Corporate Money articles from January 2001

Corporate Money archives from January 2001

BONDS.
January 10, 2001... This week Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchinson Whampoa raised a S2.5bn three-year bond issue. These bonds can be exchanged for part of the 3.47 percent stake Hutchinson owns of the UK's Vodafone. Investors bought the bonds and depressed Vodafone's...

EQUITIES.
January 10, 2001... Notable share sales came from UK software company RiverSoft, which announced it has raised [pound]83m by selling 88.3 million shares at 94 pence. The business said it will use the money for research and development to make network monitoring...

M&A.
January 10, 2001... It was a quiet start to the year with 23 deals being announced with a total value of [pound]900m. The end of December was much busier: in the three-week period from December 4, 2000 to the end of the year 168 were agreed with a value of...

MAJOR DEALS.
January 10, 2001... MAJOR DEALS (week ending 07/01/2001) M&A Bldder Target Value ([pound]m) Type Advisers Vodafone Grupo lusacell 650.00 Agreed Lehman Brothers Hanson Davon...

COSTS OF CAPITAL.
January 10, 2001... COSTS OF CAPITAL 3 Mth Money 10 Yr Bond Div Yield PE Ratio France 4 23/32% 4.90% 2.16% 18.70 Germany 4 23/32% 4.76% 1.54% 20.80 Japan 13/32% ...

M&A SUMMARY.
January 10, 2001... M&A SUMMARY (year 2000) 04/12/00-31/12/00 year 2000 [pound]m No [pound]m No Total 33,229.77 168 414,734.20 1,997 UK...

M&A NEW BUSINESS.
January 10, 2001... M&A NEW BUSINESS (week ending 07/01/2001) ACCOUNTANTS KPMG 20.00 1 Grant Thornton 19.32 2 Arthur Andersen 3.74 1 Dickinsons ...

Vodafone takes Mexican stake.
January 10, 2001... Vodafone, the UK telecommunications company, bought a 34.5% stake in Mexican phone company Grupo Iusacell for [pound]648.2m. Vodafone, the UK's largest company by market capitalisation, said the purchase gave it a significant stake in a phone...

BT property sale.
January 10, 2001... Ashurst Morris Crisp, the UK law firm, has been appointed by British Telecommunications as legal adviser for the sale of its UK properties. The sale and leaseback deal covers 7,500 buildings, covering 60 million square feet, and includes shops,...

Simmons in Germany.
January 10, 2001... Simmons & Simmons, the UK law firm, is setting up an office with a mergers and acquisitions practice in Dusseldorf, called Kaiser, giving it its first German base of operations. The new practice will be called Simmons & Simmons Kaiser. The two...

Merant in $18m unit purchase.
January 10, 2001... Merant, a UK software phone company, said it was buying US rival NetObjects' enterprise division for $18m in cash to extend its e-commerce services. The unit generated revenues of $10m but made a net loss of $7.6m in the year to September 2000....

Lafarge buys Blue Circle.
January 10, 2001... Lafarge, the French building materials group, finally agreed to buy UK rival Blue Circle Industries for [pound]3.lbn in cash creating the world's largest cement-maker. Lafarge, which already owns 22.6%, of Blue Circle said it would pay 495...

Rentokil completes [pound]600m sell-off.
January 10, 2001... Rentokil, the UK support services company, sold its British recruitment agency to its management for [pound]23.5m in cash and loan notes. The company said the sale completes a process of raising over [pound]600m after selling 14 non-core...

Pure Wafer opens Welsh factory.
January 10, 2001... Pure Wafer, a newly formed silicon wafer processing company, said it had secured [pound]34 million in equity, grants and debt funding to open a new factory in Swansea. Apax Partners, the venture capital house, has invested [pound]8m. The...

Close Brothers funds NDR.
January 10, 2001... Close Brothers Private Equity has provided the equity for a secondary management buyout of Network Disaster Recovery (NDR), a British IT disaster recovery company. The secondary management buyout is occurring as a result of venture capital...

Motor World bought by MBO.
January 10, 2001... Motor World, a parts retailer for the aftercare car market, has been bought from Finelist by its management for an undisclosed sum. The management team said they plan to expand the business opening around 40 new stores over the next five years....

