EMEA
Piolin BidCo launched a takeover bid for Spain's Parques Reunidos for €14 ($15.59) per share, which implicates premium of 29%, valuing the company at around €1.1bn ($1.2bn).
Piolin is slightly over 50% owned by EQT, nearly 24% owned by Miles Capital and 26% owned by Corporacion Financiera Alba. Miles Capital and Alba together own 44% of the Spanish amusement park operator. The takeover offer is for the rest of the company.
Citigroup and Uria Menendez are advising Parques Reunidos.
According to Reuters, Irish insulation firm Kingspan has ended discussions with Recticel over a proposal for its Belgian rival's foam and insulation units and has no plans to reengage.
Recticel rejected the €700m ($779m) bid for its two main businesses but said it was open to a takeover at the right price after it disclosed that Kingspan had approached it with a possible offer for the entire group.
Kingspan made the unsolicited approach earlier this month and also struck a deal with Austrian manufacturer Greiner to sell on the flexible foams businesses subject to the successful completion of the acquisition.
Russian magnate Mikhail Fridman's LetterOne would seek to reduce the minimum acceptance offer for its bid for Spanish supermarket chain Dia. Additionally, the investment fund extended the acceptance period for the takeover bid to May 6.
LetterOne will seek to reduce the minimum acceptance rate for the takeover bid to 20% from 35% shareholders. LetterOne, which controls 30% of the struggling supermarket chain, originally hoped to coax shareholders to sell it half of the 70% it does not own.
BofA Merrill Lynch, Clifford Chance, and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are advising Dia. Perez-Llorca, Camarco, and Estudio de Comunicacion are advising LetterOne. Barclays, Citigroup, HSBC, Societe Generale, and UBS are debt providers for LetterOne.
Japan's Nippon Paint Holdings agreed to acquire Turkish paint manufacturer Betek Boya from Akpinar family and German DAW. Financial terms were not disclosed. Betek Boya, well known in Turkey for its "Filli Boya" brand of paint, was expected to see sales of
TRY1.6bn ($303m) last year.
"The company aims to become a leading company that continues to create new value by advocating the goal of establishing a leading position in Asia and accelerating global growth," Nippon Paint said in a statement.
SSE approached companies about £1bn energy retail arm disposal.
According to Sky, British energy company SSE approached several companies including broadband provider TalkTalk Telecom about a deal to sell its household supply unit. The company aims to find a buyer or a merger partner, but despite recent discussions, a tie-up with TalkTalk is unlikely.
In December, SSE and Innogy ditched plans to merge their British retail operations after the regulator proposed a cap on consumer bills, which left them looking for other consolidation options.
Deutsche Bank-Commerzbank talks collapsed because of client backlash.
According to Bloomberg, fierce resistance from corporate clients was a leading factor in Deutsche Bank-Commerzbank deal talks failure.
Many Deutsche Bank customers threatened to cut ties with Germany's largest bank if the deal would go through. It was a decisive factor undermining the potential merger, which was already facing opposition from employees, labor unions and shareholders.
Bain & Apollo still in the race for WPP's Kantar. (FS)
According to Bloomberg, Bain Capital and Apollo Global Management are among several buyout firms that are still in the running to acquire a majority stake in WPP's data and market research unit Kantar.
Bain & Apollo moved into the next round of the auction, while other parties including CVC Capital Partners and Apax Partners dropped out. It was reported last month that also Advent, Blackstone, and Hellman & Friedman was taking part in the auction. The sale may value Kantar at up to £3.5bn ($4.5bn), but some private equity investors are fretting over the decline in profits and revenues that the business has suffered in recent years.
Goldman Sachs is advising WPP.
CVC in talks for €1bn disposal of Continental Foods. (FS)
According to Reuters, CVC Capital Partners is in talks with potential bidders about a possible sale of its Continental Foods business, which could fetch even €1bn ($1.1bn).
Among firms interested in the packaged soup and sauce business are Spanish food group Agrolimen, which has shown interest in Continental Foods previously, and Polish group Maspex.
CVC bought Continental in late 2013 from Campbell Soup for €400m ($540m). It tried to sell the business in 2017 but was unsuccessful.
Bayer executives with no-confidence vote after Monsanto deal.
