United Community Banks, a banking, wealth management and mortgage services company, completed the merger with Reliant Bancorp, the parent of Reliant Bank, in a $517m deal.
"BECy joining forces with United, we recognize an opportunity to align ourselves with a partner that shares our passion for providing high-quality customer service, and to leverage their larger balance sheet and a broader set of products and services for our customers. Becoming part of United's team-oriented, high-performance culture presents a unique opportunity for Reliant, and we consider it a privilege," DeVan Ard, Jr., Reliant Chairman and CEO.
Reliant Bancorp was advised by Credit Suisse, Raymond James and
K&L Gates. Financial advisors were advised by Alston & Bird. United Community Banks was advised by D.A. Davidson & Co, Morgan Stanley, Piper Sandler and Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough.
Cable One, an American broadband communications provider, GTCR, a private equity firm, The Pritzker Organization, the merchant bank for the business interests of the Tom Pritzker family, and Stephens Capital Partners, the principal investing arm of the Warren A. Stephens family, agreed to form Clearwave Fiber, an entity that holds Cable One's subsidiary Clearwave Communications and certain fiber assets. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The joint venture reflects a shared commitment from Cable One and the Investors to provide fast and reliable connectivity via FTTP internet to underserved markets and will allow for more rapid expansion of fiber internet to homes and businesses in small cities and big towns.
Cable One is advised by Bank Street Group, Ernst & Young, Cahill Gordon & Reindel and Cravath Swaine & Moore. GTCR, The Pritzker Organization and Stephens Capital Partners are advised by Covington & Burling, Davis Polk & Wardwell and Kirkland & Ellis.
Life360, a family safety platform, completed the acquisition of Tile, a pioneer in finding technology, for $205m.
"Life360 is on a mission to simplify safety so families can live fully. With the acquisition of Tile, we will now be able to provide a unique and all-encompassing solution for finding the people, pets and things that families care about most. This acquisition marks a key step forward towards Life360 achieving its vision of being the world's leading platform for safety and location services. We are thrilled to welcome Tile to the Life 360 family," Chris Hulls, Life360 CEO.
Tile was advised by Jefferies & Company and Fenwick & West. Life360 was advised by Code Advisors, Credit Suisse, DLA Piper, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and Roam Communications.
Nexon, a Japanese–South Korean video game publisher that specializes in online games for PC and mobile, completed a $400m investment in AGBO, an independent film and television production company.
"AGBO is driven by creatives who aspire to work at the universe scale. AGBO's partnership with Nexon represents a significant juncture for entertainment, furthering the convergence of franchise filmmaking and games with a global reach. Our collaboration is based on our shared vision of the future of storytelling and utilizes the unique talents of both companies," Anthony and Joe Russo, AGBO Co-Founders and Executive Chairmen.
AGBO was advised by PJT Partners and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. Nexon was advised by Loeb & Loeb.
CD&R-backed Vera Whole Health, a pioneer in advanced primary care, agreed to merge with Castlight Health, a healthcare data and navigation company, in a $370m deal.
"Integrating our navigation data and technology with Vera's high quality primary care offering addresses the fundamental need for a coordinated and personalized patient experience, while enabling providers to improve outcomes and lower costs and employers to participate in full risk sharing for the first time. We are thrilled to work with Vera and CD&R to open this new frontier of healthcare," Maeve O'Meara, Castlight CEO.
Castlight is advised by William Blair & Co and Fenwick & West. Vera is advised by Kirkland & Ellis.
Amneal Pharmaceuticals, a fully-integrated essential medicines company, agreed to acquire the Baclofen franchise of Saol Therapeutics, a private specialty pharmaceutical company, for $83m.
"For over 5 years, the Saol team has worked to reinvigorate the Lioresal® brand and develop new treatment options, like LYVISPAHTM, for patients struggling with spasticity. We are excited to see these products find their new home at Amneal along with many of our team members that have been critical to our success," David Penake, Saol Therapeutics CEO.
Facebook-owner Meta has applied to appeal a British competition watchdog ruling that it must sell Giphy on grounds that include challenging the finding that the deal removed a potential competitor in display advertising,
Reuters reported.
Meta said last month it had lodged an appeal against the decision by the Competition and Markets Authority to block its 2020 acquisition of Giphy.
