Acquisitions Monthly articles from May 2007

Acquisitions Monthly archives from May 2007

Sainsbury: back from the brink.(EDITORIAL)
May 1, 2007... The possible bid by the consortium led by CVC Capital Partners for supermarket J Sainsbury failed after the group met an insurmountable series of obstacles. The news came on 11 April just two days before the deadline given by the Takeover Panel...

April snapshot: synopses of the largest global deals announced last month.(MARKET INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2007... SPAIN -- An investor group comprising Enel Energy Europe Srl of Italy, a unit of ENEL SpA, and Acciona SA (AS), launched an unsolicited challenging tender offer to acquire the 53.991% interest or 571.631m ordinary shares it did not already own...

US communications group pays highest Q1 UK premium; Avaya pays 86% premium for Ubiquity Software Corp during quarter that saw fall in average premia.(MARKET INTELLIGENCE)
May 1, 2007... The first quarter of 2007 saw the completion of 25 eligible offers for UK-listed companies, two up on the volume of completed deals in the final quarter of 2006. The average premia over the target share price one day and one month before the...

Dealmakers look to Serbia; with other parts of South East Europe already vibrant, expectations are that states in the former Yugoslavia will produce rich pickings over the coming years. Much of this effort is focused on Serbia and Croatia, both of which have elections this year.(REGIONAL SURVEY: CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE)
May 1, 2007... Acquirers who have been active across Central and Eastern Europe for a number of years are now turning their gaze on Serbia. The country is the largest, by both population and area, of the former Yugoslavian states and, with a fair economic...

Investors shrug off political turmoil in Ukraine: despite the political situation, retail is shaping up to be the next hot sector for investors.(REGIONAL SURVEY: CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE)
May 1, 2007... President Viktor Yuschenko's decision in early April to dissolve the Ukrainian parliament and call new parliamentary elections for May 27 was the latest in a series of political crises to have hit Kiev, leaving analysts wondering how foreign...

Evolving Poland: as one of Europe's largest mid-market private equity firms move into the area, Acquisitions Monthly looks at the maturity of Poland's M&A market and there intermediaries that service it.(REGIONAL SURVEY: CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE)
May 1, 2007... Four years after its accession to the European Union, Poland is making rapid progress in the M&A market, in particular the private equity industry, which has seen its oldest and biggest domestic firm begin to invest the country's largest...

Romanian multiples climb: high growth and a 22 million population make Romania attractive, but valuation multiples are becoming high.(REGIONAL SURVEY: CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE)
May 1, 2007... 10X money is the top end of how much private equity might expect to make from exiting an investment. Upwards from 2.5X original investment, with ambitions above 5X, would be closer to normal. Advent International's US$324m sale of Romanian...

Ready to rise: Bulgaria's M&A market is small in size but big on potential, reckon investors.(REGIONAL SURVEY: CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE)
May 1, 2007... Chris Mruck, a director at pan-European private equity house Advent International, laughs when it's suggested that his firm's 230m [euro] purchase of the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company must have been a challenging deal. Perhaps...

The Baltic bridge to Russian M&A: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are a major focal point for EU trade with Russia.(REGIONAL SURVEY: CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE)
May 1, 2007... The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia may be small but they are not irrelevant when it comes to European M&A and even the wider political arena of EU-Russian relations. Over the last 12 months, the two largest deals in the...

Renewed confidence in Czech assets: investment, especially in machinery and transport equipment, is expected to remain buoyant, supported by strong corporate profitability.(REGIONAL SURVEY: CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE)
May 1, 2007... Economic performance has strengthened in the Czech Republic over the last two years, supported by the expanding capacity of the export-oriented automotive sector. Growth is projected to remain robust in 2007-08, although expansion is...

Bratislava airport sale on agenda: Slovak government may sell minority stake to either strategic or financial buyer.(REGIONAL SURVEY: CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE)
May 1, 2007... Slovakia has become one of Central Europe's strongest economic performers in recent years. The new government has demonstrated a commitment to prudent policies aimed at ensuring euro adoption in January 2009 and has secured investor confidence...

M&A offering cushion for Hungary: regional expansion is delivering new sources of growth and should offset the impact of austerity measures adopted in Hungary.(REGIONAL SURVEY: CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE)
May 1, 2007... OMV, the Austrian oil company, could consider a merger with Hungarian counterpart MOL if industry consolidation continues in the region. David Davies, CFO of the Austrian company, said there would be many synergies. However, he stressed...

