Category Archives: Mergers and acquisitions

Inflight wifi could be pricier if takeover of UK satellite firm goes ahead, says CMA

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Competition and Markets Authority says other operators may not be able to compete after merger of Inmarsat and Viasat

The $7.3bn (£5.4bn) takeover of the British satellite company Inmarsat by its US rival Viasat could result in higher-priced and lower-quality wifi for aeroplane passengers, according to the UK competition watchdog.

The Competition and Markets Authority said its investigation has identified concerns with the merger possibly leading to airlines being offered lower-quality products for onboard wifi and facing higher prices to deliver it.

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Bumper City bonuses expected from takeover frenzy after pound hits record low

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UK firms now temptingly cheaper, with a ‘wave of bids’ from overseas buyers meaning payouts for bankers

Bankers could rake in bumper bonuses from a “wave of bids” by overseas buyers for UK businesses made temptingly cheaper as a result of the plunge in the pound against the dollar. A fresh frenzy of merger and acquisition activity would mean a ramp-up in payouts for City dealmakers.

Sterling fell by nearly 5% at one point on Monday to $1.0327, its lowest since Britain went decimal in 1971. The currency has fallen by more than a fifth against the dollar this year.

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Satellite firm bailed out by UK to be taken over by French rival

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OneWeb, touted by Boris Johnson as a potential rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink, provides communications services

A satellite company part-owned by the British government is due to be taken over by an EU rival this week, dashing hopes of fostering a UK firm to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink following its taxpayer bailout at the height of the pandemic.

OneWeb, which provides services including broadband from its low-orbit satellites, will be taken over by one of its shareholders – the Paris-listed Eutelsat- in a deal that could be announced as early as Monday.

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Reliance Industries and Apollo Global Management in £5bn bid for Boots

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Mukesh Ambani teams up with US private equity fund, with Walgreens expected to retain minority stake

The Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries has teamed up with the US private equity fund Apollo Global Management to make a £5bn bid for the UK’s Boots chain.

The US group Walgreens, which has controlled the pharmacy and beauty retailer since 2012, is expected to keep a minority stake under the deal.

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Elon Musk: Twitter deal cannot progress without proof on bot numbers

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Tesla CEO and world’s richest person expressed concerns about presence of fake accounts on platform

Elon Musk has cast further doubt over his $44bn (£35bn) takeover of Twitter after stating the deal “cannot move forward” until the social media company proves that less than 5% of its users are fake or spam accounts.

The Tesla chief executive used his Twitter account to say the agreed deal would not progress until the firm showed proof that only a small proportion of its users were fake.

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Square Enix sells its western studios and hits such as Tomb Raider for $300m

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Japanese gaming company behind Final Fantasy series secures deal with Sweden-based Embracer

The Japanese gaming company behind Final Fantasy is selling off three studios, including the rights to hit franchises including Tomb Raider, in a $300m (£240m) deal.

Tokyo-based Square Enix has sold US-headquartered Crystal Dynamics and Canada-based Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal to the Nasdaq-listed Swedish gaming group Embracer.

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Elon Musk engages with tweets criticising Twitter staff

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Acquisition agreement allows Musk to tweet about deal but not to disparage firm or its representatives

Elon Musk has engaged with tweets criticising Twitter employees despite promising not to “disparage” the company or its representatives while he completes the deal to acquire the social media platform.

The world’s richest man agreed to restrictions on his tweets as part of a 95-page agreement covering his $44bn acquisition filed on Tuesday.

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Twitter takeover: EU and UK warn Elon Musk must comply or face sanctions

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EU commissioner raises hate speech concerns as UK draws attention to penalties in online safety bill

The UK and EU have warned that Twitter must comply with new content rules or face sanctions that range from fines to a total ban, as concerns were raised that hate speech will increase on the platform under the ownership of Elon Musk.

The world’s richest man has agreed a $44bn (£34bn) deal to buy the social media network, which will hand control of a platform with 217 million users to a self-confessed “free speech absolutist”.

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Could Elon Musk’s Twitter plans prove a costly mistake?

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Analysis: Experts warn against reinstating banned accounts and neglecting moderation

Welcome back Donald Trump, Katie Hopkins, David Icke and Alex Jones? These are just some of the Twitter accounts that could be reinstated if the platform’s new owner-in-waiting, “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk, practices what he preaches.

All of those accounts have been permanently suspended from the platform for infractions that include, most notoriously, the former US president’s alleged support for the Capitol riot on 6 January last year. Their reinstatement now appears to be back in play given that the world’s richest man has agreed a $44bn (£35bn) takeover of the platform that banned them and has stated that “free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy”.

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THG rejects ‘unacceptable’ takeover approaches as revenues jump by 35%

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Online shopping group says it has dismissed ‘multiple’ attempts to buy company

Online shopping group THG has dismissed “numerous” takeover approaches as “unacceptable”, saying they undervalued the company.

Manchester-based THG (formerly known as The Hut Group), which runs beauty and nutrition websites including Lookfantastic, Cult Beauty and Myprotein, confirmed there had been interest from third parties, but said the company was not currently involved in any talks.

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Next and group of investment firms buy JoJo Maman Bébé

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Baby clothing and maternity wear retailer grew from kitchen table startup

The baby clothing and maternity wear retailer JoJo Maman Bébé – whose high-profile customers include the Duchess of Cambridge – has been snapped up by the high street company Next and a group of investment firms.

