General Electric has offloaded its French consumer-credit unit to private equity firm Cerberus June 23, 2016 US conglomerate General Electric has moved a step further away from financial services after finding a buyer for its French consumer-credit unit. Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management has made a binding offer for the business. The sale would represent ending net investment of approximately $4.6bn (£3.1bn) as of the end of the first quarter of 2016. It excludes the platform’s $2bn prime [...]
Shareholder advisory groups back London Stock Exchange merger June 23, 2016 The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has been given a boost ahead of the referendum with three shareholder advisory groups endorsing its £21bn merger with Deutsche Boerse. Pensions & Investment Research Consultants (Pirc) has recommended that LSE shareholders approve the deal regardless of the result of the EU vote. And two more influential groups from the US, [...]
Magazine publisher imagines bright future with £14.2m takeover deal June 23, 2016 Magazine publisher Future has announced a £14.2m takeover deal for Imagine Publishing. The target company’s portfolio includes 19 magazines, including All About History, Digital Photographer and World of Animals, as well as websites and bookazines. Imagine is expected to report a revenue of £16.4m for the year to 31 March with earnings before interest, taxation [...]
Italian job: Law firm Fieldfisher agrees merger with Italy’s SASPI June 21, 2016 Fieldfisher has today agreed a merger with Italian law firm Studio Associato Servizi Professionali Integrati (SASPI). The merger, which will take the form of a Swiss verein style association, will take effect at the start of next month and SASPI will be adopting the Fieldfisher brand name. The two firms combined will have around 970 professionals and [...]
Private equity activity has picked up despite the looming EU referendum June 21, 2016 Private equity deal activity picked up in the second quarter of this year despite the upcoming EU referendum. In the first quarter of 2016 there were 42 deals tracked with a value of £2.9bn. In the second, there were 46 deals worth £3.1bn. UK private equity deal value was down by a third in the first [...]
Why it has been a mega quarter for mega deals June 21, 2016 The second quarter of 2016 has been a mega period for mega deals. The three-month period has so far included 10 $10bn-plus (£6.8bn-plus) deals completing, according to Willis Towers Watson’s Quarterly Deal Performance Monitor. There were half as many mega mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions completed in the same quarter in 2015. Each of the [...]
Why there could be a burst of private equity activity after the referendum June 20, 2016 Private equity firms could be gearing up for a post-referendum surge of activity, new research suggests. Transaction volumes in private equity are believed to have dipped this year ahead of the Brexit vote. But new figures from primary research partner Third Bridge, which conducts market analysis for private equity firms, suggest interest in activity remains strong. [...]
The UK’s share of the global M&A market is at a record low ahead of EU vote June 20, 2016 The UK's share of the global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market is at a record low ahead of the EU referendum. Deals targeting UK companies have been valued at $57.6bn (£39.4bn) by Thomson Reuters, four per cent of overall worldwide M&A. This is the lowest percentage since 1980, when Thomson Reuters’ records began. It is [...]
Buy-out firms vie for Reuters clinical assets June 19, 2016 Private equity firms BC Partners, Carlyle, and Bain Capital have been shortlisted as bidders for part of Thomson Reuters’ media empire. Thomson’s intellectual property and sciences units, valued in the region of £2bn, were put up for sale after it was decided they were no longer core to the company. Thomson is expected to use [...]
BASF buys Albemarle’s surface treatment unit in $3.2bn (£2.2bn) cash deal June 17, 2016 German chemical producer BASF is buying Albemarle's surface treatment business Chemetall for $3.2bn (£2.24bn) in cash. Frankfurt-based Chemetall is a global supplier of specialty chemicals used to treat the surfaces of metals and plastics, and a large part of its business is in making chemicals to protect sheet metal for cars against corrosion. The acquisition sees [...]