AMERICAS
The Justice Department held out a 2021 internal audit of UnitedHealth Group's data practices as evidence that the healthcare giant's proposed acquisition of Change Healthcare from Blackstone should be blocked, Bloomberg reported.
An internal audit of UnitedHealth's data policies found the company had "no effective means of enforcement if or when data misuse is discovered or reported," according to evidence presented by prosecutors during an antitrust trial.
Change is advised by Morrow Sodali Global, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Brunswick Group. Optum is advised by Bank of America and Hogan Lovells. UnitedHealth is advised by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Sullivan & Cromwell. Blackstone is advised by Ropes & Gray.
Investindustrial, a private equity firm, completed the acquisition of Parker Food, a manufacturer of specialty ingredients food products, from The Riverside Company, a private equity firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We have enjoyed great success during our partnership with PFG over the past five years and look forward to seeing the company continue to thrive as part of Investindustrial's portfolio. During our ownership, we delivered a highly successful organic growth strategy, built a world-class team, expanded the company's R&D capabilities and broadened its blue-chip customer base," Meranee Phing, Riverside Senior Partner.
Investindustrial was advised by Lazard, Kirkland & Ellis, Ad Hoc Communication, Edelman and Maitland. The Riverside Company was advised by Deloitte, KPMG, Houlihan Lokey, William Blair & Co and Jones Day.
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, an operator of advertising-supported video-on-demand streaming services, completed the acquisition of Redbox, an entertainment company, for $375m.
"We believe that Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment is the ideal partner for Redbox. By joining forces, we will accelerate Redbox's transition from a physical to high growth digital media company and be the only entertainment provider truly focused on value for consumers," Galen Smith, Redbox CEO.
Redbox was advised by Duff & Phelps, Kroll, PJT Partners, Weil Gotshal and Manges and Joele Frank. Chicken Soup was advised by Guggenheim Partners, Graubard Miller, Ellipsis and RooneyPartners.
Investindustrial, a private equity firm, agreed to acquire a majority stake in the meal preparation business from TreeHouse Foods, a private label manufacturer, for $950m.
"We are delighted to add the divisions of TreeHouse Foods' meal preparation business to our portfolio of leading private label food companies. We understand that success in the food business requires us to provide our customers with the best service as well as high quality products at a great value. With this acquisition, we will build on our reputation as an industry leader in customer excellence while continuing to improve service levels, product development, and operational efficiencies," Andrea C. Bonomi, Investindustrial Chairman.
Investindustrial is advised by Bank of America, Lazard, Kirkland & Ellis and Edelman. TreeHouse Foods is advised by Centerview Partners, Evercore and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher.
CONMED, a medical technology company, completed the acquisition of Biorez, a medical device start-up, for $250m.
"The addition of Biorez and its BioBrace platform represents an important step forward for our sports medicine portfolio. BioBrace fits seamlessly into our existing suite of products, and we are excited to advance the next generation of healing in sports medicine. BioBrace represents the type of high-growth, high-margin platform that drives our long-term vision for CONMED," Curt R. Hartman, CONMED Chair of the Board, President, and CEO.
CONMED was advised by DLA Piper and Sullivan & Cromwell. Biorez was advised by Canaccord Genuity, Burns & Levinson, Latham & Watkins and Shipman & Goodwin.
MTY Food, a franchisor in the quick service and casual dining food industry, agreed to acquire BBQ Holdings, a franchisor and operator of casual and fast casual dining restaurants, for $200m.
"This transaction represents another key acquisition for MTY as we further scale and enhance our existing US portfolio through the addition of nine unique brands. The transaction combines highly complementary businesses, including BBQ Holdings' exciting casual and fast casual brands. BBQ Holdings' restaurants are well established within each of their respective markets with a strong network of franchise partners, well-run corporate owned locations, and a best-in-class management team. We are excited about the prospects of adding BBQ Holdings' brands to the MTY family and we look forward to welcoming Jeff Crivello and his team and their franchise partners," Eric Lefebvre, MTY CEO.
