Acquisitions Monthly articles from April 2008

Acquisitions Monthly archives from April 2008

Withdrawn deals weigh down data.(EDITORIAL)
April 1, 2008... Given the continuing credit crisis, it is no surprise that preliminary statistics for the first quarter of the current year show that both the volume and value of M&A deals fell substantially compared with the first quarter of last year. ...

Death of a merger?(LEAD FEATURE: POST MERGER INTEGRATION)(Company overview)
April 1, 2008... Death of a Salesman was Arthur Miller's classic caustic attack on the American Dream. He may have written it 60 years ago, but sub-prime mortgage salesmen would see similarities between Miller's play and their own lives. They unscrupulously...

Cultural integration--paper tiger or stalking horse? The established view of how to tackle cultural integration is shifting as non-Western businesses increasingly take a driving seat. Carlos Keener of the consulting firm Beyond the Deal writes.(POST MERGER INTEGRATION COLUMN)
April 1, 2008... Much has been written of the latent but ultimately seismic effect that conflicting values and behaviours can have as organisations come together during mergers or acquisitions, and how that impact can reach from the shop floor to the boardroom....

Unfinished business.(POST MERGER INTEGRATION)
April 1, 2008... Current economic woes have made acquisition financing expensive for companies and organic growth harder. Extracting more value from those acquisitions that corporates made in the past, when credit was cheap, may be a way for their CEOs to...

Worldwide M&A falls 24% to US$730bn: this was the lowest level of deal activity since the third quarter of 2006. Fees for completed M&A financial advisory assignments fell by 29%.(MARKET INTELLIGENCE)
April 1, 2008... During the first three months of 2008, the volume of worldwide mergers and acquisitions totalled US$729.9bn in announced deals, a 24% fall from the first quarter of 2007 and the lowest level for deal activity since the third quarter of 2006....

March snapshot: synopses of the largest global deals announced in the last month.(MARKET INTELLIGENCE)
April 1, 2008... US: International Paper Co agreed to acquire the containerboard packaging & recycling business of Weyerhaeuser Co, a manufacturer of lumber and paper products, for US$6bn in cash. The transaction was subject to customary closing conditions and...

Further turbulence ahead.(MARKET INTELLIGENCE)
April 1, 2008... AS predicted in the last review of the Private Company Price Index, Q4 2007 saw the full effects of the credit crunch on the M&A market. Since Q2 2007, prior to the US sub-prime collapse, the PEPI has fallen by 13.5% to 15.4 and the PCPI has...

Media's digital evolution: in a world that never stands still, the pace of the digital revolution that is sweeping through the media sector just seems to quicken, leaving in its wake those firms that have not embraced it wholeheartedly and completely.(FOCUS ON DIGITAL MEDIA)(Company overview)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It is a brave and foolhardy CEO that has not considered the firm's digital strategy at length in today's environment. That does not only apply to those traditional and digital media companies across all parts of the...

Nuclear options back on the table: the political and environmental impetus to revive nuclear power in the UK has thrust British Energy--a commercial basket-case in late 2002 that the government had to rescue from impending bankruptcy--into a takeover scenario that could require an investment of up to 30bn [pounds sterling].(SECTOR REPORTS: FOCUS ON UTILITIES)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The intervening 5-1/2 years has proved to be a long time in the energy business. Back then, British Energy had been left horribly exposed to the collapse in UK wholesale power prices in late 2002 that resulted from...

Land ahoy! Land Securities could be on the verge of reshaping the UK REIT sector. If its demerger is mimicked by its peers, the UK will increasingly resemble the more mature US and Australian REIT models.(SECTOR REPORTS: FOCUS ON PROPERTY)
April 1, 2008... "It looks so bad that it is good," was one justification put forward by a broker for buying shares in the battered UK property sector. Even though there is probably little prospect of a major recovery in property share prices any time...

