Stonepeak and Energy Equation Partners completes the acquisition of a 65% stake in JET from Phillips 66 for $1.6bn.

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AMERICAS

Associated Banc-Corp to merge with American National Bank in a $604m deal.

Associated Banc-Corp, a US regional bank holding company providing retail banking, commercial banking, commercial real estate lending, private banking and specialized financial services, agreed to merge with American National Bank, a full-service retail and business customers bank, in a $604m deal, according to press releases.

Associated Banc-Corp is advised by Evercore and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz (led by Edward D. Herlihy). American National Bank is advised by Piper Sandler and Alston & Bird, according to press releases.

Vista-backed Cloud Software Group completes the acquisition of Arctera from Carlyle.

Vista-backed Cloud Software Group, a software provider, completed the acquisition of Arctera, a global data management company, from Carlyle, an investment firm, according to press releases. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Cloud Software was advised by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom (led by Amr Razzak) and Joele Frank (led by Joele Frank). Arctera was advised by Citigroup and Alston & Bird (led by Mark Kelly, Simon Root, and William Snyder), according to press releases.

Colony Bankcorp completes the acquisition of TC Bancshares.

Colony Bankcorp, a banking company, completed the acquisition of TC Bancshares, a community bank, according to press releases. Financial terms were not disclosed.

TC Bancshares was advised by Performance Trust Capital Partners and Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough. Colony Bankcorp was advised by Hovde Group and Alston & Bird (led by Mark Kanaly), according to press releases and MergerLinks data.

USA Compression Partners to acquire J-W Power Company for $860m.

USA Compression Partners, an independent provider of natural gas compression services, agreed to acquire J-W Power Company, a manufacturer and provider of compression equipment in the US, for $860m, according to press releases.

USA Compression Partners is advised by Wells Fargo and Sidley Austin. J-W Power Company is advised by Jefferies & Company and Jackson Walker, according to press releases.

Somnigroup to acquire Leggett & Platt.

Somnigroup, a manufacturer of mattresses and bedding products, agreed to acquire Leggett & Platt, a provider of adjustable bed bases, according to press releases. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Somnigroup is advised by Goldman Sachs and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, according to press releases.

Brookfield to acquire Fosber for $900m.

Brookfield, an investment management company, agreed to acquire Fosber, a leader in the design and production of advanced machinery, parts, and services for the corrugated packaging industry, for $900m, according to press releases

NVIDIA completes a $2bn investment in Synopsys.

NVIDIA, a technology company, completed a $2bn investment in Synopsys, a multinational electronic design automation company, according to press releases.

UnitedHealth agrees to sell South American business to private equity firm Patria for $1bn. (Reuters)

UnitedHealth Group has agreed to sell its remaining South American business, Banmedica, to Brazilian private equity group Patria Investments for $1 bn.

The final deal was signed on November 29, with an announcement expected on December 1.

BHP is said to have offered £40bn in aborted Anglo bid. (Bloomberg)

BHP Group offered around £40bn ($53bn) in its now-aborted attempt to acquire Anglo American.

The commodities giant bid about £34 ($45) per share for Anglo American. The offer was mostly stock, but also included a cash component.

Merck kicks off US dollar bond sale to help fund Cidara deal. (Bloomberg)

Merck is selling corporate bonds in up to eight tranches to help fund its acquisition of Cidara Therapeutics.

The company is marketing the US dollar offering with maturities ranging from three to 40 years. Initial price talks for the longest tranche, a 40-year bond, are for a premium of about 1.2 percentage points above Treasuries.

Barrick mulls IPO of North America gold assets amid upheaval. (Bloomberg)

Barrick Mining is considering an initial public offering of its valuable North American gold assets as it navigates challenges from mining setbacks and a management shakeup.

The company’s board has authorized management to explore the sale of a minority stake in a unit anchored by Barrick’s joint-venture interests in Nevada and a large mine in the Dominican Republic, the company said in a statement on December 1.

EMEA

Shell and Equinor formed Adura.

Oil and gas companies Shell and Equinor formed Adura to become the UK North Sea’s biggest independent producer, according to press releases. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Equinor was advised by Houlihan Lokey and CMS Legal (led by Norman Wisely). Houlihan Lokey was advised by Gibson Dunn & Crutcher (led by Hillary Holmes). Shell was advised by Jefferies & Company and Clifford Chance, according to press releases and MergerLinks data.