MTY Food is advised by National Bank Financial and Morrison & Foerster. BBQ Holdings is advised by Kroll, Dentons, Lathrop GPM and Mainland.
Safehold, a real estate company, agreed to acquire iStar, a real estate investment company, for $5.9bn.
"This transaction is an important step forward in our strategy to significantly expand the use of modern ground leases in commercial real estate and further extend Safehold's position as the pre-eminent ground lease company. By unifying all parts of our ground lease business, we will create an even stronger company, providing building owners and developers with additional modern ground lease options to meet their capital needs, generating sizable cost savings over time, expanding our shareholder base to a much wider audience, and enabling shareholders of both Safehold and iStar to participate in the future growth of the modern ground lease sector they have created," Jay Sugarman, iStar and Safehold Chairman and CEO.
iStar is advised by Lazard, Morgan Stanley and Clifford Chance. Safehold is advised by JP Morgan and Kirkland & Ellis.
Wag Labs went public via a SPAC merger with CHW Acquisition in a $350m deal. (FS)
Wag Labs, a developer of a dog walking mobile application, went public via a SPAC merger with CHW Acquisition in a $350m deal. Equity investors include Battery Ventures, ACME Capital, General Catalyst and Tenaya Capital.
"Our announcement today represents a significant milestone in our journey to build the leading premium wellness and services platform for pets. We are transforming the fragmented and largely offline pet wellness and services industries through our vertically integrated mobile-first technology platform. This deal will provide us with the funds to further fuel our growth, and I am excited to be partnering with the CHW team to accelerate our strategic initiatives and consolidate pet wellness and services as we strive to become the leader in this space," Garrett Smallwood, Wag CEO.
Wag Labs was advised by Oppenheimer & Co, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and ICR. CHW Acquisition was advised by Chardan and McDermott Will & Emery.
Shift, an end-to-end e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars, agreed to merge with CarLotz, a consignment-to-retail used vehicle marketplace. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"The Shift and CarLotz teams have admired each other and our respective businesses for quite some time. We've always seen a considerable amount of strategic and cost synergies with a combined entity. We are strongly convinced that the merger will put us in a position to pursue a profitable future. As such, this is a transformative moment in Shift's history by enabling us to advance our vision to be the end-to-end destination for car ownership that controls its own destiny," George Arison, Shift Co-Founder and CEO.
Shift is advised by Centerview Partners, Cohen & Company and Jenner & Block. CarLotz is advised by William Blair & Co and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
Butterfly, a private equity firm, agreed to acquire QDOBA, a fast casual Mexican restaurant, from Apollo, an alternative asset manager. QDOBA will merge with Modern Restaurant Concepts. King Street is investing alongside Butterfly. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"QDOBA is an iconic brand whose reach will help us bring Modern Market and Lemonade to new consumers and franchisees around the country, particularly as we begin our own franchising journey. We're thrilled to welcome the QDOBA team to the Modern Restaurant Concepts family and believe that together we can build something truly differentiated in the restaurant space," Rob McColgan, MRC CEO.
Butterfly is advised by Kirkland & Ellis and Full Picture. QDOBA is advised by Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Lewis & Bockius.
Maritime Partners, a provider of maritime leasing and financing solutions, agreed to acquire M/G Transport, a provider of mission-critical marine transportation services, from Auxo Investment Partners, a private investment firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We are thrilled to complete the acquisition of M/G. M/G is a natural complement to our platform, given the contractual nature of M/G's business. The M/G fleet further diversifies the vessel capacity solutions we are able to offer the Jones Act community," Bick Brooks, Maritime Partners Co-Founder, and CEO.
Maritime Partners is advised by Reed Smith. M/G Transport is advised by RBC Capital Markets, Barnes & Thornburg, Miller Johnson and Winston & Strawn.