Investors expressed their anger after the 38% fall in Bayer’s share price since its deal to acquire US rival Monsanto closed last year. Bayer, which is now worth the $63bn it paid for the US seed giant was once one of Germany’s most valuable companies. The management and board of Bayer faced a vote of no confidence that never happened in German postwar corporate history.
Ducera Partners, Morgan Stanley, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg, Debevoise & Plimpton, Morrison & Foerster, Norton Rose Fulbright, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, Wilmer Hale, FTI Consulting, and Joele Frank advised Monsanto. BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Rothschild & Co, ALRUD, Allen & Overy, Franceschini e Miranda Advogados, Hogan Lovells, L&L Partners, Linklaters, Shearman & Sterling, Stikeman Elliott, Sullivan & Cromwell, Brunswick Group, and Finsbury Hering Schuppene advised Bayer.
Delek Group made an offer for Chevron's North Sea fields worth c. $2bn.
Delek confirmed it made an offer to buy Chevron's gas fields as part of its strategy to expand its international operations but did not provide financial details. The discussions centered mainly on Chevron's natural gas and oil fields in Britain's North Sea but also on several satellites. Chevron's oil and gas fields in the British North Sea, are worth about $2bn.
The acquisition would mark another step for Delek toward its expected public listing. The company earlier this month acquired Shell's 22.45% stake in the Caesar-Tonga field in the US Gulf of Mexico for $965m.
Senvion, an insolvent wind turbine manufacturer looking to raise investment from private equity funds or competitors. (FS)
According to Reuters, large wind turbine companies and PE funds are interested in buying insolvent German group Senvion.
"We see significant interest for Senvion from across the board - from financial investors, from strategic parties in the sector, and beyond," said CEO Yves Rannou. "I am positively surprised by how many companies are looking at us, including the big players in our sector who are looking very closely," he added.
Earlier this month Senvion filed for insolvency, but the objective of the proceedings is to transform the company. The company last week agreed a €100m ($111m) 12-month loan with banks and hedge funds to stay afloat and continue operations.
Rothschild & Co is advising Senvion on finding an investor.
The Italian government denied new Alitalia investor speculations.
The Italian government denied media speculation that it lured infrastructure group Toto Holding to invest in loss-making airline Alitalia. The office of Economic Development Minister Luigi Di Maio denied a report by news agency Ansa which said the minister and one of Toto's controlling family shareholders had met in southern Italy this week to discuss Alitalia.
The government is desperate to orchestrate a rescue of Alitalia to avoid mass layoffs at the airline. Alitalia, which has been under special administration since 2017, needs to find investors ready to inject new funds by April 30.
Activist investor Cat Rock pushes for changes in Just Eat UK. (FS)
Activist shareholder Cat Rock stepped up its campaign for changes at the British online takeaway service Just Eat as the pace of order growth in its home market slowed in the first three months of the year.
The firm said UK orders increased 7.4% to 31.9m over the three months to March 31. In the fourth quarter of 2018, a growth was 13%. Analysts had expected 9.6%.
"Just Eat needs a world-class CEO with online food delivery experience, and the board should be actively evaluating a merger with one of the many potential strategic partners available to the company," said Cat Rock's managing partner and chief investment officer Alex Captain.
Saudi Real Estate Refinance acquired mortgage portfolio.
Saudi Real Estate Refinance, a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund, agreed to acquire a mortgage portfolio from Banque Saudi Fransi.
"The agreement is among multiple mortgage portfolio acquisitions worth SAR750m ($179m) signed with local banks and specialist mortgage providers in Saudi Arabia," the company said Saturday in a statement.
AMERICAS
Two weeks after Chevron agreed to acquire Anadarko for $50bn (including debt), executives from both companies begun planning the combination of their businesses. Chevron faces a higher rival takeover bid for the oil explorer from Occidental Petroleum.
Chevron offered to acquire Anadarko Petroleum, a company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration, for $50bn or $65 per share on April 12, 2019. Later, this offer was outmatched with a $76 per share bid by Occidental, made on April 24, 2019. Occidental's proposal represents a premium of approximately 20% to the value of Anadarko's pending transaction as of April 23, 2019. The total enterprise value is $57bn.
