifel. Pritzker Private Capital was advised by Abernathy MacGregor Group.
Veeam, a privately held information technology company, completed the acquisition of Kasten, a provider of Kubernetes Backup and Disaster Recovery, for $150m.
"Veeam was built on offering the best data protection for virtual and modern data infrastructures, and we have continued to expand our offerings to include industry-leading protection for physical and cloud environments. With the acquisition of our partner Kasten, we are taking a very important next step to accommodate our customers' shift to container adoption in order to protect Kubernetes-native workloads on-premises and across multi-cloud environments. This significant milestone strengthens Veeam's commitment to continue to deliver the industry's leading Cloud Data Management platform that will support data protection for container-based applications built-in Kubernetes environments," Danny Allan, Veeam Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Product Strategy.
Veeam was advised by Willkie Farr & Gallagher.
Private equity firm Stonecourt Capital completed the acquisition of 365 Data Centers, a hybrid data centre and network solutions provider, from Chirisa, a private investment firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We are pleased to welcome Stonecourt as a partner in 365 Data Centers and we are excited to partner with them to foster the next phase of the company's expansion. On behalf of the entire 365 team, I want to thank our outgoing investors, Chirisa and Turning Rock Partners, and our outgoing Board members, Colm Piercy and Maggie Arvedlund, who have supported 365 and its management team since the beginning," Bob DeSantis, 365 Data Centers CEO.
BlackRock led a $207m Series C round in Unqork, an enterprise no-code platform, with participation from Eldridge, Fin Venture Capital, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors Advent International, CapitalG, Goldman Sachs, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Aquiline Technology Growth and World Innovation Lab.
"At Unqork, we pride ourselves in fearlessly taking on huge challenges with our customers. That's an important characteristic to have when your mission is to completely change the way enterprises create software by offering a better way without code. The same scale that cloud computing brought to infrastructure, Unqork is now bringing to all enterprise software in every industry. That places Unqork in a unique position to capture the $500bn wasted annually on custom enterprise code and this funding will accelerate our efforts," Gary Hoberman, Unqork CEO.
Private equity firm Durable Capital Partners led a $150m Series E round in Tipalti, a global payables automation solution, with participation from 01 Advisors.
"The accounts payable automation space has an extremely large total addressable market with significant growth potential. We believe that Tipalti has the potential to become a much larger company within the Midmarket space due to its differentiated holistic platform, superior global capabilities, and management team. This has resulted in leading retention and customer satisfaction," Henry Ellenbogen, Durable Capital Partners Founder, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer.
Irving Oil, a company that refines and distributes crude oil, terminated the acquisition agreement of North Atlantic Refinery, a firm that refines and markets fuels and other petrochemical products. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Irving walked away from the purchase and share agreement shortly before it was set to close in mid-October.
Generate, an investment company, completed the acquisition of a minority stake in Alturus, a firm that funds, develops and operates energy-storage systems, air conditioning and generators. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Generate Capital plans to provide as much as $600m in financing for outsourced sustainable infrastructure projects.
Lazydays Holdings completed the acquisition of Total Value RV.
Lazydays Holdings, a holding company which retails recreational vehicles and related accessories, completed the acquisition of Total Value RV, a recreational vehiles dealership and motorhome dealer in Indiana. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We are extremely pleased to complete this acquisition and continue to execute on our geographic expansion strategy. In addition, we expect to complete construction of our newest dealership location near Nashville, Tennessee in late 2020, and continue to work a strong pipeline of expansion opportunities that includes both acquisitions and greenfields," William P. Murnane, Lazydays Chairman and CEO.
Xenith Solutions to acquire TRI-COR Industries.
Xenith Solutions, a business solutions provider to the defence and civilian agencies, agreed to acquire TRI-COR Industries, a provider of computer processing and data preparation services. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Upon the finalization of the planned transaction, Xenith Solutions will acquire TCI's assets, team members, industry certifications and customer contracts. TCI will be maintained as a wholly-owned subsidiary within Xenith Solutions. TCI, under Xenith Solutions' leadership, will provide mission-focused innovations and flexible business solutions resulting in time efficiency and sustained cost savings.