Carlyle, an investment firm, agreed to invest $1bn in Tillman Infrastructure, a privately held cell tower platform in the United States.
"Tillman Global has built a world-class portfolio of digital infrastructure assets with a demonstrated operating model for partnering with and delivering high-quality service to customers. We see significant opportunity for growth given the long-term secular demand drivers of mobile data proliferation, digital connectivity, and the convergence of digital infrastructure operating models. We look forward to a strong, long-term partnership and to leveraging Carlyle's scale, resources, and access to capital to drive sustainable growth with Tillman," Joshua Pang, Carlyle Head of Digital Infrastructure for Global Infrastructure.
Carlyle is advised by Greenberg Traurig. Tillman is advised by TAP Advisors, Sullivan & Cromwell and 5W Public Relations.
Earthstone Energy, an energy company, completed the acquisition of the northern Delaware Basin asset of NGP Energy-backed Titus, an oil and gas company, for $627m.
"We are very pleased with the execution of our operations in the Northern Delaware Basin assets acquired earlier this year and expect to apply that knowledge to the Titus Acquisition assets after closing. We have continued to build out our high margin asset base, which is generating significant Free Cash Flow to which this acquisition will contribute in a meaningful way," Robert J. Anderson, Earthstone President and CEO.
Earthstone Energy was advised by Haynes and Boone and Jones & Keller. Titus was advised by Jefferies & Company and Bracewell.
CVS Health, a provider of health care and retail pharmacy services, was the mystery bidder that tried to buy One Medical, a primary-care company, before Amazon.com swooped in to acquire it for $3.9bn, Bloomberg reported.
One Medical was put into play by a company identified in a regulatory filing as "Party A." Party A was CVS. In July, One Medical was exploring a sale after drawing takeover interest from companies, including CVS.
One Medical is advised by Morgan Stanley and Ropes & Gray. Amazon is advised by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison.
Choice Hotels, a hotels operator, completed the acquisition of Radisson Hotel Group Americas, an operator of an international hospitality company, for $675m.
"Choice has a well-established history of smart acquisitions in new segments where our world-class franchising engine can spur future growth. This transaction brings together two highly complementary businesses, enhancing our guest offerings in the core upper-midscale hospitality segments, while extending our reach into the upper upscale and upscale full-service segments and in higher revenue geographic markets. We are confident that guests and franchisees will significantly benefit by combining these two exceptional sets of brands," Patrick Pacious, Choice Hotels President and CEO.
Choice Hotels was advised by Credit Suisse and Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Radisson Hotel was advised by Baker McKenzie.
Captura Biopharma, an operator of a biotechnology company, agreed to go public via a SPAC merger with OceanTech Acquisitions I in a $224m.
"We believe that our solution could revolutionize the treatment for heavy metal poisoning and catastrophic emergency internal transuranic radiation contamination by offering a unique, easy to administer oral therapy for heavy metal poisoning. This therapy is designed to be highly scalable and to reduce logistical and medical complexity compared to the currently available emergency countermeasures. As we continue our journey, we believe the merger with OceanTech will provide us with greater opportunity to take advantage of improved access to capital markets and to finance our growth," Michael Geranen, Captura Biopharma CEO and Founder.
Captura Biopharma is advised by Ellenoff Grossman & Schole. OceanTech Acquisitions I is advised by Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough and The Equity Group.
CalPortland, a major producer of cement, ready mixed concrete, aggregates, concrete products and asphalt in the western United States and Canada, agreed to acquire the Tehachapi, California cement plant from Martin Marietta, a supplier of building materials, for $350m.
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2023, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
Martin Marietta is advised by Cravath Swaine & Moore.
Thompson Street Capital, a private equity firm, completed the investment in Silverchair, a developer of publishing platforms. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Silverchair's partnership with TSCP reflects both our success to date, and more importantly, our aspiration to meet the broader interests of our community as an independent, non-conflicted, innovative, and community-focused technology and service partner to leading associations, societies, and publishers. As our community has grown, so has our investment in our people and technology, all of which has resulted in new opportunities to support our publishers' missions and goals. Fulfilling the opportunities before us can best be realized with a capital partner who shares our enthusiasm for the knowledge enterprise. We are very excited to enter this partnership with TSCP," Thane Kerner, Silverchair CEO.
