Moberg Pharma agreed to divest MPJ OTC and Moberg Pharma North America, which at closing will hold Moberg Pharma's entire OTC-business, to a holding company owned by RoundTable Healthcare Partners and Signet Healthcare Partners, for a cash consideration of SEK1.4bn ($155m).
The Company intends to use the cash consideration to redeem its outstanding bonds and to distribute approximately SEK43-45 ($4.63-4.85) per share to its shareholders. The transaction enables Moberg Pharma to focus resources on the MOB-015 pipeline program further and distribute significant value to its shareholders. The transaction is among other things conditional upon shareholder approval at a general meeting in Moberg Pharma.
Peter Wolpert, CEO Moberg Pharma, says: "We are excited to announce this transformational transaction. The transaction delivers exceptional value for the OTC-business and further validates the significant potential in MOB-015. The proceeds from this transaction offer near-term liquidity to our shareholders while preserving future upside. I would like to commend and thank our team for all of their hard work. Over the last few years we have acquired, built and generated superior performance for the company, and those efforts are reflected in this transaction."
Roschier and Sidley Austin advised RoundTable Healthcare and Signet Healthcare. Sawaya Capital, Gernandt & Danielsson and Hansen Law advised Moberg Pharma.
Draper Espirit, European tech-focused VC acquired a 27% interest in Earlybird KG IV for approximately £55m ($71m) and separately a 5% interest in Digital East Fund for £16m ($21m). As a result, Draper Esprit acquired underlying holdings in smava, Peak Games, Nfon, B2X, Socialbakers and UiPath, which, along with underlying holdings in 13 other companies, will be added to its portfolio.
Simon Cook, CEO Draper Esprit commented: "We passionately believe in the potential for Europe to become a high-tech powerhouse and are putting our money where our mouth is by furthering our strategic partnership with Earlybird. This allows us to cement our position as a leading VC in Europe, whilst simultaneously offering investors access to exciting and high quality underlying assets."
Goodbody, Numis Securities and MHP Communications advised Draper Espirit.
The management team will continue to be a relevant shareholder in the company, maintaining its involvement in the management and daily operations of the business. The deal is only subject to approval by the competition authorities. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Bruno Delgado, Partner at Alantra Private Equity, points out: "We are really impressed by the recent transformation carried out by the management team, from a traditional and more mature business such as dairy to a healthy vegetable food business with solid growth dynamics. From now on, we hope to be able to support them in accelerating growth, both domestically and internationally, but always betting on innovation".
DC Advisory, Garrigues, KPMG, Marsh and ERM advised Alantra. Santander and Uria advised Frías Nutrición.
BlueBay closed fund at over €6bn.
BlueBay Asset Management's Private Debt Group closed its Direct Lending Fund III and associated vehicles with investable capital over €6bn ($6.8bn). BlueBay's Private Debt platform has approximately €13bn ($14.7bn) of AUM and has completed more than 100 transactions.
The new fund aims to provide financing solutions to upper and mid-market European businesses to facilitate M&A transactions, growth financing and re-financings. The fund is BlueBay's fourth generation of Private Debt vehicles, following the final close of Senior Loan Fund I in 2017, and two previous generations of Direct Lending funds.
Anthony Fobel, Head of Private Debt at BlueBay, says: "We are pleased with the growing support from institutional investors globally of BlueBay's private debt business. The combination of our recently closed Direct Lending Fund III, together with Senior Loan Fund I, gives us a deep capital base to provide flexible financing solutions for both private equity and corporate-backed European businesses. We continue to see a strong pipeline of investment opportunities in Europe, as well as a continuation of the structural shift towards private lenders. The European private debt asset class has proven to be enduring and BlueBay looks forward to capitalising on our leading role in the industry."
Ellie Mae, the leading cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry, agreed to be acquired by Thoma Bravo, in an all-cash transaction that values Ellie Mae at an aggregate equity value of approximately $3.7bn.
Under the terms of the agreement, all Ellie Mae shareholders will receive $99 in cash per share. The price per share represents a 47% premium to the 30-day average closing share price and a 49% premium to the 60-day average closing price as of February 1, 2019.
"Ellie Mae delivers powerful and innovative mortgage technology solutions across every channel of the residential mortgage sector, enabling lenders to originate more loans while reducing costs and driving efficiency, quality and compliance throughout the mortgage process," said Holden Spaht, a Managing Partner at Thoma Bravo. "Ellie Mae is leading the digital transformation of the residential mortgage industry and we look forward to building on the company's successes and to our partnership through this next chapter of growth."