According to Bloomberg, DE Shaw urged Anadarko Petroleum to run an open sale process after Occidental Petroleum bid. The New York-based investment firm has spoken with Anadarko's management about its views and said it believes the Occidental offer is superior to Chevron's.
Evercore, Goldman Sachs, Vinson & Elkins, and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz are advising Anadarko. Credit Suisse and Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison are advising Chevron. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, and Cravath Swaine & Moore are advising Occidental.
Chinese state-run conglomerate CITIC agreed to invest an additional CAD612m ($454m) in the Canadian miner to speed up production at its projects in Southern Africa.
With this deal, CITIC brought its total investment in Ivanhoe to about CAD1.3bn ($966m). Under the deal terms, Ivanhoe will issue 153.8m shares to CITIC at CAD3.98 ($2.98) per share. CITIC Metal currently owns 19.3% stake. After the transaction, the company will own a 29.9% stake.
"The investment announced today will comfortably provide Ivanhoe with the equity cushion required to fast-track Kamoa-Kakula's 6 Mtpa Phase 1 mine to production. More importantly, it also is a profound vote of confidence in our management, in our key stakeholders and partners, and in the promising future of the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa," said Robert Friedland, Executive Co-Chairman of Ivanhoe.
Roche announced another extension of its $4.3bn offer for gene therapy specialist Spark Therapeutics, until June 3, because a review by US authorities is taking longer than initially expected. All terms and conditions will remain unchanged during the extended period. Earlier this month the offer was extended until May 2 by Roche, but the FTC needed even more time to complete its review.
"The review of the transaction is ongoing, and the parties are actively working with the government to facilitate that process," Roche said. "In order to provide the government with additional time to complete its current review, Roche has elected to withdraw and refile the premerger notification and report form."
As of Thursday, 26.1% of Spark's outstanding shares had been tendered in the offer, which is less than the 29.4% of Spark shares that had been tendered on April 2, before the Swiss company announced the previous extension of the offer.
Centerview Partners, Cowen & Co and Goodwin Procter are advising Spark Therapeutics. Citigroup and Davis Polk are advising Roche.
Brazil's JBS, the world's largest meatpacker, agreed to acquire local pork processor Adelle Indústria de Alimentos for BRL235m ($60m). The acquisition would boost JBS' capacity to produce items such as sausages and bacon.
The conclusion of the transaction is subject to the approval of the Brazilian Antitrust Authority, amongst other usual conditions.
Uber with IPO terms below expectations.
Uber Technologies, the largest ride-hailing company in the world, plans an IPO that values the company as much as one-third below what potential investors and the startup's insiders had hoped for, between $79.2-90bn. The company plans to offer 180m shares at $44-50 each. Uber seeks to raise as much a $9bn.
Early investors and employees of Uber are planning to sell $1.3bn worth of shares in the IPO. Benchmark Capital, the biggest seller, is offering 5.7m of its shares, which would fetch about $270m at the current $44-50 price range. SoftBank is offering 5.5m, while Uber co-founders Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp expect to sell 3.7m shares worth $176m and 3.1m worth $147m, respectively.
The lower valuation mirrors the poor stock performance of Lyft following its IPO last month. Lyft shares are trading down 20.5% from the IPO price, among investor skepticism over the company's path to profitability.
The valuation, outlined in a regulatory filing, is less than the $120bn that investment bankers predicted last year Uber could fetch, and closer to the $76bn valuation it attained in a fundraising round in 2018.
Additionally, online payments company PayPal plans to invest $500m in Uber Technologies. PayPal will invest in Uber through a concurrent private placement at the IPO price.
Disney with a $10bn "handshake deal" with Sinclair for Fox's Regional Sports. (FS)
According to Fox Business, Walt Disney reached a "handshake agreement" to sell its regional sports networks to Sinclair Broadcast Group. The final terms are being worked out. However, Sinclair is said to pay up to $10bn for the Fox networks if another bidder doesn't emerge. Sinclair seeks additional private equity partners to invest in the networks. Possible partners include Blackstone and Apollo. Sinclair also received a commitment for a bridge loan from JP Morgan.
Allen & Co and JP Morgan are advising Walt Disney.
