It's a New Year and IFLR1000's selection of deal announcements from January confirms that is has been a busy start to 2017 across M&A, private equity, capital markets, and project finance. The food and beverage, aviation, energy, oil and gas, industrials and manufacturing, and government and public policy sectors were the most active, with some large transactions and unique trends already starting to emerge globally.
Italian spectacle manufacturer Luxottica and French lens manufacturer Essilor agreed a €46 billion all-share merger, and Johnson & Johnson made a $30 billion tender offer for Swiss pharmaceuticals and biotechnology company Actelion; also Indian budget airline, SpiceJet, acquired 100 new MAX 737 aircraft from Boeing for $22 billion, making it India's largest ever aviation deal, and agribusiness Kernel Holdings made the first successful corporate offering—a $500 million eurobond—by a Ukrainian business since 2013 when the country's government collapsed amid a populist uprising.
Deal values have swollen at the start of the new year with Cravath Swaine & Moore posting an aggregate of over $100 billion and Kirkland & Ellis not that far behind. Also Swiss independents Homburger and Niederer Kraft & Frey have made notable appearances no doubt owing to their role in Johnson & Johnson's acquisition of Actelion. On the deal volumes front, Kirkland & Ellis backed up its strong showing in the values table this month with its seventh month at the top of deal volumes—this time with 35 deals.
Elsewhere in food and beverage Tesco made a share and cash offer worth £3.7 billion to acquire the Booker Group that would see the UK's biggest supermarket and biggest wholesale retailer combine, and Chinese state-backed conglomerate Citic and US private-equity firm Carlyle Group acquired a controlling stake in the China and Hong Kong operations of McDonalds for $1.7 billion. In fact, private equity has been an underlying trend as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co moved—its second Japanese billion-dollar deal in three months—to acquire Japanese conglomerate Hitachi's power tools manufacturing unit for $1.3 billion as Japanese corporations look to divest non-core assets to boost profitability, and AMC Entertainment Holdings acquired Nordic Cinema Group Holding (NCG) for SKr8.25 billion from private equity house Bridgepoint and Sweden-based media group Bonnier Holding.
Green bonds have also started to become a trend in a Post-Paris world as France, working through its debt manager Agence France Trésor, completed the issuance of its first sovereign green bond, which just missed out on being the first government to issue a green bond when Poland did so in December; and Enel issued a €1.25 billion green bond—its first—due in 2024 and issued on the Irish and Luxembourg stock exchanges.
If you have any public deal announcements you would like us to take into account for our reports please send them to - amajeed@iflr1000.com
The EMEA launch of IFLR1000 Deal Data—a fully searchable database whose BETA version went live in May last year—has almost arrived. This database of significant deal records from over 120 countries will include searchable and filterable data on the most significant legal transactions from around the globe, and all of our featured monthly deals will be included along with many more garnered from the IFLR1000's own research, press releases and other deal announcements.
Below you can access our top picks for January 2017 linked to their record in the new deals database.
Adam Majeed - Asia-Editor
Mergermarket table 1 - Law firms by global M&A deal value
Mergermarket table 2 - Law firms by global M&A deal volume
Deal 1: AMC Entertainment SKr8.25 billion acquisition of Nordic Cinema Group
Jurisdictions: Finland, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
Deal type: Private acquisition
Industry sectors: Entertainment
Deal 2: Buriticá gold mine $250 million financing
Jurisdictions: Canada, Bermuda, Colombia
Deal type: Financing, Project finance
Industry sectors: Mining
Deal 3: Chrysaor Holdings £3 billion acquisition of Shell North Sea oil assets
Jurisdictions: United Kingdom
Deal type: Acquisition finance, Private acquisition
Industry sectors: Oil and gas
Deal 4: Citic and Carlyle $1.7 billion acquisition of controlling stake in McDonalds
Jurisdictions: China
Deal type: Private acquisition
Industry sectors: Food and beverage
Deal 5: Enel €1.25 billion 1% green bond issue
Jurisdictions: Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg
Deal type: Investment grade bond/note issue
Industry sectors: Energy
Deal 6: HSH Nordbank €1.64 billion loan portfolio sale
Jurisdictions: Germany
Deal type: Loan portfolio sale
Industry sectors: Banking, Aviation, Real estate
Deal 7: Johnson & Johnson $30 billion acquisition of Actelion
Jurisdictions: Switzerland
Deal type: Public acquisition, Demerger
Industry sectors: Pharmaceuticals and life sciences
Deal 8: Kernal debut $500 million 8.75% eurobond issue
Jurisdictions: Ukraine
Deal type: Investment grade bond/note issue
Industry sectors: Agriculture
Deal 9: KKR $1.3 billion acquisition of Hitachi Unit
Jurisdictions: Japan
Deal type: Private acquisition
Industry sectors: Industrials and manufacturing
Deal 10: Mars $9.1 billion acquisition of VCA
Jurisdictions: United States
Deal type: Public acquisition
Industry sectors: Healthcare, Food and beverage
Deal 11: Luxottica/Essilor €46 billion merger
Jurisdictions: France, Italy
Deal type: Merger
Industry sectors: Consumer goods and services, Industrials and manufacturing
Deal 12: Plains All American Pipeline $1.22 billion acquisition of Alpha Holding
Jurisdictions: United States
Deal type: Public acquisition
Industry sector: Oil and gas
Deal 13: Republic of Chile Ps1 trillion 4.5% sovereign bond issue
Jurisdictions: Chile
Deal type: Investment grade bond/note issue, Sovereign bond issue
Industry sectors: Government and public policy
Deal 14: Republic of France €7 billion 1.75% green bond issue
Jurisdictions: France
Deal type: Investment grade bond/note issue
Industry sectors: Government and public policy
Deal 15: SpiceJet $22 billion purchase of 100 Boeing aircraft
Jurisdictions: India
Deal type: Private acquisition
Industry sectors: Aviation
Deal 16: Tesco £3.7 billion acquisition of Booker Group
Jurisdictions: United Kingdom
Deal type: Public acquisition
Industry sectors: Consumer goods and services, Food and beverage
Deal 17: Vedanta Resources $1 billion 6.375% bond offering
Jurisdictions: India, Singapore
Deal type: High-yield bond/note issue
Industry sectors: Energy, Mining
Reporters
Sam Duke - Editor
Adam Majeed - Asia-Pacific Editor
Ben Naylor - EMEA Editor
John Crabb - Journalist EMEA
Jon Moore - Journalist EMEA
Wai Yee Tsang - Journalist Asia-Pacific
Rani Mehta - Journalist Latin America
Kurt Stumpo - Journalist - North America and the Caribbean