JP Morgan and Cooley advised Ellie Mae. Jefferies and Kirkland & Ellis advised Thoma Bravo. Additionally, Jefferies provided financing for the transaction.
Veritas Capital and Elliott Management completed the acquisition of athenahealth for $5.7bn.
Veritas Capital and Elliott Management acquired athenahealth, a publicly traded American company that provides network-enabled services for healthcare and point-of-care mobile apps for $5.7bn in cash.
Veritas-backed Virence Health, the former GE Healthcare Value-based Care assets that Veritas acquired in 2018, will combine with athenahealth under the athenahealth name and brand. Elliott's Evergreen Coast Capital will be a minority investor in the combined company. The combined company will be led by Virence Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bob Segert and an executive leadership team comprised of executives from both companies and will be headquartered on the athenahealth campus in Watertown, Massachusetts. As part of the transaction, Virence's Workforce Management business becomes a separate Veritas portfolio company under the API Healthcare brand.
"The combination of athenahealth and Virence brings together two innovative companies with complementary expertise and a shared focus and passion for improving healthcare outcomes. With a network of over 160,000 providers, the combined company is positioned for future growth and new market opportunities and has the necessary scale to make a transformational impact in the healthcare industry," said Ramzi Musallam, CEO and Managing Partner of Veritas Capital.
Centerview Partners, Lazard, and Weil Gotshal and Manges advised Athenahealth. Deutsche Bank, RBC Capital Markets and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher advised Elliott Management. Schulte Roth & Zabel advised Veritas Capital.
Greif, a global leader in industrial packaging products and services, acquired Caraustar Industries, a leading recycled paperboard and packaging solutions company, from an affiliate of HIG Capital, in a cash transaction valued at $1.8bn.
Caraustar is a market leader in the production of uncoated recycled paperboard and coated recycled paperboard, with a variety of applications that include tubes and cores and a diverse mix of specialty products. Based in Austell, Georgia, Caraustar's footprint includes over 80 operating facilities throughout the United States.
"Caraustar offers an exceptional strategic and cultural fit for Greif. Its complementary paper packaging and recycled fiber operations will drive significant free cash flow growth, improve balance and profitability within the Greif portfolio and increase Greif's exposure to U.S. industrial and consumer end markets. Most importantly, Greif and Caraustar share the same dedication to providing industry-leading service to all customers. I am excited to welcome our new colleagues to the Greif family and look forward to working closely with them." said Greif's President and Chief Executive Officer, Pete Watson.
Rothschild & Co, Credit Suisse, Moelis & Co, Ropes & Gray and Axinn Veltrop Harkrider advised Caraustar. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo Securities, Allen & Overy, Ice Miller, Sullivan & Cromwell and Vorys Sater Seymour & Pease advised Greif. Ropes & Gray also advised HIG Capital.
rancisco Partners acquired Qualcomm Life a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm that offers end-to-end medical device connectivity across the continuum of care. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Qualcomm Life will be separated from Qualcomm, be renamed as Capsule Technologies and continue operating its two distinct business segments: Capsule (a leading provider of medical device connectivity solutions for hospitals) and 2net™ (a medical grade mobile connectivity platform).
"Francisco Partners' deep experience in healthcare technology and proven track record in nurturing and growing technology businesses will enable CapsuleTech's loyal base of employees to continue delivering innovation," said Duane Nelles, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Qualcomm Incorporated. "We look forward to our partnership with the FP team as they grow CapsuleTech as an independent entity."
Centerview Partners and DLA Piper advised Qualcomm. Kirkland & Ellis advised Francisco Partners.
The EQT Infrastructure III acquired Kodiak Gas Services from The Stephens Group, a private investment firm representing the interests of Witt Stephens, Jr. and Elizabeth Campbell. Kodiak is the largest privately owned contract compression company in the US; providing necessary compression equipment for the extraction of oil and transportation of natural gas in the United States. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Alex Darden, Partner at EQT Partners, Investment Advisor to EQT Infrastructure, commented: "Kodiak's differentiated service offering, strong commitment to customers and critical infrastructure at every juncture in the oil and gas value chain make the Company unique in their industry, embodying EQT Infrastructure's approach of targeting high-quality, industry leading, stable businesses with transformation potential."
