How cyber attacks could derail the fragile M&A boom August 18, 2014 IT WAS one of the darkest days for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Wall Street history. The collapse of five mega-deals earlier this month, for reasons ranging from a lack of board engagement to excessive regulatory interference, demonstrates the fragility of the current M&A boom. Already this year, 339 deals worth $428bn (£256bn) have collapsed [...]
Clock ticking as Carillion mulls Balfour Beatty options to sweeten £3bn mega-merger deal August 17, 2014 The saga of a potential £3bn mega-merger between construction giants Carillion and Balfour Beatty has entered its endgame, with Carillion considering its options to entice its rival as the clock ticks down on the chances of a deal. Carillion has until this Thursday to make another approach to its reluctant rival, after which it will [...]
Balfour Beatty rejects Carillion merger for the second time August 15, 2014 Infrastructure firm Balfour Beatty has reaffirmed its rejection of a merger with Carillion. Balfour's board said it had considered the potential for synergies, risk of revenue and cost leakage and the impact of terminating the Parsons Brinckerhoff sales process. However, it came to the conclusion that an independent strategy, all the benefits of which will [...]
Saga dips toe into M&A waters with Destinology deal August 13, 2014 Saga, the over-50s specialist, yesterday made its first acquisition since floating earlier this year, buying a 75 per cent stake in online travel firm Destinology . The deal, believed to be worth £20m, comes in the wake of Saga’s listing on the London stock market in May. The purchase will be funded from existing [...]
Chiquita and Fyffes $1bn banana merger may be split August 11, 2014 A MERGER between two of world’s largest banana rivals Fyffes and Chiquita was thrown in doubt yesterday after new suitors weighed in with a rival $610.5m (£364m) takeover bid. Juice maker Cutrale and the Brazilian investment firm Safra announced that they have offered $13 per share in cash to Chiquita shareholders, a 29 per cent [...]
Balfour Beatty rejects Carillion merger as profits drop 53 per cent August 11, 2014 Balfour Beatty has said it had "lost confidence" in merger talks with Carillion, as the British infrastructure company separately announced today that half-year profits have dropped by over 50 per cent compared to the same period last year. The company is currently in an offer period which extends to 21 August 2014, and had [...]
Carillion and Balfour revive merger talks August 10, 2014 CARILLION and Balfour Beatty have resumed talks over a possible £3bn merger, which would create one of the UK’s largest construction firms. Negotiations broke down at the end of last month due to a dispute over Balfour’s planned sale of Parsons Brinckerhoff, a US engineering design business it bought in 2009. Carillion said it would [...]
Balfour Beatty and Carillion resume £3bn merger talks as clock ticks on deal August 10, 2014 Balfour Beatty and Carillion have resumed talks over a potential £3bn merger between the two construction companies, less than two weeks after they were called off because of disagreements between the firms. The Sunday Times reports the construction firms resumed contact last week and the Balfour Beatty board met on Friday to discuss the deal [...]
Ribbon cut on Dixons Carphone merger by chief Seb James August 8, 2014 Dixons Carphone chief exec Seb James and his deputy Andrew Harrison cut the ribbon on their £3.8bn mega-merger yesterday, visiting most of the seven newly branded stores with a pair of scissors. “It was quite an early start, we’ve been running around all day trying to make it to all of the stores,” James told [...]
Dixons Carphone share price falls on first day of trading after £3.6bn merger August 8, 2014 Shares in Dixons Carphone rose yesterday morning only to close down 1.8 per cent in their first formal day of trading since Carphone Warehouse and Dixons Retail merged to create a £3.6bn consumer electronics empire. The FTSE 250 company aims to exploit the ever-growing presence of consumer electronics in people’s lives and the so-called [...]
