Corporate Money articles from February 2001

Corporate Money archives from February 2001

CAPITAL MARKETS.
February 7, 2001... BONDS Corporate bonds continue to perform well as investors preferred to put their money in this market rather than the equity markets which declined across many sectors last year. Bonds by German carmarker BMW, [epsilon]750m over five...

John Lewis gets Buy.com's UK arm.
February 7, 2001... Buy.com joins the latest in a long line of websites to be sold to an 'old economy' company. John Lewis Partnership, a UK department store group, acquired the UK operations of the troubled US online e-tailor for an undisclosed amount. The deal...

Survey into performance of buyouts.
February 7, 2001... A European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association survey found that buyouts had become a significant feature of the European private equity market, accounting for 53% of investment in that sector in 1999. The report looks at reasons why...

Allied Domecq bids for Montana.
February 7, 2001... Allied Domecq, a UK drinks and restaurants group, launched a NZ$944m bid for New Zealand wine producer the Montana Group, which has been recommended by the board of Montana. Allied Domecq is offering NZ$4.40 per share for Montana, the third...

Cinven and Candover target Cannons.
February 7, 2001... UK private equity groups Cinven and Candover have tabled informal bids for Cannons, the health and fitness group. Cannons operates over 60 gyms across Britain and was put up for sale by the board in December 2000 in an attempt to improve market...

Appointments.
February 7, 2001... Aberdeen Murray Johnstone Private Equity has announced the appointment of Craig McDermid and Judith MacKenzie to its Glasgow private equity team. Previously McDermid was assistant director of corporate finance at Ernst & Young MacKenzie joins...

Compass buys $563m food unit.
February 7, 2001... Compass Group, the British food services company, has agreed to acquire US firm Morrison Management Specialists (MMS) in a deal valuing the Georgia-based healthcare and foodservice company at $563m. The acquisition occurs less then a week after...

Halifax & GE fight for Equitable.
February 7, 2001... Halifax, a UK mortgage bank, announced on Monday that it has agreed to buy the troubled UK life insurer Equitable Life for up to [pound]1bn, ahead of a rival offer from US financial services company GE Capital. Equitable has been searching for...

Norske increases Brazilian holdings.
February 7, 2001... Norske Skog, a Norwegian forestry group, has announced that it will raise its stake in Brazilian newsprint producer Papel de Imprensa (PISA) by almost a quarter to 90.6%. Norske Skog will pay $70.5m for the 22.6% stake, which it is acquiring...

France Telecom launches bond issue.
February 7, 2001... France Telecom has announced the terms of its [epsilon]3.3bn convertible bond issue, to be launched a week before the initial public offering of its mobile phone subsidiary Orange. The issue is designed to support and underpin the flotation by...

Vivendi buy US games company.
February 7, 2001... Vivendi Universal, a French media group, announced on Tuesday the $140m acquisition of Uproar, a Nasdaq-listed US online games company. Uproar, which floated in March 2000, runs advertising-funded games such as Blow Out Bingo and Family Feud,...

ACQUISITIONS.
February 7, 2001... ACQUISITIONS Bids, mergers and disposals - week ending 04/02/01 BIDDER TARGET ABB Eutech Engineering...

Whatman to acquire US biotechnology Company.
February 7, 2001... Whatman, the UK specialist in separations technology, is to acquire the fixed assets and inventory of US biotechnology company HemaSure Inc. It will pay $10m in cash, plus $3m in Whatman shares and up to a maximum of $12m in future royalty...

Land Securities buys portfolio.
February 7, 2001... Land Securities, a UK property company, agreed to buy a portfolio of properties from UK building group Blue Circle Industries for [pound]60m as part of its strategy to regenerate sites which include a mix of commercial and residential...

Cobham makes [pound]38m South African purchase.
February 7, 2001... Cobham, a UK Engineering group, has acquired South African company Omnipless and its subsidiary Omnipless Antenna Systems for [pound]38m. The African company manufactures antennas used in mobile satellite communications. Cobham is buying the...

EQUITY ISSUES.
February 7, 2001... EQUITY ISSUES UK equity issues - week ending 04/02/01 BIDDER TERMS Earthport Nominated adviser: ING Provider of secure Internet Barings...

Bank of Scotland to raise [pound]193m in placing.
February 7, 2001... The Bank of Scotland (BoS) will raise [pound]193m in a placing in order to finance its purchase of the state-owned Irish ICC Bank. The Scottish banking group announced on December 5 2000 that it had agreed to acquire ICC for [pound]214m....