Silverchair was advised by BrightTower.
AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, completed the acquisition of TeneoTwo, a biotechnology firm, for $1.3bn.
"By redirecting the body's natural immune response to target B-cell malignancies, TNB-486 alone or in combination with CD20-targeted therapy could potentially deepen clinical responses and improve patient outcomes. We believe this innovative molecule, which was designed to optimise the therapeutic window of T-cell activation, will enable us to explore novel combinations that have the potential to become new standards of care in this setting," Anas Younes, AstraZeneca Senior Vice President Haematology R&D.
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, an institutional investor, led a $105m Series D funding round in CleverTap, a developer of AI-powered marketing engagement and analytics software, with participation from IIFL, Tiger Global, Sequoia India and Recruit Holdings.
The start-up operates cloud-based customer management and engagement tracking tools that help its clients sustain their user bases and increase their lifetime value. CleverTap says it sifts through data points in apps to offer contextual and personalized recommendations to clients, who also use the platform to run campaigns to test new features and offerings.
Blackstone, a private equity, alternative asset management, and financial services firm, agreed to acquire a majority stake in CoreTrust, a commercial sourcing agency, from HCA Healthcare, a health care facilities operator. Financial terms were not disclosed.
HCA’s HealthTrust subsidiary will continue to hold a minority stake in CoreTrust. Blackstone is banking on CoreTrust’s customers to stay on given the advantage of economies of scale, and to hedge against inflation. It also plans to expand the company’s reach beyond its main clientele.
Russian steelmaker Evraz puts North American assets up for sale.
Evraz, a steelmaker backed by sanctioned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, put its North American business up for sale.
The London-based steelmaker is "soliciting proposals for the acquisition of its North American subsidiaries." Evraz, which was sanctioned by the UK after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, received a general license from the UK's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation allowing it to proceed with the solicitation process. Any transaction will require approval from sanctions authorities, in addition to regulatory and corporate approvals, Bloomberg reported.
Mubadala, Raizen in the final round to acquire BP-Bunge Brazilian ethanol venture. (FS)
UAE state investor Mubadala Investment and energy company Raizen are in the final round to acquire Brazilian ethanol joint venture BP Bunge Bioenergia, the world's third-largest sugarcane processor.
There are no other bidders in the second round, and former proposals from other companies were disqualified, Reuters reported.
Shareholders BP and Bunge decided to negotiate with both bidders in a second phase because the difference between their proposals was very small. There are parallel negotiations with both.
Ripple Labs is interested in bankrupt crypto lender Celsius' assets.
San Francisco-based blockchain payments company Ripple Labs, which is embroiled in a high-profile battle with the US securities regulator, is interested in potentially purchasing assets of bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network, Reuters reported.
"We are interested in learning about Celsius and its assets and whether any could be relevant to our business,” Ripple Labs.
Pomona Capital raises $4bn in capital across the platform. (FS)
Pomona Capital, a global private equity firm, raised a combined total of $4bn across its platform in the past two years. The Firm recently held a final close on its tenth secondary flagship fund, Pomona Capital X, with commitments of $2.6bn.
Pomona Capital X seeks to deliver on the fundamental premise of secondary investing, solving for both growth and value with enhanced liquidity and a lower risk profile.
Bank of America hires Joe Valenti. (People)
Bank of America hired Joe Valenti as co-head of media and telecom investment banking. Prior to joining Solomon Partners in 2019, Valenti worked at Barclays and its predecessor Lehman Brothers for almost two decades.
New York-based Valenti, who most recently led technology, media and telecommunications at Solomon Partners, will lead the business alongside Dan Kelly, Bloomberg reported.