"We are excited to come together as one organization. Lou has built a great company with people who excel at problem solving and delivering high-caliber business results with a corporate culture built on integrity and creativity. I am looking forward to the great work our teams will achieve together," Lee Shabe, Xenith Solutions Founding Partner.
TPG and Onex looking to buy Hertz's Donlen unit. (FS)
Private equity firms TPG and Onex are exploring a $1bn bid for bankrupt Hertz Global Holdings' car leasing business Donlen.
Donlen performs fleet management functions such as vehicle leasing, maintenance and registration. Hertz sees the business as non-core and is willing to sell it to help pay down debt, Bloomberg reported.
TMRS aims $400m at private equity deals. (FS)
Texas Municipal Retirement System set up a $400m separate co-investment account with alternative asset manager HarbourVest Partners, giving the firm up to $100m to co-invest every year over the next four years.
The move comes after the Austin-based pension system voted to double its private equity investment pace earlier this year. Backing co-investments, which allow limited partners to invest alongside general partners directly in deals.
"The pension system will retain veto rights for co-investment opportunities presented by HarbourVest, though historically our mindset across the total program has been a bias to say yes to deals because that helps scale the program. The team only rejects deals that don't fit the manager's investment thesis," Tom Masthay, TMRS Director of private equity.
Newmark rebuffs takover approach from Cushman & Wakefield.
Newmark Group, an American real estate advisory firm, rebuffed a potential takeover offer from Cushman & Wakefield, a commercial real estate firm. Newmark isn't currently interested in a deal in part because it thinks Cushman & Wakefield has too much debt. Cushman & Wakefield has about $3.8bn in debt, Bloomberg reported.
"Cushman & Wakefield has certainly benefited from ongoing consolidation as a leader in our industry, but we won't comment on this, or any, market rumour," Brad Kreiger, Newmark spokesman.
KKR-backed AppLovin hires Morgan Stanley to led IPO. (FS)
KKR-backed AppLovin, a mobile application and gaming company, hired Morgan Stanley to lead the preparations for its IPO which could come early in 2021. The company has been charting an IPO for years, but had never taken a concrete preparatory step. It is the latest mobile gaming startup to eye a stock market listing, as demand for video games surges among consumers staying at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, Reuters reported.
In 2018, KKR acquired a minority stake in AppLovin for $400m, valuing the company at $2bn. AppLovin now expects to command a substantially higher valuation.
Rio de Janeiro court approves Oi Group's $4bn asset sale.
The Rio de Janeiro court judge in charge of Oi Group's judicial recovery, approved a multiple asset sale of $4bn, following creditors support. The deal includes five data centres being purchased by Brazilian financial group Piemonte Holding.
Judicial approval comes after the creditors' general assembly held in September, and a statement from Rodrigo Abreu, CEO of Oi, saying that the sale to Piemonte Holding, as well as the others, are a "deal done, with few steps remaining."
The Gores Group's sixth SPAC Gores Holdings VI files for a $300m IPO. (FS)
Gores Holdings VI, the sixth blank check company formed by The Gores Group, filed to raise up to $300m in an initial public offering. The SPAC plans to leverage its management's experience to target a wide array of industries including industrials, technology, telecom, media and entertainment, business services, healthcare, and consumer products, Renaissance Capital reported.
The SPAC plans to raise $300m by offering 30m units at $10. Each unit consists of one share of common stock and one-fifth of a warrant, exercisable at $11.50. At the proposed deal size, Gores Holdings VI would command a market value of $375m.
Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley are the joint bookrunners on the deal.
General Atlantic appoints Brett Zbar as head of newly established life sciences vertical. (FS, People)
General Atlantic appointed long time healthcare investor Brett Zbar as the Global Head of its newly established life sciences division as its fifth standalone investment sector.
"We believe the potential for new biotechnologies to make a positive impact on day-to-day life has never been greater. We are thrilled to have Brett join General Atlantic to lead our Life Sciences investing, and he will be instrumental in expanding our global network and deepening our effort. Underscoring our long-term commitment to Life Sciences, we are pleased to formalize it as our fifth core investing sector, with Brett at the helm," Bill Ford, General Atlantic CEO.