A question of value: will Dutch bank ABN AMRO be broken up or merged, for the most part, as one? With opposing rationales, Barclays and the RBS/Fortis/Santander consortium fight it out in a possible 74bn [euro]-plus deal.(SECTOR REPORTS: SPECIAL REPORT ON BANKING)
May 1, 2007... The counter-proposal for ABN AMRO came in as expected, but at first the markets appeared uncertain how to react; about which horse to back. "Share prices are moving in different directions," said Jon Peace, an analyst at Fox-Pitt Kelton,...

RBS plan is risky, says Dutch Central Bank: European Commission says potential bids cannot be called 'risky' without thorough assessment and may have exclusive jurisdiction over the deal.(SECTOR REPORTS: SPECIAL REPORT ON BANKING)
May 1, 2007... The Dutch government has commented on criticism of the Dutch regulator by the European Commission. DNB, the Dutch central bank, had put out a statement regarding a rival bid approach to that of UK bank Barclays for ABN AMRO from a consortium of...

National champions come first: drive to build national champions is still number one theme in European financial services M&A, finds PricewaterhouseCoopers Corporate Finance.(SECTOR REPORTS: SPECIAL REPORT ON BANKING)
May 1, 2007... A recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers Corporate Finance (PwC) that looked at European financial services M&A in 2006 identified a number of key themes that drove deal-making during the year. The report found that there was an ongoing drive...

ABN AMRO deal time line.(SECTOR REPORTS: SPECIAL REPORT ON BANKING)(Chronology)
May 1, 2007... ABN AMRO DEAL TIME LINE: Wednesday 21 February.--Activist hedge fund The Children's Investment Fund writes to ABN AMRO urging that it "actively pursue the potential break up, spin-off, sale or merger of its various businesses (or as a...

Banking speculation rife: besides ABN AMRO, recent M&A speculation has run to other European banks: Societe Generale, UniCredito Italiano, BNP Paribas, Capitalia, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, UBS, HSBC.(SECTOR REPORTS: SPECIAL REPORT ON BANKING)
May 1, 2007... Aside from the battle for ABN AMRO, rumours of a possible merger between France's Societe Generale, and Italian counterpart UniCredito Italiano saw Soc Gen shares jump 11.62% at one stage. In what was also seen as a possible defensive move, the...

Phase 1 clearance expected on Endesa; the 41.3 [euro] per share offer presented by Enel and Acciona for the acquisition of Endesa is expected to be cleared by the European Commission and the CNE, the Spanish energy regulator.(SECTOR REPORTS: SPECIAL REPORT ON UTILITIES)
May 1, 2007... Disposals as agreed in the carve-out agreement among E.ON, Enel and Endesa are likely to pave the way for a Phase I investigation by the European Commission, according to a consensus of EU competition lawyers in Brussels. Acciona and End,...

Heralding utility investments: the US$45bn takeover of Texan utility TXU by buyout specialist Kravis Kohlberg Roberts and other private equity firms has put most European utilities within the scope of such financial investors.(SECTOR REPORTS: REPORT ON UTILITIES)
May 1, 2007... While private equity involvement in the gas, power, water and telecoms businesses across Europe had been small-scale until the end of last year, the two big private acquisitions in the UK water industry in the final quarter of 2006--Thames...

EMI expects fresh offer from Warner Music: UK music publisher faces fresh takeover bid from US-listed music publisher Warner Music.(SECTOR REPORTS: REPORT ON TMT)
May 1, 2007... Warner Music bosses are considering a third attempt at acquiring the group's UK-listed rival. Private equity firms including Permira are also understood to be interested in FMI. Although EMI has not yet had any formal approaches, several...

Minority report: are big buyout firms finding new ways to invest capital from their mega fundraisings, or simply new avenues to achieve difficult take-privates?(BEHIND THE BUYOUTS: PRIVATE EQUITY COLUMN)
May 1, 2007... Private equity encompasses all kinds of investments, from start-seed funding to highly leveraged take-privates. As a rule of thumb, though, buyout firms like to take control positions. When a finance house bucks this trend, the market--and the...

KKR and Pessina to stay below 30% of Boots.(BEHIND THE BUYOUTS)
May 1, 2007... Alliance Boots saw US private equity firm KKR increase its stake to 28.7% on April 25 but IFR Buyouts Europe understands that the bidder will not go beyond the mandatory bid threshold set out by Rule 9 of the Takeover Code. KKR will not...

