Corporate Money articles from May 1999

Corporate Money archives from May 1999

Almost 300,000 small businesses will be exempted; Audit cut for small businesses.
May 12, 1999... Almost 300,000 small businesses will be exempted from having to prepare an annual audit, under plans being considered by the Department of Trade and Industry. Secretary of State Stephen Byers is thought likely to announce soon that companies...

UK hardens stance on withholding tax.
May 12, 1999... The UK government hardened its approach to negotiations over the withholding tax, refusing to discuss with other EU states proposals to distinguish between the wholesale and retail markets in international bonds at a meeting of government...

More money raised for buyouts.
May 12, 1999... Private equity houses are continuing to tap investorsO appetite for unquoted investments with the completion of two fund raising exercises in the past two weeks and the launch of a new e500m ([pound]330m) European buyout fund from Duke Street...

Revenue reconsiders bond tax OmistakeO.
May 12, 1999... The Inland Revenue is reviewing its decision to impose a controversial change to the tax treatment of bonds after City groups led by the law firm Linklaters & Alliance warned that the new rules could damage confidence in LondonOs bond market...

Agreement reached on Treasury stock.
May 12, 1999... A major barrier to the introduction of treasury stock programmes for UK companies has been overcome with an agreement between the Association of Corporate Treasurers and two leading shareholder interests groups. David Creed, director...

Tradepoint to challenge global status quo.
May 12, 1999... A warning shot was fired against European and American Stock Exchanges last week. A consortium of securities houses led by agency brokers Instinet took a 54.4% stake in Tradepoint Financial Networks, a would-be usurper of the status quo. ...

Flotation cloud darkens MBO marketOs recovery.
May 12, 1999... Private equity houses will be hoping that the dramatic fall in UK buyout activity in the first quarter of this year marks the bottom of a temporary downturn rather than confirmation that the present cycle has peaked. But if the market does fail...

Cable & Wireless risks all on Japanese take-over first.
May 12, 1999... There will be many wishing Cable & Wireless every success in their Y67bn bid for JapanOs International Digital Communications, a rare example of an unsolicited take-over by a foreign company in a country notoriously good at protecting its...

Market ignores the OvisionO in LasmoOs high priced deal.
May 12, 1999... Lasmo has run into trouble with its shareholders and the markets over its deal with Monument. But it might well be showing greater vision than its critics by paying a high premium E 36% E at a time when, as Mark Redway of T. Hoare & Co said,...

US groups add to take-over activity in European communications.
May 12, 1999... Telecoms and cable TV once again provided the highlights for European M&A activity this week. First to hit the headlines was Swedish mobile telephone and internet technology group Sendit which has received a bid from the ubiquitous US...

Bids, mergers, demergers and disposals; week ending 9/5/99.
May 12, 1999... Bidder Aalberts Industries Dutch engineering group LF: Norton Rose (Keith Hyman) Target Heat Treatment Part of SeniorOs Products and Services Division Vendor: Senior Engineering FA: Schroders LF:...

Blagden sale.
May 12, 1999... Blagden has sold its largest remaining business, its formaldehyde and resins division, to US based Borden Chemicals for [pound]45m. Having found it OimpossibleO to find acquisitions in the speciality chemicals sector which would increase the...

Nycomed-Pharma.
May 12, 1999... Nycomed Amersham is selling a majority stake in its pharmaceutical business, Nycomed Pharma, to Nordic Capital in a deal which values the entire division at [pound]340m. The sale comes as no surprise. Since the merger of the UKOs Amersham,...

Northern Leisure.
May 12, 1999... Northern Leisure has altered its management structure through the [pound]17m acquisition of cash shell Fife Group. The paper offer consists of eight Northern shares for every fifteen Fife, valuing each share at 81.2p. Fife was an industrial and...

Equity Issues.
May 12, 1999... Exeter Enhanced Income Fund Investment fund Sector: Investment Companies Market: Official List Type: Placing Amount ([pound]m): 13.1 Price (p): 109 No of shares: 12,000,000 Broker: Hoare Govett (Bob...

Glotel.
May 12, 1999... The buoyancy of the telecoms sector was underlined again this week as Glotel announced the details of its flotation. Chief executive Andy Baker said he was Odelighted with the response to our flotation from investors, clients, consultants and...

Domestic and international bond issues; week ending 9/5/99.
May 12, 1999... COMPANY Honours Special purpose student loans vehicle Market: US/UK Currency: GBP Amount (m): 662.3 Rating: AAA/Aaa TERMS Coupon: See details Maturity: April 2029 Price: 100.0 Yield: See...

