European PE M&A deal volume has been slightly declining coming into Q1 of 2019 and reported a decline of 8% from the Q1 2018 numbers. Nevertheless, the phenomenon of megadeals is still evident on a volume as well as value basis. The geographic composition of deals changed slightly due to macro-economic pressures.
Category: Deals
EDreams flamed out shortly after its IPO, but it shouldn’t have been a surprise for those who had done their due diligence. A business that had grown at triple-digit rates during its early phase when backed by VC, and at a double-digit pace when owned by PE partners, was only growing at single-digit numbers after its merger with GO Voyages and Opodo. This is what the public was buying at the time of the IPO, even if was not priced like that: a slow growth business.
In the first half of 2019, the Japanese car components manufacturer Calsonic Kansei Corporation, owned by the U.S. private equity firm KKR, expects to complete the acquisition of Magneti Marelli, an Italian-based high-tech car components manufacturer currently owned by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The transaction values Magneti Marelli at €6.2 bn, and it will create a giant in the OEM arena, becoming a supplier of both FCA and Nissan.
The target, HSH Nordbank, is a German bank established in 2003 as a result of the merger between the Landesbanks of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. The bank is based out of the German port cities of Hamburg and Kiel and it is an important financing provider for corporate clients involved in the shipping, infrastructure & logistics, trade & food and industrial sectors. Besides offering traditional loans, the bank also offers a huge spectrum of other services including structured finance, risk and investment management solutions. As of 31st Dec 2016, the bank reported total assets of EUR 84 billion and net income before taxes of EUR 121 million.
In July 2017, Private Equity companies CDH and Hillhouse completed the leveraged buyout of China's largest shoe retailer, Belle International for HK$53.1bn (US$6.8bn). It became the largest privatization deal on Hong Kong stock exchange.
KKR, a leading global investment firm acquired a 12.64% stake in Indosari, an Indonesian based consumer goods company, in October 2017. This deal marks the third such deal KKR has made in Indonesia in the preceding 18 months. KKR makes this investment in the wake of major macroeconomic positives for the Indonesian economy including a young and growing middle class, accelerated urbanization trends, and increasing consumption as a percentage of GDP.
JAB Holding Co. is a private equity firm domiciled in Luxembourg. The company is focused on acquiring premium brands in the consumer goods industry, particularly, the coffee industry; it is a global player in the coffee industry with a 41% market share in the prepackaged-coffee segment. The company owns (wholly and partially) several premium brands including Keurig Green Mountain, and Jimmy Choo.
Heinz-Kraft’s bid of $143 billion for Unilever was set to become the largest ever acquisition in the Consumer Products industry. The acquisition would have been the next step of 3G capital’s strategy to sway the industry subsequent to the acquisition of Heinz in 2013 and Kraft in 2015 and branch out into other industries. This article intends to understand why such a bid was made and what made Unilever a potential target? We will answer this question by introducing the main players in the bid, summarising the timeline of the bid and listing the pros and cons that Unilever has as a target.
On October 3rd 2016, Onex Corporation (“Onex”), one of the oldest and most successful private equity firms founded in Toronto, CA, and Baring Private Equity Asia (“Baring Asia”), a well-established independent and alternative asset management firm in Asia, concluded the two months’ negation for the acquisition of the Intellectual Property and Science division of Thomson Reuters, the world’s leading source of news and information for professional markets.
Over the last few years, investors and business got accustomed to see China as a major foreign investment destination but now the situation seems to be turning around. In 2015, the level of Chinese outbound investment almost reached the amount of inbound foreign investments ($118bn compared with $126.3bn).
On January 5th, Catterton, the leading consumer-focused private equity firm, together with LVMH and Groupe Arnault, respectively, the largest luxury conglomerate in the world and the family holding company of the founder, announced they have entered into an agreement to merge part of their business to create a new entity, named L Catterton.