IBERIA nears decision on TPG.(BEHIND THE BUYOUTS)
May 1, 2007... US private equity firm Texas Pacific Group (TPG) could see its 3.4bn [pounds sterling] approach for Iberia accepted or rejected by the Spanish airliner's board when it meets to discuss the offer. The board, led by chairman and chief...

Macquarie buys National Grid.(BEHIND THE BUYOUTS)
May 1, 2007... Macquarie has agreed to buy the UK wireless arm of National Grid for 2.5bn [pounds sterling] (US$4.9bn). Last year, the business, which operates 5,000 aerial transmitters, made a 70m [pounds sterling] operating profit on turnover of 297m...

Countrywide stub equity could sway Polygon.(BEHIND THE BUYOUTS)
May 1, 2007... Hedge fund Polygon has refused to comment on a report that it will now accept the 1.01bn [pounds sterling] offer from private equity group Apollo for estate agent Countrywide. Polygon has built a critical 26% stake in the FTSE 250 company,...

Three left in Endemol auction.(BEHIND THE BUYOUTS)
May 1, 2007... Bids backed by Apax Partners, Goldman Sachs and Bernard Arnault have reached the second round of the US$3.8bn auction for a stake in Big Brother maker Endemol. Three bidders, including financial buyer Apax Partners, have made it through to...

Viewpoints on going public; "what percentage of your portfolio do you expect to be on the public markets by the end of 2007? Will listing private equity firms make them more transparent? Will private equity firms going PLC change the way the public and press view them?".(BUYOUTS)
May 1, 2007... "Since 1994, of the 24 exits made by Duke Street Capital only one exit, back in the 1990s, was onto a quoted market. We did execute a keep public, ie, bought a majority stake in a quoted French company, Marie Brizard, which we then kept as a...

Experian acquires Hitwise: consumer data giant buys up online traffic monitoring and analysis firm. Hitwise will continue as standalone business.(MOVING IN THE MID-MARKETS: (US$500M-US$30M))
May 1, 2007... Experian, the global information solutions company, has acquired Hitwise, a leading internet marketing intelligence provider that helps clients monitor the performance of their websites and target their online advertising spend more...

Spain setting the pace: property prices have fuelled a remarkable rise in acquisition activity across Spanish companies large and small.(MOVING IN THE MID-MARKETS: COUNTRY REPORT ON SPAIN)
May 1, 2007... Last year's takeover of UK airports operator BAA by Ferrovial heralded a wave of major acquisition activity involving Spanish companies that has been nothing short of spectacular. All financial eyes on the Continent followed the drama that...

Looking up: financiers in the Midlands are bullish about the region's mid-market deal flow.(MOVING IN THE MID-MARKETS: UK REGIONAL REPORT MIDLANDS)
May 1, 2007... Key players in the Midlands' mid-market private equity scene are full of the joys of spring, pointing to a busy 2006, an active Q1 for 2007 and a healthy pipeline of deals to come. The nationalisation of the UK's mid-market, combined with...

MoInycke.(M&A capital market review)
May 1, 2007... The 1.21bn [euro] debt supporting Apax Partners' buyout of Molnycke from Nordic Capital has closed well oversubscribed, via MLAs Barclays and Deutsche Bank. As a result of the oversubscription the leads opted for a structure and pricing flex....

Lafarge's Roofing.(M&A capital market review)
May 1, 2007... The debt backing PAI's 2.38bn [euro] buyout of Lafarge's Roofing division has closed heavily oversubscribed and a pricing and structural flex is now tipped. Bookrunners across the whole facility are BNP Paribas and JPMorgan, while Bank of...

Viridian.(M&A capital market review)
May 1, 2007... Bookrunner Dresdner Kleinwort has closed general syndication of the 1.877bn [pounds sterling] loan package supporting Arcapita's acquisition of Viridian. The facility has closed 100% and will allocate next week. General syndication came after a...

Orangina is out with a repricing of its 1.44bn [euro] leveraged loan of 2006, via bookrunners Citigroup and JPMorgan.(M&A capital market review)
May 1, 2007... Orangina is out with a repricing of its 1.44bn [euro] leveraged loan of 2006, via bookrunners Citigroup and JPMorgan. The deal will see 25bp taken off the term loan A, the revolver and the restructuring facility, 12.5bp being taken off the B...

