Inmarsat prepares to leave stock market in $3.4bn private equity deal March 25, 2019 Private equity firms have sealed a $3.4bn (£2.58bn) deal for UK satellite operator Inmarsat, sending its shares up seven per cent in early morning trading. The agreement will see the successful bidders pay $7.21 (546p) per share for the firm, a premium on its Friday close price of 506.2p. Read more: Inmarsat shares jump 16 [...]
Profit dips at Shore Capital ahead of its purchase of Stockdale Securities March 21, 2019 Profit dipped at corporate finance firm Shore Capital in 2018, in a year of rocky capital markets. Read more: Shore Capital snaps up Stockdale Securities to create broking powerhouse The figures The Aim-listed business said profit fell 11.1 per cent to £4.1m, which it blamed on increased investments. Revenue increased 3.4 per cent to £43.3m and its [...]
Simplybiz acquires financial adviser platform Defaqto for £74m March 20, 2019 Simplybiz has acquired financial adviser fintech firm Defaqto for £74.3m. Shares in AIM-listed Simplybiz, a compliance and business services provider, rose more than four per cent on the news. Read more: Business software M&A hits five-year high The combination will create a single fintech and support services group, and the acquisition is expected to enhance earnings during the first [...]
Germany’s forced marriage of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank may not work out March 19, 2019 Germany seems to be obsessed with the idea of creating a national banking champion. Is it a way of standing up to the big-ticket US banks, or reaffirming Germany’s dominance as the biggest European economy? Either way, it looks like the country is pushing to create yet another “too big to fail” bank. Back in [...]
Brookfield buys 62 per cent of Oaktree Capital in $4.7bn deal March 13, 2019 Canadian firm Brookfield Asset Management has agreed to buy 62 per cent of US alternative asset management company Oaktree Capital for an estimated $4.7bn (£3.56bn). The combined companies will have around $475bn of assets under management and $2.5bn of annual fee related revenue, creating one of the world’s biggest alternative asset managers. Read more: Oaktree Capital [...]
Business software M&A hits five-year high March 11, 2019 Business software merger and acquisition value hit a five-year high in 2018 driven by the rapid growth of technology firms. New research shows that enterprise software M&A was $182.2bn last year, and that a total of 629 deals were completed in the second half, up 35 per cent from a low of 465 deals in the [...]
European M&A value hits six-year low driven by fall in UK deals March 8, 2019 European merger and acquisition values have hit a six-year low in 2019 so far driven by Brexit-related uncertainty among foreign investors. M&A deals in Europe have reached $81.1bn in the year to date, down 60 per cent on the previous year to levels not seen since 2013, according to analysis from Refinitiv. Read more: M&A [...]
M&A could be the cure for the UK’s threatened pharmaceutical industry March 7, 2019 Six in 10 UK hospital pharmacists report medicine shortages daily – twice the rate as the whole of the European Union. And this is before the fast-approaching EU withdrawal agreement puts additional pressure on the medicine supply chain. According to Mike Thompson, chief executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry: “every month, 45m [...]
Packaging firm DS Smith sells plastics division to US private equity firm Olympus Partners in $585m deal March 6, 2019 Packaging company DS Smith has sold its plastics division to US private equity firm Olympus Partners for $585m (£445m). The sale is part of the London-headquartered firm’s strategy to shift towards sustainable packaging, the company announced in a trading update today. Read more: Rupert Soames joins board at DS Smith The move will address investor concerns [...]
Bauer Media acquires ten regional radio stations amid competition probe March 5, 2019 Bauer Media has snapped up a further ten regional radio stations as it faces a competition probe into its spate of acquisitions earlier in the year. The media giant today said it has bought UKRD Group, which owns stations across Yorkshire, East Anglia, the south and the south west of England. Read more: Bauer Media [...]