APPOINTMENTS.
January 10, 2001... Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, the German investment house, has poached Paola Giannotti De Ponti from Schroder Salomon Smith Barney (SSSB) to become its head of investment banking in Italy. She will be responsible for the group's mergers and...

Tiscali buys LibertySurf.
January 10, 2001... Tiscali, the Italian telecom and Internet company, said it agreed to buy the French number two Internet provider LibertySurf for [epsilon]645.5m in cash and shares to enlarge its European coverage in a consolidating marker. Shareholders...

E-ON boosts stake in Swedish utility.
January 10, 2001... E.ON, a German power company, said it bought a 5.3 percent stake in Swedish utility company Sydkraft from four Swedish local authorities for $256.1m. The move gives E.ON greater access to Sweden's valuable power generation assets. The...

Barilla buys Gelati Sanson.
January 10, 2001... Barilla, the world's largest past a maker, said that it has agreed to buy Italian ice cream company Gelati Sanson. The Privately-held family run company said that it will acquire all of Gelati Sanson, which is held between Italian industrialist...

Rolls-Royce sells crane unit.
January 10, 2001... Rolls Royce Power Engineering said it would sell the assets and the after market operations of French harbour crane maker Caillard to Finnish crane builder KCI Konecranes for an undisclosed sum "It gives us an entry into France and the...

More champagne sales.
January 10, 2001... Compagnie Nationale a Portefeuille (CNP), a Belgium holding company, said it had bought stakes in French champagne maker Tattinger and French hotelier and property company Societe du Louvre for [epsilon]153m. CNP, owned by billionaire Albert...

Web dating services combine.
January 10, 2001... MatchNet, the German listed internet dating company, said it signed an agreement to buy SocialNet, a US online dating service, in an all-share deal. SocialNet, which owns SocialNet.com, has about 1.5 million members. MatchNet -- which runs...

ACQUISTIONS.
January 10, 2001... ACQUISTIONS Bids, mergers, demergers and disposals, from 04/12/2000 to 31/12/2000 BIDDER TARGET British Viag interkom...

Hyder Consulting sells to MBO.
January 10, 2001... Hyder, the Welsh utility bought by US energy company Western Power Distribution (WPD) last year, sold its consulting division to the management for [pound]20m. The company said the sale is part of its strategy to dispose of its subsidiary...

GUS buys Breathe.com.
January 10, 2001... Great Universal Stores (GUS), the UK retailer which owns Argos, bought the Britian's fourth-largest internet Service Provider (ISP) Breathe.com for [pound]1.4m without assuming any of the [pound]50m of debt the ISP collapsed under last month....

ProVen and Downing launch new capital trust.
January 10, 2001... ProVen Private Equity and Downing Corporate Finance have announced the launch of a new venture capital trust, to be called ProVen Media VCT. ProVen, a UK private equity fund manager, has launched the fund with the aim of focusing upon what it...

Cordiant in Brazilian deal.
January 10, 2001... Cordiant Communications, a UK advertising group, said it would pay up to $20m to boost its stake in Brazilian marketing firm Newcomm Bates Group to 51 percent, to strengthen its presence in the Latin American market. The company said it would...

EQUITY ISSUES.
January 10, 2001... EQUITY ISSUES UK equity issues - from 04/12/2000/ to 07/01/2001 BIDDER TERMS Alkane Energy Sponsor: SG Securities...

Corporate Money Top 15 Brokers.
January 10, 2001... Corporate Money Top 15 Brokers by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary table Broker Value [pound]m No. 1 Cazenove & Co 99,389.07 72 2 UBS Warburg ...

Corporate Money Top 35 Financial Advisers.
January 10, 2001... Corporate Money Top 35 Financial Advisers by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary table Financial Adviser Value [pound]m No. 1 Goldman Sachs ...

Corporate Money Top Placing Brokers.
January 10, 2001... Corporate Money Top Placing Brokers by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary table Broker Value [pound]m No. 1 Hoare Govett 1,206.67 13 2 Investec...

Corporate Money Top Placing Underwriters.
January 10, 2001... Corporate Money Top Placing Underwriters by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary table Underwriter Value [pound]m No. 1 Investec Bank 1,024.96 28 2 Cazenove ...

Corporate Money Top Rights Brokers.
January 10, 2001... Corporate Money Top Rights Brokers by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary table Broker Value [pound]m No. 1 Cazenove 1,142.14 3 2 Goldman Sachs...

