Deals

General Atlantic buys infrastructure for its IPO

16 Jan 2024

The US buyout firm is taking control of UK specialist asset manager Actis. The deal gives it $12.5 bln of assets in hot markets and geographies. Boss Bill Ford is trying to build a more diversified firm ahead of a possible float. His pitch to investors just got stronger.

Bain is keeping the private in private equity

16 Jan 2024

Rivals like Apollo and KKR went public more than a decade ago, over time de-emphasizing their buyout roots, especially amid a recent deal drought. In this Exchange podcast John Connaughton of Bain Capital explains why his firm isn’t following them, and how the market is healing.

Barclays alumni’s UK M&A rests on typical optimism

16 Jan 2024

The all-stock deal between loss-making Panmure Gordon and Liberum will create the UK’s top independent investment bank. To succeed, City grandees Rich Ricci, who will run the firm, and Bob Diamond, who will finance it, must hope for a big rebound in the small-cap IPO market.

Shein’s ‘Made in China’ label clashes with IPO

15 Jan 2024

The fast-fashion retailer is seeking Beijing’s nod to go public in New York. It’s a setback for the Singapore-based company which has tried to distance itself from its Chinese roots. Whatever the decision, it’ll set an awkward precedent for peers like ByteDance’s TikTok.

BlackRock deal buys Larry Fink optionality on exit

12 Jan 2024

The asset manager’s $13 bln purchase of infrastructure firm GIP is a smart bet on private markets. Fink’s relationships give the tie-up an edge and history with GIP’s founder smooths integration. It’s transformational enough that Fink could retire, if only he were less ambitious.

Paramount suitors chase a Pyrrhic deal prize

11 Jan 2024

Warner Bros Discovery and David Ellison’s Skydance are weighing a deal for the media company. The former could reap $3 bln in savings while the latter would control the movie studio it already does business with. Either way, Paramount lumbers under debt and would be subscale.

Chesapeake $7.4 bln deal finds safety in numbers

11 Jan 2024

The gas company’s bid for Southwestern looks investor-friendly, with a low premium, cost savings and the prospect of cash payouts. Amid a wider energy M&A rush, boss Nick Dell’Osso can also take comfort from being neither the first nor surely the last to take an acquisitive leap.

Capital Calls: UK real estate merger

11 Jan 2024

Concise views on global finance: LondonMetric’s all-share move for domestic peer LXi isn’t a bargain, but creates a 4 bln pound landlord with benefits for both sides.

HPE’s Juniper deal magnifies power of competition

10 Jan 2024

Buying the networking-gear maker for $14 bln is designed to cash in on AI growth. Despite riding the internet boom, however, Juniper has generated less than half the return of the S&P 500 Index since its IPO 24 years ago. It’s a timely lesson on how robust rivalries erode profit.

Political push would unlock EU defence M&A spree

10 Jan 2024

Despite decades of gradual consolidation, Europe’s military industry is fragmented. The sound balance sheets of players like Thales or Leonardo make them fit to team up. A key merger hurdle would be removed if war at the borders pushes governments to align their defence policies.

Narrow exits will fatten fattest buyout fat cats

10 Jan 2024

Some private equity shops may be forced to start accepting discounted valuations on a record $2.8 trln of unsold investments. Others like KKR and EQT are best positioned to hold out. This disparity should help 25 firms, with 22% of the industry’s firepower, pad their dominance.

Shell will be tempted to join US M&A party

5 Jan 2024

With rivals Exxon Mobil and Chevron doing chunky deals, the $214 bln European oil major may wish to follow suit. A pitch for $30 bln Permian player Endeavor is affordable and arguably logical. But it would test how far CEO Wael Sawan can realistically pivot back to fossil fuels.

Atos plea to creditor banks could backfire

3 Jan 2024

The 780 mln euro French IT group wants lenders to roll over its large debt pile. Plans to raise cash by selling Atos’s cybersecurity arm to Airbus suggest they should. But the company’s threats to seek legal protection if they don’t may give banks pause for thought.

Dead power deal shows limits of M&A futurology

2 Jan 2024

Avangrid and PNM have given up on a $8 bln merger after three years of waiting for regulatory approval. Yet investors repeatedly priced the target as if the tie-up were in the bag. Political twists can easily wrong-foot arbitrageurs. Trouble is, such twists may get more common.

Aussie tycoon will blaze new green activist trail

2 Jan 2024

Atlassian co-CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes has already used some of his billions to tackle climate change, like battling the country’s top carbon emitter. Quitting the software firm would make him more effective. Other wealthy moguls may then join him in the activist trenches.

New York Times arrives in new tech with AI lawsuit

28 Dec 2023

The 172-year-old newspaper publisher is suing OpenAI and its backer Microsoft for alleged unauthorized use of its articles to train chatbots. It could help compel tech companies to pay publishers for news content, shifting a modicum of power back to the battered media industry.

Goldman’s partnership is too much of a good thing

28 Dec 2023

The arcane and elite 420-member group bolsters the bank’s cachet, but sometimes exerts power that’s out of sync with other shareholders. Boss David Solomon already answers to his board, clients and 45,000 other employees. He would do well to cut the inner circle down to size.

Mega-bank M&A goes from impossible to imaginable

28 Dec 2023

After 2008, CEOs saw investment-bank deals as risky while regulators saw them as dangerous. UBS will prove otherwise if it safely and profitably absorbs Credit Suisse. Imitators will not get the same sweet deal, but targets like SocGen and Barclays at least come cheap.

Intel becomes proxy for Biden’s America Inc

27 Dec 2023

The chip giant’s $3.2 bln subsidy to build a plant in Israel follows similar outlays from the USA and Germany. The investment loop is a unique boon to shareholders: President Biden wants to build an allied semiconductor supply chain to fend off China; he must use Intel to do so.

Man Utd deal is messy substitute at trophy price

27 Dec 2023

Tycoon Jim Ratcliffe’s purchase of a 25% stake values the British club at a hefty $6.2 bln. That still leaves him running behind the Glazer family with no easy path to control. A fuzzy turnaround plan means the Red Devils’ fortunes on the pitch may not recover soon either.