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett advised EQT Infrastructure. Jefferies and Kirkland & Ellis advised Kodiak.
Investcorp to acquire a controlling stake in Revature.
Revature, one of the largest employers of university graduates in the US, offers no-cost coding immersion programs that are the first in the industry to address the growing technology skills gap. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"Given our expertise in the education as well as IT staffing sectors through our prior investments in the US, we see an incredible partnership opportunity with Revature," said Rishi Kapoor, Co-CEO of Investcorp. "This investment also underscores our continued focus on services driven businesses using innovative approaches and business models to better serve core industry verticals across the US."
Jefferies advised Revature.
Ara Partners Group, an industrial private equity firm made a significant investment in Priority Power Management, an independent energy management services and consulting firm headquartered in Texas. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Troy Thacker, a Managing Partner at Ara Partners, commented, "Our investment in Priority Power reflects the best-in-class customer service that Priority Power has exhibited throughout its 18-year history. Priority Power's efficient energy and risk management solutions and advocacy for its customers—often as a virtual extension of their staff—has enabled the company to grow to managing over 11 terawatt hours of energy annually. We are excited to help John and Pat continue to build Priority Power through both organic and acquisition-led strategies."
HIG Capital completed a strategic investment in Digital Ware, the leading independent software supplier in Colombia.
Fernando Marques Oliveira, Managing Director and Head of H.I.G. Latin America, commented: "HIG is delighted to announce its first investment in Colombia with such a great company. We hope to accelerate our investment strategy in the Andean Region, and Digital Ware is an important step in consolidating H.I.G.'s position as the leading small/ mid cap investor in Latin America."
JAB plans to increase stake in Coty to 60% for $1.7bn. (FS)
German conglomerate JAB Holding laid out plans to increase its stake in Coty to 60%, offering to buy out some of the cosmetics maker's minority shareholders after a 50% slump in its value in the past year. JAB, already the largest shareholder in the beauty products company with a 40%, will launch a partial tender offer to buy 150m shares for $11.65 per share in cash, which indicates offer value at $1.7bn.
The offer represents a premium of 21%, based on yesterday's closing price and 51% to the 30-day volume-weighted average share price as of yesterday.
"We understand that not all investors may share our long-term approach and we expect that shareholders will value the opportunity to obtain a significant premium for their shares," JAB said in the letter.
SteelRiver Infrastructure pursues a sale of Patriot Rail.
According to
Bloomberg, SteelRiver Infrastructure Partners is seeking a buyer for Patriot Rail, a transportation company that could fetch more than $600m.
The report said that the infrastructure firm is working with an adviser ahead of a potential sale of the Jacksonville, Florida-based company. Representatives for SteelRiver and Patriot Rail didn't comment that matter.
Reddit secures $300m Series D led by Tencent at $3bn value.
$150m investment from Tencent sparked free speech protests among Reddit's online community. The deal makes for an odd pairing between one of the architects of China's Great Firewall of censorship and one of America's most lawless free-speech forums.
The round brings the Conde Nast-majority owned Reddit to $550m in total funding. Beyond Tencent, the rest of the round came from previous investors potentially including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia and Fidelity.
Shell, Mitsubishi and Pátria to form $700m power JV in Rio.
Royal Dutch Shell, Brazil's private equity group Pátria Investimentos and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems will invest $700m to build and operate a gas-fired power plant in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
The joint venture will build the Marlim Azul thermal power plant with a capacity of 565MW in Macaé, along Rio's coast, and will use natural gas supplied by Shell Brasil Petróleo. Pátria will have 50.1% of the venture, Shell 29.9% and Mitsubishi will hold 20%.
Sachem Head pushes Zayo to explore sale.
According to
Reuters, activist hedge fund Sachem Head Capital Management wrote a letter to communications infrastructure provider Zayo Group Holdings urging it to explore a sale. The letter comes after Zayo rejected acquisition offers from a private equity consortium that includes Blackstone, Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, KKR & Co, I Squared Capital, Charlesbank Capital Partners and GTCR, the report added.
The latest offer that Zayo rejected valued its stock at about $30 per share. Shares ended trading on Monday at $25.51 a share, giving it a market capitalization of roughly $6bn. Zayo also had about $6bn in debt. If the private equity firms succeed in acquiring Zayo, it will represent one of the largest leveraged buyouts of the year.