Corporate Money Top 30 Law Firms.
February 7, 2001... Corporate Money Top 30 Law Firms by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary Law Firm Value [pound]m No. 1 Slaughter & May 138,846.29 101 2...

Corporate Money Top 15 Brokers.
February 7, 2001... Corporate Money Top 15 Brokers by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary Broker Value [pound]m No. 1 Cazenove & Co 101,573.37 72 2 Hoare Govett ...

Corporate Money Top 35 Financial Advisers.
February 7, 2001... Corporate Money Top 35 Financial Advisers by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary Financial Adviser Value [pound]m No. 1 UBS Warburg 145,155.73 77 2...

Corporate Money Top Placing Brokers.
February 7, 2001... Corporate Money Top Placing Brokers (including rights issues) by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary Broker Value [pound]m No. 1 Cazenove ...

Corporate Money Top Rights Brokers.
February 7, 2001... Corporate Money Top Rights Brokers by deal value (year 2000)-preliminary Broker Value [pound]m No. 1 Cazenove 1,142.14 3 2 Goldman Sachs ...

Corporate Money Top Placing Underwriters.
February 7, 2001... Corporate Money Top Placing Underwriters (including rights issues) by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary Underwriter Value [pound]m No. 1 Cazenove ...

Corporate Money Top Rights Underwriters.
February 7, 2001... Corporate Money Top Rights Underwriters by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary Underwriter Value [pound]m No. 1 Cazenove 1,025.88 2 2 Goldman Sachs ...

BT in $1.2bn Irish phone deal.
February 7, 2001... British Telecommunications said it would buy Norwegian rival Telenor's stake in Irish mobile Phone operator Esat Digifone for $1.24bn. The deal gives BT its fourth fully-owned wireless mobile business in Western Europe. BT bought 49.5% of...

Pace acquires French unit.
February 7, 2001... Pace Micro Technology, a UK electronics company, said it will buy French rival Xcom Multimedia Communications for up to [pound]40m to extend its geographic and product range of its digital Television set top business. Pace will initially...

Credit Agricole buys Polish unit.
February 7, 2001... Credit Agricole, a French bank, said it agreed to buy three-quarters of Polish financial group Lukas for around $262.5m to give it a foothold in one of the largest banking markets in central Europe. The French bank will take a 75% stake in...

Bertelsmann increases RTL stake.
February 7, 2001... Bertelsmann, a German media and entertainment company, is to increase its shareholding in the RTL Group to 67%. It will acquire Groupe Bruxelles Lambert's (GBL) stake in RTL of just under one third by swapping roughly one quarter of its own...

BONDS.
February 14, 2001... Hutchinson Whampoa, the Hong Kong-based telecommunications operator, placed its $1.5bn 10-year Yankee bond this week. The company said it would use the money to repay debt and restructure other loans rather than look for specific acquisitions....

EQUITIES.
February 14, 2001... The equity markets returned to life this week with some sizeable issues. The UK's Bank of Scotland issued a placing of 27.9m shares at 690p raising [pound]193m before expenses to fund its purchase of Ireland's ICC Bank. The UK children's...

M&A.
February 14, 2001... Following in the footsteps of last weeks' heightened M&A activity, this week saw 40 new deals announced, with a total value of [pound]2.04bn. This brings to 202 the total number of deals announced in 2001, with a total value of [pound]30.5bn....

MAJOR DEALS.
February 14, 2001... MAJOR DEALS EQUITIES Issuer Market Value ([pound]m) Type Bank of Scotland Official list 193 Placing HIT Entertainment Official list ...

COSTS OF CAPITAL.
February 14, 2001... COSTS OF CAPITAL 3 Mth Money 10 Yr Bond Div Yield PE Ratio France 4 23/32% 4.91% 2.14% 19.00 Germany 4 23/32% 4.78% 1.51% 21.30 Japan 13/32% 1.33% 0.75% ...

M&A WEEKLY SUMMARY.
February 14, 2001... M&A WEEKLY SUMMARY [pound]m No Year to date Total 2,040.70 40 30,484.04 202 UK Public Bids/Mergers n/a n/a 22,762.44 6 Private Equity 5.42 3...

