Acquisitions Monthly articles from January 2004

Acquisitions Monthly archives from January 2004

Modified rapture.(Insight)(the climate for mergers and acquisitions in Europe)
January 1, 2004... There is a muted buzz of excitement in the European mergers and acquisitions market as we begin 2004. It is muted because many embarrassingly sanguine voices have been proved wrong over the past two grim years, yet there is no denying now that...

German companies become M&A targets: while early 2003 was a poor advertisement for German M&A, by the second half of the year deals were beginning to emerge but can that activity be sustained into 2004?(Focus on Germany)
January 1, 2004... Advisers point to growing interest in the M&A potential of the banking sector and in industries such as chemicals and automotive parts. As in 2003, much of the business this year will be driven by large industrial conglomerates selling off...

Sailing out of the doldrums: a storming last quarter in the US and an upswing in recruitment are important pointers. But 2003 was a flat year.(Market intelligence)
January 1, 2004... A mere glance at the figures in Europe suggests that 2003 was little better than 2002. Indeed, in some respects it was worse because of the poor quality of many of the largest deals and the impact on investment banking fees. Yet the global...

Viewpoints on the year ahead: we asked leading practitioners to look into the crystal ball and offer predictions for the world of M&A in 2004.(Viewpoints)
January 1, 2004... Financial advisers "In mid-2003 we sensed that the global M&A market had reached an inflection point. That subsequently proved to be the case in the UK, and indeed elsewhere, with a marked pickup in boardroom confidence and increased...

Synopses of the largest global deals in December 2003.(Market intelligence)
January 1, 2004... US: FedEx Corp has agreed to acquire all the outstanding stock of Kinko's Inc, a provider of document solutions and business services, from Clayton Dubilier & Rice's Clayton & Dubilier Inc subsidiary, for US$2.4bn in cash. US: SL Green...

Enterprise value--costing all the liabilities: in a series of articles on valuation, Michael Cahill, author of "Analysing Companies and Valuing Shares", argues that when acquiring a business you need to know all the potential liabilities and know what you are getting.(Market intelligence)
January 1, 2004... The recent debates over who has responsibility for pension deficits, the importance of healthcare liabilities, and the use of off-balance sheet vehicles have focused attention on the liability side of the equation in any transaction or...

Steel builds investment bank at Arbuthnot.(Institutions)(James Steel, Arbuthnot Securities)
January 1, 2004... Arbuthnot Securities has hired James Steel as its new head of corporate finance. Steel is charged with the task of building a larger corporate finance team and to help build a full-service investment bank at what is still principally a broking...

Former 3i man joins Beringea.(Institutions)(Trevor Hope)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Beringea, the specialist private equity investor, has hired Trevor Hope as an investment director in its London office to assist new investments and future fundraisings. Hope was previously a senior investment executive at 3i, where he...

Court strips OFT of merger powers: in a shock decision, the UK's specialist competition court, the Competition Appeal Tribunal, effectively stripped the British competition regulator, the Office of Fair Trading, of most of its powers to assess mergers.(Legal and Regulatory)(Office of Fair Trading)(IBA Health Limited v. OFT)
January 1, 2004... The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT)'s ruling as based on the interpretation of the Enterprise Act 2002, which abolished political interference in UK merger control and replaced the broad public interest test of the old regime with one focused...

Dealing with the IBA Health decision: the decision of the UK competition appeal tribunal in the IBA health case is unlikely to be overturned easily. Dealmakers are likely to have to live with the decision for some time.(Legal and Regulatory)(Capital Acquisitions Tax)
January 1, 2004... It is true that the British competition regulator, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), has applied to the Court of Appeal to request that the CAT's ruling be overturned. However, there are two very strong reasons why the Court of Appeal is likely...