Corporate Money Top Rights Underwriters.
January 10, 2001... Corporate Money Top Rights Underwriters by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary table Underwriter Value [pound]m No. 1 Cazenove 1,025.88 2 2 Goldman Sachs...

Norwegian power station makes acquisition.
January 17, 2001... Oslo Energi Production, the Oslo, Norway, city-owned power company has acquired a 49 per cent stake in municipality-owned utility Oppland Energiverk for NKr1.45bn ([pound]113m). The deal came as a result of a direct share issue aimed at Oslo...

M&A.
January 17, 2001... Taylor Woodrow step in for Bryant Taylor Woodrow, the UK property construction company, has stepped in to table an offer for Bryant Group. Taylor Woodrow's move occurred just hours before Bryant shareholders were set to meet and decide...

M&A LEAGUE.
January 17, 2001... Corporate Money Top 30 Law Firms by deal value (year 2000) - preliminary Law Firm Value [pound]m No. 1 Slaughter & May 122,905.49...

EQUITY LEAGUE.
January 17, 2001... Corporate Money Top Nominated Advisers by market cap (year 2000) - preliminary Nominated Adviser Value...

EQUITY ISSUES.
January 17, 2001... EQUITY ISSUES UK equity issues - week ending 14/01/01 BIDDER TERMS Galahad Capital Nominated advisor: Shell company Seymour Pierce Market:...

Nestle acquires Ralston Purina.
January 17, 2001... Nestle, the Swiss foods group giant, is set to acquire Ralston Purina, the second largest pet food manufacturer in the US. Nestle already has a presence in the [pound]33bn a year pet-food market through its Friskies and Mighty Dog brands....

Perfetti and Van Melle announce merger.
January 17, 2001... Perfetti, the privately owned Italian confectionery group, has announced its intention to merge with Dutch rival Van Melle in a deal valuing the Amsterdam-listed sweet manufacturer at approximately [epsilon]966m. Explaining the reasoning...

Schneider and Legrand announce merger.
January 17, 2001... Schneider, French manufacturer of high voltage products and industrial engineering equipment, and Legrand, the French producer of low voltage electric fittings and accessories, have announced their intention to merge, forming one of the worlds...

Bio-Technology General makes acquisition.
January 17, 2001... US bio-technology group Bio-Technology General has announced that it is to buy Israel's third largest bio-technology company Ormix Biopharmaceuticals for between $120m and $140m. The deal is expected to take the form of a share swap.

Dutch to privatise Schiphol Airport.
January 17, 2001... The Dutch state is set to privatise Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. Ownership of the airport is split between the Dutch government (75.8 per cent), the City of Amsterdam (21.8 per cent), and Rotterdam (2.4 per cent.) The final go-ahead for the...

Intec increases US operations.
January 17, 2001... Intec Telecom Systems, one of the world leaders in telecoms operational support systems (OSS), has conditionally agreed to acquire US telecoms inter-billing software developer CHA Systems for an initial $16.59 Intec is already the leading...

Meanfiddler in reverse takeover.
January 17, 2001... Meanfiddler Holdings (MFH), the UK holding company of the Mean Fiddler group, is to be the subject of a reverse takeover by its AIM-listed subsidiary Meanfiddlet.com, the UK online music event broadcaster. The deal will allow the group to...

Arriva continues European expansion.
January 17, 2001... Arriva, the UK transport services group, has agreed to buy the Danish state run bus service Combus for a nominal value. Arriva already owns over 20 per cent of the Danish bus market and this acquisition will increase its share by a further...

Appointments.
January 17, 2001... Memery Crystal, the UK law firm, ha announced the appointment of Nick Davies as senior assistant solicitor of the corporate department Davies joins from West End firm Seddons Memer Crystal said the move reflected the huge surge in demand faced...

CAPITAL MARKETS.
January 17, 2001... BONDS NTL, the cable television company, announced that it plans to issue a high-yield bond. The issue will be for a [epsilon]200m, seven-year bond. Unique Pub Company, which is owned by Nomura, has also announced it is planning a...

BT completes Viag Interkom deal.
January 17, 2001... British Telecommunications (BT) has completed its purchase of German fixed line and mobile operator Viag Interkom. It has increased the stake acquired in Viag Interkom from E.ON by 45 per cent to 90 per cent as a result of the German utility...