M&A NEW BUSINESS.
February 14, 2001... M&A NEW BUSINESS ACCOUNTANTS Ernst & Young 1,000.00 1 PricewaterhouseCoopers 229.80 4 Price Bailey 18.30 1 RSM Robson Rhodes 18.30 1 PKF ...

Celltech sells Armstrong operations.
February 14, 2001... Celltech, a UK bio-technology group, sold its Armstrong business to US pharmaceuticals company Andrex Corporation for $18m. Armstrong is based in Boston, USA, and manufactures aerosol inhalation products by contract for the pharmaceutical...

Bioglan acquires drugs in Sweden.
February 14, 2001... Bioglan Pharma, a UK pharmaceuticals company, has bought five pain killing drugs sold in Sweden from the Pharmacia Corporation, a US pharmaceuticals group, for [pound]2.2m in cash. The drugs acquired are immediate release morphine drugs, used...

UBC/Capital Radio in joint venture.
February 14, 2001... UBC Media Group and Capital Radio announced they were forming a joint venture with US software developer Command Audio to create a digital radio platfrom. Command Audio will provide the joint venture with the software to develop an on-demand...

Nomura, UK's biggest landlord.
February 14, 2001... Nomura, a Japanese investment bank, has fought off stiff competition to buy the pub estate of UK leisure group Bass for [pound]62.5m to become the UK's largest landlord. Nomura said that [pound]500m of this purchase will repay Bass...

Compass buys [pound]375m food unit.
February 14, 2001... Compass Group, the UK catering company, announced on Monday it had agreed to buy the remaining two-thirds of Swiss food firm Selecta it does nor own for SFr901m (approximately [pound]375m). Compass hopes to complement its European foodservice...

Britannia acquires mortgage provider.
February 14, 2001... Britannia Building Society, the UK's second largest mutually-owned building society in terms of customer numbers and assets under management, bought Platform Home Loans, a specialist provider of mortgages for borrowers thought too risky by...

Schlumberger buys Sema for $5.2bn.
February 14, 2001... Schlumberger, the US oilfield services to smartcard technology group, announced on Monday that it agreed to buy Anglo-French information technology services firm Sema for $5.2bn in cash. Euan Baird, chief executive of Schlumberger said the...

ScottishPower appoints CSFB.
February 14, 2001... ScottishPower, the British electricity company, his announced the appointment of Credit Suisse First Boston to look at the overhauling of its Southern Water subsidiary. Southern Water is responsible for delivering clean, fresh water to around...

Premier Farnell sells Brooks.
February 14, 2001... Premier Farnell, a UK business-to-business distributor of electronic and industrial components, has sold Brooks Technology to US lubricants company Fuchs Lubricants, for an initial consideration of [pound]9.5m in cash. The deal has a provision...

Mourant buys Mercer's share plan.
February 14, 2001... Mourant & Co, a Jersey-based offshore administrative services provider, is to acquire the UK share plan administration business of William M Mercer, creating one of the largest specialist administrators in the UK. Mourant & Co, a member of the...

German banks agree merger.
February 14, 2001... German cooperative banks DG Bank and smaller rival GZ-Bank agreed to merge creating a business with combined assets of roughly [epsilon]370bn. The banks said the aim of the merger is to cut costs and improve services. The banks said they...

Telia sells stake in Brazilian operator.
February 14, 2001... Telia, the Swedish telecoms operator, said on Tuesday that it had agreed to sell the majority of its 62% financial stake in Tess, a Brazilian mobile phone operator, for US$950m (SEK9bn), to rival Telecom Americas. The move reflects Telia's plan...

Banques Popularies expands.
February 14, 2001... Banques Populaires, a French mutual bank, has entered the Polish market agreing to take a 51% stake in Poland's Bank Inicjatyw Spoleczno-Ekonomicznych (BISE) for [epsilon]41m. At the end of 1999, BISE had [epsilon]270m of assets. Banques...

ESC Medical buys US laser unit.
February 14, 2001... ESC Medical, an Israeli medical laser company, has agreed to acquire the laser division of US optical firm Coherent for $120m. When completed, the deal would create one of the world's largest medical laser manufacturing companies. Coherent's...

Tiscali gets 70% of Excite Italia.
February 14, 2001... Tiscali, an Italian internet service provider, agreed to acquire a 70% stake in Excite Italia at a cost of [epsilon]27m. Excite Italia is an Italian language internet portal partly owned by US broadband company Excite@home. Tiscali is acquiring...

