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Norway’s DNO raises Faroe Petroleum bid to $816 million

Norwegian oil company DNO ASA raised its bid for Britain’s Faroe Petroleum to 641.7 million pounds ($816 million) on Tuesday, lifting its cash offer to 160 pence per share from 152 pence.

Shares in Faroe, which rejected DNO’s 610 million pound hostile bid in November as inadequate and “opportunistic”, have since ranged between 140 pence and 160.8 pence.

DNO’s Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani said in a statement that while the company “does not overpay for assets”, it was in the interest of most parties to raise its offer.

The deal will be funded from cash resources and the closing date for the final offer has been set for Jan. 23, DNO said.

DNO, which has been building up a stake in Faroe since April, said its combined ownership and bid acceptances on Jan. 4 stood at 43.8 percent. It requires 50 percent of Faroe’s shareholders to back its takeover bid.

 

Faroe had no immediate comment after DNO raised its offer.

Paul Mumford of Cavendish Asset Management, who according to Refinitiv Eikon data holds 1.4 percent of Faroe and who has said DNO’s previous offer was too low, said on Tuesday that the revised offer – which he also referred to as “low-ball” – looked likely to succeed.

“For minority shareholders this may be the nail in the coffin. They are unlikely to want to stick around with DNO holding a controlling stake in the business,” he said.

Sears reaches a deal to stay alive

Analyst Teodor Sveen-Nilsen of broker Sparebank 1 Markets in Oslo said he expected the increased offer to be successful.

“Considering the fact that peers have become cheaper over the past quarter…, we believe DNO now will end up with at least 50 percent of Faroe’s share capital,” he said in a note.

 

Read More – www.uk.reuters.com

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UK M&A value soars by more than a quarter in 2018 as number of mega-deals increases

Deal activity reached a three year high in 2018, while M&A activity involving UK firms hit £359.9bn which is 28 per cent more than the value recorded in 2017, according to data from Refinitiv.

Activity spiked in the first half of the year, with eight deals valued at over £5bn announced in the first six months of 2018 and two revealed in the second half. The largest acquisition of the year was Comcast’s £37bn offer for Sky.

A total of 71 mergers and acquisitions involving a British company and valued at £1bn or more were announced last year, which is the highest number in 17 years.

“M&A activity involving UK companies increased 28 per cent last year. The growth, driven by flurry of mega deals during the first half of the year, saw deal activity reach a 3-year high and a level only exceeded once in the last decade,” said Lucille Jones, deals intelligence analyst at Refinitiv.

 

“The last six months of 2018 saw a marked slowdown in dealmaking from the pace seen at the start of the year. Whether political uncertainty dampens corporate confidence and affects deal making into 2019 remains to be seen.”

The UK was the third most targeted country by value after the US and China and UK firms were the fourth most acquisitive globally in 2018, after the US, China and Japan.

CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: “2018 saw some major deals, but now as global stock markets are off their highs, and there are some concerns about global growth, 2019 is likely to start off on a softer note.

“The landscape has changed greatly in the past 12 months as political uncertainty in Italy, strained trade relations between the US and China, Brexit, and the odd whisper about a possible recession in the US, have dampened the previously bullish sentiment.

“Many deals are paid for with debt, and companies might be cautious about loading up on debt for fear we are heading into economically cooler times.”

 

Read More – www.cityam.com

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Direct Line mulls £400M bid for L&G arm

Direct Line has joined the group of potential bidders for the home and contents insurance arm of Legal & General, per Sky News. The insurance giant put the unit up for sale in November and has since reportedly received interest from other insurers and buyout investors. The general insurance subsidiary reported a £37 million operating profit in 2017, down 29% on the prior year

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Volkswagen to snap up Volvo subsidiary

Volkswagen has agreed to buy a 75.1% stake in WirelessCar, a provider of connected vehicle services, from Volvo for 1.1 billion Swedish kronor (around €110 million). The deal will net VW a business with expected revenues of 500 million kronor and more than 3 million active connected cars.

