Profits grow at Gala Coral as merger looms August 21, 2015 Gala Coral yesterday revealed it grew strongly in the third quarter despite taking a £13m hit from taxes and regulation. The betting company, which owns a range of businesses from bookmakers to bingo halls, grew revenues from £288.7m to £305m in the 12 weeks to 4 July this year, while gross profits grew £8.1m from [...]
Global M&A activity goes above $3trn for the year – and healthcare takes the crown August 18, 2015 The total value of global mergers and acquisitions has surpassed $3trn (£1.9trn) for 2015, according to figures released by Dealogic. It is the fastest this point has been reached since 2007, when total activity went above $3trn on 23 July. In 2014 the point was not passed until November. The deal that pushed [...]
German car part firm accelerates $500m merger August 18, 2015 GERMAN industrial filter maker Mann + Hummel has agreed to buy US peer Affinia to boost its annual sales by more than a third to $1bn (£640m) and gain access to the US market for heavy-duty and hydraulic filters. Privately-held Mann + Hummel said it would not disclose the terms, but a regulatory filing by [...]
Cargill feeds its salmon tank in €1.35bn EWOS takeover from Altor and Bain Capital August 18, 2015 Privately owned agribusiness giant Cargill yesterday announced it is buying Ewos, an aquaculture firm, for €1.35bn (£960m). The purchase of the Scandinavian firm marks Cargill’s entry in the salmon feed market. Ewos currently manufactures over 1.2m tonnes of salmon feed, about one-third of the total market, for a global client base. Sarena Lin, president of [...]
Accounting giant EY swoops on Silicon Roundabout firm Seren August 18, 2015 Business advisory firm EY yesterday announced it is buying Seren, a digital design consultancy based in Silicon Roundabout. Seren chief executive Ben Langdon will continue as boss of what will now be EY-Seren. Seren co-founders Catriona Campbell and Terry Heath will become senior advisers to EY in the UK and EY-Seren. Langdon said: “Seren and [...]
Bowled over: Competition regulator topples merger or Original Bowling Company and Bowlplex August 17, 2015 Is the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) about to force a split? The regulator has toppled plans for a merger between The Original Bowling Company and Bowlplex over concerns it would lead to less competition in the sector. Well. We're bowled over… The CMA said it had looked at six local areas where the pair [...]
End of an era: SunGard Data Systems finally sold by backers August 13, 2015 One of the biggest buyouts of the pre-crash US private equity boom has finally been sold, a decade after its audacious takeover. SunGard Data Systems, which makes trading software, has been offloaded for $9.2bn (£5.9bn) to US financial software company Fidelity National Information Services. New York-listed Fidelity will pay 45 per cent in cash and [...]
Annuity giants to cut jobs amid £670m merger August 12, 2015 ANNUITY giants Just Retirement and Partnership will cut jobs as part of their £670m merger, in a bid to reduce annual costs by £40m, bosses said yesterday, Just Retirement is set to buy its smaller rival in a deal which leaves its shareholders with a 60 per cent stake in the combined group, to be [...]
Annuities heavyweights Just Retirement and Partnership Assurance unveil £670m merger as pension changes bite August 11, 2015 Annuities giant Just Retirement has announced it is buying Partnership Assurance in a £670m all-share merger, after massive changes to the UK's pension regime caused sales of annuities to plummet. Shares in Just Retirement rose 1.66 per cent to 202p in early trading, while Partnership's shares jumped 8.9 per cent to 168p on the announcement [...]
Nostrum in talks over $36m deal to buy Tethys August 11, 2015 Nostrum Oil and Gas was yesterday back in talks to purchase the beleaguered Tethys Petroleum after a $47.7m (£31m) refinancing deal between Tethys and AGR Energy fell through. Nostrum is offering Tethys, which operates in central Asia, CA$0.2185 per share, around 10.7p, valuing the company at just over £36m. Tethys had chosen to enter talks [...]