Germany’s forced marriage of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank may not work out March 19, 2019 Germany seems to be obsessed with the idea of creating a national banking champion. Is it a way of standing up to the big-ticket US banks, or reaffirming Germany’s dominance as the biggest European economy? Either way, it looks like the country is pushing to create yet another “too big to fail” bank. Back in [...]
Brookfield buys 62 per cent of Oaktree Capital in $4.7bn deal March 13, 2019 Canadian firm Brookfield Asset Management has agreed to buy 62 per cent of US alternative asset management company Oaktree Capital for an estimated $4.7bn (£3.56bn). The combined companies will have around $475bn of assets under management and $2.5bn of annual fee related revenue, creating one of the world’s biggest alternative asset managers. Read more: Oaktree Capital [...]
Business software M&A hits five-year high March 11, 2019 Business software merger and acquisition value hit a five-year high in 2018 driven by the rapid growth of technology firms. New research shows that enterprise software M&A was $182.2bn last year, and that a total of 629 deals were completed in the second half, up 35 per cent from a low of 465 deals in the [...]
European M&A value hits six-year low driven by fall in UK deals March 8, 2019 European merger and acquisition values have hit a six-year low in 2019 so far driven by Brexit-related uncertainty among foreign investors. M&A deals in Europe have reached $81.1bn in the year to date, down 60 per cent on the previous year to levels not seen since 2013, according to analysis from Refinitiv. Read more: M&A [...]
M&A could be the cure for the UK’s threatened pharmaceutical industry March 7, 2019 Six in 10 UK hospital pharmacists report medicine shortages daily – twice the rate as the whole of the European Union. And this is before the fast-approaching EU withdrawal agreement puts additional pressure on the medicine supply chain. According to Mike Thompson, chief executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry: “every month, 45m [...]
Packaging firm DS Smith sells plastics division to US private equity firm Olympus Partners in $585m deal March 6, 2019 Packaging company DS Smith has sold its plastics division to US private equity firm Olympus Partners for $585m (£445m). The sale is part of the London-headquartered firm’s strategy to shift towards sustainable packaging, the company announced in a trading update today. Read more: Rupert Soames joins board at DS Smith The move will address investor concerns [...]
Bauer Media acquires ten regional radio stations amid competition probe March 5, 2019 Bauer Media has snapped up a further ten regional radio stations as it faces a competition probe into its spate of acquisitions earlier in the year. The media giant today said it has bought UKRD Group, which owns stations across Yorkshire, East Anglia, the south and the south west of England. Read more: Bauer Media [...]
Domestic M&A deal value reaches decade high in 2018 despite Brexit uncertainty March 5, 2019 Domestic merger and acquisition (M&A) value hit a ten-year high in 2018 despite Brexit uncertainty, according to the latest data. Acquisitions of UK companies by other UK firms rose from £18.8bn in 2017 to £26.5bn last year, the highest value since deals reached £36.5bn in 2008, research from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found. [...]
Nasdaq improves offer for Norwegian stock exchange Oslo Bors as bidding battle intensifies March 4, 2019 Nasdaq has boosted its offer for Norwegian stock exchange Oslo Bors as it seeks to outbid rival Euronext. The US exchange said today it had increased its offer from 152 Norwegian kroner to 158 Norwegian kroner, valuing the business at roughly 6.8bn Norwegian krone (£600m). The move matches an offer from European rival Euronext which [...]
Brexit uncertainty sparks public to private takeover trend February 27, 2019 Brexit uncertainty has sparked private equity fund interest in UK take-private transactions, new research shows. Of the 42 firm offers for UK public companies last year 31 per cent were made by private equity, analysis by investment bank Jefferies shows. Read more: Why tech startups are snubbing IPOs Public to private deals completed in 2018 [...]