Intel in talks to sell modem business to Apple.
According to WSJ, Intel is exploring strategic options for its modem chip business, including a sale to Apple or another acquirer. The company decided to exit the 5G modem chip business after Apple settled a legal dispute with Qualcomm, a supplier of iPhone modem chips.
Apple had held talks with Intel around last summer and continued to do so for months until halting recently around the time of its settlement with Qualcomm. Intel already received several expressions of interest from some parties.
Goldman Sachs is advising Intel.
Natura Cosmeticos in advanced talks with Avon.
Brazilian cosmetics firm Natura Cosmeticos is still in talks to buy Avon Products, the company that controls Avon's operations outside North America. Natura did not comment the deal announced on Thursday in which Cerberus Capital and Avon sold the private North America unit for $125m to LG Household & Health Care. Avon's current market capitalization is estimated at c. $1.1bn.
Hellman & Carlyle eye $1.3bn payout from PPD. (FS)
Hellman & Friedman together with The Carlyle Group are seeking to take nearly $1.3bn of cash out of Pharmaceutical Product Development. The firm's private equity owners look for approval from PPD's creditors for the dividend plan. To fund the payment, PPD contemplates the sale of a type of junk bond called PIK toggle, which allows a borrower to delay interest payments.
Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Centerview Partners, Latham & Watkins, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett advised PPD.
Berkshire could buy back $100bn stock. (FS)
According to Financial Times, Warren Buffett said that his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway could repurchase as much as $100bn of its stock. Berkshire repurchased $1.3bn of its stock last year after Buffett loosened the company's buyback criteria. The buybacks began in part because of the company's inability to make a significant acquisition. It was a significant reason Berkshire ended 2018 with $111.9bn of cash and equivalents.
Additionally, Warren Buffett handed a significant endorsement to Great Britain ahead of Brexit by saying that he is "ready to buy something in the UK tomorrow. [...] We welcome the chance to put money out any place where we think we understand and sort of trust the system. We're never going to understand any other culture or the tax laws or the customs as well as the US, but we can come awfully close in Britain."
ADM considers ethanol business unit spinoff.
Archer Daniels Midland is considering spinning off its ethanol business after the US grains merchant's profits dropped 41% in the Q1 when the slim biofuel margins and Midwestern floods came.
ADM is creating now an independent ethanol subsidiary which would allow options such as a potential spin-off of the business to existing ADM shareholders. Rival producers such as Green Plains and Pacific Ethanol have laid off workers and idled or sold plants to stay above the surface during the sustained downturn.
Pioneer Natural Resources in talks to sell its stake in Eagle Ford JV for less than $1bn. (FS)
According to Reuters, Pioneer Natural Resources is in advanced talks to sell its Eagle Ford JV in South Texas to privately owned energy producer Ensign Natural Resources.
Warburg Pincus-backed Ensign is expected to initially pay less than $1bn for the position, which is operated as a joint venture with Reliance Industries, which also is selling its stake. This price is well below the $2bn valuation analysts had estimated back in February 2018, when Pioneer first announced it wanted to divest its position.
Exxon to seek acquisitions in Permian Basin.
ExxonMobil is interested in acquiring more assets in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico and could do a substantial deal. Jack Williams, a senior vice-president of Exxon, told that he "would be surprised if over time we did not pick up more Permian acreage", either through small-scale purchases of assets or a more significant acquisition.
Petrobras detailed sale plans.
Petrobras detailed plans to sell a stake in Brazil's No. 1 fuel distribution company BR Distribuidora, eight refineries in Brazil, including its large, recently built Abreu e Lima unit and other assets including a gas station chain in Uruguay, called PUDSA, as the company focuses on its core oil and gas exploration business and cutting its debt. Petrobras currently has a 71% stake in BR Distribuidora, and it is evaluating a secondary share offering to reduce its stake in that business. The oil company could reduce its stake in BR to as low as 40%.
Additionally, although Brazil's government is not currently considering privatizing state-run oil producer, President Jair Bolsonaro has shown openness to the idea for the first time. Brazil's state lender Caixa Economica Federal was reported to sell its 2.3% stake, valued at $2.3bn, in Petrobas and expects to price the offering by late May.
