Bridgepoint enlists Rothschild for £1.3bn Miller Homes sale amid housing boom October 2, 2021 Bridgepoint is seeking to capitalise on soaring valuations as the housing market booms, with the sale or float of Miller Homes, one of the UK’s biggest housebuilders. The private equity firm has appointed investment bank Rothschild to advise on its potential exit from Miller Homes, four years after it bought the company from GSO Capital [...]
Crunch time: Morrisons takeover battle to culminate in one-day auction this weekend September 29, 2021 A months-long multibillion pound takeover battle for Morrisons will culminate in a one-day auction on Saturday, the UK’s takeover watchdog has confirmed. The stock market’s Takeover Panel said it would run a bidding process of up to five rounds this weekend because neither of the private equity bidders Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and the Fortress [...]
‘Alpha-Flation’: A Private Market Syndrome September 28, 2021 | City Talk In private equity (PE), there are more ways to calculate the alpha of a portfolio or fund than any other asset class. And in no sector other than private markets does investing in the average fund seem to go so poorly. Should it be this way? Is the average private market fund a bad fund [...]
MPs speak out as Morrisons bidder plans to run grocer from Cayman Islands September 26, 2021 The private equity eyeing supermarket Morrisons has lined up an entity in the tax haven Grand Cayman to run the supermarket giant, bid documents have revealed. Cross-party MPs have urged Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) to assure it will pay UK corporate tax rates on Morrisons’ turnover, the Sunday Times reported. CD&R revealed full details [...]
Hybrid future is ‘part-time work for full-time wages’, says City grandee September 24, 2021 Veteran city broker Andrew Monk has spoken out against government plans to legislate the right to request flexible working from day one, arguing that it should be up to business leaders and that many CEOs in the city believe it doesn’t work for financial firms. “Frankly, I know how to run my business better than [...]
Exclusive: Fund managers say UK equities are still undervalued despite Brexit and Covid bounce back September 24, 2021 Nearly nine in ten professional investors from the UK, US and Germany believe UK equities are undervalued, according to new research shared exclusively with Morning Wire this morning. The investors, who collectively manage over $300bn, said in a MBH survey that one of the key reasons for optimism around UK equities is that the country [...]
UK PE firm Cinven resigns from $2bn Sanne takeover bidding war September 3, 2021 London private equity firm Cinven has bowed out of a $2bn-odd bidding war with US fund servicer Apex Group to buy fellow London-based FTSE 250 asset manager Sanne Group. Cinven said it would not make another offer for Sanne, after it made a series of bids over the summer that were ultimately trumped by US [...]
Morrisons suitor CD&R gears up to beat Fortress bid August 16, 2021 New York bidder Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) is gearing up to place its counter-bid to the leading £10bn Fortress offer for Wm Morrison supermarkets before its deadline next Friday. CD&R planted the seed for the ongoing private equity bidding war for the British supermarket in June, when it placed a 230p per share offer [...]
Supermarket sweep: The fight for Morrisons heats up with Fortress increasing offer to £6.7bn August 6, 2021 The battle for control of one of the UK’s biggest supermarkets, Morrisons, has stepped up a notch today, with Fortress increasing its bid to £6.7bn. Fortress increased its offer to £6.7bn, or 272p per share when a 2p per share dividend is included, from £6.3bn earlier. The private equity consortium said said it “notes the [...]
KPMG fined £13m over Silentnight sale misconduct August 5, 2021 The accounting firm has been fined and ordered to pay over £2.75m in costs, for serious misconduct in its role in the 2011 sale of bed retailer Silentnight to a private equity group. An independent tribunal found that KPMG and one of its partners did not comply with the UK professional accounting principles of objectivity [...]