Laura Tenison, who started the business in 1993 from her flatshare kitchen table and turned it into one of the UK’s leading mother and baby retailers, said the new owners had “exciting plans to expand and grow the brand much faster than we ever could, giving us the opportunity to open in new markets”.

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Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter for more than $40bn

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Tech entrepreneur makes offer of $54.20 a share in cash to ‘unlock potential’ of social media site

Elon Musk has launched an audacious bid to buy Twitter for more than $40bn, saying he wants to release its “extraordinary potential” to boost free speech and democracy across the world.

The Tesla chief executive and world’s richest person revealed in a regulatory filing on Thursday that he had launched a hostile takeover of Twitter. The news came just days after he bought a 9.2% stake in the social media company and was subsequently offered a seat on the board, but then refused to take up the position.

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GSK to buy US cancer drug developer amid pressure from activist investor

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GlaxoSmithKline’s £1.5bn Sierra Oncology deal comes after pressure from Elliott to boost its pipeline

The UK drug company GlaxoSmithKline has agreed a £1.5bn deal to buy a US cancer treatment developer, Sierra Oncology, as it tries to fend off pressure from the activist shareholder Elliott Management.

The deal will give Britain’s second-largest pharmaceutical company access to California-based Sierra Oncology’s momelotinib, a drug being tested on anaemic patients with a type of bone marrow cancer called myelofibrosis. GSK said the drug had “significant growth potential” and it expected sales to start next year, with one analyst predicting it could generate peak annual sales of about $1.7bn (£1.3bn).

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John Menzies accepts takeover bid from Kuwaiti aviation services rival Agility

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Edinburgh-based firm agrees to £571m offer that will create world’s largest airport services firm

Executives at the British aviation services company John Menzies have accepted a £571m takeover deal from a Kuwaiti rival, after rebuffing three previous offers.

A subsidiary of Agility Public Warehousing had made the bid more than a month ago, which was conditional at the time, although the John Menzies board said it would accept the offer.

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Microsoft’s Activision plan shows gaming will be at heart of metaverse

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Activision Blizzard deal would help Xbox compete against PlayStation – but will regulators play along?

Microsoft’s planned takeover of Activision Blizzard puts the tech company at the centre of two big issues facing the sector: the metaverse and Washington’s determination to rein in big tech.

The metaverse is where the physical and digital worlds come together, although it is very much at the concept stage. The idea is that you will put on a virtual reality headset and a digital representation of yourself – an avatar – will interact with others at work and play in a combination of virtual and augmented reality.

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‘Super app’ Grab to go public in record $40bn Spac merger

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Singapore-headquartered firm offers one-stop shopstyle service, including ride hailing, banking and food delivery

South-east Asian “super app” Grab, which offers services from ride hailing and food delivery to online banking, is to float in the US in a record deal with a so-called Spac investment company that values the business at almost $40bn (£29bn).

Singapore-headquartered Grab, which intends to list on Nasdaq in the US, has struck a $39.5bn merger deal with US-based Altimeter Growth Corp. It is by far the biggest deal to date involving a special purpose acquisition company (Spac) – a so-called “blank cheque” shell company that raises money first and seeks businesses to buy later – which has become the latest trend in global finance over the last year.

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Spanish Puig snaps up Charlotte Tilbury makeup empire

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Barcelona-based firm is thought to have fought off bids from Unilever, L’Oréal and Shiseido

The celebrity makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury has handed a control of her namesake makeup and skincare empire to a Spanish fashion and fragrances business in a deal that could have valued the company at up to £1bn just seven years after she started it.

Tilbury, 47, personally owned between half and 75% of the company until signing a deal with the Barcelona-based Puig will likely have handed her a cash payout worth tens of millions of pounds. The Spanish firm also owns brands including Paco Rabanne, Jean Paul Gaultier and Nina Ricci.

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UK government agrees £300m rescue package for British Steel

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New funds thought to be enough to secure a sale to widening list of interested private bidders

The government has moved to rescue British Steel with a financial support package worth as much as £300m that ministers believe will be enough to secure backing from a private bidder.

It is understood that the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has agreed to substantially increase support to bidders for British Steel, which employs more than 4,000 people, after months of wrangling following the company’s collapse into administration.

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Renault-Fiat Chrysler merger collapses

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French government blamed as €33bn deal to create world’s third largest carmaker stalls

The proposed €33bn merger of Fiat Chrysler and Renault has collapsed after an intervention from the French government, Renault’s biggest shareholder.

Fiat Chrysler, an Italian-American company, withdrew from a 50-50 merger proposal for its French rival after a board meeting on Wednesday. A deal would have created the world’s third-largest carmaker behind Volkswagen and Toyota.

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Fiat Chrysler proposes merger with Renault to reshape car industry

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Deal would create world’s third-largest automaker and ‘save €5bn a year’ by sharing research

Fiat Chrysler has proposed a merger with France’s Renault that would create the world’s third-largest carmaker and save billions needed to invest in the race to make electric and autonomous vehicles.

The merged company would produce 8.7m vehicles annually and save €5bn ($5.6bn or £4.4bn) each year by sharing research, purchasing and other activities, according to a statement released by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). It said the deal would involve no plant closures but did not address potential job cuts.

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