Pret A Manger eats Eat but vows to go veggie in new stores May 22, 2019 Sandwich chain Pret A Manger said today it has agreed to buy rival British chain Eat. Pret plans to convert as many of Eat’s shops as possible to Pret stores serving vegetarian food in response to what it said was a growing consumer demand for more vegan and vegetarian options on the high street. Pret’s chief [...]
Share’s stock tumbles after Interactive Investor abandons takeover May 9, 2019 Interactive Investor has abandoned a possible bid for Share causing the brokerage firm’s stock to plummet this morning. The investment platform said it had been in early stage discussions after approaching Share, which owns The Share Centre, but had decided not to make an offer. Read more: Interactive Investor approaches Share for takeover talks Share’s [...]
Provident Financial says hostile bidder Non-Standard Finance is overvalued May 8, 2019 Provident Financial today said it had concerns about the valuation of Non-Standard Finance (NSF) which is trying to take it over. Provident said it had concerns NSF was undercapitalised, it said NSF’s business was facing “significant headwinds”, it said there was an overly positive perspective on NSF’s headline financial performance and said NSF was overvalued [...]
Vodafone Australia and TPG shares crash after regulator blocks merger in website blunder May 8, 2019 Australia’s competition regulator has blocked a proposed AU$15bn (£8.1bn) merger between TPG Telecom and Vodafone Australia after a botched announcement that sent shares crashing. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) last year launched a probe into the planned deal, warning it may harm competition in the country’s telecoms market, and was due to publish [...]
Interactive Investor approaches Share for takeover talks May 3, 2019 Investment platform Interactive Investor has approached broking firm Share to discuss a potential takeover offer. Shares’ stock price soared as much as 22 per cent to 37.7p this morning following the announcement, reaching its highest value in almost four years. Read more: Interactive Investor set to pay £40m for Alliance Trust Savings Interactive Investor has made [...]
Sanlam UK boosts assets under management with Thesis acquisition April 29, 2019 Sanlam UK has acquired UK asset manager Thesis in a “milestone” deal, which will add £1.2bn to its assets under management (AUM). The firm has bought Thesis’ private client business, distribution network, direct support teams and its financial planning business Pallant for an undisclosed sum. Read more: Man Group poaches Sanlam Four's strategic bond fund [...]
RPC Group clears another hurdle to selling company to Berry Global as EU regulators approve £3.3bn deal April 25, 2019 Packaging giant RPC Group has taken a step closer to tying up its sale to US counterpart Berry Global, after the European Commission cleared the acquisition yesterday. Read more: Berry Global snatches RPC buyout from private equity firm Apollo Regulators ruled that the £3.3bn takeover “would raise no competition concerns given the limited horizontal overlaps [...]
US and UK M&A deals outpace Europe April 17, 2019 Merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in the UK and US are outpacing the rest of Europe, with activity remaining strong despite a global downturn. Deal volumes reduced by 20 per cent in Europe last year, but only dropped by six per cent in the UK and by 11 per cent in the US. Read more: European [...]
Can European banks be saved by mergers and a fresh round of deal making? April 16, 2019 The comparisons with US peers just got a lot harder for European banks after a strong showing from JP Morgan to kick off earnings season. But could there be fresh revenue on the way for European investment banks, even if it is of their own making? There’s a mooted capital raising for Deutsche Bank before [...]
Sub-prime lender Provident Financial lashes out at ‘unlawful’ Non-Standard Finance payments amid takeover dispute April 16, 2019 Sub-prime lender Provident has urged shareholders to take no action in relation to a £1.3bn hostile takeover bid from Non-Standard Finance (NSF), as the chairman accused its rival of “unlawful” dividend distributions. NSF confirmed last week that some dividend payments since 2015 were “technical infringements” of the Companies Act, however, in a letter to investors [...]