Caixa's investment banking team along with BofA Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and UBS are working on the transaction.
Coursera raised $103m in Series E funding. (FS)
Coursera, one of the world's largest online learning platforms for higher education, raised $103m in a Series E funding round from several investors led by SEEK Group, with participation from Australia's sovereign wealth Future Fund and global venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates. The latest funding values Coursera at over $1bn.
The California-based startup previously raised $64m in Series D funding in June 2017. Coursera chief executive Jeff Maggioncalda said that the funding would give the company resources and flexibility to expand globally, and help it accelerate the development of its platform.
APAC
Nikkei is acquiring a majority stake in DealStreetAsia, a Singaporean startup that tracks private equity and venture capital activity, deals and fundraising and startups across Southeast Asia and India. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The deal allows Nikkei, owner of the Financial Times and publisher of another Asian news title Nikkei Asian Review, to deepen its coverage of the Asian startup ecosystem, corporate news and data services.
"Joining forces with Nikkei will help us accelerate our mission of helping the PE-VC industry and dealmakers understand the changing megatrends in this space," said DealStreetAsia founder and editor-in-chief Joji Thomas Philip.
Saputo to acquire Kirin's cheese business in Australia for $179m.
Saputo agreed to acquire the specialty cheese business of Lion-Dairy & Drinks, a subsidiary of Kirin Holdings, for AUD280m ($197m), on a cash-free and debt-free basis. The consideration will be paid in cash at closing from cash on hand and available credit facilities. The Specialty Cheese Business is conducted at two manufacturing facilities and employs approximately 400 people.
The Specialty Cheese Business will enable Saputo's Dairy Division (Australia) to diversify its product offering further, adding to and complementing its current activities.
Kosaido took the neutral position in Minami Aoyama offer for at least half of the Kosaido shares and left the decision to its shareholders.
Japanese activist shareholder Yoshiaki Murakami's Minami Aoyama Real Estate offered JPY750 ($6.78m) per share, which values Kosaido at JPY18.7bn ($167m). Minami Aoyama and another Murakami fund, Reno, together own nearly 13.5% stake in Kosaido.
Earlier this month, Bain-backed management buyout failed after not getting enough support from shareholders at a revised JPY700 ($6.33) per share, which implied a target value of $157m. Bain initially offered JPY610 ($5.51) per share but later sweetened that.
China's Ctrip, the world's second largest online travel company, increased its ownership in Indian online travel company MakeMyTrip to 49%, in a deal which is an exit for early investor South Africa-based media group Naspers.
Post the transaction, Naspers will own approximately 5.6% of Ctrip's outstanding ordinary shares, and Ctrip and the third-party investment entity will own ordinary shares and class B shares of MakeMyTrip, representing about 49% and 4% of MakeMyTrip's total voting power, respectively.
"Over the past years we have witnessed the great achievements of MakeMyTrip, and we are confident that MakeMyTrip will extend its success in the future," said James Liang, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Ctrip. "We are also delighted to welcome Naspers to become our shareholder. Ctrip will continue to work hard to create greater value to our customers, our partners and all shareholders," Jane Sun, CEO of Ctrip commented.
Renault to come up with an offer of a joint holding company with Nissan.
According to Reuters, Renault will propose a plan to create a joint holding company with Nissan that would give both companies equal footing.
Under the proposal, firms would nominate an equal number of directors to the new company, which would be headed by Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard. The plan would aim for further integration between the two automakers.
Renault expects to soon put a plan to Nissan under which ordinary shares in both automakers would be transferred to the new company on an equal basis. That would effectively dilute the French government's Renault stake to about 7-8% from 15%.
Financial Times reported that Nissan's CEO Hiroto Saikawa and the Japanese government refused to meet SMBC Nikko bankers appointed by the French carmaker to work on a deal.
Aurelia Metals to possibly buy Glencore's Australian mine.
Australian miner Aurelia Metals is in talks about a possible acquisition of Glencore's CSA copper mine in the Australian state of New South Wales.
Earlier this month, fellow Australian copper producer Aeris Resources was unable to reach an agreement with Glencore on its $575m offer to buy the mine. However, Aurelia, with a market value of about $421m is significantly larger than Aeris Resources.
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