Japan Tobacco to sell £798m drink business to Suntory Beverage & Food May 25, 2015 Suntory Beverage & Food announced yesterday its intention to purchase Japan Tobacco Inc.’s drink and vending and machine businesses for close to ¥150bn (£798m). As part of the deal, Japan Tobacco which owns the Camel and Amber Leaf cigarette brands in the UK, will offload its shares in its subsidiaries Japan Beverage Holdings and JT [...]
Chrysler shares slide after GM merger rebuke May 25, 2015 SHARES in Fiat Chrysler slipped yesterday after reports a potential merger with General Motors (GM) has been rebuffed. The news follows an article in the New York Times which suggested Fiat Chrysler chief executive Sergio Marchionne had proposed a deal with GM in March, only for his counterpart, Mary Barra to flat out refuse such [...]
Choice, transparency and M&A: FCA outlines terms for investment banking probe May 22, 2015 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) says it will focus on wide-ranging subjects when it launches a study into the investment and corporate banking market. In a statement today, the FCA said its investigation, which will build on a wholesale sector competition review published in February, will look at "choice, transparency, bundling and cross-subsidisation in debt [...]
Palatine orders up £13m buyout of cocktail chain The Alchemist May 17, 2015 Upmarket cocktail chain The Alchemist has said it is planning to gobble up more sites across the UK after completing a £13m management buyout backed by Palatine Private Equity. The Alchemist, which first opened its doors in Manchester in 2010, runs two venues in the city centre as well as sites in Leeds and in [...]
Avon shares just went berserk after PTG Capital claims it made $8.2bn offer May 14, 2015 PTG Capital Partners, a private equity firm, claims it made an $8.2bn (£5.2bn) offer for cosmetics company Avon. Famous for its "Avon lady" representatives, PTG said the offer was worth $18.75 per share – more than three times the value of the company on yesterday's closing price of $6.67 per share. Shares in the US firm [...]
AOL share price rockets on $4.4bn Verizon deal May 12, 2015 Verizon is buying the sprawling online company AOL in a deal worth $4.4bn (£2.8bn). The US telecoms company has made an offer of $50 a share – a premium of 17.4 per cent on AOL's closing share price yesterday of $42.59. Shares in AOL, the owner of online publications such as Huffington Post and Techcrunch [...]
AOL Verizon deal: This is boss Tim Armstrong’s email to staff in full May 12, 2015 AOL boss Tim Armstrong has emailed staff about Verizon's $4.4bn offer to buy the online company. Here are his words in full. As you have heard me say many times over the last 5 years since we became an independent AOL, we are building toward becoming the largest media technology company in the world. While [...]
HSS Hire returns to takeover fray after IPO with £11m All Seasons aircon deal May 11, 2015 Tool hire firm HSS Hire, which floated on the stock market earlier this year, yesterday paid £11.3m to buy heating and air conditioning hire firm All Seasons Hire. All Seasons, which will retain its name when it merges into HSS, had previously supplied equipment to HSS’ OneCall division that had put the firm on the [...]
Ex-Arsenal captain Tony Adams “eyeing up” Aston Villa takeover bid May 7, 2015 Ex-Arsenal captain Tony Adams is said to eyeing up a £150m takeover bid for Premier League club Aston Villa, it has been reported. Adams has apparently joined forces with former Chelsea executive Paul Smith and they have approached City investors over backing a potential bid according to Sky News. The pair are said to have approached private [...]
Salesforce.com share price climbs on Microsoft takeover reports May 5, 2015 Shares in Salesforce.com jumped 6.2 per cent yesterday, after it was reported that Microsoft is considering a bid for the cloud software provider. Salesforce shares rose from $71.4 to $75.82 after which trading was temporarily halted. Microsoft is evaluating a bid after Salesforce was approached by another potential buyer, Bloomberg reported, citing people with [...]