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Global mergers and acquisitions deal value for the year to date stands at USD470.8bn, up 13 per cent from Q1 2009, according to a report by mergermarket.
However the start of the year is down 19 per cent from Q1 2008 and 42 per cent from Q1 2007.
Q1 2010 is the second strongest quarter in the last five quarters, after Q4 2009.
Propelled by the announcement of a number of mega-deals, Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) started the new decade with a boom in M&A activity. Q1 2010 was the largest Q1 for Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) on mergermarket records with a
Insight Communications, a cable operator in the US, says an investor group led by Crestview Partners and MidOcean Partners has purchased a significant equity position in the company from certain existing shareholders, including The Carlyle Group.
At the conclusion of this transaction and the related share repurchases by Insight referred to below, Carlyle and the new investor group each will hold an approximate 42 per cent equity interest in Insight, with the company’s management, employees and certain other shareholders continuing to hold the remaining equity interests.
The transactions are expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter.
Private equity firm TA Associates has acquired a majority stake in Cath Kidston, a British lifestyle brand best known for its vintage inspired prints and household and fashion products.
Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.
As part of the transaction, founder and creative director Cath Kidston will retain a substantial stake in the business and will continue to be fully involved in her current role.
Cath Kidston’s senior management will also continue to hold a significant stake.
Kidston says: “We are delighted to have found a fantastic partner in TA Associates whose expertise and international reach will help
Omninet Capital has sold its portfolio company PWP Industries to Pactiv Corporation for USD200m.
PWP is a leading national supplier of APET (amorphous polyethylene terephthalate) products for the food packaging industry. The company was co-founded in 1998 by Benjamin Nazarian, Managing Partner of Omninet Capital, and Neil Kadisha, also a Managing Partner of Omninet Capital and a former Qualcomm Director.
Over the past 12 years, PWP achieved impressive growth and established a leadership position in its market segment. As a leader in environmental stewardship, PWP is the first food packaging thermoformer in North America to build an in-house Post-Consumer
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has joined Triton in its investment in Ambea, a healthcare and care company in the Nordic region and one of the largest European healthcare service providers.
KKR’s investment is in the form of convertible preferred stock.
Subject to certain regulatory approval, KKR has the option to become a joint equity lead investor on a 50-50 basis with Triton and in partnership with Ambea management.
Triton signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ambea on 23 February 2010. The transaction with Triton and KKR closed on 31 March 2010.
Ralph Riber, chief executive of Ambea, says: "We are pleased
An affiliate of Alinda Capital Partners, an independent private investment firm specialising in infrastructure investments, has acquired all of the equity interests of NorTex Gas Storage Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Falcon Gas Storage Company.
The transaction value was USD505m, including the repayment of all third party indebtedness.
Falcon was acquired by Arcapita Bank and its affiliates in July 2005.
NorTex owns and operates two natural gas storage facilities in North Texas totalling 35 billion cubic feet of capacity. The NorTex facilities serve the rapidly growing demand market of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, as well as natural gas production in
During the first three months of the year, eight US venture-backed companies raised USD711m by going public on US stock exchanges, matching the number of initial public offerings that occurred throughout 2009, according to Dow Jones VentureSource.
Corporations bought 77 companies for USD4bn through mergers and acquisitions during the first quarter, on par with the 77 deals that raised USD3.4bn during the same period last year.
“After two difficult, nearly dormant years for IPOs, venture-backed companies started 2010 with a strong showing in the public market,” says Jessica Canning, global research director for Dow Jones VentureSource. “With investors looking to
Nova Polonia Private Equity Fund and Financierings-Maatschappij Voor Ontwikkelingslanden have agreed to sell an 84 per cent stake in Centrum Filmowe Helios, a cinema operator, to the publisher Agora.
Both Agora and Helios are based in Poland.
The purchase consideration of EUR25m could be increased by EUR1.06m depending on the outcome of the test by an external expert in liabilities of Helios.
Nova Polonia Private Equity Fund is a Poland-based private equity fund, while Financierings-Maatschappij is a Netherlands-based entrepreneurial development bank.
Agora intends to reduce dependence on the newspaper advertising market. The acquisition of shares of Helios would be in
Catterton Partners, a consumer-focused private equity firm, has sold Liberty Safe and Security Products, a seller of full-size residential safes in the US, to an affiliate of Compass Diversified Holdings.
Since investing in Liberty Safe in 2005, Catterton Partners has worked with the Liberty Safe team to implement a number of manufacturing, sales and marketing initiatives that have enabled the company to increase sales by approximately 15 per cent per annum and more than double its earnings.
Over this period, Liberty Safe has transitioned from a manufacturing to a sales orientation. In addition, the company has expanded its distribution footprint
The number of mergers and acquisitions transactions fell during quarter one but the total value of them increased, according to data from Experian.
By comparison, the total number and value of deals decreased in Europe as a whole.
The UK saw an 18.1 per cent decrease in the number UK M&A and ECM transactions announced during Q1 2010 compared to Q4 2009 from 1,131 deals to 926 deals.
GBP68.9bn worth of transactions was announced in the UK in Q1 2010 – up by 4.5 per cent on Q4 2009.
Rothschild was the best performing financial adviser by volume with
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