Should the water industry consolidate? As UK households face hikes of up to 70% in their water bills between 2005 and 2010, water company mergers--a move proponents claim could cut the sector's costs by up to 5bn [pounds sterling]--seems certain to intensify this year.(Utilities sector focus)
January 1, 2004... The arguments are set to resurface this month, with the publication of a report that industry regulator Ofwat commissioned last year on the potential for economies of scale in the water business, Ofwat commissioned the work from consultants...

Remarkable turnaround for Drax: -fired poEurope's largest coalwer station has concluded its financial restructuring, which should set it up for a further 30 years of profitable operation. Andrew Cavenagh talks to the new CEO, Gerald Wingrove.(AM Interview)(Interview)
January 1, 2004... Creditors of the 4,000MW Drax plant in North Yorkshire all signed up before December 22 to a rescheduling of almost 1.3bn [pounds sterling] of senior debt that will allow Drax to operate viably as a fully merchant plant. The management's...

Preferred bidder named for Fiddlers Ferry.(Utilities sector report)
January 1, 2004... International Power is keen to move away from its loss-making US business and increase its generation capacity in the UK. International Power emerged as the buyer of two large coal-fired plants in the UK just two weeks after bondholders and...

BE completes Amergen sale.(Utilities sector report)(British Energy)
January 1, 2004... The beleaguered British Energy completed the sale of its 50% stake in US nuclear plant operator Amergen for US$277m (155m [pounds sterling]) on December 23 the day after the company's board strong-armed its shareholders into approving the deal....

Commission action initiates Editis sale; Lagardere is to sell 60% of publishing group Editis in order to comply with the requests of the European Commission to create a strong competitor to the group in France.(TMT sector report)
January 1, 2004... BNP Paribas is understood to have been appointed by French media and defence group Lagardere to advise on the sale of 60% of publishing business Editis (formerly Vivendi Universal Publishing). Lagardere had intended to buy the entire business...

Jefferies/Broadview challenge rivals; the new combination creates an important force in the mid-market.(FIG sector report)
January 1, 2004... The sale of an M&A advisory business should always prompt nods of approval, removing as it does any possible taint of hypocrisy from the firm. Broadview International, which has not been short of suitors recently, believes it has now found the...

Moving in the mid-markets (US$500m-US$30m): mid-market regains its appetite.(Gresham's Survey)
January 1, 2004... UK mid-market corporates are more optimistic than they have been for nearly two years and more than half are considering deals, according to the latest Gresham Monitor issued by the private equity firm. In a survey of board-level executives...

Germany's most successful story: a brighter outlook for Bavaria is expected for 2004, with corporate restructuring and secondary buyouts continuing to drive the market.(Moving in the mid-markets)
January 1, 2004... With a GDP of about 352bn [euro], Bavaria has one of the most robust economies in Europe. It has a strong high-tech industry--in information and communications, biotechnology and genetic engineering, energy and environmental technology--and a...

AWG sells its vehicle leasing business.(Sector watch)(Stern Groep, NL, buys two more Ford dealerships)
January 1, 2004... AWG moved nearer to completing its disposal programme of non-core businesses when it sold its vehicle leasing business on December 23 to the Venson automotive group for 34.5m [pounds sterling]. The price AWG achieved for the Powermarque...

Editorial calendar for 2004.(Sector watch)(Calendar)
January 1, 2004... Sector Focus January Utilities February Banks and other financials March Consumer, food, drink April Insurance. Biotech May Leisure, hotel, property June Media. Healthcare July Oil & gas,...

Behind the buyouts.
January 1, 2004... Overview As Acquisitions Monthly went to press, it was reported that a US$1bn high-yield bond could surface later this month as part of the financing package backing Blackstone's 2.58bn [euro] LBO of Celanese. The total purchase price of...

Shareholders wise up to PTPs: is shareholder activism throttling the UK's once-booming public-to-private market? That is certainly one of the darker mutterings of the new year among private equity professionals.(Private equity column)(public-to-private )
January 1, 2004... As one practitioner says: "In the good old days, by the time bids had been made and recommended, it was too late for shareholders to do anything. Now they are more assertive of their rights." And it is every shareholder's right, of course,...

