Tilney and Smith & Williamson merger on brink after coronavirus crash March 25, 2020 The merger between Smith & Williamson and Tilney is teetering on a precipice following the economic shock triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. Wealth manager Tilney – which is backed by private equity firm Permira – announced in September it had agreed to acquire wealth manager and accountancy firm Smith & Williamson in a £625m deal. [...]
Coronavirus: Could previously announced M&A deals fall over? March 24, 2020 Coronavirus: Could previously announced M&A deals fall over?
Deal or no deal? How coronavirus is impacting M&A March 22, 2020 Deal advisers say they fear the coronavirus crisis could stop M&A in its tracks in the UK, but predict a wave of distressed deals in the coming weeks as struggling businesses are picked up and companies band together to try and ride out the economic shutdown. KPMG’s head of deal advisory in the UK Liz [...]
M&A in the UK falls a third on coronavirus and recession fears March 20, 2020 Dealmaking in the UK fell off a cliff this month with outbound M&A dropping to a seven-year low, as activity slowed amid the coronavirus outbreak. The global pandemic has sent markets into a frenzy, fuelling fears of severe damage to the economy and forcing central banks to take drastic emergency stimulus measures since the financial [...]
Pennon sells waste business Viridor to private equity firm KKR in £4.2bn deal March 18, 2020 FTSE 250 utility company Pennon said today it has agreed to sell waste business Viridor to private equity firm KKR in a £4.2bn deal. The sale represents an enterprise value of £4.2bn on a cash-free, debt-free basis at an earnings multiple of 18.5x. KKR made an unsuccessful bid for Viridor late last year in an [...]
LSL abandons Countrywide merger amid coronavirus concerns March 16, 2020 LSL Property Services has pulled out of a potential £500m merger with Countrywide, terminating a deal that would have created the UK’s biggest estate agent, amid market uncertainty due to the outbreak of coronavirus. LSL, which owns Your Move and upmarket chain Marsh & Parsons, did not give a reason for its decision this morning, [...]
Private equity firms preparing bids for Capita sell-off March 9, 2020 The private equity backer of auction house Bonhams is among a group of funds examining bids for a basket of outsourcer Capita’s non-core businesses. Sky News reported that Epiris was one of several private equity firms getting ready to bid for nine of Capita’s business units. The subsidiaries up for sale include Capita’s travel and [...]
Aon to buy Willis Towers Watson for nearly $30bn in insurance mega-deal March 9, 2020 Aon said today it had agreed to acquire Willis Towers Watson for nearly $30bn (£22.9bn) in an all-stock deal that will create one of the world’s largest insurance brokers. The deal between the two would create a company with a combined value of approximately $80bn. Aon confirmed last year it was in early stage talks [...]
Divestments fail to add value for six consecutive years March 3, 2020 The majority of companies that sold portions of their business last year lost shareholder value, meaning that divestments have failed to add value for six consecutive years. Six out of ten companies that divested part of their business continued to struggle to add value, according to Willis Towers Watsons Divestment Performance Monitor. Based on share [...]
Deal-makers bullish on M&A prospects for the year March 2, 2020 Deal-makers are more bullish about prospects for M&A and capital raising this year than they were at the start of 2019. According to figures from Refinitiv, 47 per cent of deal-makers anticipate M&A volume growth, with an average predicted growth of 4.7 per cent. Asian dealers are more bullish than their American and EMEA counterparts, [...]