ACQUISITIONS.
February 14, 2001... ACQUISITIONS Bids, mergers and disposals - week ending 11/02/01 BIDDER TARGET 7 Global HOSTeu UK business services UK...

M&A.
February 14, 2001... Thomas Walter sold to DDi Corp L. Gardner Group, a UK engineering company, has announced the sale of its printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing unit, Thomas Walter, to US group DDi Corp. DDi, a Nasdaq-listed technology provider, is...

3i backs Pinewood's acquisition of Shepperton Studios.
February 14, 2001... Pinewood Studios has bought rival British film and television studio facilities company Shepperton Studios for [pound]35m. Pinewood hopes that the combination of the UK's two leading studios will create a facility that can compete on a global...

Robert Walters acquires Australian recruitment firm.
February 14, 2001... The Dunhill Group comprises Dunhill Management Services Trust and Dunhill Management Services Group. It has offices in six locations across Australia including Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. It was founded in 1990 and now has 150 staff, offering...

Taylor & Francis acquires assets of rival publisher.
February 14, 2001... Taylor & Francis, a UK scientific and academic publisher, announced on Wednesday that it had acquired the scientific and academic publishing business of the Gordon & Breach Publishing Group (G&B) for [pound]21.7m. The acquisition is one of a...

EQUITY ISSUES.
February 14, 2001... EQUITY ISSUES UK equity issues - week ending 11/02/01 ISSUER ADVISERS African Lakes Corporation Broker: Canaccord Capital...

Corporate Money Top 30 Law Firms.
February 14, 2001... Corporate Money Top 30 Law Firms by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary Law Firm Value [pound]m No. 1 Slaughter & May 138,846.29 101 2...

Corporate Money Top 15 Brokers.
February 14, 2001... Corporate Money Top 15 Brokers by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary Broker Value [pound]m No. 1 Cazenove & Co 101,573.37 72 2 Hoare Govett ...

Corporate Money Top 35 Financial Advisers.
February 14, 2001... Corporate Money Top 35 Financial Advisers by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary Financial Adviser Value [pound]m No. 1 UBS Warburg 145,155.73 77 2...

Corporate Money Top 20 Placing Brokers.
February 14, 2001... Corporate Money Top 20 Placing Brokers by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary Broker Value [pound]m No. 1 Investec Henderson Crosthwaite 1,238.50 42 2 ABN AMRO Group...

Corporate Money Top 15 Placing Underwriters.
February 14, 2001... Corporate Money Top 15 Placing Underwriters by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary Underwriter Value [pound]m No. 1 Investec Bank 1,034.96 29 2 Cazenove ...

Corporate Money Top 5 Rights Brokers.
February 14, 2001... Corporate Money Top 5 Rights Brokers by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary Broker Value [pound]m No. 1 Cazenove 1,142.14 3 2 Goldman Sachs ...

Corporate Money Top 5 Rights Underwriters.
February 14, 2001... Corporate Money Top 5 Rights Underwriters by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary Underwriter Value [pound]m No. 1 Cazenove 1,025.88 2 2 Goldman Sachs ...

CAPITAL MARKETS.
February 21, 2001... BONDS A US holiday on Monday meant that bond issues got off to a slow start. Most activity was centred around Germany's DG Hypothekenbank [epsilon]1.75bn pfand-brief deal, which is an increase to an outstanding [epsilon]1.25bn issue due in...

MAJOR DEALS.
February 21, 2001... MAJOR DEALS EQUITIES Issuer Market Value ([pound]m) Type Orange Euronext 4,125 IPO and Official List Issuer Sponsor Orange Dresdner...

COSTS OF CAPITAL.
February 21, 2001... COSTS OF CAPITAL 3 Mth Money 10 Yr Bond Div Yield PE Ratio France 4 25/32% 4.97% 2.11% 19.30 Germany 4 25/32% 4.82% 1.52% 19.10 Japan 3/8% 1.33% ...

M&A WEEKLY SUMMARY.
February 21, 2001... M&A WEEKLY SUMMARY [pound]m No Year to date Total 12,001.35 39 42,597.44 251 UK Public Bids/Mergers 3,488.32 3 26,250.76 9 Private Equity 650.40...

M&A NEW BUSINESS.
February 21, 2001... M&A NEW BUSINESS ACCOUNTANTS PricewaterhouseCoopers 3,578.75 4 Arthur Andersen 81.91 3 Grant Thornton 24.60 2 Deloitte &...