MBO of Norlec Engineering.
January 17, 2001... Norlec Engineering, a contract manufacturer of components, fabrications and assemblies for equipment manufacturers, has been bought out by a management team backed up Llyods TSB Commercial Finance. The MBO team, led by managing director John...

Coats Viyella makes further disposals.
January 17, 2001... Coats Viyella, the British textile group, has announced that it is to sell four non-core businesses from its Viyella division for a total of [pound]21m. These disposals follow the announcement on December 4, 2000, that Coats Viyella was selling...

Scottish & Newcastle to restructure.
January 17, 2001... Scottish & Newcastle (S&N), the UK brewing, retail and leisure company, has announced that it will restructure its UK pub and beer operations in order to boost earnings growth. The restructuring will focus upon its Scottish Courage brewing...

EQUITY LEAGUE TABLES.
January 24, 2001... Our equity league tables are based solely on our UK equities database. See below or phone 020 7943 8155 for further Information. Corporate Money Top Placing Brokers (including rights issues) - Official...

MAJOR DEALS.
January 24, 2001... MAJOR DEALS EQUITIES Issuer Market Value ([pound]m) Type Broker Man Group Official List 75 Placing Credit Suisse First Boston ...

COSTS OF CAPITAL.
January 24, 2001... COSTS OF CAPITAL 3 Mth Money 10 Yr Bond Div Yield PE Ratio France 4 3/4% 4.99% 2.09% 19.50 Germany 4 3/4% 4.85% 1.47% 21.90 Japan 7/16% ...

M&A WEEKLY SUMMARY.
January 24, 2001... M&A WEEKLY SUMMARY [pound]m No Year to date Total 948.68 33 4,811.22 86 UK Public Bids/Mergers 555.94 1 2,683.12 2 Private Equity 28.80 4...

M&A NEW BUSINESS.
January 24, 2001... M&A NEW BUSINESS ACCOUNTANTS Deloitte & Touche 555.94 1 KPMG 159.1 5 Arthur Andersen 36.10 1 Ernst & Young 36.10 1...

EQUITY ISSUES.
January 24, 2001... EQUITY ISSUES UK equity issues - week ending 21/01/01 BIDDER TERMS Man Group Broker: Credit Suisse First...

M&A LEAGUE TABLES.
January 24, 2001... Our league tables are based solely on the Corporate Money M&A database. Please fax press releases on deals to 020 7943 8172, or email us at corporate-money@centaur.co.uk Corporate Money Top 30 Law Firms ...

Euronext for global co-ordinators.
January 24, 2001... Euronext, formed from the Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris bourses, said the global co-ordinators for its forthcoming IPO will be ABN AMRO Rothschild and BNP Paribas. ABN AMRO Rothschild and BNP Paribas will also be joint bookrunners for the...

M&A.
January 24, 2001... Sportingbet.com valued at [pound]156m after IPO Sportingbet.com, an offshore UK-listed sports betting agency, said it raised [pound]18m through a share sale valuing the company at [pound]156m. The business said it would use the money to...

Deutsche Boerse to raise [epsilon]983m.
January 24, 2001... Deutsche Boerse, the German stock exchange operator, said it will offer shares in its IPO priced between (epsilon)285-335 raising up to [epsilon]983m to make acquisitions and investments in other exchanges around the world. The Boerse said it...

Kimberly-Clark buys Italian nappy firm.
January 24, 2001... Kimberly-Clark, a US tissue and nappy maker, said it agreed to buy Italy's number two diaper maker Linostar for an undisclosed fee. It bought the unit from the Bolton Group, a Dutch company. Kimberly-Clark said the acquisition will give it 21%...

Moscow wants to borrow $745m.
January 24, 2001... The City of Moscow said it plans to borrow $725-745m to refinance its foreign debt due this year, according to the city government finance department. Moscow Financial Agency chief executive Mikhail Kalinushkin said: "We are interested in...

Corus restructures its debt.
January 24, 2001... Corus, the anglo-Dutch steel company, is understood to be in advanced talks to restructure its [pound]1.7bn debt to pay for up to 7,000 redundancies it may be forced to make because of poor sales and a strong pound. Corus is believed to be in...

