Deals wrap: Rare air brings deal
It took the rarefied air of the Swiss Alps to bring together the chief executives of Sanofi-Aventis and Genzyme and pave the way for a $20.1 billion deal.
As the cream of the telecoms industry debates how best to make money from mobile data,Vimpelcom’s Alexander Izosimov is alone in betting his balance sheet on it in unfashionable western Europe.
Chinese oil majors are set to accelerate their overseas buying spree in unconventional oil and gas assets, with an eye on technology key to help shift China’s reliance on coal to lower-carbon fuel over the next decade.
The bond of friendship doesn’t mean much when the government comes knocking on your door, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Warren Buffett will make his first trip to India next month and it could be a precursor to some deals, reports the Economic Times.
Mark Cuban says today’s market is not a bubble, it’s a pyramid scheme, reports peHUB.
Deals wrap: Key facts about the Sanofi/Genzyme deal
French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis agreed to buy Genzyme with a sweetened $20.1 billion cash offer, plus payments tied to the success of the U.S. biotech group’s drugs, the companies said. Reuters has a factbox about the two companies, a timeline of Sanofi’s quest for Genzyme and a look at Sanofi’s patient CEO.
The London Stock Exchange’s bid to take over Canada’s TMX Group is likely to navigate through a battery of regulatory reviews and emerge intact, even though investors are nervous about its chances.
In Asia however, tough regulatory regimes, cumbersome ownership structures and protectionist-minded governments mean cross-border mergers involving regional markets will be difficult.
Jeff Carter at Points and Figures looks for the synergies in the Deutsche Boerse/NYSE deal.
China’s new review body for inward M&A could bring some much-needed transparency to the deal approval process and even make it quicker for foreign companies to get tie-ups with mainland firms past the authorities.
Deals wrap: A rock & roll deal
Warner Music Group is looking for potential buyers and Goldman Sachs is advising on the process, a source familiar with the matter said.
Rumbles of shareholder dissent show drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis is walking a tightrope as it enters the endgame in its drawn-out bid for biotech Genzyme.
A group of companies led by Brazilian beef processor JBS has arranged a financing package to bid for all or parts of Sara Lee, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters.
Success is bringing new headaches for small hedge funds, reports the NYT.
Deals wrap: Merger Monday
Duke Energy agreed to buy Progress Energy for $13.7 billion in stock, creating the largest U.S. power company in terms of market value and generating capacity.
DuPont said on Sunday it will buy Danish food ingredients and enzymes firm Danisco for $5.8 billion to boost its position in the fast-growing food sector.
Genzyme shares rose more than 3 percent after Sanofi-Aventis confirmed the companies were in direct talks about a takeover deal.
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner is taking the company private.
Big banks missed by a decade their golden opportunity for a foothold in China, reports the WSJ. Reuters columnist Wei Gu puts Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan’s China joint ventures in perspective.
When shopping for a deal, stick to countries with good governance, according to this paper.
Deals wrap: Genzyme addresses investors
Genzyme, which is fighting off a hostile $18.5 billion bid from Sanofi-Aventis, will on Monday take another stab at persuading investors that its experimental multiple sclerosis drug is worth more than Sanofi’s projections.
AT&T said it agreed to buy spectrum licenses in the Lower 700 MHz frequency band from Qualcomm for $1.93 billion, to provide advanced 4G mobile broadband.
Sara Lee has been in talks to sell itself to Brazilian meat producer JBS, but the pair are at odds over price and it is unclear if a deal can be reached, a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday.
“Groupon has built a new channel into the heart of the the world’s economic activity: Small businesses,” writes John Battelle in Searchblog.
Deals wrap: Genzyme bid hinges on new drug
Genzyme (GENZ.O), resisting a hostile bid from Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA), is open to a deal that links its value to the success of key drug Campath, the U.S. biotech’s chief executive was quoted as saying. But it was not up to Genzyme to suggest that to the French drugmaker, which has launched a $18.5 billion takeover offer for Genzyme, Chief Executive Henri Termeer was quoted as saying in French newspaper Le Figaro.
“This is one of the alternatives that could be explored. We are thinking about it with regard to the Campath molecule. This could be used by Sanofi or by other companies we talk to,” Termeer told the newspaper in an interview.
