Data Analyst Katrin Kostadinova highlights the most significant financial and corporate legal deals announced or closed in the last week.
Americas
It has been an intense week in the M&A and capital markets sectors in the United States and Canada.
Laredo and Energy & Minerals Group have sold Medallion Gathering & Processing for $1.83 billion to Global Infrastructure Partners, an infrastructure fund, with the proceeds to be used for repayment of existing debts.
As a response to industry threats from Amazon, Metro has acquired Jean Coutu Group for C$4.5 billion. The target company is a Canadian drugstore chain, while Metro has over 600 food shops around the country.
In the capital markets space, the Province of Ontario issued $2 billion in 2.2% bonds, which were issued on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, while the Walt Disney Company has undertaken a C$1.25 billion 2.758% maple bond offering. The offer is part of the global funding programme of the company with proceeds needed for general corporate purposes. The deal follows recent maple bonds issued by McDonald’s and Apple.
Asia-Pacific
India has been the centre of Asian activity this week, seeing SoftBank and Tencent investing $2 billion in Ola, strengthening their position against rival Uber. Tiger Global Management, DST Global, Accel and Sequoia Capital have previously invested in the company.
GE Water has been acquired by Suez in a $3.4 billion deal. The transaction will see ownership split 70/30 between Suez and CDPQ, with CDPQ investing $700 million.
Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have merged, with the newly formed mobile operator valued at $23 billion. The company has 35% market share in India.
Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)
A cross-border deal between France, Germany, Netherlands, the UK and Singapore saw Global Logistic Properties take over Gazeley in a deal valued at $2.8 billion. This is the first market step of the company on European grounds.
Over in the UK, meanwhile, BP Capital Markets has offered $3 billion in senior notes, guaranteed by BP. The issue consisted of $500 million 1.768% notes, $300 million floating-rate notes, $700 million 2.520% notes and $1.5 billion 3.279% notes.
Monarch Airlines, the UK’s oldest extant airline at the time, entered administration this week. More than 100,000 passengers were left stranded as all bookings were cancelled. The company was previously acquired by Greybull for £125million and later invested £165million to renew all its licenses.
In Germany, Bayer has sold 6.9% of its stake in Covestro for €1 billion – a deal which lowers its stake to under 25%. The Bayer Pension Trust will still own 8.9% of the company.
The Sony Center, meanwhile, has been acquired by OMERS and Madison for €1.1 billion. The eight buildings of the centre are located in Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz. OMERS gas recently invested in Paris’s La Defense through its Oxford Property Unit, which also leads this acquisition.
Another major German technology deal this week saw Siemens sell 17.34% of its stake in Osram for €1.2 billion. The stake was acquired by institutional investors.