Jefferies hires Citigroup’s banker. (People)
Jefferies Financial Group hired David Biller from Citigroup, bringing the veteran banker back to Asia from Europe to help boost its practice in the region.
Biller is joining Jefferies as head of Southeast Asia and head of Asia industrials investment banking. He will be based in Singapore and plans to start on his new role later this year, Bloomberg reported.
EMEA
Capricorn Energy’s sale to Tullow Oil appears to be in peril, with more than a quarter of the shareholder base in the oil and gas company saying they plan to vote against the deal, Bloomberg reported.
Capricorn investors Madison Avenue Partners, Kite Lake Capital Management, Legal & General Investment Management, Newtyn Management and Palliser Capital UK all say they oppose the deal. Collectively, the investors represent more than 27% of Capricorn’s shareholder base, according to regulatory filings. The takeover requires the support of at least 75% of Capricorn’s shareholders who cast ballots.
Capricorn Energy is advised by Morgan Stanley, Rothschild & Co, Cravath Swaine & Moore, Shepherd & Wedderburn, Slaughter & May and Brunswick Group. Tullow Oil is advised by Barclays, KPMG, PJT Partners, Herbert Smith Freehills and Camarco.
PAI Partners, a private equity firm, completed the acquisition of HKA, an independent provider of consulting business for the construction, manufacturing, and technology industries, from Bridgepoint, a private investment company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"I am extremely proud of the successes the team at HKA has achieved to date, and I am very thankful for Bridgepoint's support and expertise over the last five years. We are very excited to be partnering with PAI Partners in the next phase of our growth," Renny Borhan, HKA CEO.
PAI Partners was advised by Bain & Co, Alvarez & Marsal, DC Advisory, Rothschild & Co, Weil Gotshal and Manges and Greenbrook. Bridgepoint was advised by OC&C Strategy Consultants, BDO, JP Morgan and Travers Smith.
Entain, a sports betting and gambling company, and EMMA Capital, an investment firm, agreed to acquire SuperSport, an operator of a sports betting company, for €920m ($950m).
"I am looking forward to joining with Entain and further building on the significant opportunity presented in this region. The prospect of leading Entain CEE to drive expansion in fully regulated markets is an exciting opportunity, and EMMA's investment expertise combined with Entain's world-class platform will give us the competitive edge in delivering on the CEE opportunity," Radim Haluza, SuperSport CEO.
Entain is advised by Morgan Stanley and Powerscourt. Debt financing is provided by Deutsche Bank, Lloyds Bank, Mediobanca, NatWest Markets and Santander.
Aviva, a financial services company, completed the acquisition of Succession Wealth, an investment management and retirement planning firm, from Inflexion, a private equity firm, for £385m ($515m).
"The acquisition of Succession Wealth boosts Aviva's presence in the fast-growing UK wealth market; supports our strategy to grow sustainably; and expands Aviva's ability to offer high quality financial advice to millions of our customers," Amanda Blanc, Aviva CEO.
Aviva was advised by JP Morgan, Eversheds Sutherland and Brunswick Group. Succession Wealth was advised by Evercore. Inflexion was advised by Herbert Smith Freehills and Citigate Dewe Rogerson.
JP Morgan Asset Management completed the acquisition of Global Shares, a software development firm, from Motive Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"The addition of Global Shares is complementary across our entire JP Morgan franchise from new client acquisition for our Global Private Bank and US Wealth Management businesses to providing new, innovative capabilities to private and public companies globally and helping their employees manage their wealth," Mary Callahan Erdoes, JP Morgan AM CEO.
Global Shares was advised by Bank of America, Arthur Cox and Proskauer Rose. JP Morgan AM was advised by JP Morgan, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and McCann FitzGerald.
Coats Group, an industrial thread and consumer textile crafts business, agreed to acquire Rhenoflex, a manufacturer of sustainable structural material solutions for the footwear industry, for $117m.
