Corporate Money articles from October 2000

Corporate Money archives from October 2000

CAPITAL MARKETS.
October 4, 2000... BONDS Gilts ended down at Wednesday's close as traders blamed poor demand, but the subdued market was more likely due to the now traditional traumatic wait for the Bank of England's decision on interest rates. After the last two months'...

Pricoa closes [epsilon]540m fund.
October 4, 2000... Pan-European private equity and mezzanine debt provider, Pricoa has closed a new European fund totalling [epsilon]540m. The fund, PCPP II, is made up of [epsilon]200m of medium-term bank debt arranged by Bank of Scotland, and investor...

British Land plans disposals.
October 4, 2000... The UK's third largest property group, British Land, is planning to raise [pound]307.5m by selling property in the City of London to a new joint venture with Westdeutsche Landesbank (WestLB), the German investment bank. The properties include...

Stream looks for AIM float.
October 4, 2000... Stream, a provider of premium-rate telephone advice lines, is set to float in early November. The Newbury, UK-based firm is expected to have a market capitalisation of around [pound]40m and should raise between [pound]5m and [pound]6m. Stream's...

Scottish Life goes to Royal London.
October 4, 2000... Pensions provider Scottish Life has chosen Royal London, the home sales insurer, as its preferred buyer. Royal will pay [pound]1.lbn in a recommended bid for Scottish Life which has seen several interested parties, including GE Capital and...

Schroders in new banking venture.
October 4, 2000... Fund manager Schroders has been given regulatory approval to establish a private bank in the UK. It has been only six months since it sold its investment banking arm to Salomon Smith Barney, part of Citigroup. The UK's Financial Services...

Pre-tel secures $110m funding.
October 4, 2000... Pre-tel Wireless (PW), a wireless application service provider, has secured [pound]74m in equity and vendor financing ahead of its launch in December. The firm will manage a range of services and applications -- including in-commerce,...

Incuvest opens London office.
October 4, 2000... Incuvest, a New York-based venture capital group, has begun its overseas expansion with the opening of a European office in London. Tim Duffy, former group vice president of PictureTel, will bead the office. The company has established a...

AIM IPOs shun big firms.
October 4, 2000... Companies floating on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) are ignoring big law firms in favour of small-to-medium-sized partnerships. According to a survey published this week by The Lawyer, Memery Crystal, a niche City law firm with...

Warburg closes $2.5bn fund.
October 4, 2000... New York-based private equity firm Warburg Pincus has closed a $2.5bn private equity fund. The fund, WPIP, will make venture capital and private equity investments in companies outside the US. It is also the largest of its kind according to...

Appointments.
October 4, 2000... Mercury Private Equity (MPE) has appointed Roman Pelka as an associate director in the company's LBO team. Prior to MPE, Pelka was an investment banker at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), where he was principally...

ASML to acquire rival for [epsilon]1.8bn.
October 4, 2000... ASM Lithography (ASML), a Dutch producer of manufacturing equipment for the semiconductor industry, has acquired rival Silicon Valley Group (SVG) in an all-stock deal valuing the target at [epsilon]1.8bn ($1.6bn). The deal catapults ASML into...

Banks merge to create powerhouse.
October 4, 2000... Two of Denmark's leading banks are to merge in a DKr25.8bn ([epsilon]3.5bn) deal to create one of the largest banks in the Nordic region. Danske Bank is to acquire RealDanmark in a deal which has been recommended by Foreningen RealDanmark, BG...

BVLP in talks to join Euronext.
October 4, 2000... The board of the Lisbon Stock Exchange--Ia Bolsa de Valores de Lisboa e Porto (BVLP)--has confirmed it is in talks with Euronext, the new European exchange, regarding a possible merger. The BVLP said that "after considering a range of options,...

Genesys to buy Vialog.
October 4, 2000... French conferencing group Genesys is to acquire US audio, video and internet conferencing company Vialog for roughly $241m. The consideration will be satisfied for $151m through a share exchange with Vialog shareholders receiving 0.2563 Genesys...

Remec in $488m bid for Allgon.
October 4, 2000... US wireless technology firm Remec has made an agreed $488m bid for Swedish electronics firm Allgon. The move is intended to strengthen Remec's position in the growing mobile phone market--Allgon provides parts for the leading European phone...