EMEA
Ÿnsect, a French insect farming startup, raised an additional $224m in Series C funding, bringing the round to $372m in total. The company had announced a first Series C close of $148m in February last year. Lead investor Astanor Ventures participated in the Series C extension along with Upfront Ventures, actor Robert Downey Jr's FootPrint Coalition, and existing investors Happiness Capital, Supernova Invest, and Armat Group.
According to Ÿnsect, the round is the largest ever raised by a non-US agrifood tech startup. The new funding brings its total capital raised to date to $425m, which it claims is more than the total amount raised by rest of the insect protein sector globally.
Ÿnsect was advised by Jefferies & Company and Baker McKenzie. Astanor Ventures was advised by Bignon Lebray, Gide Loyrette Nouel, Lamartine Conseil, Luchtenberg Avocats and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. Idinvest Partners was advised by Steele and Holt.
Veolia CEO says Suez deal still possible.
Antoine Frerot, Veolia Chairman and CEO, stated that a deal with its bid target Suez, a French utility company, was still possible. “We can arrive at an agreement with Suez,” said Antoine Frerot, adding that he thought another two or three months of talks could result in a deal being reached with Suez.
Veolia has already secured 30% of the capital of its rival Suez and stands ready to launch an offer on the remainder of the shares.
Veolia is advised by Citigroup, Messier Maris & Associes, Perella Weinberg Partners, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Flichy Grange Avocats, Gide Loyrette Nouel, Hogan Lovells, Patrice Gassenbach, Peltier Juvigny Marpeau & Associes and Xavier Boucobza.
Mercury, a top shareholder in Nexi, is set to sell 13.4% of the Italy-based financial technology company, a day after Nexi announced a merger with rival SIA, a financial technology solutions provider. The stake being placed by Nexi’s private equity owners comprises 84m shares. The deal is expected to be priced at €15.50 ($18.25) per share.
Mercury, a vehicle of private equity firms Bain Capital, Advent International and Clessidra, will hold 20.1% of Nexi after the placement. That is equivalent to a 14% stake in the Nexi-SIA merged group.
SIA is advised by JP Morgan, Rothschild & Co, Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli & Partners, and Tremonti & Associati. Mercury is advised by Intesa SanPaolo and Nomura. Nexi is advised by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, HSBC, Mediobanca, Legance, Barabino & Partners, and KPMG.
APi Group, a business services provider of safety, speciality and industrial services, agreed to acquire SK FireSafety Group, a provider of critical safety services in the active fire and life safety markets in the Benelux and Scandinavia. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We are excited to welcome the leaders of these four businesses to the APi family. These acquisitions help expand our geographical reach in the important US market and establish a beachhead for expansion on the continent in Europe. These businesses have been resilient during the Covid-19 pandemic and we look forward to welcoming them into our family of companies and helping accelerate our growth," Russ Becker, APi President and CEO.
APi Group is advised by Citigroup and Kekst CNC.
Italian confectionery giant Ferrero agreed to acquire Fox's Biscuits, a British biscuit manufacturer, from Boparan, a company that owns food production and restaurant businesses, for $319m.
It is the second acquisition in Britain for family-owned Ferrero, which bought chocolate maker Thorntons in 2015. This is a further signal of Ferrero's intention to strengthen its position in the category known in the industry as "sweets consumed outside meals" and limit its reliance on chocolate products.
Ferrero is advised by Houlihan Lokey.
TA Associates, a global growth private equity firm, completed a $250m investment in Priority Software, a global provider of Enterprise Resource Planning software.
"TA's extensive experience investing in the enterprise software space and in partnering with growing companies like Priority Software made the firm an attractive investment partner. We've identified opportunities to accelerate our growth and further expand Priority Software's market penetration both nationally and internationally, and we believe that TA will be a valuable partner for us alongside Fortissimo to help us realize our ambitions," Andres Richter, Priority Software CEO.
TA Associates was advised by BackBay Communications.
Private equity firm Further Global Capital Management agreed to acquire AA Ireland, a roadside assistance provider and insurance intermediary, from The Carlyle Group for €240m ($283m).
