Deals

L’Occitane buyout is bad look for Hong Kong

10 Aug 2023

Boss Reinold Geiger wants full ownership of his skincare group. At $7 bln, it would be the city’s largest take-private and L’Occitane could relist at a higher valuation at home in Europe. It’s a no-brainer others will want to copy and shows up the Asian hub’s helplessness.

At least Disney’s boss is open to almost anything

9 Aug 2023

Revenue grew at 4%, the slowest pace in nine quarters, putting more pressure on Bob Iger. Since returning as CEO, he has signaled renewed flexibility, evidenced by allowing the ESPN brand to be used for gambling. It’ll take extra Imagineering to work fresh valuation magic.

Campbell’s $3 bln Rao’s deal could use long simmer

7 Aug 2023

The tomato soup maker is spooning out too much for the upscale pasta sauce’s owner, Sovos. Implied returns barely cover the cost of capital, and the rationale is heavily salted with corporate gibberish. Long-running food trends, however, should help it taste better in time.

ICE cuts tortuous path through frosty trustbusters

7 Aug 2023

It took 15 months, two divestitures and an 11% discount, but Black Knight’s $12 bln sale to the NYSE operator is set to close after deal enforcers dropped a lawsuit. It’s a small sign that even FTC chief Lina Khan can see clear to settle, if merger participants concede enough.

Aussie trustbuster rebuff does ANZ a favour

4 Aug 2023

The watchdog nixed the lender’s $3.2 bln deal for Suncorp’s bank arguing it’d reduce competition. That’s debatable. But the tie-up was full of promises on jobs and loans that would push benefits for the buyer out years. ANZ is appealing the ruling; accepting it would be smarter.

Britain’s trustbuster has a shot at redemption

3 Aug 2023

Three months after saying no, the UK’s antitrust watchdog is giving Microsoft’s $69 bln Activision acquisition a second look. The U-turn is hurting the CMA’s reputation. But if Microsoft could acquire only parts of its quarry, the trustbuster’s blushes may yet be spared.

Capital Calls: Carlyle, UK SPAC deal, Beauty marks

2 Aug 2023

Concise views on global finance: The buyout shop’s fee challenge comes into sharper relief for boss Harvey Schwartz; banker Michael Klein aims to use his latest shell company to buy a British investment firm for $1.6 bln; and $7 bln cosmetics maker e.l.f. is looking glamorous.

Birkenstock kicks Europe in the rear with US IPO

2 Aug 2023

The German brand is eyeing an $8 bln New York listing. Owner L Catterton is betting on a US market uptick and publicity from the Barbie movie to double its money. Ditching Europe is not illogical. But as American luxury sales slow, dressing up its no-frills sandals looks hard.

France wins more than Kretinsky in Atos breakup

1 Aug 2023

Billionaire Daniel Kretinsky will buy the IT group’s older assets for 2 bln euros including debt. Paris will be pleased that the other, sexier cybersecurity division stays French. Meanwhile the Czech tycoon gets the ailing unit with little relevance to his other recent purchases.

Capital Calls: Uber’s road trip to redemption

1 Aug 2023

Concise views on global finance: The $95 bln ride-sharing firm notched its first operating profit and more than doubled free cash flow, but its valuation is lagging.

Dish Network enters dangerous financial orbit

31 Jul 2023

Charlie Ergen’s satellite operator is among the many companies to scrape by on low interest rates. It borrowed heavily to bet on wireless spectrum. With $5 bln of debt maturing soon, higher borrowing costs and pay-TV cash flow ebbing, it now faces a predicament others will, too.

Capital Calls: Sequoia, Heineken, Moneyball

31 Jul 2023

Concise views on global finance: The venture capital firm issues a refund to cryptocurrency investors; the $57 bln brewer slashes its operating profit outlook; Steve Cohen’s New York Mets baseball team and its whopping $364 mln payroll is a mess, but in sports beta is the alpha.

Biogen’s $7 bln deal goes smaller and safer

28 Jul 2023

The biotech firm’s purchase of Reata will gift it a portfolio targeting rare diseases. With the US government’s Medicare insurance program recently freed to bargain down prices on best-selling drugs, such niche therapies have become more appealing versus potential blockbusters.

Saudi pays rich but logical price for Vale metals

28 Jul 2023

The kingdom is buying one-tenth of the $66 bln Brazilian miner’s nickel and copper arm. The $26 bln valuation on Vale’s base metals unit is steep, but cheaper than a full takeover. It also acts as a down payment on Saudi’s efforts to become an energy transition industrial hub.

Kering dons Valentino scent to ease Gucci malaise

28 Jul 2023

The $72 bln luxury giant is buying 30% of the Italian fashion house for 1.7 bln euros. The premium price reflects François-Henri Pinault’s need to cut its reliance on tottering star brand Gucci. Yet Valentino is much smaller, and its acquirer may not own it in full until 2028.

Big Tech super-regulator would be a super-dud

27 Jul 2023

Two big-name senators – a Democrat and a Republican – want a new agency to police tech firms. The highly polarizing consumer watchdog shows why that's a bad idea. A better one: pass laws to update regulators that exist already. Big Tech remains Congress’s responsibility to shirk.

BlackRock makes a sharp bargain with Mukesh Ambani

27 Jul 2023

The world’s largest money manager, run by Larry Fink, is teaming up with India’s richest man to re-enter the country’s asset management business. The duo can grow fast in the cutthroat $540 bln sector riding on Reliance’s network. It justifies the US firm giving up on control.

Glencore deal epitomises net zero’s reduced status

27 Jul 2023

The $75 bln miner used to argue it was better to wind down its coal assets than sell them to a less responsible owner. Now CEO Gary Nagle wants to buy a rival and spin off the enlarged coal unit. Investors, distracted by energy security and fat profits, are unlikely to stop him.

Rescuing US banks can be lucrative, after all

26 Jul 2023

PacWest, a regional lender battered by investors, is merging with tiny Banc of California at an apparent 20% discount and ceding management control. The $2 bln deal sounds painful, but all sides should be better off. Backers Warburg Pincus and Centerbridge stand to benefit most.

Capital Calls: Biotech alarm, Spotify’s tightrope

25 Jul 2023

Concise views on global finance: Pharma supplier Danaher’s reduced forecast contrasts biotech doldrums against broader market exuberance, in a warning sign for investors; the Swedish music streamer is caught between margin-hungry investors and music labels.