"We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Rhenoflex, which presents an exciting and synergistic opportunity for Coats to establish a leading global platform in footwear components, expanding our presence in the fast-growing athleisure footwear market. Rhenoflex is a high quality business that is complementary to both Texon and Coats and its strategic focus on sustainability and innovation will significantly enhance our proposition to customers," Rajiv Sharma, Coats CEO.
Coats Group is advised by Lazard and FTI Consulting.
BioIVT, a provider of mission-critical biological specimens and value-added services, completed the acquisition of Cypex, a renowned manufacturer of recombinant xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We are delighted that the Cypex team is joining BioIVT, bringing with them not only their market-leading products, but also their in vitro drug metabolism technology expertise. The acquisition of Cypex enhances BioIVT's product portfolio, ensuring that we continue to meet all our biopharmaceutical customers' research requirements for their entire R&D pipeline," Richard Haigh, BioIVT CEO.
BioIVT was advised by Morgan Lewis & Bockius and Rana Healthcare Solutions.
VINCI Energies, an accelerator of energy transition and digital transformation, agreed to acquire S&T, an IT services business of Kontron, a provider of hard and software solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The agreement covers operations in Germany, Switzerland, Poland as well as eight other countries in central and eastern Europe. Kontron specialises in IT systems integration and services for cloud and datacenters, IT networks and cybersecurity, digital workspace as well as dedicated business applications.
Kontron is advised by Houlihan Lokey.
International Holding Company, an initiative to diversify and develop non-oil business sectors in the UAE, completed the acquisition of a 50% stake in Kalyon Enerji, a renewable energy company, from Kalyon Holding, which operates in infrastructure, superstructure, highway, rail systems, sea crossing pipeline, natural gas and oil pipeline, energy and environmental projects, for $490m.
"This constitutes IHC's second-largest acquisition in the renewable energy sector to date. With this transaction, IHC is further accelerating its growth in the renewable energy sector by partnering with Kalyon Enerji. This will complement our renewable energy portfolio, which we will continue to grow across different markets," Syed Basar Shueb, IHC CEO.
Spin Master, a global children's entertainment company, agreed to acquire Nørdlight, a digital game studio based in Stockholm, Sweden. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"The pace of innovation within the children's entertainment space is rapidly changing, and this acquisition is strategically aligned with our long-term target to grow our Digital Games creative centre to up to 20% of Spin Master's total revenue. Leveraging our expanding capabilities and roster of valuable intellectual property, we are well positioned to build engaging, evergreen digital games properties as gaming continues to permeate entertainment time for children," Max Rangel, Spin Master Global President and CEO.
Rain pitches Telkom tie-up as an alternative to MTN.
South African internet provider Rain proposed a merger with larger rival Telkom to become a third major operator in the country, a challenge to a takeover proposal from MTN, Bloomberg reported.
Six-year-old Rain, which offers 4G and 5G services, made a formal request to pitch to Telkom's board. The terms of such a transaction, such as valuation and structure, would still need to be agreed upon.
MTN announced talks to buy Telkom last month in a deal that would create the biggest South African mobile-phone operator by a number of subscribers. The move faces antitrust hurdles, however, as it would create an effective duopoly.
Biggest Africa startup battles multiple allegations in IPO runup.
Africa’s largest startup Flutterwave is battling allegations of financial impropriety and personnel harassment from Lagos to Nairobi, as it considers pushing ahead with plans to list the company, Bloomberg reported.
The Nigerian financial-technology company recently filled key positions including a chief financial officer as it prepares for an initial public offering potentially next year. It might, however, take longer as the company deals with a reputation crisis and amid a global market downturn.
Waterland commits €100m for Irish investments. (FS)
European private equity firm Waterland committed up to €100m($103m) as part of its investment and growth strategy for Irish businesses over the next 12 to 18 months to help them deliver significant scale across Europe and at a global level.
This is the latest stage of Waterland's overall plans to support Irish-headquartered companies.