Turmoil could spur real estate consolidation: Michael Slade, chief executive of London Stock Exchange listed property group Helical Bar, talks to Justin Pugsley about the potential for M&A between UK listed property companies.(SECTOR REPORTS: FOCUS ON PROPERTY)
April 1, 2008... Michael Slade is a veteran of the UK commercial real estate market, having survived several market cycles. He is a high-profile entrepreneur with a long and successful track record. He reckons there are a number of factors afoot that could...

Property investment opportunities emerge: Les Lang of Infinity Asset management, which has raised 100m [pounds sterling] to invest in UK real estate, talks to Justin Pugsley about the market and investment opportunities.(SECTOR REPORTS: FOCUS ON PROPERTY)
April 1, 2008... "The market has had a reality check and we think this makes it an excellent time to invest," explained Lang, a partner with Manchester-based private equity group Infinity Asset Management, "and we're basically starting with a completely clean...

Germans warm to UK real estate.(SECTOR REPORTS: FOCUS ON PROPERTY)
April 1, 2008... German buyers accounted for around a third of foreign investment in UK commercial real estate during the opening months of 2008. They spent some 567m [pounds sterling] buying UK buildings, mainly offices, with German savings funds leading the...

Vodafone faces tax bill for Indian excursion: the Indian tax authorities are claiming Vodafone owes US$2bn in relation to its acquisition of Hutchison Essar last year.(LEGAL & REGULATORY)
April 1, 2008... When UK mobile phone company Vodafone won the hotly contested auction for Indian operator Hutchison Essar in February last year, probably the last thing on chief executive Arun Satin's mind was any tax due on the deal. The US$10.75bn...

Seeking an audience: publishing companies and advertising agencies have had to adapt to the new digital realities. Acquirers are refining their plans too.(MOVING IN THE MID-MARKETS: (US$500M-US$30M))(Company overview)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Since the start of this year Google has seen its shares fall by more than 40%. While it is still more than 300% above the search engine's 2004 flotation price, this is the first serious setback for the world's...

VCT merger activity symptomatic of young market: the benefits of critical mass and the diverging performance of different VCTs is leading to consolidation in the market.(MOVING IN THE MID-MARKETS)
April 1, 2008... The management of Noble Venture Capital Trust has changed hands. In March, its board announced plans to transfer the management of the fund from Noble Fund Managers to Foresight Group. This change is symptomatic of the consolidation of the VCT...

Germany's Mittelstand is back in favour: financial sponsors are targeting smaller listed companies.(MOVING IN THE MID-MARKETS)
April 1, 2008... Private equity firms are converging on the German Mittelstand, with an increasing number looking to take strategic minority stakes in mid-sized companies listed on the German stock exchanges, according to Jan Janshen, general manager at the...

G4S to secure smaller deals: the blue-chip security group adds Armor and sets out expansion plans.(MOVING IN THE MID-MARKETS)
April 1, 2008... Directors of ArmorGroup International, which in February admitted it was in talks about a potential offer, have agreed to a 43.6m [pounds sterling] cash bid for the security company from sector leader G4S. ArmorGroup is one of the larger...

Luxury offers comfort in harder times: luxury brands are seen as a safer bet in today's difficult retail environment. Buyout groups continue to covet them but due diligence demands are rising and trade players may be back.(MOVING IN THE MID-MARKETS)
April 1, 2008... Private equity players have dominated the purchase of luxury brand businesses in recent years. The ability of trade players to acquire both up-and-coming and well-established luxury brands has been sapped by private equity appetite. "In...

Buy--and-builds thrive: add-ons are looking more attractive in a debt-starved market but buy-and-build strategies demand a certain mindset, say practitioners, which will exclude other players from engaging in the technique wholesale.(PRIVATE EQUITY COLUMN)
April 1, 2008... Tough debt markets are forcing private equity funds to rethink their tactics. "If you don't need to sell in this market, then why would you?" asks Gareth Whiley, partner at PPM Capital, a UK-based European private equity firm. Vendor price...

