Deals
Americas
VSS-backed Endo1 snags $115m debt financing
Endo1 Partners, which is backed by VSS Capital Partners, has secured $115 million in debt financing from Webster Bank.Read More
Branford Castle acquires Lafayette Instrument
Branford Castle Partners has acquired Lafayette, Indiana-based Lafayette Instrument, a maker of scientific instruments.Read More
WinWire secures investment from Sverica
Sverica Capital Management has made an investment in Santa Clara, California-based WinWire, a digital engineering company.Read More
Everbridge to buy xMatters for $240m
Everbridge has agreed to acquire xMatters, a service reliability platform, for about $240 million.Read More
PSG-backed Imaweb buys Stieger
Imaweb, which is backed by PSG, has acquired Stieger, a Swiss dealership software solutions provider.Read More
Asia Pacific
Lyreco Group announces the acquisition of DeskRight
Lyreco Group today announced the acquisition of DeskRight, a leading office supplies business on the Singapore market. The move puts Lyreco, European leader and number three worldwide in the distribution of workplace supplies solutions to businesses, in a leadership position on the Singapore market and represents the first step in its new development...
HSA Advocates advised a consortium of four ports in relation to strategic sale of Dredging Corporation of India by Government of India
HSA Advocates represented a consortium of four ports Vishakapatnam Port Trust, Paradeep Port Trust, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and Deendayal Port Trust in relation to strategic sale of Dredging Corporation of India concluded by Government of India (GoI). The four ports have acquired 100% of GoI's shares in Dredging Corporation of India (i.e. 73.47%...
Duff & Phelps enhances restructuring and dispute offering with acquisition of Zolfo Cooper Asia
Expands Footprint in Greater China Region Duff & Phelps, the global advisor that protects, restores and maximizes value for clients, today announced the acquisition of Zolfo Cooper Asia, a leading independent provider of restructuring, insolvency, litigation support and forensic accounting services. The combination of Duff & Phelps and Zolfo...
Europe
UK watchdog to investigate Facebook takeover of Giphy
CMA concerned acquisition could lessen competition for creation of gifs popular on social mediaThe UK’s competition regulator is launching an in-depth investigation of Facebook’s $400m (£290m) acquisition of the gif creation website Giphy over fears that it could lead to a squeeze on the supply of gifs to other social networks such as Snapchat,...
Financiers behind NSO Group in struggle for control of private equity firm
Rift at Novalpina Capital, whose fund owns surveillance equipment firm, has been largely concealed from public viewThe company had been the focus of scrutiny for years – a seller of controversial surveillance equipment coveted by governments across the world. So when three financiers behind a private equity fund led the acquisition of NSO Group in...
UK watchdog investigates Penguin owner's Simon & Schuster takeover
CMA says it is considering whether Penguin Random House’s $2bn deal would lessen competitionThe UK competition watchdog has launched an investigation into Penguin Random House’s (PRH) $2bn (£1.45bn) takeover of rival book publisher Simon & Schuster.The Competition and Markets Authority said on Monday it was considering whether the deal, which...
Jay-Z sells majority stake in Tidal music streaming service to Jack Dorsey's Square
$297m deal hands control to Twitter co-founder, with Beyoncé, Madonna, Rihanna and other Tidal co-owners retaining stakesSquare, the mobile payments firm run by Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder, has acquired a majority stake in Jay-Z’s Tidal audio and video music streaming service in a $297m deal.Under the terms of the deal, Tidal’s superstar co-owners,...
Daily Mail owner buys New Scientist magazine in £70m deal
The 65-year-old title is forecast to make £7m in profits this yearThe publisher of the Daily Mail has acquired the renowned weekly science and technology magazine New Scientist in a £70m cash deal – the latest round of consolidation in the publishing sector.The 65-year old title, which is owned by a group of individual investors led by Sir Bernard...
International
Tomorrow’s Webcast: “ESG Considerations in M&A”
Tune in tomorrow for the webcast – “ESG Considerations in M&A” – to hear the Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Richard Massony, Seyfarth’s Andrew Sherman and K&L Gates’ Bella Zaslavsky discuss the ESG considerations that are increasingly “front and center” for both buyers and sellers in M&A transactions. – John...
Blank Check Reverse Mergers: Del. Chancery Hits Pause On Reviving Zombie Corp.
I’ve been aware of the somewhat sketchy practice of using public shells as vehicles for going public via reverse mergers for a long time, but I guess I’ve never focused on the fact that a lot of those companies are defunct Delaware corporations that are reincarnated by promoters to serve as public shells. In In […]Read More
Transactional Insurance: The Year in Review
This Marsh report reviews the transactional risk insurance market in the U.S. & Canada during 2020. The report notes that despite the challenges created by the pandemic, the marketplace for RWI & other transactional risk insurance remained strong, with new entrants to the market and existing insurers continuing to deploy capital. The report...
Antitrust: FTC Challenges Vertical Merger
On Tuesday, the FTC announced that had filed an administrative complaint & authorized a federal lawsuit to stop Illumina’s $7.1 billion proposed acquisition of Grail, which is developing an early stage cancer detection test. What makes this challenge particularly interesting is that involves a vertical merger, not a merger between competitors....
Comparability Provisions: Treatment of Employees in M&A Agreements
Acquisition agreements often include language under which the buyer promises that the target’s will continue to receive compensation & benefits comparable to those they received before closing, at least for a specified period of time. This Willis Towers Watson memo discusses the reasons for including comparability provisions in acquisition...