Mastercard’s £700m Vocalink deal raises competition concerns with watchdog January 4, 2017 Mastercard's £700m deal for Vocalink has raised concerns over competition in the payments infrastructure business with the market watchdog. Owned by a collective of 18 banks, including Barclays, Santander, Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC, Vocalink provides the infrastructure for many payments in Britain such as Bacs and the Faster Payments Service as well as the Link ATM network. Concerns have [...]
This is how much UK and global deal activity dropped in 2016 after a record-breaking 2015 January 3, 2017 The UK, hit by uncertainty around Brexit, led a decline in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity last year. New figures released yesterday show that M&A deal values totalled $3.84 trillion (£3.13 trilion) in 2016, down 18 per cent from a record $4.66 trillion in 2015. Read more: After subdued 2016, these bankers are calling a 2017 [...]
Euronext boss happy with clearing buy despite deal helping London Stock Exchange-Deutsche Boerse “monopoly” merger January 3, 2017 Euronext’s chief executive believes his company is in a win-win situation after it agreed a €510m (£433m) deal for the London Stock Exchange’s (LSE) French clearing arm, LCH SA. The deal is tied to the LSE’s £21bn merger with Deutsche Boerse. The LSE put LCH SA up for sale in September to help its merger go [...]
Play time’s over: Private equity firm 3i sells Scandinavian toy and education company January 3, 2017 FTSE 100 private equity firm 3i today announced it had agreed to sell a Scandinavian toy company. The group has signed a preliminary agreement to offload Lekolar to Swedish investment company Nalka Invest. Read more: 3i sells debt management business to InvestCorp The deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals, will see 3i generate proceeds [...]
Ready, Aim, acquire: Junior market takeovers boosted by fall of sterling in 2016 January 3, 2017 Takeovers of companies listed on London’s junior market jumped by a fifth in 2016, new analysis out today shows. Over the year, 34 companies on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim) were snapped up, an increase from 28 in 2015, according to accountancy group UHY Hacker Young. Aim companies proved particularly attractive in the last quarter [...]
Euronext has confirmed a €510m offer for LSEG’s French clearing house January 3, 2017 The London Stock Exchange Group today took a significant step in its attempts to complete its mega-merger with Deutsche Boerse, agreeing the sale of its French clearing business. Euronext, the owner of four of Europe's largest stock exchanges, confirmed it has agreed a €510m (£434m) deal for LCH SA, which the LSEG put up for [...]
London Stock Exchange poised to announce crucial sale of French clearing arm January 2, 2017 The London Stock Exchange Group is likely to announce the sale of its French clearing arm this week, Morning Wire understands. The exchange entered exclusive talks with pan-European rival Euronext shortly before Christmas and the parties are understood to be nearing a deal worth around €500m (£425m). Read more: London Stock Exchange enters exclusive talks [...]
Tullett Prebon just completed the buyout of Nex’s voice broking business December 30, 2016 Broking giant Tullett Prebon has just managed to sneak in a final deal in 2016: completion of its buyout of the voice-broking arm of Nex. In a statement this morning Tullett Prebon said it had completed its acquisition of the business under an all-share deal worth £1.28bn. The deal will give Nex shareholders a 56 per cent stake in the [...]
FTSE 100 private equity firm lands Belfast City Airport in Eiser deal December 22, 2016 FTSE 100 private equity group 3i has announced a deal to acquire Belfast City Airport. The company has agreed to buy a portfolio of assets, also including East Surrey Pipelines, from the Eiser Global Infrastructure Fund. Read more: 3i sells debt management business to InvestCorp The acquisition also includes a stake in Italian waste treatment and [...]
Deutsche Boerse boss defends London HQ of merged stock exchange amid political pressure in Germany December 21, 2016 The chief executive of Deutsche Boerse has played down the significance of the proposed UK headquarters of its merged company with the London Stock Exchange amid political pressure in Germany. The two exchange companies are seeking to tie-up their £21bn merger in the first half of next year and are currently trying to win regulatory [...]