Global food companies are set to square up against emerging market buyers and private equity players to buy half of Yoplait, the world’s second-largest yogurt maker after French peer Danone (DANO.PA). General Mills (GIS.N), Nestle (NESN.VX) and Lactalis, Europe’s largest dairy group, all have sound strategic reasons to pursue the maker of Petits Filous yogurts and Yop drinking yogurt, valued at 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion) by its CEO Lucien Fa in a Reuters interview.
Spanish group Ferrovial has hired Goldman Sachs and HSBC to sell a 10 percent stake in BAA, Britain’s largest airport operator, and the sale will begin next week, people familiar with the matter said.
This week’s arrest of Don Ching Trang Chu, an employee at California-based expert-network firm Primary Global Research, is part of a “larger insider-trading case that is expected to continue unfolding between now and the end of the year,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
Deals wrap: AOL still eying Yahoo deal?
AOL Inc has tapped Bank of America to explore strategic options including a potential Yahoo Inc merger, according to people familiar with the matter. The idea of combining AOL with Yahoo is still considered in an early stage and may not materialize into a deal, the sources said.
“First of all, Yahoo has to be approached and this is nowhere close to that point,” said one of the sources.
China’s largest e-commerce company, Alibaba Group, has reportedly been approached by a group of private equity investors to gauge its interest in joining a bid to buy Yahoo. Alibaba is 40 percent held by Yahoo and it was unclear if the bid attempt was part of the AOL deal.
Chevron Corp agreed to buy U.S. natural gas producer Atlas Energy for $3.2 billion, excluding debt, becoming the latest energy giant to break into the lucrative Marcellus shale field. Chevron’s move into the Marcellus follows acquisitions by Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell earlier this year.
Sanofi Aventis CEO Christopher Viebacher and Genzyme CEO Henri Termeer have exchanged letters over Sanofi’s $18.5 billion hostile takeover bid for Genzyme. M & A Law Prof Blog editor Brian JM Quinn says Viebacher is attempting to assert pressure on his counterpart to do the deal by appealing to Termeer’s “fiduciary duties as a director of a MA (Massachusetts) company.” In related news, the vice chairman of investment advisory firm Peter J. Solomon, Frederick Frank, said “Genzyme is history.”
Deals wrap: Appeasing Saskatchewan
BHP is offering more concessions to Canada’s Saskatchewan province to get a $39 billion deal for Potash Corp approved. “I think it’s wrangling rather than anything more serious. There’s a lot that BHP is willing to do in order to ensure that this deal is a success,” said analyst Charles Kernot at Evolution Securities in London. *View article *View timeline *View scenarios for Potash
“General Electric, Honeywell International and United Technologies are among the suitors for BAE Systems’ aerospace unit that could fetch up to $2 billion for Europe’s top defense group, people familiar with the matter said,” writes Soyoung Kim. *View exclusive *View analysis on defense stocks
Sanofi has received the green light from U.S. antitrust regulators to take-over Genzyme. *View article *View analysis on how Sanofi could raise bid *View article on Genzyme earnings
Super-angels are changing the dynamics within the startup funding business and this is good news for founders, writes Paul Graham. *View article from paulgraham.com
Deals wrap: Genzyme stand-off
“It is a game of nerves at this point,” said a banker familiar with the Sanofi-Aventis bid for Genzyme. The transatlantic takeover fight descended into an ill-tempered stand-off on Friday over the price of the deal. *View article *View WSJ article *View article on why banks are scrambling to fund Sanofi’s bid
Transatlantic deals this year have been about buying existing products and established brands in the mature markets of the U.S. and Britain. *View article
European banks and insurers will be forced to consolidate in response to new regulations, a top Credit Suisse investment banker told Reuters. *View article
Deals wrap: Dealing with regulation
Banks are self-regulating in advance of new financial reforms. Are recent moves by Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan “smoke and mirrors” or a way to subtly shift the form of impending regulation? *View analysis *View Q&A on Wall Street reform*Full coverage of regulatory news
“Unlocking the potential of Genzyme’s experimental multiple sclerosis drug Campath could be key to prying a higher price for the U.S. biotech from Sanofi-Aventis,” writes Lewis Krauskopf and Ben Hirschler. *View analysis *View WSJ blog
General Electric is building up its industrial business with a $3 billion bid for Dresser Inc. The deal announcement came the same day as oilfield services company Wellstream rejected GE’s takeover approach. *View article
Children’s apparel retailer Gymboree is exploring a sale of the company, sources say. Lisa Lee at Dow Jones Investment Banker takes a look at why the company is so attractive to private equity firms. *View article
