Interactive Investor set to pay £40m for Alliance Trust Savings October 22, 2018 Interactive Investor, the UK's second largest investment platform, has bought rival Alliance Trust Savings in a £40m deal. After the sale the combined business will have £35bn assets under management and the deal includes the sale of Alliance Trust's headquarters in Dundee. Read more: Investment platform AJ Bell boosts customers ahead of float London-based Interactive Investor is majority [...]
Canadian pension fund circles Gatwick as deal nears October 20, 2018 A Canadian pension fund is preparing a bid for a stake in Gatwick Airport which could be worth £3bn, Sky News reports. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is reportedly part of a consortium in talks to buy out Global Infrastructure Partners, Gatwick’s largest shareholder, in a deal that could be valued at £3bn. Sky reports [...]
Competition watchdog launches probe into merger between Cambian and Caretech October 19, 2018 The competition watchdog has launched an inquiry into the £375m buyout of children services provider Cambian Group by social care firm Caretech. An initial enforcement order, published today, prevents the companies from taking any further steps in the merger process that could affect later stages of the investigation. The businesses must stay separate and distinct during the process [...]
London Stock Exchange delivers strong results as it boosts holding in clearing house LCH October 19, 2018 The London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) grew revenue five per cent in the third quarter it said today as it announced a further £384m investment in clearing house LCH Group Holdings. In the quarter to 30 September LSE’s total revenue grew to £464m while its total income expanded eight per cent compared to the same [...]
Fujifilm scores big win against US activist investors blocking Xerox merger October 17, 2018 Fujifilm has won a court battle in its doomed bid for Xerox after an investor blocked a merger between the two companies. A New York court overturned preliminary injunctions requested by Darwin Deason, an investor who sold his Affiliated Computer Services to Xerox for $6.4bn in 2010. Deason and activist investor Carl Icahn, who between [...]
UK M&A regime changes ‘too radical’, says former Office of Fair Trading boss John Fingleton October 16, 2018 The former head of the Office of Fair Trading (Oft) John Fingleton has slammed the government's "radical" merger and acquisitions (M&A) proposals. Fingleton, who was chief executive of the now closed government body between 2005 and 2012, said the revamp would create regulatory bureaucracy, put off foreign investment and be too influenced by politics. Read [...]
Scottish Power to use 100 per cent wind power after £702m Drax deal October 16, 2018 Scottish Power is set to become the first major UK energy supplier to be powered 100 per cent by renewable energy after it today announced a £702m sale of its gas and hydro stations to Drax. Scottish Power had previously closed its coal powered facilities and today agreed to sell a 2,566 megawatt portfolio to [...]
London’s status as a tech hub helping drive transatlantic deals October 11, 2018 London's status as a hub for technology and financial services is helping drive a strong flow of deals between the US and the UK according to audit firm Deloitte. Deloitte said deal volumes between the UK and US “remained buoyant” in the first half of 2018, with 238 completed deals in the period. There were 152 [...]
Whitbread shareholders vote Coca-Cola’s £4bn Costa merger through October 11, 2018 Whitbread shareholders have agreed to the sale of Costa to Coca-Cola for a whopping £4bn, with the company’s share price inching higher following the announcement. At a crunch meeting yesterday, investors voted almost unanimously in favour of the deal that will see Britain’s largest coffee chain change hands. Read more: Costa sold to Coca-Cola: Here's [...]
Investment giant Pimco strengthens municipal bond arm with Gurtin acquisition October 3, 2018 US asset management giant Pimco has bought muni bond investment firm Gurtin, its first acquisition since appointing new chief executive Emmanuel Roman. Gurtin Municipal Bond Management has more than $14bn (£10.78bn) of assets under management and the combined business will manage $38bn in dedicated municipal bond assets. Read more: Pimco hires ex-Blackstone vice chair John Studzinski It is the first [...]