Top Citigroup UK dealmaker Jan Skarbek resigns amid an ongoing probe. (People)
Citigroup dealmaker Jan Skarbek, one of the UK's most high-profile investment bankers, resigned from the firm amid an ongoing probe.
The US lender internally announced that Skarbek is leaving after about 28 years with the firm. It promoted Skarbek last year to become co-head of its banking, capital markets, and advisory business in the UK and Ireland, Bloomberg reported.
Citigroup had suspended Skarbek pending an investigation into allegations of misconduct. The bank has been looking into a complaint about comments that Skarbek allegedly made to a female employee during a recent staff getaway.
APAC
Tata Motors, an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing company, agreed to acquire Sanand plant from Ford India, a manufacturer of automobiles and auto parts, for $92m.
"The agreement with FIPL signed today is beneficial to all stakeholders and reflects Tata Motors strong aspiration to further strengthen its market position in the Passenger Vehicles segment and to continue to build on its leadership position in the Electric Vehicles segment. It will accelerate the growth and development of the Indian auto industry by taking a progressive step forward towards building a future ready Atmanirbhar Bharat," Shailesh Chandra, Tata Motors Managing Director.
Ford India is advised by Citigroup.
Sinar Mas and Lazada Group, an e-commerce company, completed a $555m investment in DANA, a digital wallet-based financial technology company.
"With an increasingly digitalized landscape in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, improving access to financial services and providing more payment options for both businesses and consumers are crucial developments. Even as Lazada remains focused on eCommerce, we see ourselves playing a key role in building technology, logistics and payments infrastructures that will benefit the region for the long term. Our investment in DANA represents a strategic move in the right direction," James Dong, Lazada CEO.
SummitView Capital, a Chinese equity investment firm, led a $500m Series C funding round in Black Sesame Technologies, a Chinese developer of chips for autonomous driving, with participation from China Industrial Bank, GF Xinde Investment Management, Xin Ding Capital, Hina Group and Yangtze River Investment.
Black Sesame has pocketed over $500m within 12 months across two tranches of a Series C funding round. The company announced the completion of its Series C+ round led by SummitView Capital.
"SummitView Capital has been focusing on professional investment in key and core technology and semiconductors. We believe that professionalism makes an industry. Nowadays, chip arithmetic power has become an important part of the competition in the automotive industry. We are very pleased to see that Black Sesame's self-researched Huashan II A1000 series large arithmetic chip is already in mass production and used in cars. This is of great significance to consolidate the local industry chain and supply chain of autonomous driving," Wu Ping, SummitView Capital Founding Partner.
Santos, a supplier of natural gas, completed the acquisition of Hunter Gas Pipeline, a natural gas pipeline operator.
"At a time when the ACCC is forecasting domestic gas shortfalls, our Narrabri project, which is 100 percent committed to the domestic market, will inject new supply into southern domestic markets and put downward pressure on gas prices for New South Wales businesses, manufacturers and families. It will make more gas available to cover peak demand periods, especially in circumstances where gas power generators are called on unexpectedly to replace wind, solar and coal outages, as we have seen this winter. Acquiring the Hunter Gas Pipeline route is an important step for the Narrabri project, with appraisal drilling planned later this year, pending various native title and environmental management plan approvals," Brett Woods, Santos Midstream and Clean Fuels President.
Barings, an investment manager, agreed to acquire Altis Property Partners, a real estate firm based in Australia. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We're excited to welcome Altis to our real estate platform as we strengthen our local investment capabilities in Australia and continue to expand our footprint in the region. Asia Pacific makes up approximately a third of Barings' third-party AUM and is expected to be a key driver of growth for us. Barings has successfully led private credit and real estate debt investments in Australia and we're confident Altis will help us broaden our investment capabilities in the region," Mike Freno, Barings Chairman and CEO.