Marex completes the acquisition of Winterflood Securities from Close Brothers for £103.9m.

Marex, a diversified global financial services platform, completed the acquisition of Winterflood Securities, a UK equity market maker, from Close Brothers, a merchant banking group, for £103.9m ($137.4m), according to press releases.

Marex was advised by FTI Consulting. Close Brothers was advised by UBS (led by Sam Small), Slaughter & May (led by Claire Jackson) and H/Advisors Maitland (led by Sam Cartwright), according to press releases.

Splitstone Capital completes the acquisition of the battery recycling and specialty lead UK operations of Ecobat.

Splitstone Capital, a private equity firm engaged in investing in and managing mid-market businesses, completed the acquisition of the battery recycling and specialty lead UK operations of Ecobat, a global recycling and resource recovery company engaged in collecting, recycling, and repurposing batteries and other lead-based materials to support sustainable energy storage solutions, according to press releases. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Ecobat was advised by Rothschild & Co and White & Case. Splitstone Capital was advised by Mayer Brown (led by James West), according to press releases.

Katjes International to acquire Graze from Unilever.

Katjes International, a company that offers a variety of confectionery and snack products through its diverse portfolio of brands, agreed to acquire Graze, a UK-based healthy snack producer, from Unilever, a British-Dutch transnational consumer goods company, according to press releases. Financial terms are not disclosed.

Meloni faces opposition criticism for ‘rigging’ Paschi deal. (Bloomberg)

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is facing criticism from opposition lawmakers over the government’s role in an alleged market-manipulation scheme tied to Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena’s €17bn ($19.8bn) takeover of Mediobanca.

Italian prosecutors have alleged a multiyear strategy by two prominent Italian investors to seize control of Mediobanca.

Kazakh company Freedom said to mull buying TurkishBank. (Bloomberg)

Kazakh company Freedom is in talks to acquire TurkishBank.

The deliberations are ongoing with no final decision made. Any potential deal would require approval from Turkish regulators.

Monte Paschi Drops for third day amid probe of Mediobanca deal. (Bloomberg)

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena shares fell for a third consecutive day as investors digest a broad investigation into its takeover of Mediobanca.

The stock dropped as much as 3.3% on December 1 after prosecutors outlined an alleged multiyear plan by two prominent Italian investors to seize control of the Milan-based investment bank.

Italy’s Borromeo Family lists islands to rival Lake Como. (Bloomberg)

Italy’s Borromeo family is taking a company that manages real estate, including a group of islands on Lake Maggiore, public, aiming to develop the area into a tourism and business hub to rival nearby Lake Como.

Proceeds from the listing of Kaleon - founded in 1983 to manage the family estates on the northern Italian lake - will be used to enhance the area and transform the business into a platform for overseeing other historic and artistic sites in Italy and beyond.

Russian bank VTB to create agriculture giant from nationalised assets. (Reuters)

Russia’s second-largest bank VTB plans to create a large agricultural holding from nationalized assets it acquired in the southern regions in December 2024.

VTB CEO Andrei Kostin said the new holding will focus on domestic processing of grains and other agricultural products and indicated that the company could be sold at a later stage.

NatWest takes stake in small business finance start-up Bourn. (Sky News)

NatWest, the high street banking giant, is acquiring a minority stake in Bourn, founded last year to help SMEs tackle common cashflow challenges.

While small in financial terms, NatWest’s investment in the start-up highlights efforts under CEO Paul Thwaite to accelerate product and service innovation across its core customer base.

Saudis tout ‘vibrant’ IPO pipeline ahead of market reforms. (Bloomberg)

Saudi Arabia has dozens of companies seeking approval to list shares locally as the kingdom pushes ahead with reforms to deepen its financial markets and attract more foreign investors.

"We have listed more than 40 since the beginning of this year and have the same number that have already applied," Mohammed Al-Rumaih, CEO of the Saudi stock exchange, said at the FII Priority Asia Summit in Tokyo.

Gunvor’s billionaire CEO Törnqvist to quit in staff buyout. (Bloomberg)

Gunvor Group owner and co-founder Torbjörn Törnqvist will step down and sell his majority stake in the energy trader to senior staff, weeks after the company was called a "puppet" of the Kremlin by the US government.

