London Stock Exchange shareholders expected to back £21bn Deutsche Boerse merger – but regulatory hurdles await July 3, 2016 London Stock Exchange (LSE) shareholders are expected to give their backing to the proposed £21bn merger with Deutsche Boerse on Monday. However, gaining LSE shareholder approval is just one of many hurdles the deal is facing in the coming months, with ongoing pressure on the tie-up coming from Germany after the UK’s Brexit vote. Shareholder [...]
Studio Lionsgate shoots for the Starz with $4.4bn deal June 30, 2016 Movie studio Lionsgate, the home of smash hits The Hunger Games and Twilight franchises, has agreed to a deal for US premium cable channel Starz for $4.4bn (£3.3bn). The stock and cash deal will value Starz at a 15 per cent premium to the company’s closing price on Wednesday. Starz is 49 per cent owned [...]
Brexit and Donald Trump expected to hit already falling M&A activity levels June 30, 2016 Deal values fell significantly in the UK and, to a lesser extent, globally in the first half of 2016. And mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity is expected to fall further in the next six months, with Brexit and the prospect of Donald Trump causing uncertainty. Read more: What Brexit means for UK M&A: Experts expect further [...]
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp agrees all-cash deal to buy TalkSport owner for £220m June 30, 2016 Media giant News Corp has agreed to pay £220.3m for the company that owns UK radio station TalkSport. The deal for Wireless Group comes after it changed its name from UTV Media in March, following the sale of its TV assets to ITV for around £100m. Wireless shares have shot up 70 per cent on [...]
Global investors back London to retain financial centre crown after Brexit June 30, 2016 London will retain its position as a world-leading financial centre despite last week’s Brexit vote, according to a poll of global institutional investors seen by City A.M. Two-thirds of those surveyed by FTI Consulting said the capital is unlikely to lose this coveted status. The results of the survey emerge as the FTSE 100 staged [...]
Turkey producer on the hunt for bootiful new owner June 29, 2016 Turkey producer Bernard Matthews has reportedly begun searching for a new owner. The company, best known for its ‘bootiful’ catchphrase in adverts, is currently owned by Rutland Partners. Read more: Rutland gobbles up a stake in turkey firm Bernard Matthews Sky News first reported that Rutland has appointed advisers at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to find potential [...]
Buyout giant raises £5.7bn for European fund June 29, 2016 European private equity firm Cinven has raised €7bn (£5.7bn) from investors for its sixth fund. The fund was raised in four months and was oversubscribed for its original target of €5.5bn. Cinven’s last raising put together a fund of €5.7bn in December 2014, and led to investment in 17 companies, and 40 acquisitions. Over 90 [...]
Deutsche Boerse to “devote all efforts” to making London Stock Exchange merger work June 29, 2016 Deutsche Boerse today said it will “devote all our efforts” to completing its planned merger with the London Stock Exchange. In a statement issued today, chairman Joachim Faber said that following last week’s Brexit vote “it is more important than ever to maintain a stable financial link” to the UK and said the merger can [...]
Monsanto discussing “alternative strategic options” with Bayer after rejecting $62bn bid June 29, 2016 US seed company Monsanto has said it is discussing “alternative strategic options” with Bayer after it rejected the German company’s $62bn (£46bn) takeover offer last month. Reporting its third-quarter results today, the US firm said it had “no formal update” on the Bayer offer. Read more: Analysts expect improved Monsanto offer. Bayer shareholders may be [...]
London HQ of merged stock exchange in doubt after Brexit June 29, 2016 London's position as the world’s leading financial hub could be dealt a symbolic blow, with doubts being cast over the location of its stock exchange’s merged headquarters with Deutsche Boerse. The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is locked in merger talks with its German equivalent, and shareholders are set to vote on the deal next week. [...]