Capio.(M&A capital market review)
May 1, 2007... The structure and pricing on the Skr9.845bn financing backing Apax Partners' and Nordic Capital's buyout of Swedish healthcare group Capio has been flexed down after a large oversubscription, via bookrunners Bank of Scotland and Barclays. The...

Jupiter.(M&A capital market review)
May 1, 2007... HSBC and RBS have been mandated to support management and TA Associates buyout of UK fund manager Jupiter from Commerzbank. The 1bn [euro] transaction will see management led by Edward Bonham Carter take around a 60% stake in the business, with...

Hilding Anders.(M&A capital market review)
May 1, 2007... Mandated lead arrangers HSBC and Bank of Scotland have completed the reverse flex to the 934m [euro] SKr-equivalent debt package supporting Candover's secondary buyout of Hilding Anders, a European mattress and bed manufacturer. Bankers said...

KBC has completed the 845m [euro] debt package supporting LBO France's secondary buyout of Consolis, a Belgian pre-cast concrete group.(M&A capital market review)
May 1, 2007... KBC has completed the 845m [euro] debt package supporting LBO France's secondary buyout of Consolis, a Belgian pre-cast concrete group. Prior to launch Danske Bank, OKO Bank and SG joined as a joint lead arrangers with BNP Paribas, Danske Bank,...

Azelis.(M&A capital market review)
May 1, 2007... Dresdner Kleinwort has closed syndication of the 315m [euro] debt package supporting 3i's tertiary buyout of Azelis, a European chemical distribution group. The facility is well oversubscribed and a flex is up for discussion. Senior debt is...

Cofidim.(M&A capital market review)
May 1, 2007... Cofidim's 376m [euro] facility has been mandated with BNP Paribas and Natixis as bookrunners. The deal backs the acquisition of 66% of Cofidim by CDC Capital Investissement. General syndication of the senior and second lien tranches is to...

Moody International.(M&A capital market review)
May 1, 2007... Moody International's US$220m facility has closed, via mandated lead arranger RBS. The facility underpins Investcorp's US$311m secondary buyout of Moody International from Close Brothers Private Equity. It includes senior debt of US$205m, made...

Rodenstock.(M&A capital market review)
May 1, 2007... The 370m [euro] loan backing Bridgepoint's secondary buyout of German spectacle manufacturer Rodenstock has launched, via bookrunners RBS and SG. Debt on the all-senior deal comprises a 150m [euro] eight-year term loan B at 237.5bp over...

Uster Technologies.(M&A capital market review)
May 1, 2007... Mandated lead arranger and bookrunner IKB Deutsche Industriebank has closed the SFr256.6m debt package backing the secondary buyout of Switzerland based Uster Technologies, the global market leader of measuring and testing systems for the...

Acquisitions Monthly June 2007 outbound report.(ACQUISITION FINANCE)
May 1, 2007... Firms interested in sponsoring or advertising in this major report: please contact Stephen Howard on stephen.howard@thomson.com or +44207 369 7762 Last year was another record breaking one for Russian M&A, estimated to be worth a...

Time and change: in nine years, Catalyst Corporate Finance has become one of the UK mid-market's best-known advisers. Managing partner Andy Currie told Tim Burke about his journey and what he's learned along the way.(INSTITUTIONS)
May 1, 2007... It could have been an omen. When Andy Currie set up mid-market M&A adviser Catalyst Corporate Finance in 1998, he scheduled the initial meeting with his two co-founders for April 1. Their peers voiced subsequent concerns. "Good idea, wrong...

Better due diligence could reduce M&A fraud; various industry sources reckon that fraud has blossomed in tandem with the boom in mergers and acquisitions.(LEGAL & REGULATORY)
May 1, 2007... The new UK fraud act came into force at the beginning of this year with the objective of better defining the term fraud, simplifying trials and tightening up the national strategy to fight the problem. Indeed, it's not a moment too soon. ...

M&A deal data: this country analysis included acquisitions and buyouts announced between 16 March 2007 and 16 April 2007.
May 1, 2007... Benelux Target Bidder Bedford Hotel (BE) - Own, PREM Group OR) - Own, operate a hotel operate hotels Sales ($): n/a Net Profits ($): Sales ($): n/a ...

Country codes.
May 1, 2007... 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 AZ Azerbaijan BA...