M&A / Deal

✒ The announcement does not even come with a business plan or projections, buying into this Spac deal requires a lot of trust and faith. With an initial valuation of $875m, Lex opined that the amount may not sound outlandish given actor Reese Witherspoon and basketball player LeBron James sold their platforms for $700m+ a … Read More

✒ Vanguard, the world’s second largest asset manager overseeing $7.9tn worth of assets, has made the first acquisition in its 46-year history, with JustInvest,  a boutique that has $1bn AUM and builds bespoke portfolios for individual investors. The acquisition will help Vanguard push into the growing part of the asset management: direct indexing — which … Read More

✒ The Fortress-led bid values the equity of Morrisons at £6.3bn before the inclusion of £3.2bn of net debt. On a per share basis, this represents a 42% premium to their price before the company disclosed the approach from CD&R. The deal would be the largest UK private equity buyout since KKR bought the pharmacy … Read More

✒ For Hitachi, this can be a big step in its transformation to become high-tech again. It can also clear its books of stakes in its listed subsidiaries, close the gap of conglomerate discount in valuation, provide liquidity to manage its total debt and leverage, and cover its recent $9.6 billion takeover of GlobalLogic — … Read More

✒ Talk is no longer cheap. Clubhouse, an audio-based social media platform, lets users create live chatrooms or listen in top investors and celebrities. It managed to attract 2 million users since the launch back in April 2020. Clubhouse raised money about 8 month ago at a US$100m valuation (the app only had 5k beta … Read More

✒ Carrefour is one of Europe’s largest grocery retailers. It also operates hypermarkets and supermarkets in Asia and Latin America. Couche-Tard is the largest independent convenience store operator in North America by number of stores, operating under brands such as the Corner Store, Circle K and Holiday. Although the merging of convenience store chain and … Read More

✒ Walgreens is selling its wholesale business to AmerisourceBergen for US$6.5bn. The division buys medicines from manufacturers and then distributes them to pharmacies, hospitals and other facilities. It’s not a high margin business, but a steady one. On the other hand, the retail pharmacy business — which is Walgreens’ core focus going forward — is … Read More

✒ UnitedHealth is paying a 41% premium to buy Change Healthcare for US$7.84bn, which is a billing and management platform. Change Healthcare will combine with UnitedHealth’s fast-growing data analytic unit Optum. The pitch: to help clients simplify medical care process and lower the costs involved in America’s notoriously convoluted and inefficient healthcare system.

✒ Silver Lake and Thoma Bravo together held 75% of SolarWinds at the end of September, and they offloaded 5% of the software company at a price of $21.97 to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, a $315m stake. Six days later the US government issued an announcement warning that hackers had hijacked one of SolarWinds’ … Read More

✒ Stevie Nicks sells an 80% stake in her roster of music for about $100 million. Meanwhile, Shamrock Capital Advisors acquired Taylor Swift’s early recording catalog for about $300 million. Then, Bob Dylan’s song catalog was sold to Universal Music Group for an estimated $300 million. On the one hand, music rights themselves has become … Read More

✒ The M&A pipeline is starting to thaw because: Roaring back of equity prices giving acquirers highly valued currency to pay for deals; Reopened corporate debt market making financing available; Rock bottom interest rate; Private equity providing a lot of dry powder to call upon; Pandemic giving companies new pressing problems to solve, which M&A … Read More

✒ Salesforce has been acquisitive — Tableau, Mulesoft, Vlocity, ClickSoftware, etc. However, acquisitions have been getting pricey in recent years. A considerable portion of the offer to buy Slack could be in shares such that Salesforce can use its own rich market valuation as currency for the takeover. Salesforce’s shares have more than doubled since … Read More

✒ The drama of backing out of the deal and taking the case to the court, has been about price negotiation. No matter how predictable, this $16.6bn soap opera is irresistible to watch. The revised price of $131.5 per share means a $400m+ discount, but whether it turns out to be a good move for … Read More

✒ Traditionally the “change of control” provision in a loan document requires the debt to be paid off, at par, when a company is sold, and buyer of the company in debt have to make new/re-financing arrangements. In a takeover situation, the creditors have the opportunity to change the terms if there are new risks … Read More

✒ Aimmune focuses on food allergy treatment and is currently 25% owned by Nestlé. Nestlé will acquire the outstanding shares it does not already own in this all-cash offer, marking its biggest bet yet on health science. This deal takes Nestlé boss Ulf Mark Schneider back into familiar territory. He used to be the CEO … Read More

✒ Delivery Hero is a British-based restaurant delivery company; InstaShop is a Dubai-based grocery delivery platform. Online delivery is a game of scale and expansion (in terms of both geography and service offering). Uber is adopting the same and that is how the super-apps in China have flourished.

✒ Ryan Reynolds has been applying his humour and storytelling skills to promote the brand since he purchased a major stake. He has become one of the best content marketers. His videos have no call for action, no promotional offer, no opt-in, no direct response. Just cute stories, well told. Yet they still make you … Read More

✒ A trophy asset now on sale for the first time in nearly 20 years, sparking a bidding war filled with competing egos and contrasting priorities.

✒ IAC, who incubated Expedia and TripAdvisor, is using the cash from the Match Group Spin-off to bet on digital gaming and sports betting.

✒ Synergy. Transformation. Communication. Culture.