US hedge fund considers bid for Four Seasons Health Care July 11, 2019 A US hedge fund is considering making a formal offer for the UK’s second biggest care home operator after it collapsed into administration earlier this year. Davidson Kempner Capital Management is preparing to make a bid for the parent company of Four Seasons Health Care, Sky News reported. Read more: Four Seasons appoints administrators The [...]
UK fashion brand Karen Millen hoists for sale sign June 27, 2019 British fashion brand Karen Millen is set to be sold by its Icelandic owners. Sky News reported that advisers to Kaupthing, one of the Icelandic banks that collapsed during the financial crisis, are set to begin formal talks with potential bidders for Karen Millen in the next few days. The sale process is being led [...]
Due north: Compass buys Nordic food group in €427m deal June 11, 2019 Ftse 100 catering business Compass said today it had agreed to buy food business Fazer Group in a €475m (£422m) deal. Fazer Food Services has operations in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark across several sectors including business, industry, education, healthcare and defence. Compass said the acquisition will “further strengthen Compass Group’s existing offer, and will [...]
Twitter buys fake news-fighting startup Fabula AI June 4, 2019 Twitter has acquired London-based startup Fabula AI, which uses machine-learning to detect fake news online. Read more: Twitter suspends 170,000 accounts in hate speech battle Founded in 2018, Fabula has developed an AI system that can analyse and learn from large datasets from social media sites. The tool can analyse how fake news spreads across [...]
Greybull Capital ‘to bid for British Steel’s non-UK assets’ June 4, 2019 Greybull Capital, the private equity firm which owned British Steel until it collapsed last month, is reportedly gearing up to bid for the firm’s operations in France and the Netherlands. The move would mean Greybull dispenses with British Steel’s UK business. It bought the firm from Tata Steel for £1 three years ago. Read more: [...]
Shares in Kcom jump as it backs £563m Macquarie takeover bid June 3, 2019 Shares in Hull-based broadband firm Kcom have jumped more than 12 per cent after it unveiled a £563m takeover bid from investment bank Macquarie. Kcom’s board had last month said it backed an offer of 97p per share from the trustees of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) pension fund. Read more: Shares in telecoms firm Kcom [...]
German chipmaker Infineon buys rival Cypress for €9bn June 3, 2019 German chipmaker Infineon has signed a deal to snap up US rival Cypress Semiconductor for €9bn (£8bn) as it looks to fight back against a slowdown in the chip industry. Infineon said it will pay $23.85 per share for the company, marking a 46 per cent premium on Cypress’s 30-day average share price. Read more: [...]
Aberdeen Standard opposes Non-Standard Finance’s hostile Provident Financial takeover June 2, 2019 A major shareholder in Provident Financial has come out to publicly oppose rival doorstep lender Non-Standard Finance’s (NSF) hostile takeover bid. Aberdeen Standard Investments, which owns 3.1 per cent of the sub-prime lender, said it would not accept NSF’s offer. Read more: Watchdog probes Non-Standard Finance's hostile takeover of Provident Head of UK equities Andrew [...]
Nasdaq pulls out of Oslo Bors race leaving the way clear for Euronext May 27, 2019 Nasdaq has bowed out of the race for Norwegian exchange Oslo Bors, leaving the way clear for pan-European exchange Euronext to pursue its bid. Euronext received approval from Norway’s finance ministry earlier this month to buy more than 50 per cent of Oslo Bors for 158 Norwegian crowns per share, effectively blocking Nasdaq’s bid. Read [...]
Renault board examining £28bn merger proposal from Fiat Chrysler May 27, 2019 The board of French carmaker Renault are studying a proposed £28bn merger plan put to them by American-Italian rival Fiat Chrysler (FCA) today. The deal would create the third-largest car company worldwide behind Japan’s Toyota and Germany’s Volkswagen with sales of 8.7m per year. Investors in both companies welcomed the proposed deal which aims to [...]