ACQUISITIONS.
October 4, 2000... ACQUISITIONS Bids, mergers, demergers and disposals - week ending 01/10/00 BIDDER TARGET 3i Group Magic4 (30%) UK...

Intercare acquire Macarthy.
October 4, 2000... The Intercare Group is acquiring the pharmaceuticals manufacturer Macarthy Group for [pound]82.6m. The cost consists of a cash payment of [pound]71.75m, a loan note of [pound]0.6m and the issue of [pound]10.25m worth of new Intercare shares....

CFS to acquire DSI.
October 4, 2000... CFS, the asset control and financing software company, has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire Decision Systems, Inc (DSI), a US-based provider of equipment leasing software and services, for $128m ([pound]87.8m). CFS intends...

Wirksworth bid for Utilitec.
October 4, 2000... Wirksworth Acquisitions has made a recommended cash offer for the entire issued share capital of Utilitec, a provider of products and services to the gas and water industries. The offer of 18p per share in cash values Utilirec at [pound]13.2m....

MultiMedia to merge with Illuminator.
October 4, 2000... MultiMedia Corporation is to acquire Illuminator, an internet and technology investment house, in an all-share deal. At the same time, Brian Myerson and Julian Treger, founders of Illuminator and joint managing directors of Active Value...

EQUITY ISSUES.
October 4, 2000... EQUITY ISSUES UK equity issues - week ending 01/10/00 BIDDER ADVISERS Affinity Internet Holdings Br: Charley Stanley & Co E-business solutions FA: Charley...

Corporate Money Top 35 Law Firms.
October 4, 2000... Corporate Money Top 35 Law Firms by deal value (2000 year to date) Law Firm Value [pound]m No. 1 Slaughter & May 100,829.17 71 2...

Corporate Money Top 35 Financial Advisers.
October 4, 2000... Corporate Money Top 35 Financial Advisers by deal value (2000 year to date) Financial Adviser Value [pound]m No. 1 Goldman Sachs 129,517.61 33...

Corporate Money Top 10 Accountants.
October 4, 2000... Corporate Money Top 10 Accountants by deal value (2000 year to date) Accountant Value [pound]m No. 1 PricewaterhouseCoopers 42,508.23 119 2 KPMG ...

Corporate Money Top 10 Brokers.
October 4, 2000... Corporate Money Top 10 Brokers by deal value (2000 year to date) Broker Value [pound]m No. 1 Cazenove & Co 78,908.77 49 2 Hoare Govett ...

Corporate Money Top Placing Brokers.
October 4, 2000... Corporate Money Top Placing Brokers by deal value (2000 year to date) Broker Value [pound]m No. 1 ABN AMRO Rothschild 1,100.00 1 2 Hoare Govett ...

Corporate Money Top Sponsors.
October 4, 2000... Corporate Money Top Sponsors by deal value (2000 year to date) Sponsors Value [pound]m No. 1 Lazard 7,500.00 2 2 Goldman Sachs ...

Corporate Money Top Flotation Law Firms.
October 4, 2000... Corporate Money Top Flotation Law Firms by deal value (2000 year to date) Law Firm Value [pound]m No. 1 Lovells 7,500.00 1 2...

Corporate Money Top Placing Underwriters.
October 4, 2000... Corporate Money Top Placing Underwriters by deal value (2000 year to date) Underwriter Value [pound]m No. 1 ABN AMRO Rothschild 1,368.70 2 2 Investec Bank ...

Corporate Money Top Stockbrokers.
October 4, 2000... Corporate Money Top Stockbrokers by deal value (2000 year to date) Stockbroker Value [pound]m No. 1 Credit Suisse First Boston 4,981.68 4 2 Hoare Govett ...

Corporate Money Top Flotation Accountants.
October 4, 2000... Corporate Money Top Flotation Accountants by deal value (2000 year to date) Accountant Value [pound]m No. 1 KPMG 9,970.84...

CAPITAL MARKETS.
October 11, 2000... BONDS True to the old laws of economics, as the stock market took a battering on Wednesday, the bond markets benefited from 'safe haven' flows coming in from equities. Gilts had earlier tumbled slightly. Some traders said gilts had...

Autonomy to list in London.
October 11, 2000... UK-based software company Autonomy is setting up a [pound]276m secondary offering of shares which is likely to take it into the FTSE-100 by early December -- the company is currently listed on the Easdaq exchange. Most of those shares are...

