Deals

Equinor’s Orsted bet is cheap route to green goals

7 Oct 2024

The Norwegian driller has bought about 10% of the $26 bln Danish green energy group. Oil groups are more bullish about crude, but still have renewable energy capacity targets. Orsted’s recent strife offers a cheaper way for Equinor to get there than building the kit itself.

Rio boss may be about to eat his M&A words

7 Oct 2024

Jakob Stausholm is in talks to buy Arcadium Lithium, soon after saying deals only make sense if cost cuts cover the premium. On that score, he can perhaps offer a 40% bump, valuing his prey at $4.2 bln. With one investor wanting double that, Stausholm faces an unpalatable choice.

Capital woes are no rebuttal to merger foes

4 Oct 2024

Budget airline Spirit may file for bankruptcy after competition cops grounded a merger with rival JetBlue. A judge ignored pleas that the firm is failing – but even now, Spirit doesn’t meet a legal test that’s strict for good reason. The market has ways to fix bad businesses.

Greece is unlikely victor in bank selldown race

3 Oct 2024

Athens sold 10% of National Bank, effectively ending the privatisation of the major lenders it rescued. Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and Ireland still own bank stakes. Greeks can thank continued government support and a strong economy, fuelled by rising investment.

Bain jets towards first-class lounge Down Under

2 Oct 2024

The private equity firm is selling 25% of Virgin Australia to Qatar Airways for an undisclosed sum ahead of an IPO. Fold in last year’s dividend recap and assume it’s growing like larger rival Qantas, and the airline is en route to delivering Bain a sky-high 40%-plus return.

CVS surgery would provide little if any relief

1 Oct 2024

As part of a strategic shakeup, the healthcare supermarket may try amputation. A $90 bln acquisition binge has left it indebted and worth less than $80 bln. The breakup math is flimsy, meaning the prescription for boss Karen Lynch is to stop buying and nurse the existing parts.

ADNOC German deal is blueprint for Gulf takeovers

1 Oct 2024

The UAE energy giant agreed to buy chemicals group Covestro for $16 bln including debt. It’s paying a big premium, retaining management and injecting extra capital. The terms are a sign of the hoops Middle Eastern buyers must jump through to get hold of sensitive European assets.

Murdoch leaves Rightmove little room for error

1 Oct 2024

The Australian tycoon’s REA Group walked away after four rejected bids for the UK property listings portal, prompting the latter’s shares to slump. Rightmove can get to the offer price if it grows revenue at 11% a year and keeps its 75% margin. But that’s not simple to do.

AT&T and Dish turn lemons to bitter lemonade

30 Sep 2024

TPG is buying DirecTV from the telecom firm for $8 bln and merging it with its pay-TV rival. Both of the sellers have stumbled through costly, over-complicated dealmaking, leaving Charlie Ergen’s Dish parent on the brink. The buyout shop is extracting its price to help clean up.

LVMH wedges door open for future Moncler deal

27 Sep 2024

Bernard Arnault’s $400 bln group will help the CEO of its Italian rival raise his stake in the ski-jacket maker to 18.5%. It tightens Remo Ruffini’s grip on Moncler and puts LVMH in his good books. That leaves the luxury giant in pole position if Ruffini ever opts to sell.

Commerzbank fight is stress test for EU bank union

27 Sep 2024

Regulators spent years trying to level the playing field for euro zone banks. That should clear the way for UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel’s mooted bid for the $20 bln German lender. If Chancellor Olaf Scholz thwarts the Italian group, new barriers may soon spring up elsewhere.

Commerz ills make M&A a question of when not if

25 Sep 2024

The German government backed the $20 bln bank’s quest to stay independent amid UniCredit’s approach. But lower rates and a lack of scale mean new CEO Bettina Orlopp will struggle to earn a good return, and so need a merger partner. Patience may reward would-be buyer Andrea Orcel.

Blackstone polishes its diamond bet to perfection

25 Sep 2024

The buyout shop may target a $4 bln valuation for rock certifier IGI, seven times what it paid last year. Restructuring the Belgium-founded business into an India-led entity and floating it in Mumbai where valuations sparkle helps. At least the company's dressing-up makes sense.

John Malone wrangles runaway US cable mess

24 Sep 2024

The media mogul’s wheeling and dealing has left Liberty Broadband trading at a big discount to its assets. A mooted $14 bln share swap with internet provider Charter should unwind the fiendish complexity. Even better for him, the strategic quandary will be someone else’s problem.

Ammo maker’s deal tactics carry trigger warning

24 Sep 2024

Vista Outdoor keeps maneuvering to split bullets from camping gear to avoid selling the whole company for $3 bln. It has now further clouded the process by eliciting a minority investment in the retail rump at a curious valuation. The lesson here is on overdoing takeover defense.

Germany’s fiscal obsession leads to bad deals

24 Sep 2024

Finance Minister Christian Lindner is rushing to plug short-term budget holes with a privatisation spree. But he is leaving money on the table. UniCredit only paid a 4.7% premium to buy a stake in Commerzbank. To feed its debt-reduction addiction, Berlin needs better M&A advice.

Intel’s tempting discount is less-than-solid state

23 Sep 2024

The languishing chipmaker’s $95 bln market value might seem far below the worth of its pieces. That’s drawn interest from Qualcomm and Apollo. Thing is, Intel’s woes mean it may not be as cheap as it appears, while regulators could nix a sale of the US chip policy cornerstone.

Andrea Orcel has scope to soften his Commerz raid

23 Sep 2024

The UniCredit CEO upped his stake in the German bank to 21%, after his approach met a cool reception. The brassy move, and use of derivatives, may anger Berlin further. Luckily, the high returns on offer mean Orcel can make job pledges to soothe M&A-wary unions and politicians.

Murdoch’s UK property bid may yet get even sweeter

23 Sep 2024

Rightmove is mulling an improved $8.1 bln offer from Australia’s REA Group, owned by the media tycoon. A chunky premium and other UK refuseniks’ share price slumps are reasons for the listing portal’s board to say yes. But the buyer’s latest bid implies an ability to pay more.

Seven & i defence calls for radical strategy

23 Sep 2024

A 20% jump in the company's stock price after it rejected Couche-Tard's $39 bln takeover puts the 7-Eleven operator under pressure to lay out a plan to improve shareholder returns. So far CEO Ryuichi Isaka has only tinkered at the edges. A drastic overhaul may be necessary.