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’Matalan weighs £1.5bn sale
Matalan, the privately owned UK discount retailer, is weighing a £1.5bn sale after a number of expressions of interest. Buy-out group CVC is among parties to have approached Matalan, which was taken private by its founder and controlling shareholder John Hargreaves amid acrimony with institutional investors and non-executive directors three years ago.
Consortium backs off NatExpress
The Spanish-led consortium bidding for National Express is set to withdraw its £765m takeover offer for the UK bus and rail operator, dealing a blow to the company’s biggest shareholder. Buy-out firm CVC,
AB InBev sells assets to CVC
Anheuser-Busch InBev has agreed to sell its central European operations to buy-out group CVC for up to $3bn. The deal is the latest non-core asset to be sold after last year’s $52bn merger of the US’s Anheuser-Busch and Belgium’s InBev.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- Xstrata says it has no intention of making an offer for Anglo American – statement.
- Anheuser-Busch InBev agrees to sell central European operations to CVC for $2.2bn – statement.
New delay sought on NatExpress
The Spanish-led consortium bidding for UK rail and bus operator National Express is seeking an extension of the official deadline for making its bid, worth £765m, which expires at 5pm on Friday. The UK Takeover Panel has already extended the “put up or shut up” deadline from Sept 11.
NatExpress bid hurdle cleared
The board of National Express on Wednesday night paved the way for a £765m takeover of the British bus and rail group after it agreed to allow a consortium comprising its largest shareholder to examine its books.
Spanish group raises NatExpress offer
The consortium bidding for troubled UK bus and train operator National Express on Thursday increased the cash on offer by more than 10% to 500p a share or £765m and resolved several issues surrounding Stagecoach Group’s planned takeover of NatExpress’s rail business. The shareholders felt the previous offer by the consortium of Spain’s Cosmen family and CVC Capital Partners – of 450p a share,
Investors reject revised NatExpress bid
Key shareholders in National Express, the troubled UK train and bus operator, have signalled they will not back a revised all-cash 450p takeover offer from the group’s largest investor and stick by the management’s alternative plans for a rights issue.
National Express pushes Stagecoach
National Express, the indebted UK bus and rail operator at the centre of a takeover battle, sought to regain the initiative on Monday by demanding details of plans from a Spanish-led consortium and potential bidder Stagecoach.
UK’s National Express set to reject bid
Troubled UK transport group National Express is this week set to reject a takeover bid from Spain’s Cosmen family and CVC private equity group, rebuffing an approach that was expected to value the group at more than £500m.
Dutch to sell Fortis tax arm
The arm of Belgian-Dutch group Fortis now owned by the Dutch government is pressing ahead with plans to sell Intertrust, a tax administration and structuring business. Several first-round offers have been made for Intertrust close to its €350m ($490m) asking price,
CVC to buy stake in Royal Mail
Private equity group CVC Capital Partners is drawing up plans to buy a stake in Royal Mail, reports the Daily Telegraph. CVC’s interest is at an early stage and the firm is believed to be worried about the reputational risk of any deal because the part-privatisation of Royal Mail is so politically sensitive.
Investors turn screw on buy-out groups
Some of the world’s biggest buy-out groups are coming under pressure from cash-strapped investors to reduce their commitments after Permira’s landmark offer to let its backers off the hook for €1.5bn.
CVC, StanChart, eye sale of Amtek
The private equity owners of Singapore’s Amtek Engineering – one of Asia’s fastest growing bespoke precision engineers – have held preliminary discussions that could result in a lucrative trade sale of the company only a year after it was taken private,
The elephants in Europe’s leveraged loan room
There’s a vaguely familiar ring to the headline: “S&P in warning over leveraged loans”, in Thursday’s FT. Maybe because in February, a report – also in the FT – was headlined: “S&P warns of growing risk in leveraged loans”.
CVC in lead for Evonik stake
CVC Capital Partners appeared to be the front-runner Sunday night in the roughly €2bn ($3bn) auction of a stake in German industrial conglomerate Evonik Industries, reports the WSJ. Though another bidder could still overtake CVC,
Snap news
The latest on Wednesday,
- Ahold has sold its 73.2 per cent interest in Schuitema to CVC, based on an enterprise value of €950m – statement
- GSK has agreed to buy Nasdaq-listed Sirtis Pharmaceuticals for about $720m,
CVC Asia Pacific fund raises $4.1bn
CVC Capital Partners, the UK buy-out group, has raised $4.1bn for its new Asia Pacific fund, the biggest sum raised for the region, reflecting rising investor interest in emerging market buy-outs. The new fund,
Buy-out groups close in on M&B
Buy-out groups CVC and Blackstone have submitted a joint proposal to acquire 29.9% of Mitchells & Butlers, the troubled UK pub group whose shares have tumbled after a property deal backfired, reports The Times.
UK’s Punch in talks on joint M&B bid
Punch Taverns could still team up with a private equity partner to make a joint bid for rival pub group Mitchells & Butlers, despite having launched its own offer for the rival pub operator. Informal discussions have taken place between Punch and a number of other interested parties,
Stub equity buyout plan for Mitchells & Butlers, reportedly
The list of suitors for All Bar One operator Mitchells & Butlers – real or imagined – gets ever longer.
Punch Taverns has made no secret of its takeover ambitions, Robert Tchenguiz still has 23 per cent after the failure of his property joint venture with M&B,
CVC tests waters for €11bn buy-out fund
CVC Capital Partners, one of Europe’s most aggressive private equity firms, is canvassing investors about plans to raise an €11bn ($16.2bn) buy-out fund next year, providing a crucial test of investor appetite in the credit squeeze.
CVC seeks to raise $2bn for new fund
CVC Capital Partners on Tuesday joined the growing number of private equity firms raising infrastructure funds, as it announced plans to raise $2bn for acquisitions of utilities and public services, such as hospitals and power stations.
CVC clinches Taiwan purchase
CVC Capital Partners has clinched the buy-out of the world’s largest manufacturer of window shutters, in a deal valued at $750m. CVC’s Asian arm is expected to confirm on Tuesday that it has teamed up with the founding family and management of Taiwan-listed Nien Made Enterprise to complete a joint buy-out in which CVC will own 50 per cent of the takeover vehicle.
Permira to buy Japanese agribusiness, while CVC cuts China deal
A unit of private equity firm Permira is buying Tokyo-based Arysta LifeScience for $2.2bn from Olympus Capital Holdings Asia in the largest buy-out in Japan this year. The deal comes at a time when the deal machine in the US and Europe has slowed and transactions in Asia are still rare. Separately,