Canary Wharf to enter FTSE.
October 11, 2000... This year may mark the culmination of a brilliant recovery for Canary Wharf which, on October 10, overtook Land Securities as the UK's largest quoted property company. The company, which only came out of receivership in 1995, has been helped by...

Southern Cross targets NHP.
October 11, 2000... Following the collapse of talks between nursing home company NHP and a number of bidders, it is looking increasingly likely that rival, privately-owned Southern Cross Healthcare may attempt a reverse takeover. NHP, which owns 390 nursing homes...

Vodafone finalises Infostrada sale.
October 11, 2000... Italian utility company Enel is to acquire Italian telecoms firm Infostrada from the UK's Vodafone for up to [epsilon]12.7bn. The consideration comprises [epsilon]11bn for the entire issued share capital of Infostrada and [epsilon]1.1bn in...

Caradon sells units to HSBC.
October 11, 2000... UK building products company Caradon is to sell its plumbing businesses to HSBC Private Equity for [pound]422m in cash on a debt-free basis. The deal is subject to Caradon shareholder approval and normal competition clearances. The...

Shell/Apache buy Fletcher Energy.
October 11, 2000... Anglo-Dutch petrochemical group Royal Dutch Shell and Houston-based Apache Corporation have teamed up to buy Fletcher Challenge Energy (FCE) for $1.63bn. FCE has been sold as part of the restructuring going on at its parent company, New Zealand...

SKB smiles with toothpaste buy.
October 11, 2000... UK-based pharmaceuticals company SmithKline Beecham (SKB) has acquired the Block Drug Company (BDC) for $1.24bn to become the second largest toothpaste producer in the world. SKB is paying $53 in cash per BDC share to add BDC's Sensodyne...

Buy-out market smashes records.
October 11, 2000... The total value of the UK buy-out market (MBO/MBI) in 2000 has already eclipsed the [pound]16.9bn record set last year according to figures released today by the Centre for Management Buy-out Research, part of the School of Management and...

Clarks to stay private.
October 11, 2000... CJ Clark, the UK shoemaker and retailer, is to stay private despite announcing earlier this year that it was planning to ballot the Clark family on a possible flotation. The company's chairman, Roger Pedder, said the board had received advice...

Appointments.
October 11, 2000... Greenhill, the corporate advisory firm, has strengthned the ream leading its push into Germany with the appointment of investment banker Colin Roy. Roy was previously at Merrill Lynch where he was co-head of investment banking in Germany. ...

Fortis launches bid for ASR.
October 11, 2000... Fortis, the Belgo-Dutch financial services group, has launched a [epsilon]4.1bn agreed bid for Rotterdam-based insurer ASR. If successful, Fortis will become the largest insurance group in the Benelux region. The offer consists of three...

Intesa buys remainder of BCI.
October 11, 2000... Italy's largest bank, Banca Intesa, is to pay [epsilon]3.4bn in shares to buy the remaining 30% holding in Banca Commerciale Italiana (BCI) which it does not already own. The deal is intended to speed up the integration of the two banks...

Telefonica to acquire Motorola units.
October 11, 2000... Motorola is to sell four cellular telephone operating companies in northern Mexico to Telefonica Moviles, a subsidiary of spanish telecoms company Telefonica, for roughly $1.79bn. The four companies, Baja Cellular, Movitel, Norcel and Cedetel...

DT buys into Ben.
October 11, 2000... Deutsche Telekom (DT) subsidiary T-Mobile International (TMI) has acquired a non-controlling stake in Dutch mobile operator Ben. The move follows the successful application for a UMTS telecoms license in the Netherlands by a consortium...

Swatch acquires luxury watchmaker.
October 11, 2000... Swiss watch group Swatch has acquired German luxury watchmaker Glashuetter and is planning to take its new brand into non-traditional markets. The terms of the deal were not disclosed but analysts estimated the price at $34m or twice...

ACQUISITIONS.
October 11, 2000... ACQUISITIONS Bids, mergers, demergers and disposals - week ending 08/10/00 BIDDER TARGET 365 Corporation Systematic Telecoms UK listed provider of digital UK...

Baltimore continues expansion drive.
October 11, 2000... Baltimore Technologies, the UK e-security provider, is acquiring Nevex Software Technologies. Baltimore, listed on both Nasdaq and the LSE Techmark, is paying for the Toronto-based software development firm through the issue of 4.2 million...