LifeWorks, a provider of comprehensive mental health, digital and in-person total wellbeing solutions, agreed to acquire Benestar, an employee assistance program and workplace wellbeing provider, from Cover-More, a provider of travel insurance, medical assistance and travel risk management. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Benestar and LifeWorks are a natural fit based on our holistic and proactive approaches to workplace wellbeing and because of our shared commitment to our clients. With more than 45 years in the Australian market, LifeWorks offers our clients the most comprehensive portfolio of personalized mental health services, making a substantially positive impact in the lives of people, their families and communities, and the organizations they work for," Jamie MacLennan, LifeWorks Senior Vice President and Managing Director.
Swire to buy back $510m shares, sending stock surging.
Asian conglomerate Swire Pacific is buying back $510m worth of its shares in one of Hong Kong's largest buy-backs on record, as its profits in the first six months of the year rose 38% year on year, Bloomberg reported.
The company reported an underlying profit of $216m for the first six months, compared with $166m in the first half of 2021.
It attributed the improvement largely to Swire unit and de facto flag carrier Cathay Pacific, which narrowed its losses in the period as passenger flights rebounded.
China's Didi EV JV with Li Auto files for bankruptcy.
Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi's joint venture with Li Auto has applied for bankruptcy, pointing to the end of a four-year-old partnership to make electric vehicles.
The company, 51% owned by Didi while 49% held by Li Auto, submitted the bankruptcy application to Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court on Thursday.
Didi and Li Auto, previously known as Chehejia, established Beijing Judian Chuxing Technology in 2018 to develop and manufacture customized smart electric vehicles for ride-hailing services. It was also among a series of partnerships Didi struck with major automakers, including Volkswagen, Toyota and BYD with plans to adopt more EVs with autonomous driving technologies in its fleets.
Abu Dhabi conglomerate IHC seeks takeovers in 'buyers' market'.
Abu Dhabi conglomerate International Holding expects to increase its takeover activity, including in India and Turkey, as global market turbulence has created "a buyers' market".
IHC, the most valuable company on the Abu Dhabi bourse with a market capitalization of around $167bn, is aiming for publicly-listed companies in growth markets. It was also looking in South America and Indonesia.
Johor picks banks for IPO of $1bn palm oil unit Kulim. (FS)
Johor, a Malaysian state-owned investment firm, has picked banks for an initial public offering of its plantation unit, Bloomberg reported.
The investment arm of the Johor state government is working with advisers including RHB Investment Bank, Affin Bank and AMMB Holdings on a domestic listing of Kulim Malaysia.
Eastroc Beverage picks banks for $500m Zurich GDR.
Chinese energy drink maker Eastroc Beverage Group selected banks to sell global depositary receipts in Switzerland that could raise about $500m, Bloomberg reported.
The Shanghai-listed company is working with China International Capital and Goldman Sachs on the potential share sale. A listing could happen as soon as this year.
China's largest duty-free retailer readies for big-ticket Hong Kong IPO.
China's largest duty-free retailer has got the go-ahead to list on Hong Kong's stock exchange, clearing the way for its second attempt at an IPO that could be worth billions.
China Tourism Group Duty Free filed updated IPO paperwork with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Tuesday, after getting approval from the bourse. The next step for the company will be to market its shares to international investors.
Financial advisers have stated that elements such as weaker Q1 2022 results, the negative impact of Covid-19, and new agreements with Guangzhou Airport should be taken into account.
ThaiBev defers brewery unit listing, citing a "challenging" market.
Thai Beverage has deferred the initial public offering of its brewery unit in Singapore once again, citing "prolonged challenging market conditions" for its decision, Bloomberg reported.
The maker of Chang beer said it will continue to monitor market conditions and explore opportunities to maximize shareholders' value including potentially reviewing the proposed spin-off listing "at an appropriate time."
The announcement comes just months after the firm said it intended to resume the listing of BeerCo and conduct a public offering of as much as about 20% of the unit. ThaiBev, controlled by Thai tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, was seeking about $800m to $1bn in the unit's IPO.
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