Broadgate bonds.
May 12, 1999... A [pound]1.54bn securitisation issue took British Land into the record books last week but left the company facing complaints from existing bondholders that the sale infringes on covenants for earlier issues. However the seven tranche bond -...

Tussauds.
May 12, 1999... BT Alex Brown has devised a new Oseasonal liquidity facilityO for its innovative securitisation of the Tussauds Group. This is to take account of the groupOs highly seasonal revenues from its theme parks which will back the issue. Although...

M&A.
May 19, 1999... HSBC Holdings starred as this weekOs deal total soared towards the [pound]10bn mark. ItOs acquisition of Republic National Bank of New York for [pound]6.3bn was augmented by a pick-up in private equity activity. Three transactions were...

Partnerships warn of drastic action over bill.
May 19, 1999... The top five accountancy firms could take drastic action if, as is feared, the govern-ment delays a professional liability bill. Both PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young have warned in the past that they might be forced into...

US revisited by hi-tech 3i.
May 19, 1999... 3i is returning to the US venture capital market, opening two specialist technology investment offices in Boston and Silicon Valley. The operations will be much smaller in scale than the US business 3i closed in 1991 and will initially...

Mercury adds German wing.
May 19, 1999... Mercury Private Equity, the venture capital arm of Mercury Asset Management, is to expand its continental European operations by opening an office in Frankfurt. The new team, headed by former UK investment director Trevor Bayley, will replicate...

US Federal Reserve puts reins on the bull.
May 19, 1999... The US Federal Reserve this week sounded the death knell for the long bull run in US shares with an early warning to markets that interest rates may have to rise later this year. The move was not unexpected but confirmed the marketOs anxiety...

Asian rally aids record HSBC placing.
May 19, 1999... HSBC spectacularly demonstrated last week that exposure to Asia was no longer a disadvantage for corporate fundraisers. The speed with which the bank was able to place 88 million shares at 2100p confirmed that the recovery in the East was...

Hicks, Muse bid for Hillsdown poses a structural question.
May 19, 1999... Mystery surrounds the unusual decision by Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst to structure its [pound]464m offer for Hillsdown Holdings as a scheme of arrangement rather than a public offer, the route favoured in 99.9% of cash take-over attempts. If...

Jointly led buyout points to a trend at Cinven.
May 19, 1999... Cinven is continuing a strategy of teaming up with rival private equity firms in the buyout market in its latest transaction, the [pound]1.3bn acquisition of AstraZenecaOs Speciality Chemical division. The deal will see Cinven share equal...

Arbitrage threat to Mercury investment trust.
May 19, 1999... Another threat to the investment trust sector emerged this week as the US investment fund Elliott Associates was named as the mystery shareholder planning a [pound]750m break-up of the flagship Mercury European Privatisation Trust. This...

Tractor maker leads week of Dutch deals.
May 19, 1999... Holland took centre stage in European M&A this week with three major deals announced in very different sectors. Dutch farming equipment manufacturer New Holland took a large step towards market leadership with the announcement of a $4.3bn...

Bids, mergers, demergers and disposals; week ending 16/5/99.
May 19, 1999... Bidder Bidvest Advisers not available Target Booker Foodservice Division Food delivery companyVendor: BookerFA: Lazard Brothers (Charles Packshaw) PR: Brunswick (Tom Kyte) Finance Details Value...

Cookson buy in US.
May 19, 1999... Engineering group Cookson took another major step towards refocusing this week, with the [pound]252m acquisition of Premier Refractories from the US Alpine Group. The deal gives Cookson a more substantial presence in the market for...

Dentmaster sold.
May 19, 1999... AIM listed dent removal company Dentmaster has agreed an [pound]11.36m takeover bid from US based Manheim Auctions. Manheim, the worldOs largest car auction company, is offering 7.1p per share, a premium of some 35%. Dentmaster is 51% owned by...

Action set for US.
May 19, 1999... IT products distributor Action Computer Supplies has agreed an all-share offer from US based rival Insight Enterprises, in a deal worth [pound]92m. The deal, 0.16 Insight shares for each Action share, gives Action shareholders an 18% stake in...

BWI sold to Germans.
May 19, 1999... Having turned down the options of a management buy-out and an indicative offer from a private US company, packaging company BWI has decided to recommend an offer from the packaging arm of German engineering group IWKA. The 104p per share offer...

VDCOs escape route.
May 19, 1999... Vetinary and dental healthcare products company VDC is taking the unusual step of reversing into Lawrence, another AIM company, to avoid a hostile bid. Chemicals and animal feed supplies group Lawrence has been deemed preferable to the unwanted...

Old Mutual listing.
May 19, 1999... Old Mutual, the South African financial services and life insurance group which plans to list in London on July 12, said it could raise up to [pound]400 million in new money. The group is known to be interested in making acquisitions in the...