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Ophir confirms approach from Medco

Indonesian oil and gas business Medco Energi is in talks with Ophir Energy about a possible acquisition bid, the London-based exploration specialist has confirmed. Takeover Code rules require Medco to announce its intention to make a bid by close of business on January 28. Ophir generated revenues of $102 million in the first half of 2018, up from $88.3 million in the previous year.

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Aareal seals German bank takeover

Aareal Bank has completed its acquisition of Düsseldorfer Hypothekenbank for around €162 million. The transaction will lead to a positive one-off effect, which will boost Aareal’s 2018 profit by around €52 million. The Düsseldorf-based mortgage lender no longer originates new property finance business, and has been undergoing an orderly wind-down process since 2015.

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Slack Makes Third Acquisition In 3 Months

In its latest acquisition, messaging powerhouse Slack has picked up Astro.

The move is part of Slack’s mission to bundle up workplace communication into one place. Astro, founded out of Palo Alto in 2015, is the maker of an AI-powered app that allows email and calendar information to be viewed directly from Slack’s messaging interface, essentially providing a way for workers to check all their messages in the same place without moving between apps. With the acquisition, Astro’s tech will be rolled into Slack’s platform.

Slack has acquired five companies—including Astro—since it was founded in 2009, per the PitchBook Platform. Notably, three of those acquisitions have occurred since the beginning of the summer.

In July, Slack picked up Missions, an app developed by Robots & Pencils that allows users of Slack to automate routine tasks. Later that same month, the San Francisco-based company agreed to acquire Hipchat and Stride, two of Atlassian’s messaging products. As part of that deal, Slack is integrating the collaboration apps into its own product, much like it’s doing with Astro.

Pre-2018, Slack had made just two acquisitions in nine years. Its first ever was Spaces, a collaboration startup it picked up in 2014. The following year, Slack bought Screenhero, a startup that developed a platform for users to access one another’s screens. The deal for Astro is reportedly the biggest of Slack’s acquisitions, and most of the company’s 28 employees are said to be joining Slack upon the deal’s closing.

The deal comes a month after Slack announced a major new fundraise. The company brought in $427 million at a valuation of more than $7.1 billion in late August, further solidifying its ranking as one of the most valuable VC-backed companies in the US.

From Astro’s perspective, the acquisition represents an exit for its investors, which include Redpoint Ventures and Aspect Ventures. The company raised more than $8 million in a Series A funding last year.

 

Read More – www.pitchbooks.com

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VW CEO Says It Is Open To Alliance Or Merger Of Ducati

Motorbike brand Ducati could be merged with a rival or enter an alliance given a lack of synergy potential with the passenger car businesses at VW, Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) Chief Executive Herbert Diess told German daily Handelsblatt.

Volkswagen has struggled to find a long-term solution for the motorbike brand amid internal power struggles, with a 1.5 billion euro ($1.8 billion) auction stalled last year amid resistance from German trade unions.
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“I can imagine a combination or a partnership with other brands. Ducati as a motorbike icon business within the Volkswagen Group is not sufficient,” Diess, who took the helm as Volkswagen chief executive in April, told the paper.

Read Full Article – www.reuters.com

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PepsiCo Buys Sodastream For $3.2Billion

PepsiCo has announced it is buying Sodastream for $3.2bn (£2.5bn).

Israel-based Sodastream makes a machine and refillable cylinders allowing users to make their own carbonated drinks.

The deal gives Pepsi a new way of reaching customers in their homes at a time when its signature sugary drinks are becoming less popular.

It is also the company’s first big acquisition since chief executive Indra Nooyi disclosed she would step down in October after 12 years at the helm.

PepsiCo will buy all outstanding shares of Sodastream for $144 each – almost 11% higher than its closing price in New York on Friday.

The stock has soared 85% this year after rising by 78% in 2017.

The takeover has already been approved by the boards of both firms.