Broadcom takes UK's Element 14.
October 11, 2000... Broadcom, the US high-speed communications chip maker, is to buy UK chip producer Element 14 in an all-share deal. Broadcom will issue around 2.65m shares of common stock in exchange for all the outstanding shares in Element. Based on...

Logica acquires pdv for [pound]370m.
October 11, 2000... UK software firm Logica is to acquire German IT services firm pdv Unternehmensberatung for an aggregate cash consideration of up to DM1.21bn ([pound]370m). The acquisition will be funded by a one for ten rights issue at [pound]11.50 per new...

Gameplay acquires PBS.
October 11, 2000... Gameplay.com has acquired Israel-based Pixel Broadband Studios (PBS) from Take-Two Interactive Software (TIS) for a total of [pound]34.1m. The consideration for the deal will be satisfied by the issue of 15,371,968 ordinary Gameplay shares and...

China Mobile/Vodafone alliance.
October 11, 2000... Vodafone and China Mobile (Hong Kong) Limited (CMIHK) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the principal terms for a strategic alliance and co-operation between them in the areas of mobile services, technology, operations...

EQUITY ISSUES.
October 11, 2000... EQUITY ISSUES UK equity issues - week ending 08/10/00 BIDDER ADVISERS Alliance UniChem Underwriter: Merrill Lynch Healthcare & Br: Merrill...

Corporate Money Top 35 Law Firms.
October 11, 2000... Corporate Money Top 35 Law Firms by deal value (2000 year to date) Law Firm Value [pound]m No. 1 Slaughter & May 100,963.17 72...

Corporate Money Top 10 Accountants.
October 11, 2000... Corporate Money Top 10 Accountants by deal value (2000 year to date) Accountant Value [pound]m No. 1 PricewaterhouseCoopers 43,633.08 127 2 KPMG ...

Corporate Money Top 35 Financial Advisers.
October 11, 2000... Corporate Money Top 35 Financial Advisers by deal value (2000 year to date) Financial Adviser Value [pound]m No. 1 Goldman Sachs 129,517.61 33...

Corporate Money Top 10 Brokers.
October 11, 2000... Corporate Money Top 10 Brokers by deal value (2000 year to date) Broker Value [pound]m No. 1 Cazenove & Co 78,913.38 51 2 Hoare Govett ...

Corporate Money Top Placing Brokers.
October 11, 2000... Corporate Money Top Placing Brokers by deal value (2000 year to date) Broker Value [pound]m No. 1 ABN AMRO Rothschild 1,000.00 1 2 Hoare Govett ...

Corporate Money Top Rights Brokers.
October 11, 2000... Corporate Money Top Rights Brokers by deal value (2000 year to date) Broker Value [pound]m No. 1 Cazenove & Co 878.32 2 2 Goldman Sachs ...

Corporate Money Top Nominated Advisers.
October 11, 2000... Corporate Money Top Nominated Advisers by deal value (2000 year to date) Nominated Adviser Value [pound]m No. 1 Altium Capital 326.42 10 2 Peel Hunt & Co ...

Corporate Money Top Placing Underwriters.
October 11, 2000... Corporate Money Top Placing Underwriters by deal value (2000 year to date Underwriter Value [pound]m No. 1 ABN AMRO Rothschild 1,368.70 2 2 Investec Bank ...

Corporate Money Top Rights Underwriters.
October 11, 2000... Corporate Money Top Rights Underwriters by deal value (2000 year to date) Underwriter Value [pound]m No. 1 Cazenove & Co 850.00 1 2 Goldman Sachs 850.00 1 3 UBS Warburg...

Corporate Money Top Nominated Brokers.
October 11, 2000... Corporate Money Top Nominated Brokers by deal value (2000 year to date) Nominated Broker Value [pound]m No. 1 Peel Hunt & Co 324.30 10 2 Altium Capital ...

BUNDS.
October 18, 2000... UK gilts ended off their peaks on Wednesday as weaker bunds depressed them towards the close of the day. Minutes from the last meeting of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee had showed a unanimous 9-0 vote to keep interest rates...

NASDAQ.
October 18, 2000... The FTSE-100 ended down 55 points or 0.9% to close at 6,148.2. The market was helped to recover from its earlier losses -- where it had been as low as 6,017.2-- by Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average bounced back to a loss of 171...

INFOSTRADA.
October 18, 2000... There was a total of 35 deals this week with a total value of [pound]9.52bn. This brings the total number of deal this year to 1,518 with a total value of around [pound]350bn. Deals of note this week include: Italian utility company Enel's...

