This July—once again—IFLR1000's selection of deal announcements draws our attention to the highly profitable technology industry, with a smattering of deals in the banking sector.
Softbank—the Japanese multinational telecommunications and internet company—acquired UK-based ARM Holdings for £24.3 billion in the hope that the British smartphone chip producer can help it become a leader in what is touted as the next big technology market, the “internet of things”; and Tokyo-based mobile applications developer Line Corp is looking to make a dual-listing on the New York and Tokyo Stock Exchanges, which may be the largest technology deal since Alibaba's landmark 2014 IPO.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer topped the value tables acting in some significant mandates in the Middle East and South Asia, while elite US firm Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz made a strong showing having acted for Verizon in its acquisition of Yahoo! internet properties. Kirkland & Ellis led the table in deal volume with 31 deals in July; however, it is noticeable across the board that there has been a huge drop in the number of deals when compared to this time last year—signs of a depressed global market perhaps.
Elsewhere we saw a number of banking deals with the merger of Abu Dhabi’s two largest banks; lenders investing into Costa Rica for the first time; and a Chinese commercial retail bank planning one of the largest IPOs since Alibaba’s back in 2014. We have also seen consolidation in the struggling shipping industry and privatisation in the similarly besieged mining sector.
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
IFLR1000’s Deals Database has made strong progress since the BETA version went live in May. The fully searchable database of significant deal records will go live in October and 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 July 2016 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 Theatres $1.2 billion acquisition of Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group
Jurisdictions: United States, United Kingdom
Deal type: Acquisition finance, Public acquisition
Industry sectors: Consumer goods and services, Entertainment
Deal 2: APS Holding €1.3 billion NPL acquisition
Jurisdictions: Romania
Deal type: Non-Performing Loan (NPL) portfolio sale
Industry sectors: Banking
Eskom $1.34 billion syndicated A/B loan
Deal 3: Eskom $1.34 billion syndicated A/B loan
Jurisdictions: South Africa
Deal type: Corporate finance
Industry sectors: Energy
Deal 4: Fosun Pharma $1.26 billion acquisition of Gland Pharma
Jurisdictions: China, India
Deal type: Private acquisition
Industry sectors: Pharmaceuticals and life sciences
Deal 5: Hapag-Lloyd merger with United Arab Shipping Company
Jurisdictions: Germany, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates
Deal type: Merger
Industry sectors: Shipping
Deal 6: Housing Development Finance Corporation Re30 billion 'masala bond' issue
Jurisdictions: India
Deal type: Investment grade bond/note issue
Industry sectors: Banking, Financial services, Real estate
Deal 7: Line $1.1 billion TSE/NYSE IPO
Jurisdictions: United States, Japan
Deal type: IPO
Industry sectors: Consumer goods and services, Technology and telecommunications
Deal 8: National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Gulf Bank merger
Jurisdictions: United Arab Emirates
Deal type: Merger
Industry sectors: Banking
Deal 9: Nirma $1.4 billion Lafarge India acquisition
Jurisdictions: India
Deal type: Private acquisition
Industry sectors: Construction and materials
Deal 10: Onex/Baring Private Equity Asia $3.55 billion acquisition of Thomson Reuters IP & Science unit
Jurisdictions: Canada, United States, Hong Kong
Deal type: Private acquisition
Industry sector: Media, Technology and telecommunications
Deal 11: Oracle $9.3 billion acquisition of NetSuite
Jurisdictions: United States
Deal type: Public acquisition
Industry sectors: Technology and telecommunications
Deal 12: Postal Savings Bank of China $10 billion HKSE IPO
Jurisdictions: China, Hong Kong
Deal type: IPO
Industry sectors: Banking
Deal 13: Russian Federation $812 million privatisation of stake in Alrosa
Jurisdictions: Russia
Deal type: Secondary offering of shares, Privatisation
Industry sectors: Mining
Deal 14: Scotiabank de Costa Rica $125 million financing
Jurisdictions: Costa Rica
Deal type: Corporate finance
Industry sectors: Banking
Deal 15: SoftBank £24.3 billion acquisition of ARM Holdings
Jurisdictions: Japan, United Kingdom
Deal type: Public acquisition
Industry sectors: Technology and telecommunications
Deal 16: Verizon $4.83 billion acquisition of Yahoo! internet properties
Jurisdictions: United States
Deal type: Public acquisition
Industry sectors: Technology and telecommunications
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
Candy Chan - Journalist Asia-Pacific
Rani Mehta - Journalist Latin America
Kurt Stumpo - Journalist - North America and the Caribbean