UK on-line to the US.
May 19, 1999... The winds of change have begun blowing through the worldOs stock markets. Enterprising brokers Charles Schwab became the first on-line execution only brokerage in Britain to offer a dollar dealing service. The extension of its automated trading...

Telecom bonds.
May 19, 1999... Taking advantage of the strong demand for corporate bonds in Europe, telecoms group Mannesmann launched the largest ever corporate issue in euros. The E3 billion 10-year bond is intended to fund the groupOs acquisitions programme. Lead managed...

Lawyers in warning over break fees.
May 26, 1999... The use of break fees in recommended offers is becoming more prevalent and unless checked could produce a steady increase in the value of inducements offered to prospective buyers of UK listed companies, say lawyers at Ashurst Morris Crisp. ...

Pick up for venture capital.
May 26, 1999... Confidence among UK venture capitalists is recovering from a low point in the first quarter as the threat of a recession recedes, claims Deloitte & Touche in its latest quarterly Private Equity Confidence Survey. In the second survey of 500...

SMEOs join merger mania.
May 26, 1999... The wave of cross-border mergers sweeping through the international business community is set to accelerate among medium sized businesses, reports Smith & Williamson. The conclusion is based on evidence supplied by M&A Partners, a world-wide...

Mixed signals on savings tax.
May 26, 1999... EU finance ministers met this week for further discussions on the proposed withholding tax, but there was disagreement over whether Gordon Brown is heading for an historic victory or an embarrassing climb down. The Chancellor said after the...

Corporate profits fall bad but overstated.
May 26, 1999... Many City analysts were dismayed to learn from of the Office of National Statistics this week that corporate profits in the first quarter suffered their worst contraction since the dark days of the three day week and OScargill lanternsO in...

Mercury dishes Ritblat bid for Greycoat.
May 26, 1999... Merrill Lynch owned Mercury Asset Management has broken new ground in its succesful backing of the Greycoat management buyout. For the first time, Mercury Private Equity, its venture capital arm, teamed up with Mercury Property Fund for the...

Cable & Wireless decides to keeps it complicated.
May 26, 1999... The complexity of Cable & WirelessOs deal to cash in on its 50% stake in One-2-One has puzzled a number of analysts. OI donOt understand why theyOve done it like thisEitOs just a complicated way of taking out a secured loan,O said Justinian...

Olivetti-Telecom Italia deal could start leveraged takeover fever.
May 26, 1999... The last week in European M&A has been dominated by OlivettiOs astonishing triumph in its bid battle for Telecom Italia. The former took control of 51.02% of the Italian giant for E6.5 billion. Although the government could yet to decide to use...

Bids, mergers, demergers and disposals; week ending 23/5/99.
May 26, 1999... Bidder BAT reorganisation British American Tobacco Singapore Investments Subsidiary of BAT, UK listed tobacco group FA: Schroders (Eugene Lai)LF: Allen & Gledhill (Sing) Rothmans Industries Singaporean 50% owned...

Bids, mergers, demergers and disposals; week ending 23/5/99.
May 26, 1999... Bidder BAT reorganisation British American Tobacco Singapore Investments Subsidiary of BAT, UK listed tobacco group FA: Schroders (Eugene Lai) LF: Allen & Gledhill (Sing) Target Rothmans Industries ...

SchroderOs US venture.
May 26, 1999... The acquisition of Danka Services International marks the first transaction outside Europe for Schroder VenturesO European Fund, a $1bn private equity fund launched in June 1997. But while the Rochester, New York based DSI appears to be an...

Butcher turns to film.
May 26, 1999... With all the cinematic hype surrounding the release of The Phantom Menace and Notting Hill, investors in Whitchurch Group may be forgiven for a little optimism of their own. For the Berkshire based meat processor has at last sealed a deal which...

UK equity issues, domestic and international bond issues; week ending 23/5/99.
May 26, 1999... COMPANY European settlements> Provider of software to telecoms companies TERMS Sector: Telecommunication Services Market: Ofex Type: Admission/offer ADVISERS Corporate Advisers: Jerrard Saunders Donn ...

European Settlements.
May 26, 1999... The OrationalisationO of EuropeOs clearing and settlement infrastructure was welcomed by a group of 13 leading investment banks. This followed the news, announced earlier this month, that the clearing houses Cedel and Sicovam would merge with...

Repsol record.
May 26, 1999... The eurobonds market saw Mannesmann and Repsol dominate events last week, making life very difficult for other issuers such as Endesa. Both the German telecoms company and the Spanish oil group went to market last week to avoid competing with...