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’Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
- Ocado aiming for equity valuation of £800m-£1.1bn via IPO on the London Stock Exchange — statement.
- Persimmon reports increase in H1 house sales and completions — statement.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
- News Corp offers 700p a share for BSkyB; Sky’s independent directors want 800p– statement and statement.
- Tesco Q1 group sales up 8.2 per cent — statement.
EQT set for €2.3bn Springer deal
EQT, the private equity arm of Sweden’s Wallenberg family, is set to announce on Thursday the €2.3bn takeover of Springer Science and Business Media. The deal ends a tortuous sales process by its two UK private-equity owners,
Leverage and the Lloyd’s List
Here’s a blast from the past.
Remember Informa, publisher of the Lloyd’s List and The Earthmover & Civil Contractor Magazine?
The last time Alphaville wrote about the company it was the subject of a leveraged takeover bid from a private equity consortium,
Informa eyes deal for Springer
Informa, publisher of Lloyd’s List, has held talks with its rival Springer Science and Business Media over buying the German academic publisher whose private equity owners are looking to sell the whole business at a reduced valuation.
Buy-out groups vie for BCA
British Car Auction has attracted bids from a clutch of private equity groups that are expected to submit final offers next month valuing Europe’s biggest vehicle reselling network at between £400m ($670m) and £500m.
Gala Coral agrees debt plan
Shareholders in UK gambling group Gala Coral have agreed to cede overall control of the group under a debt restructuring proposal to be considered by the board on Friday. The breakthrough over restructuring Gala’s £2.5bn debt came last weekend after Candover,
Gala Coral gambles on debt deal
Gala Coral, Britain’s biggest bingo chain, is close to finalising a restructuring deal that will see lenders write off £540m of debt, reports the Guardian. The gambling group’s private equity owners Candover,
Gala Coral hits at credit insurer
Gala Coral, the private equity-owned UK gambling group, has accused Euler Hermes, one of the world’s largest credit insurers, of “appalling behaviour” in withdrawing cover against unpaid bills to Gala Coral’s suppliers.
Buyout groups circle Informa
Investors on Monday greeted news of a proposed merger between United Business Media and Informa as a credible combination of two complementary business media groups. Shares in UBM rose 2% to 618p Monday while Informa’s shares shot up 13.3% to 437½p as investors bet the nil-premium proposal may flush out a private equity offer.
Cash injection for UK’s Gala Coral
The private equity backers of UK betting operator Gala Coral are ploughing £125m into the company in return for a relaxation of its covenants, because of investor concerns that the company was heading for default.
Cinven buys Coor from 3i
Cinven has acquired Coor Service Management of Sweden in a €540m deal designed to harness rapid growth for managing facilities that big companies prefer to outsource. The acquisition is a boost for 3i which has made a four-fold return on its initial investment since acquiring Coor for SKr1.2bn less than three years ago.
DM&E Railroad sale a boon for UK buy-out firms
Four UK-based private-equity firms that became majority owners of Dakota Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corp more than two decades ago are finally set to cash in their investment – and make at least 20 times what they paid,
Cinven buys USP Hospitales for €675m
Cinven, the European private equity group, on Monday unveiled its second private healthcare deal in less than a month, agreeing to pay €675m for USP Hospitales of Spain. The firm beat at least two other bidders for the business,
Cinven set to acquire 26 Bupa hospitals
Private equity group Cinven is poised to win the battle to acquire 26 Bupa hospitals for £1.4bn-£1.5bn in a deal that could be announced as early as Monday. Cinven’s private equity rivals – CVC, Terra Firma,
Biodiesel group Argent set for Aim listing
Argent Energy, which makes biodiesel from animal fat and used cooking oil, is to seek an Aim listing that analysts expect will value the group at about £70m. Argent Energy is owned by Argent Group, which was the product of a 1997 management buy-out from Hillsdown Holdings,
Sysco joins bidding for Brake Bros
Sysco, the Texas-based food distribution company, on Thursday night emerged as a contender in the auction for Brake Bros, its UK peer which is being sold by Clayton Dubilier & Rice, the private equity group,
Australian group eyes £1.2bn bid for BUPA’s hospitals
Ramsay Health Care, Australia’s biggest private hospital operator, is eyeing a joint bid backed by private equity for 26 hospitals in Britain owned by BUPA, which could be worth more than £1.2bn, reports The Times.
CVC looks to enter battle for Altadis
CVC, whose bid for J Sainsbury collapsed this week, is in advanced stages of forming a powerful financial consortium to trump Imperial Tobacco’s £12.3bn bid for Altadis, the Franco-Spanish tobacco company.
BAT in talks with private equity over Altadis bid
BAT is in talks with private equity firms over a possible bid for Altadis, reports The Times. The talks are thought to be with CVC Capital, Cinven and PAI, the French buyout group, all of which are known to be interested in all or part of Altadis’s business.
Private equity groups work on break-up plans for Altadis
Several private equity groups considering bids for Altadis, the Franco-Spanish tobacco company, are working on break-up plans which they hope will give them the edge over Imperial Tobacco, whose £8bn offer for Altadis two weeks ago was rebuffed,
Buy-out groups eye Altadis
At least three European private equity firms have expressed an interest in bidding for Altadis, the Franco-Spanish tobacco company that rejected an £8bn bid from Britain’s Imperial Tobacco this month.
New Look warms to £2bn sale
New Look, the high street retailer, has appointed Merrill Lynch to look at its strategic options as the privately owned retailer gets ready to put itself up for sale – with a price tag of up to £2bn.
Melrose close to $850m deal with JLL
Melrose, the British engineering company, was close on Thursday night to signing a deal to sell its aerospace division to JLL Partners, a US private equity firm, for about $850m. An announcement could come as early as Friday.
Walker assembles high-flying private equity working group
Sir David Walker has named an 11-member team, including Lady Hogg, 3i chairman, and Lord Hollick, the former United Business Media chief executive, for his working party on the private equity industry.
Bid rumours propel Whitbread
Whitbread, which owns the Premier Travel Inn budget hotels, closed at a record high yesterday amid mounting speculation that a private equity company might make a takeover offer worth as much as £4.5bn.
Private equity raises “covenant-lite” loans
Two private equity groups have taken a striking new step to protect themselves from future downturns in the credit cycle by raising loans that remove most lenders’ rights for the first time in Europe.
Smurfit Kappa brings back the ‘good, old-fashioned’ IPO
Smurfit Kappa Europe’s largest cardboard box manufacturer, defied stock market jitters to open at a 6 per cent premium to its initial public offering price on Wednesday. The shares traded at €17.50 in the grey market ahead of its official listing next Tuesday,
Rumours of £10bn Wolseley bid greatly exaggerated
Cinven is not considering a bid for Wolseley, contrary to a report in the City AM newspaper on Wednesday, Reuters reported, citing a source familiar with the situation.
“The idea was proposed to Cinven by a bank,