Reed/Harcourt deal with authorities.
February 21, 2001... The UK government has referred AngloDutch publisher Reed E1sevier's purchase of US rival Harcourt to competition authorities to inquiry about its market dominance. Reed Elsevier bought Harcourt last October with a $4.5bn bid, offering $59 in...

Diageo delays Burger King IPO.
February 21, 2001... Diageo, a UK drinks and foods group, has put on hold the proposed flotation of its fast-food chain Burger King due to poorer than expected sales by the chain and depressed equity markets. The British group has also appointed a new chief...

RPS announces new rights issue.
February 21, 2001... RPS Group, a UK environmental consultancy firm, is set to raise [pound]42m through a new rights issue. The purpose of the issue is to fund possible future acquisitions. The group said it was looking to buy business "which extend either its...

Government after new Dome bidders.
February 21, 2001... In an attempt to attract new bidders for the Millennium Dome, the government is set to double the amount of land that will be sold along with the site. The original offer of 63 acres to Legacy, at one stage preferred bidder for the government...

Unilever sells baking unit for $1 .8bn.
February 21, 2001... Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch consumer products group, agreed to sell its Bestfoods Baking Company unit to Canadian business George Weston for US$1.765bn in cash. The unit was acquired by Unilever as a result of the June 2000 purchase of...

Cantab bought by Xenova.
February 21, 2001... Cantab Pharmaceuticals, a UK vaccine developer, said it will sell itself to Slough-based biotechnology company Xenova Group. The deal comes four months after Cantab put itself up for sale following the 67% one-day drop in its shareprice last...

3i buys Swedish unit for [pound]580m.
February 21, 2001... 3i Group, a UK venture capital company, on Monday made a recommended joint cash offer of [pound]579.9m for the Swedish private equity firm Atle. The deal will allow 3i to acquire a portfolio of investments in Swedish companies and boost its...

Powergen sells division to Siemens.
February 21, 2001... Powergen, a UK power company, sold its East Midlands Electricity Metering unit to Siemens Metering for an undisclosed sum. The sale comes amid great flux at Powergen as the company plans to diversify into other customer service businesses such...

Virgin Mobile in possible US move.
February 21, 2001... Richard Branson has outlined plans to take Virgin Mobile into the US market. Barnson is head of Virgin Group, the UK airline to cosmetic company. He has said that the group has been in talks with at least three US operators, Sprint Corp, AT&T...

Flintstone postpones float.
February 21, 2001... Flintstone Technologies, a UK firm that funds technology licensing companies, announced on Monday the postponement of its flotation of the AIM market. The move comes less than a month after the flotation was first announced. In a statement the...

Appointments.
February 21, 2001... Mercury Private Equity (MPE) has appointed Stefan Winterling as an associate investment director. After an initial stint at MPE's London office, he will move to Frankfurt to focus on media within the leveraged buyout team. Winterling joins from...

Carrefour sells Picard Surgeles.
February 21, 2001... Carrefour, a French retailing group, will sell its majority-owned frozen food subsidiary Picard Surgeles for [epsilon]920m in one of France's largest leveraged buyouts in recent years. The disposal comes seven years since Carrefour bought the...

Usinor leads consolidation of steelmakers.
February 21, 2001... Usinor, a French steel making company, said it had agreed to buy rivals Arbed of Luxembourg and Aceralia Corporation Siderurgica of Spain for around [epsilon]3.4bn. The deal will create the world's largest steel producer and allow widespread...

Ion Beam takes stake in US firm.
February 21, 2001... Ion Beam Applications, a Belgian maker of particle accelerators for cancer treatment, bought 80% of US cancer detecting drugs manufacturer Eastern Isotopes (EI). EI makes fludeoxyglucose, a sugar-based drug which doctors use in injections to...

Austrian Airlines make Lauda offer.
February 21, 2001... Austrian Airlines said to Tuesday it intended to make a public offer for remaining shares of Lauda Air, its 54.5% owned subsidiary, and subsequently take the Austrian carrier off the stock exchange. The offer is [epsilon]7.60 per Lauda Air...

Croatia tries to revive tourist trade.
February 21, 2001... The Croatian government plans to sell 80 hotels this year via a tender in an attempt to revive its tourist trade. The hotels have a nominal price tag of [epsilon]20bn and the government will be looking to sell them to foreign investors with...