Cheers! EU antitrust regulators wave through Megabrew May 24, 2016 EU antitrust regulators have waved through ABInBev's £68bn takeover of SABMiller. There is however quite a large caveat in that SABMiller will have to sell almost the whole of its beer business in Europe – though it already has that in-hand. SABMiller has agreed to offload its Peroni, Grolsch and Meantime beer brands to Japan's Asahi Group and to divest [...]
Monsanto rejects Bayer’s “financially inadequate” $62bn takeover offer May 24, 2016 US seed company Monsanto has rejected Bayer’s $62bn (£42bn) takeover offer. On Tuesday, Monsanto described the German firm's bid as "incomplete and financially inadequate". Monsanto's shares grew by around three per cent to $108.99 on the news. After Bayer made its formal offer, Monsanto's shares rose by more than four per cent on last week's value. Read more: [...]
Entertainment One plans to ease off on acquisitions and let Peppa Pig bring home the bacon May 24, 2016 Entertainment One (EOne) is planning to ease off on acquisitions and let Peppa Pig lead its growth. The FTSE 250 company's chief executive told City A.M. 2016 is likely to be quieter in terms of M&A. His statement comes after a shareholder last week condemned the board's acquisitions strategy. EOne chief executive Darren Throop also today talked down [...]
Bayer’s $62bn Monsanto bid: Are European firms about to take over the world? May 24, 2016 Just when you thought the dearth of outbound M&A in Europe was here to stay, Germany’s Bayer sweeps in with a $62bn bid for US agrichemicals giant Monsanto. Not only would the tie-up create the world’s largest agricultural supplier, more significantly for Europe, it would be the biggest outbound takeover by a German corporate on [...]
Analysts plant seeds of regulatory doubt over Bayer’s proposed $62bn takeover on Monsanto May 23, 2016 Bayer’s proposed $62bn (£42.7bn) takeover of US seeds company Monsanto could be prevented by regulation, analysts have warned. The German drugs and chemicals giant confirmed it had made a formal cash offer for the US company, known for its GM seeds, this morning. The offer marks the biggest M&A deal announced globally this year and would [...]
London ad agency VCCP expands into the US with acquisition May 23, 2016 London advertising agency VCCP has expanded into the US, with the purchase of a San Francisco based firm. VCCP is owned by Chime Communications, which was bought for £347m last year by Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP and Providence Equity Partners. It has purchased MUH-TAY-ZIK | HOF-FER, an ad agency which counts Audi and Netflix among its [...]
French government has competition concerns over London Stock Exchange merger – and tells European Commission: “Get involved” May 20, 2016 The London Stock Exchange’s proposed merger with Deutsche Boerse has today come under further political pressure, with France’s government expressing competition concerns. Since the details of the £21bn merger were set out in March, the deal has come under scrutiny from politicians in both the UK and Germany. Read more: Here are the next "hurdles" facing [...]
Yah-boo: Bids for internet giant are way lower than anticipated May 20, 2016 Bids for Yahoo’s core business are expected to be lower than anticipated. Several organisations have been linked with the auction process for the internet giant, including Verizon Communications, private equity firms and the owner of the Daily Mail. It also emerged this week that investor Warren Buffett is backing a consortium that is bidding for Yahoo’s [...]
Oil services groups FMC Technologies and Technip to team up in $13bn deal May 19, 2016 France's Technip and US rival FMC Technologies said today they would merge to create an oil services company worth $13bn (£8.9bn). It comes as the industry has been enacting cost cuts to weather the oil price rout which has hit exploration and production. Technip and FMC expect the all-share deal to save at least $400m in annual costs by 2019. Read [...]
UK M&A is on “hiatus” but will recover whichever way EU vote goes, says private equity chief executive May 19, 2016 The chief executive of private equity company 3i has told how there is a “hiatus” in UK mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the lead up to the EU referendum. But Simon Borrows told City A.M. activity will pick up after the summer no matter which way the vote goes. Shares in the buyout firm [...]