Appointments.
January 24, 2001... Philip Remnant has been appointed by the UK's Takeover Panel as its next director general. Remnant comes from Credit Suisse first Boston where he was managing director. He is taking a two year secondment from CSFB to fulfill the role, to which...

BBVA buys two latin banks.
January 24, 2001... BBVA, Spain's second largest bank, said it would offer to buy the remaining shares in an Argentine and a Colombian bank taking them under full control for up to $770m in cash and shares. BBVA said it would pay up to $700m for the remaining...

Two US firms bought by SCA.
January 24, 2001... Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA), the Swedish paper company, said it would buy two tissue and packaging units from two US companies as it focused on high-growth industries in other areas. SCA bought parts of the Away From Home tissue...

C&W reduces shares in NTL.
January 24, 2001... Cable & Wireless, a UK telecoms company, said it had cut its stake in NTL, the UK's largest cable television operator, by one sixth, selling eight million shares for [pound]183m. The company still holds 36.4 million shares of NTL stock, and...

Glynwed returns to Aga business.
January 24, 2001... Glynwed International, a UK engineering and foodservice company, said it would sell off its pipes systems unit to Etex, a privately-owned Belgium company, for [pound]786m in cash. The company said the deal was part of its strategy to slim the...

Prestwick airport sold for [pound]33.4m.
January 24, 2001... Stagecoach, the Scottish-based transport group, sold Prestwick airport, near Glasgow, to an international consortium for [pound]33.4m. The company said the sale was part of its plan to concentrate on road and rail links. The airport was...

Flintstone to IPO next month.
January 24, 2001... Flintstone Technologies, a UK company that funds technology licensing companies, said that it would seek to list on AIM next month. The company said it hoped for market value of [pound]20m. Flintstone makes money by selling client companies...

Chubb in takeover talks with Hiscox.
January 24, 2001... US Insurance company Chubb said it is in takeover talks with UK rival Hiscox, which may lead to an offer of around [pound]249m for the business. The US company already bought 28% of the 100-year old company in 1999 at 225 pence a share. Hiscox...

Prudential to acquire Orico.
January 24, 2001... Prudential, a UK insurance company, said it had agreed to buy a life insurance unit from Japanese consumer credit company Orient Corporation for [pound]133m, to expand its operations in Asia. The UK company said it expects to acquire Orico...

CAPITAL MARKETS.
January 24, 2001... BONDS This week European banks were active in the market and were well received as investors did not think they would be exposed to a possible downturn in the US economy. ING Bank raised [epsilon]1bn payable over 10 years, and allied Irish...

Icelandic firms buy Arcadia shares.
January 24, 2001... Arcadia, UK retail group, said three Icelandic companies had bought 10.58 million shares in the company, representing 5.59% of the business. The trio of investors are: Baugur, the country's largest retailer; Kaupthing, an investment bank; and...

BT warns against delay.
January 24, 2001... British Telecom has warned that should it be forced to delay the flotation of its mobile phone business, cuts may have to be made in other areas such as investment and dividends. The warning comes amid falling share prices among telecom stocks...

Corporate Money Top Accountants - Official List.
January 31, 2001... Corporate Money Top Accountants - Official List by market cap (year 2000) - preliminary Accountant Value [pound]m No. 1 KPMG 14,877.67 18 2 Deloitte & Touche ...

Interbrew bags Ukrainian brewer.
January 31, 2001... Interbrew, a Belgian brewer, said it bought a majority stake in Ukraine's second largest brewer, Rogan Brewery. The purchase was made through its joint venture with India's Sun Brewing Group, Sun Interbrew. The company bought 81.4% of Rogan...

Croatia sells companies online.
January 31, 2001... Croatia's state privatisation fund sold the first seven of the number of smaller companies it wants to shed through an online auction, the Zagreb Stock Exchange said in a the Zagreb Stock Exchange said in a statement. Online auctions would...

LVMH takes stake in Asprey.
January 31, 2001... LVMH, the French luxury goods company, will take minority stake in UK royal jeweller Asprey & Garrard to help fund the British firm's overseas expansion. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The move comes as Asprey recruired Gianluca...

ACQUISITIONS.
January 31, 2001... ACQUISITIONS Bids, mergers and disposals - week ending 28/01/01 BIDDER TARGET 3i Group + meVC Draper Safestone Technologies Fisher Jurvetson Fund I + (stake)...