A year of two halves: figures from CMBOR show that the European buyout market dropped both in terms of volume and value in 2003.(Behind the buyouts)(Centre for Management Buy-Out Research)
January 1, 2004... The buyout world, as with much else in 2003, had a split personality. "The first half of the year was eerily quiet," says Jonathan Russell, head of European buyouts at 3i. "There was a huge paralysis of decision-making owing to the geopolitical...

Bain agrees 1.4bn [euro] Brenntag acquisition; Bain Capital has beaten rivals to acquire Brenntag, the chemicals distribution business sold by Deutsche Bahn.(Behind the buyouts)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... International private equity firm Bain Capital is acquiring Brenntag, the chemical distribution company sold by Deutsche Bahn. Interfer, a steel distributor, will also change hands as part of the acquisition. The agreement comes at the end...

Electra backs Aliplast MBO; Electra Partners Europe has completed its sixth buyout of 2003 and its 10th since it closed its current fund in 2001.(Behind the buyouts)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... The European mid-market buyout firm is backing a US$256m management buyout at Aliplast, a supplier of conservatory and window systems based in Belgium. Its other buyouts in 2003 include chemicals concern Azelis; Rank Leisure Machine Services;...

Hermes completes first deal from HPEP I: Hermes Private Equity has completed the buyout of trust and company services firm Walbrook--the first buyout from its HPEP I fund, which closed recently on 200m [pounds sterling].(Behind the buyouts)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Walbrook, the trust and company services arm of Deloitte in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, has undergone a 50m [pounds sterling]-plus management buyout led by Hermes Private Equity. The deal is worth "in excess of 50m [pounds sterling]",...

Blackstone offers 3.1bn [euro] for Celanese: US private equity firm Blackstone has announced a 3.1bn [euro] offer for Celanese, the industrial chemicals company.(Behind the buyouts)
January 1, 2004... As well as, being one of Europe's largest management buyouts so far this year, Celanese is also the largest public-to-private offer in Germany to date and the first dual-jurisdiction tender offer in Germany and the US since the Takeover Act was...

India matures: a significant year: the Indian M&A market showed signs of revival in the second half of 2003.(India)(Mergers & Acquisitions)
January 1, 2004... "While total deal volume was by no means as large as in the boom periods of 2000 and first half 2002, the nature of the deals indicates a structural deepening of the M&A market. This is the fifth year that India Advisory Partners has...

The Admiralty: Somerset House is now a centre for skating, fine-art-ogling, and fine dining in the Admiralty Restaurant.(Meals & Appetites)
January 1, 2004... The Admiralty restaurant (inside Somerset House) is not a new one, but it has had consistently good reviews and is known as being worth a visit with its reputation for interesting menus. Morgan Meunier left as chef there this autumn to open his...

News & views.(Meals & Appetites)
January 1, 2004... * The place of the moment is the Wolseley at 160 Piccadilly. The dream team are Corbin and King, who glammed up the Ivy and Caprice. The addition of one-time Conran exec chef Chris Galvin with top pastry chef Claire Clark means that the...

M&A deal data.
January 1, 2004... M&A deal data Benelux Target Bidder Cannons Health & Fitness BV (NE) Whitbread PLC (UK) Sports, - Own, operate fitness centre leisure club services Sales ($): n/a Net Profits ($):...

Monthly sector analysis.
January 1, 2004... THIS SECTOR ANALYSIS INCLUDES ACQUISITIONS AND BUYOUTS ANNOUNCED DURING DECEMBER. UK PUBLIC OFFERS COMPLETED BETWEEN THESE DATES ARE INCLUDED, WHEREAS NEW AND PENDING OFFERS ARE EXCLUDED. THE TRANSACTIONS ARE CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO THE US SIC...