"The team at CCI and CGFSP has worked very successfully with us to carve out AA Ireland from AA and then help develop the business and to support our transformation. We thank them for their support and collaboration. Having completed the transformation of the business and invested in our Roadside Rescue fleet and technical resources, we look forward now to building on those solid foundations with our new financial backers, Further Global," Brendan Nevin, AA Ireland CEO.
Further Global Capital Management is advised by Teneo.
Private equity firm Abris Capital Partners agreed to invest in Apaczka, the largest e-commerce delivery solutions provider in Poland. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Apaczka fits perfectly into the global trend for increased e-commerce spending and demand for delivery services, and we see great potential for further development of the company. We are convinced that, with the experienced management team in place, we will be able to implement our ambitious plans both in terms of organic growth and acquisitions," Edgar Koleśnik, Abris Partner.
Private equity firm Holland Capital completed the investment in AMP Groep, a service provider active in the logistics and identification space. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"In Holland Capital, we have found a strong and strategic partner who will help us market our software and increase our scale through a buy & build strategy. This will enable us to further conquer the market in the coming years," Marco van der Klij, AMP Groep General Manager.
PIF in talks to acquire a stake in Lulu Group. (FS)
Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, is in early discussions to acquire a stake in supermarket chain Lulu Group International. The actual size of the stake and the confirmation of the deal was not disclosed.
The move follows the Saudi government's decision to expand the kingdom's retail sector as part of a drive to create 1m jobs by 2020.
APAC
Investment company Shenzhen Investment Holdings led a $147m Series C round in Hinova Pharmaceuticals, a Chengdu-based drug research firm, with participation from Huarong Rongde Asset Management, Hangzhou Tigermed, and Sinopharm-CICC Capital.
The financing capital will be used to support multi-centre clinical trials and to commercialize the firm's drug candidates locally and internationally.
Amazon sent a legal notice to promoters of Future Group for allegedly breaching a non-compete contract over the latter’s deal with Reliance Industries. Reliance Industries, a business conglomerate, offered to acquire the retail and wholesale business and the logistics and warehousing business of Future Group, an Indian conglomerate company for $3.4bn. In August 2019, Amazon bought a 49% stake in Future Coupons.
The notice claims Future Group did not meet the criteria of its deal. The Amazon-Future Group dispute grievance redressal mechanism involves settling the conflict in court and arbitration process.
BTS label Big Hit IPO draws $50bn retail orders.
Big Hit Entertainment, the South Korean agency behind K-pop superstar BTS, attracted about $50.3bn in bids from retail investors, fanning yet another stock craze in the country after blockbuster debuts of Kakao Games and SK Biopharmaceuticals.
According to Pulse, BTS label's IPO pulled in $50.3bn in its two-day retail bids that started Monday. Individual investors ordered 607 times more than allocated shares. Big Hit Entertainment reserved 20% of its offering, or 1.42m shares, to retail investors.
Retail orders for Big Hit Entertainment IPO priced at $116.27 per share, the highest end of its indicative range, however, fell a bit short of retail bids for Kakao Games IPO that drew the country's highest-ever $50.43bn.
AirAsia X to stave off liquidation with $15bn debt restructuring.
AirAsia X, the long-haul arm of AirAsia Group, is seeking a restructuring of $15.3bn of debt and reduce its share capital by 90% to address the losses from Covid-19 pandemic.
The restructuring plan should see the airline making structural changes to get out of the current crisis, including fleet right-sizing and some shedding of jobs. It also proposed reducing issued share capital by 90% and consolidating every 10 existing ordinary shares into one share.
"That debt restructuring as well as a revamp of its business model would be needed to raise fresh equity and debt, which in turn would be required to restart the airline," AirAsia.
CJ Group weighs a $1bn sale of CJ Rokin.
South Korean conglomerate CJ Group is exploring strategic options for its Chinese unit CJ Rokin Logistics Supply Chain, a chemical and cold-storage transportation company. CJ Group expects to generate $1bn from the sale.
CJ acquired Rokin in 2015 for $392m and said it would invest a further $268m. CJ Rokin is part of the group's CJ Logistics arm, which has units in the US, India, Vietnam, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. Sale considerations are preliminary, and no final decision has been made, Bloomberg reported.
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