Civica buy caps reporting period for 3i: 'undervalued' software firm one of many considerable opportunities for private equities.(BEHIND THE BUYOUTS)
April 1, 2008... 3i, the London-listed global private equity firm, has followed up impressive pre-close period investment figures and a change in early-stage strategy with the take-private of Civica, a UK software developer and consultancy business. ...

Nordic Capital in 1.1bn [euro] IT P2P: Nordic buyout market sees two 500m [euro]-plus deals despite losing out to trade on Vin & Spirit.(BEHIND THE BUYOUTS)
April 1, 2008... Homegrown buyout houses suffered a setback to their acquisitiveness at the end of March when the Swedish government named Pernod Ricard as the winner of the auction for Vin & Spirit. The French drinks company paid 5.65bn [euro] (US$8.87bn) for...

LMS capital picks up crane deal.(BEHIND THE BUYOUTS)
April 1, 2008... LMS Capital, an AIM-listed investment company, has sold its entire holding in Energy Cranes International in a secondary buyout to mid-market private equity house Close Brothers Private Equity for an enterprise value of 142m [pounds sterling]...

Carlyle invest 1.1bn [pounds sterling] in French deal: Carlyle and Cinven are joint owners of 6.5bn [euro] French telecommunications giant.(BEHIND THE BUYOUTS)
April 1, 2008... Private equity firm Carlyle Group has completed a 1.1bn [euro] investment in telecommunications companies Numericable and Completel. The equity investment represents the largest ever made by a single private equity firm in France. Carlyle...

ECI bets on growth for premier research.(BEHIND THE BUYOUTS)
April 1, 2008... ECI Partners, a UK mid-market private equity firm, and financial provider Indigo have taken private Premier Research Group, a pharmaceutical research organisation, for about 60.5m [pounds sterling] (US$120m). ECI Partners, which has offices in...

Gresham more than triples money on waste.(BEHIND THE BUYOUTS)
April 1, 2008... Gresham Private Equity, a UK midmarket private equity house with offices in London, Manchester and Birmingham, has sold its investment in waste-water support services business PIMS Group in a secondary buyout to London and Manchester-based...

Terra firma withdraws from M&B.(BEHIND THE BUYOUTS)
April 1, 2008... Private equity firm Terra Firma has withdrawn from the bidding for Mitchells & Butlers ((M&B), following in the footsteps of Apax Partners and Cinven. Several parties are still interested in bidding for the UK pub operator. Punch Taverns,...

Abbot Group.(M&A capital markets round-up)
April 1, 2008... Global coordinator and bookrunner Goldman Sachs with bookrunners Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and RBS have launched the US$2.16bn credit facilities backing First Reserves acquisition of oil services business Abbot Group. The deal is the largest...

GET.(M&A capital markets round-up)
April 1, 2008... BNP Paribas and RBS are syndicating the NKr3.71bn debt package supporting Quadrangle and GS Capital's buyout of GET, a Norwegian cable operator. Senior syndication was launched in December, aimed at existing investors and Nordic banks. ...

Integrated Dental Holdings.(M&A capital markets round-up)
April 1, 2008... Mandated lead arrangers Bank of Ireland, Barclays, Merrill Lynch and RBS have launched syndication of the 222.5m [pounds sterling] debt backing the acquisition of Integrated Dental Holdings by Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity. Debt is...

Tunstall Group.(M&A capital markets round-up)
April 1, 2008... RBS has been mandated as bookrunner backing Charterhouse Capital Partners' 514m [pounds sterling] buyout of Tunstall Group from Bridgepoint. Tunstall is a UK based provider of telecare systems for the elderly and infirm, with products...

Inspicio.(M&A capital markets round-up)
April 1, 2008... Barclays and SG have launched syndication of the 282m [pounds sterling] loan backing the buyout of Inspicio by 3i. Facilities include 180m [pounds sterling] of senior term loans and a 55m [pounds sterling] revolving credit facility, a 47m...