Gary Pedersen, who joined Gunvor in 2024 from Millennium Management LLC as head of Americas, has been named CEO.

APAC

Weaver Services to acquire majority stake in Centrum Housing Finance.

Weaver Services, a housing finance company, agreed to acquire a majority stake in Centrum Housing Finance, a financial institution, according to press releases. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Centrum Housing Finance was advised by JSA Advocates & Solicitors (led by Sidharrth Shankar), according to MergerLinks data.

Samty to acquire a majority stake in UniLodge for $391m.

Samty, a real estate group, agreed to acquire a majority stake in UniLodge, a provider of student accommodation in Australia and New Zealand, for $391m, according to press releases.

UniLodge is advised by UBS, according to MergerLinks data.

EQT and CVC Asia scrap $3.4bn bid for AUB. (Bloomberg)

EQT and CVC Asia Pacific called off talks with AUB Group over a potential takeover offer that had valued the Australian insurance broker at around A$5.2bn ($3.4bn). AUB shares tumbled.

The consortium informed AUB that it does not plan to move forward with a binding proposal at A$45 ($29.5) per share on December 1. The AUB board said that price fairly reflects AUB’s value in the current market environment.

Australia's APA partners with Queensland to build Brigalow power station. (Reuters)

Australia's APA Group has agreed to build state-owned CS Energy’s proposed 400-megawatt Brigalow peaking power station in Queensland.

The project marks APA’s first major investment in gas-powered generation in some time.

India to sell up to 6% stake in Bank of Maharashtra. (Reuters)

India will divest a stake of up to 6% in Bank of Maharashtra, an exchange filing showed on December 1, bringing the state-run lender closer to complying with minimum public shareholding requirements.

The sale comprises a base offer of 5% with an option to sell an additional 1%. Bidding opens for non-retail investors on December 2, while retail investors can participate on December 3.

Japanese property giants deepen their push into a booming Indian market. (Reuters)

Japanese real estate developers are increasingly moving into the complex Indian market, with more peers expected to follow, attracted by rising rents in a fast-growing economy and relatively low construction costs.

A leading example is Mitsui Fudosan, Japan's largest property developer, which entered India in 2020 through a partnership with local developer RMZ Real Estate to build an office complex in Bengaluru.

Hong Kong tycoon Cheng seeks sale of some Rosewood Hotels. (Bloomberg)

Hong Kong tycoon Henry Cheng is seeking buyers for properties in the family's luxury Rosewood Hotel Group as the billionaire clan works to address liquidity challenges linked to its real estate unit New World Development.

Cheng's representatives have contacted several companies regarding a potential sale of assets in the Rosewood portfolio. The discussions remain at an early stage and could change.

SoftBank’s Son ‘Cried’ about Nvidia stake sale to fund AI bets. (Bloomberg)

SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son said he wouldn’t have sold Nvidia shares if the company had unlimited funds to bankroll its next AI investments, including a major bet on OpenAI.

Speaking for the first time about the surprise November disclosure that SoftBank had exited its entire stake in the world’s most valuable company, Son also dismissed talk of an AI investment bubble. He said the Japanese firm simply needed to raise capital for projects such as data center construction, telling a forum in Tokyo on December 1.

Temasek-backed Atomberg is said to plan $200m India IPO. (Bloomberg)

Temasek Holdings-backed Atomberg Technologies is weighing an initial public offering in Mumbai that could raise around $200m.

The Indian consumer electronics firm, which also counts Steadview Capital Management and Jungle Ventures among its backers, has held talks with investment banks recently about a potential listing and is expected to appoint advisers in the coming weeks.

S&P says Danantara fundraising plan boosts fiscal flexibility. (Bloomberg)

A strategy by Indonesian sovereign wealth fund Danantara to raise capital is giving the government greater flexibility in managing its finances and large state-owned companies.

The wealth fund has helped ease fiscal pressures by securing financing at significantly lower costs than the government, said Rain Yin, a sovereign analyst at S&P. Its recent $3bn patriot bonds issuance carried a 2% coupon - less than half the government’s borrowing cost - highlighting efforts to reduce an explicit strain on the budget.

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