Blue Owl, an alternative asset manager with $82.9bn in assets under management, completed the acquisition of a 6% stake in Atlanta Hawks, an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We welcome the influx of institutional capital as a validation for the hard work that the Hawks front office and basketball operations management and staff have undertaken during our ownership group's tenure. We made it a priority to commit the resources to build a world-class team worthy of a world-class city, and so far, we have invested in top players, transformed State Farm Arena, built a state-of-the-art training and sports medicine facility, brought a G League team to College Park, launched initiatives to grow Black businesses, and re-invested in our communities across the city. On behalf of everyone at the franchise, we are thrilled to partner with Dyal HomeCourt as we continue to invest in the franchise and serve as a leader in the community," Tony Ressler, Atlanta Hawks Principal Owner and Chair.
Atlanta Hawks was advised by Moelis & Co and Sullivan & Cromwell. Blue Owl was advised by Prosek Partners.
A group of investors including BentallGreenOak, CenterSquare Investment Management, Cohen & Steers, D1 Capital Partners, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, NYSTRS, OP Trust, Oxford Properties, QuadReal Property Group, Rabobank and StepStone, led a $1.7bn funding round in Lineage Logistics, the world's largest and most innovative temperature-controlled industrial REIT and logistics solutions provider.
"This latest round of funding is further validation of our business strategy and will be used to double down on our commitment to offering innovative, end-to-end supply chain solutions for our customers worldwide," Greg Lehmkuhl, Lineage President and CEO.
Lineage Logistics was advisd by Morgan Stanley and Latham & Watkins.
Integrated Power Services, a provider of electric motor and generator services, agreed to acquire Industrial Electric Machinery, Reed Electric & Field Service, and A+ Electric Motor, three industrial services firms. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Industrial Electric Machinery has a longstanding reputation as a leader in power and rotating equipment services. IPS shares our desire to be world class, to be a destination for customers and employees, and to be thought leaders in the space. It was evident immediately that IPS is a great fit and we're excited to join the IPS team!," Spencer Wiggins, IEM President.
Industrial Electric Machinery, Reed Electric & Field Service, and A+ Electric Motor are advised by Bundy Group. IPS is advised by Jones Day.
S&P Global, a provider of credit ratings, benchmarks and analytics, completed the acquisition of The Climate Service, a provider of climate risk modeling and analytics governments, investors, and businesses. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We are passionate about providing the market with the essential information it needs to make smart decisions in the face of climate change. Together with S&P Global, we will take our climate risk capabilities to the next level and be able to deliver insights at scale that the world urgently needs," James McMahon, The Climate Service CEO.
S&P Global was advised by Evercore and Cahill Gordon & Reindel.
Clearlake Capital-backed Wheel Pros, a designer, manufacturer and distributor of proprietary branded aftermarket vehicle enhancements for light trucks, SUVs, passenger cars and ATVs/UTVs, completed the acquisition of throtl, an aftermarket e-commerce platform for automotive and off-roading enthusiasts. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"throtl has built an incredible digital destination for automotive enthusiasts with an innovative approach of utilizing content to drive commerce. We look forward to working with Rick, Evan and Erol to scale our combined business and continue to grow our digital enterprise for the automotive aftermarket," Randy White, Wheel Pros Founder and CEO.
Clearlake Capital Group was advised by Backbone Media and Lambert & Co.
Kohlberg-backed US Retirement & Benefits Partners, one of the largest national independent financial services firms specializing in employee benefits, agreed to acquire MidAmerica Administrative & Retirement Solutions, a provider of retirement and health & welfare plans, from Alpine Investors, a private equity firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Jim's people-driven mindset and customer-centric focus has created both a strong team culture and an ever-growing list of happy customers. We look forward to the next phase of growth for MidAmerica under the support and strategic guidance of USRBP," Matt Moore, Alpine Partner.
MidAmerica Administrative & Retirement Solutions is advised by Raymond James and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
Eaton, a power management company, completed the acquisition of Royal Power Solutions, a US-based manufacturer of high-precision electrical connectivity components, for $600m.
"Growth opportunities tied to the electrification of our economy are accelerating, and Eaton is fully participating through our mobility and electrical businesses. And the addition of Royal Power Solutions enhances our ability to capitalize on this secular growth trend across our eMobility, aerospace and electrical businesses. We are excited to welcome Royal Power Solutions to Eaton," Heath Monesmith, Eaton President and COO, Industrial Sector.
Royal Power Solutions was advised by Houlihan Lokey.
