Deals

Ari Emanuel baits investors to swim with sharks

2 Apr 2024

The CEO of Hollywood powerhouse Endeavor agreed to a $13 bln buyout billed, via creative math, as the decade’s biggest. After separating crown jewel UFC, Endeavor is complex – and cheap. For buyer Silver Lake, expert at exploiting such aberrations, this deal is perfect chum.

An $8 bln merger wrings out oilfields’ last drops

2 Apr 2024

The oil industry has refocused on returning cash in lieu of expansion, leaving a meaner market for companies that help to drill wells. SLB’s purchase of ChampionX is a smart way to hold ground, especially since only half of promised benefits need materialize to square the math.

Soho House’s private party may prove disappointing

2 Apr 2024

Executive Chair Ron Burkle could bless a de-listing of the loss-making $1.1 bln chain of members’ clubs, which he reckons will one day generate handsome earnings. He’s only right if the new sites, like São Paulo and Bangkok, prove as popular as the older ones. It’s a gamble.

Wanda’s mall deal bags petrodollar safety net

2 Apr 2024

Wang Jianlin has found the hottest new shoppers in town. ADIA and Mubadala are taking control of his mall unit for $8.3 bln, alongside existing owners led by buyout firm PAG. Gulf money is emerging as an important lifeline for buyers and sellers in China.

Capital Calls: Motorcycle M&A

1 Apr 2024

Concise views on global finance: John Malone’s Liberty Media is buying Dorna, the parent of motorcycling racing championship MotoGP, for 4.3 billion euros. It’s hard to see how the media mogul can make the deal work.

Remington deal fight is all about guns’ taboo

1 Apr 2024

Political backlash made gunmakers the orphans of capital markets, leaving the 208-year-old ammo brand to be fought over by unusual suspects: a Czech firm drawing national security scrutiny and a former insider. Investors’ retreat ensured a scrappy end for the military supplier.

Europe’s IPO window opens slowly for buyout barons

28 Mar 2024

CVC floated beauty retailer Douglas, whose shares fell, while EQT received a warmer welcome for skincare group Galderma. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists explain how to interpret the mixed message for private equity groups sitting on $3 trln of unsold assets.

Blackstone cures two ailments in one Moderna shot

27 Mar 2024

Higher costs of capital are pressuring CEOs into tough spending decisions, while buyout shops flush with cash want to deploy it. This dynamic makes a $750 mln deal to fund a biotech project a crafty solution. The hard end of the bargain: ceding value from promising flu research.

Packaging deal’s US interloper may end up as pulp

27 Mar 2024

New York-listed International Paper proposed merging with $7 bln DS Smith as an alternative to the target’s union with UK peer Mondi. But the intruder’s premium offer crumpled in value as its own share price fell. It now faces the tough choice of either retreating or overpaying.

McDonut is a happy meal without M&A mess

26 Mar 2024

Krispy Kreme will sell donuts at McDonald’s, sending shares in the pastry maker up 25%. That cuts costs to build stores, akin to synergies, while the $200 bln burger chain takes on little risk. In a world with high rates and harsh trustbusters, it’s a smart twist on dealmaking.

Capital Calls: Shell and Russia

26 Mar 2024

Concise views on global finance: Russian state giant Gazprom will buy the British energy major’s 27.5% stake in a major Siberian liquefied gas field for the equivalent of $1 bln. Shell is however unlikely to be able to get hold of the cash any time soon.

Commodity trading giants get in cotton M&A spin

26 Mar 2024

Singapore's Olam has bested Louis Dreyfus' offer for one of Australia's largest processors of the fibre. The two suitors have battled Down Under in the past, and Olam looks to have the edge for a second win. But the volatility of earnings in this small deal warrants caution.

British M&A refuseniks are playing a risky game

25 Mar 2024

Insurer Direct Line and retailer Currys both rebuffed offers that came with 40% premiums. One possible rationalisation is that a huge UK stock-market discount invites cheeky bids that require knocking back. But certain British stocks may also not merit greater generosity.

Unbundling Paramount is better for almost everyone

22 Mar 2024

Buyout shop Apollo is offering $11 bln for the media empire’s studios, home of “Mission: Impossible.” That’s a complication for Shari Redstone’s push to sell her controlling stake and salvage her family business. Other investors are better served by a breakup’s cash lifeline.

Bank crises proved a mixed blessing for rivals

21 Mar 2024

It’s 12 months since Silicon Valley Bank failed and Credit Suisse collapsed into the arms of UBS. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists explain how bigger banks gorged on these lenders’ carcasses – and how the system’s underlying weaknesses have not gone away.

US Steel tug-of-war threatens to pull it apart

19 Mar 2024

Cleveland-Cliffs has put its rival in a bind, rallying political and labor opposition to a $14 bln agreed sale to Japan’s Nippon while pushing its own questionable takeover bid. No deal at all would be bad news for the target’s union workers. A carve-up might be inevitable.

Alphabet and Apple have cause to circle AI wagons

18 Mar 2024

The $2.7 trln iPhone-maker is in talks to license Alphabet’s artificial intelligence models, according to Bloomberg. Apple has underinvested, but Google search’s pride of place on its devices is also at risk. A deal would help both defend their turf, if regulators don’t kill it.

Reckitt slump offers a cue to slim down

18 Mar 2024

The $41 bln Lysol maker’s shares fell sharply after it lost a US court case. One option for Reckitt Benckiser is to separate the nutrition arm, focus of the legal woes. That would ease the hit to the rest of the group, but also leave a new arm that may yet be worth something.

Singtel can dial up long distance call

18 Mar 2024

The Temasek-controlled firm denies it is selling Australia's Optus to Brookfield for up to $12 billion, twice what some analysts reckon the business is worth. If done right, a deal Down Under could help CEO Yuen Kuan Moon narrow the extreme discount Singtel suffers.

Swisscom’s Italy foray works best as a first step

15 Mar 2024

The $30 bln Alpine telco predicts 600 mln euros of annual savings from its 8 bln euro Vodafone Italia buy. Yet investors don’t yet seem to be assuming a big windfall. Revamping mobile services in the highly competitive Italian market to drive returns requires further M&A.