3i Group PLC’s decision to close its Hong Kong and Shanghai offices and suspend new investments in Asia is a stark reversal for a firm that was behind one of the most successful private-equity deals in China.
On Friday, U.K.-based 3i announced those moves as part of its strategy to cut costs. Chief Executive Simon Borrows said the company hadn’t completed a new investment in China in four years, and its portfolio has seen a “mixed performance.”
Shareholders of Aluminium Corp. of China Ltd. have approved the company’s plan to buy a controlling stake in Mongolia-focused coal miner SouthGobi Resources Ltd. from Canadian miner Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. for more than 920 million U.S.dollars, the Chinese aluminum producer said Friday.
At Chalco’s annual general meeting Friday, 99.97% of its shareholders voted for the resolution to offer 65.97 Hong Kong dollars for each of SouthGobi’s shares, the company said in a statement. The offer price is more than double SouthGobi’s closing price of HK$29.00 Friday.
From Financial News’s Kiel Porter:
3i Group’s radical strategy overhaul will see the firm cut about 160 employees as well as six of its 19 offices while also delaying its return to the fund-raising market until at least the end of 2013, it said Friday.
The U.K.-listed alternatives firm’s new chief executive, Simon Borrows, is to close 3i’s offices in Barcelona, Birmingham, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Milan and Shanghai while the firm’s teams in Beijing, Madrid, Mumbai, New York and Singapore will be stripped of deal making capabilities and put on a realisation footing.
Nomura Holdings Inc. shares are surging on Friday in Tokyo after news that the firm would cut executive pay, including that of the chief executive, in response to findings that lax internal controls led to the leaking of insider information.
Nomura, which is under investigation for at least three counts of insider trading, was up 5% on the news that, in addition to the pay cuts, it would suspend parts of the business for about a week.
Japanese media reports said Friday that CEO Kenichi Watanabe would see his salary cut by 50% for the next six months.
Film producer Village Roadshow Entertainment Group is putting its plans to conduct an initial public offering on hold due to the recent volatility in global markets, though a deal could take place in the medium to longer term, the chief executive of the company’s biggest shareholder said Friday.
The company applied last year to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in a deal that could have raised between US$200 million and US$300 million, people familiar with the transaction said at the time.
Four hours after announcing the receipt of an unsolicited approach, department-store retailer David Jones revealed the interested party is U.K.-based EB Private Equity.
EB Private Equity’s identity was revealed on a U.K. finance blog which reported that the group lobbed a 1.1 billion pound (US$1.7 billion) for the prominent Australian department store chain David Jones.
Christmas may have come early for Australia’s discretionary retailers, thanks to a long-anticipated takeover offer for upmarket department store chain David Jones. Apart from sending the target’s shares up 16% it also helped Myer, JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman shares jump 2-5% in early trade.
Investors shouldn’t be getting too excited though: details of the offer are scant. All they know is that a “non-incorporated” entity from the U.K. has written an “unsolicited” letter to the company expressing an interest in making a mystery-sized bid.
Research In Motion CEO Thorsten Heins got the big question on breaking up the BlackBerry maker, and dodged it… mostly.
An analyst asked the company’s executives how “extreme” an option the company would consider in its strategic review and whether or not a break-up of the company was really in the cards.
Heins responded that the company is working on strategic options and reiterated that the future was being staked on the BlackBerry 10 platform as whole, which he argues is more than just a phone. (Delayed or not.) And as far as how extreme he’d go:
For Research In Motion watchers, the quarterly results coming after the bell might matter less than any update on what its bankers are up to.
The BlackBerry maker has hired RBC and J.P. Morgan to review strategic options, which has led to much speculation on what could be sold or split.
Our friends over at MarketBeat have a rundown on what to expect tonight as RIM is likely to report a bruising loss.
Deal Journal will be watching for deal news.
Here are two analysts reports ahead of its earnings that focus on the future of the company, which seems in grave danger.
WSJ’s Jon Jannarone visits Mean Street to outline challenges facing a split News Corporation.
Deal Journal is an up-to-the-minute take on the deals and deal makers that shape the landscape of Wall Street, including mergers and acquisitions, capital-raising, private equity and bankruptcy. In short, wherever money changes hands. Deal Journal is updated throughout each trading day with exclusive commentary, analysis, data, news flashes and profiles. The Wall Street Journal’s David Benoit is the lead writer, with contributions from other Journal reporters and editors. Send news items, comments and questions to stephen.grocer@wsj.com.
In Asia, Deal Journal writers include Isabella Steger in Hong Kong and Gillian Tan in Sydney. They can be reached at isabella.steger@wsj.com and gillian.tan@wsj.com
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Gillian Tan
Dealpolitik is Ronald Barusch's strategic look at deals currently making the headlines as well as the major forces at work in the deal-making world. He was a M&A; lawyer with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom for over 30 years. He retired in 2010 after 25 years as a partner at the firm. Click here for his current and archived columns.
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