MAJOR DEALS.
October 18, 2000... MAJOR DEALS EQUITIES Issuer Market Value ([pound]m) Type Sponsor ITE Group Official List 10 Placing/open offer Investec M&A Bidder...

COSTS OF CAPITAL.
October 18, 2000... COSTS OF CAPITAL 3 Mth Money 10 Yr Bond Div Yield PE Ratio France 5 1/32% 5.35% 2.06% 20.20 Germany 5 1/32% 5.22% 1.48% 20.50 Japan 1/2% 1.83% 0.64% ...

M&A WEEKLY SUMMARY.
October 18, 2000... M&A WEEKLY SUMMARY [pound]m No Year to date Total 9,518.21 35 350,751.40 1,518 UK Public Bids/Mergers 22.97 1 152,195.44 204 Private Equity 461.82...

M&A NEW BUSINESS.
October 18, 2000... M&A NEW BUSINESS ACCOUNTANTS Deloitte & Touche 7,586.75 4 Ernst & Young 442.00 1 KPMG 172.97 2 PricewaterhouseCoopers 38.12 4 Arthur...

Reuters, Verizon IPOs delayed.
October 18, 2000... Reuters, the UK electronic information group, is to delay the planned float of its Greenhouse new media investment fund. The IPO was scheduled to happen at the end of last June, was then delayed until the third quarter and again to the fourth...

Edinburgh Uni to issue bond.
October 18, 2000... Edinburgh University is to become the first such institution to supplement its other sources of funding with a bond issue. The university plans to issue a [pound]m bond which is currently being negotiated and will be "obtained on favourable...

Appointments.
October 18, 2000... Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the intenational law firm, has appointed David Simpson as a partner in its Singapore office. Simpson is currently in charge of Allen, Allen & Hemsley. He is a corporate and securities lawyer with a particular...

Collins to float at [pound]326m.
October 18, 2000... UK stockbroker Collins Stewart will be valued at [pound]326m when it floats on the London Stock Exchange just months after its management paid only [pound]122m to buy the company from Singer & Friedlander Group. The flotation has already...

BHI spots opportunity.
October 18, 2000... Boots Healthcare International (BHI), a division of Boots Plc, is to acquire Clearasil, the world's leading brand in acne prevention and treatment, for $340m in cash from US-based healthcare company Procter & Gamble) (P&G). The deal is...

EasyJet to float 25% at IPO.
October 18, 2000... EasyJet, one of Europe's leading low-fare airlines, has decided to float on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The company intends to float roughly 63 million shares -- excluding an over-allotment option. The quota represents just over 25%...

Powergen sells Cottam for [pound]398m.
October 18, 2000... UK-based utility company Powergen is to sell its Cottam power station to The London Power Company, a subsidiary of London Electricity for [pound]398.3m in cash. Cottam is a 2,000MW coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire. The sale is...

Deutsche Bank acquires NDB.
October 18, 2000... Deutsche Bank is to acquire the remaining 84% shareholding in National Discount Brokers (NDB), that it does nor already own, for roughly $840m. The German investment bank is to pay $49.00 per share in cash for full-ownership of one of the...

Georg Fischer acquires Krupp unit.
October 18, 2000... Swiss industrial firm Georg Fischer has acquired German plastics firm Krupp Werner & Pfleiderer from Thyssen Krupp. Fischer bought the unit for an undisclosed amount together with WestLB, Dusseldorf, and its London-based subsidiary West Private...

Roche prices LabCorp shares.
October 18, 2000... Swiss healthcare group Roche has priced the sale of 3.625 million shares of Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings at $118.75 per share. LabCorp is a national clinical laboratory based in the US with annual revenues of $1.7bn in 1999. It...

Merita wins Christiania auction.
October 18, 2000... Merita Nordbanken, when is changing its name to Nordic Baltic Holdings (NBH) has won the Norwegian government auction for Christiania Bank, the country's second largest bank. Finnish-Swedish NBH beat off competition from Svenska Handelsbanken...

Chevron in $35bn Texaco deal.
October 18, 2000... US oil giant Chevron is about to get even bigger if its $35 bn all-share bid for rival Texaco is successful. If the deal goes through it will create the fifth largest oil company in the world. Chevron is offering 0.77 shares per Texaco share...