Z&J Technologies.(M&A capital markets round-up)
April 1, 2008... Mandated lead arranger and bookrunner Commerzbank has been mandated to lead the debt financing backing the acquisition of Z&J Technologies by sponsor ILP Funds which is advised by J. Hirsch & Co. The business was acquired in a secondary buyout...

M&A deal data.(Company overview)
April 1, 2008... This country analysis included acquisitions and buyouts announced between 16 February 2008 and 19 March 2008. Benelux Target Bidder 2waytraff lic NV (NT)--Provide Sony Corp (JP)--Special...

Country codes.(M&A Deal Data)
April 1, 2008... COUNTRY CODES AA Albania AB Aruba AD Andorra AF Afghanistan AI Abu Dhabi AJ Ajman AL Algeria AM Armenia AN Angola AQ Antigua AR Argentina AS Austria AU Australia...

Taking the bite out of the crunch.(EDITORIAL)
April 1, 2008... If you could put a date on when the credit crunch started, why not Thursday July 26 2007? That was when Alliance Boots hit the headlines of the UK financial press, following a week of negative rumours, with news that underwriting banks had...

Deals will get done: private equity firms are looking at innovative ways of getting round the lack of willingness to lend by the mainstream banks.(LEVERAGED FINANCE REPORT)
April 1, 2008... If you split the market between deals of up to 200m [pounds sterling] and those beyond, the number of bigger deals has cratered because banks don't want to underwrite debt and mezzanine packages. A year ago, Barclays, RBS or other lenders...

Braced for defaults: the threat of leveraged loan defaults is hovering on the horizon, but when and how hard these loans might fall is anyone's guess.(LEVERAGED FINANCE REPORT)
April 1, 2008... The causes of potential defaults are obvious. Private equity houses over-leveraged in order to over-pay for many new acquisitions in the 18 months leading up to the credit crunch last summer To compound this, the money was lent at a time...

Private equity talking points: distressed debt opportunities and the disintermediation of Wall Street are among the hottest current issues for private equity, as delegates to this year's Super Return conference heard. Keith Boyfield reports from Munich.(LEVERAGED FINANCE REPORT)(Conference news)
April 1, 2008... Delegates to the Super Return International 2008 conference gathered in Munich at the end of February, under the shadow of a US$200bn debt overhang sitting on banks' books and a market that has effectively dried up for buyout deals over US$1bn....

The Royal Bank of Scotland leveraged finance group.(SPONSOR'S PROFILE)(Company overview)
April 1, 2008... In the past 12 months The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has continued to build on its Leveraged Finance franchise, strengthening its global presence while maintaining a lead position in the European marketplace and closing the two largest LBOs...

The credit crunch and the wider European leveraged finance market: Jochen Konig, managing director, head of RBS Structured Finance Germany--Real Estate & Leveraged Finance, looks at how the credit crunch has affected the European leveraged.(SPONSOR'S ARTICLE: RBS)(Industry overview)
April 1, 2008... The credit crunch has brought the rapid expansion of the European leveraged buyout (LBO) market to a screeching halt. With everyone in the industry acutely aware of the impact of the current liquidity vacuum, we address two key issues in this...

Mezz is back: before the credit crunch, independent mezzanine houses often found themselves out in the cold, unneeded or out-priced. Now they are making a return, plugging the gaps left by shrinking senior debt packages.(LEVERAGED FINANCE REPORT)
April 1, 2008... Outpriced by other pieces of debt in recent years, mezzanine is back in play. Some independent mezzanine houses have been conspicuous in their liquidity. Specialist mezzanine provider Intermediate Capital Group is reported to have taken...

Back to the J-curve: fund investors briefly stepped into the spotlight in Geneva to support European private equity, despite concerns about its short-term future.(LEVERAGED FINANCE REPORT)
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The good news at the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association's 2008 Investors' Forum was that the numbers still stacked up in terms of investments, realisations and fundraising. The bad news was that...