Eventide Asset Management, a Boston-based registered investment advisor, led a $116m Series B round in Korro Bio, an RNA editing company focused on the discovery and development of novel genetic medicines, with participation from Fidelity Management & Research Company, Invus, Point72, Verition Fund Management, Monashee Investment Management, Sixty Degree Capital, Atlas Venture, NEA, Wu Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), Cormorant Asset Management, MP Healthcare Venture Management and Alexandria Venture Investments.
"Our proprietary RNA editing platform redirects endogenous human editing, ADAR, with the ability to change a single base on RNA with high specificity and efficiency. The elegance of the approach is in its simplicity and enables us to not only repair mutations that cause genetically inherited diseases but also to modulate select proteins with high specificity in prevalent diseases. The Series B financing has expanded our strong syndicate of investors enabling us to execute on our vision of advancing our pipeline of novel gene editing candidates to the clinic for patients suffering from a broad spectrum of diseases," Ram Aiyar, Korro Bio CEO and President.
Korro Bio was advised by Ten Bridge Communications.
T. Rowe Price, an American publicly owned global investment management firm, led a $518m Series B financing round in Eikon Therapeutics, a pioneer in the application of live-cell super-resolution microscopy to drug discovery, with participation from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, EcoR1 Capital, UC Investments, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, StepStone Group, Soros Capital, Schroders Capital, Harel Insurance, General Catalyst, E15 VC, Hartford HealthCare Endowment, AME Cloud Ventures, The Column Group, Foresite Capital, Innovation Endeavors, Lux Capital and Horizons Ventures.
“With the support of our investors, we continue to make dramatic progress in the industrialization of our live-cell imaging platform. We will use the resources of this new financing to progress more quickly toward our mission of inventing innovative medicines that will improve and extend life,” Roger M. Perlmutter, Eikon Therapeutics CEO and Chairman.
Eikon therapeutics was advised by Bioscribe.
Stryker, a medical technologies firm, agreed to acquire Vocera Communications, a provider of clinical communication and workflow solutions, for $3.1bn.
“This acquisition underscores our commitment and focus on our customer. Vocera will help Stryker significantly accelerate our digital aspirations to improve the lives of caregivers and patients,” Kevin Lobo, Stryker Chairman and CEO.
Halifax Group-backed TriMech, a provider of 3D CAD, analysis, rapid prototyping, design automation solutions and technical staffing, completed the acquisition of Mastercam, a provider of state-of-the-art software, from MACDAC Engineering, a CAD/CAM software dealer. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Partnering with Mastercam through these acquisitions demonstrates our commitment to becoming the best possible partner to manufacturers of all sizes and across industry sectors," Marcel Matte, TriMech President and CEO.
Google agreed to acquire Siemplify, a security orchestration, automation and response provider, for $500m.
"We're excited to join Google Cloud and build on the success we've had in the market helping companies address growing security threats. Together with Chronicle's rich security analytics and threat intelligence, we can truly help security professionals transform the security operations center to defend against today's threats," Amos Stern, Siemplify CEO.
Breakthru Beverage Group, an alcohol wholesaler in the United States, agreed to acquire Major Brands, the largest Missouri-based and operated distributor of premium wine, spirits, beer and non-alcoholic beverages. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Major Brands always has been about its people and the relationships we have built with our customers, suppliers and the communities we have served. We have aggressively defended the responsibilities with which the state has entrusted us. Breakthru's acquisition of Major Brands now gives one of Missouri's largest wholesale premium beverage alcohol distributors the added resources and capabilities of Breakthru's outstanding team. It will strengthen our position in the industry, while maintaining our values and commitment to community and culture," Sue McCollum, Major Brands CEO.
Centerspace, a real estate company focused on the ownership, management, acquisition, and redevelopment of apartment communities, completed the acquisition of a portfolio of three communities in Minneapolis and one community in Denver for $131m.
"These communities are great additions to our portfolio - all well located in great sub-markets, newer and provide a wonderful place to live in our key markets of Minneapolis and Denver. We're pleased that we were able to match-fund these investments with our ATM issuances. In 2022 we will focus on the strategic priorities of enhancing our portfolio quality and resident experience, and growing distributable cash flow and core FFO while providing great homes for our residents, our team, and our investors," Mark O. Decker, Centerspace President and CEO.
WarnerMedia is exploring sale of its CW TV network.
ViacomCBS and AT&T's WarnerMedia unit is considering a sale of all or part of the CW TV network,
Bloomberg reported.
The sale is not guaranteed. The discussions have been going on for months. Among the possible buyers is Nextstar Media Group, a large TV station owner with many CW affiliates.
