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Corporate Financier’s Notes by Aivars Jurcans
Done! And Done
Intesa Sanpaolo, an Italian lender, has agreed the sale of 532 branches to BPER, a Modena-based bank, to “allay competition concerns in its takeover of smaller domestic rival UBI”. BPER will pay whichever is the lower amount between 0.55x times the core capital of the assets it is buying and 78% of the implied multiple paid by Intesa for UBI’s core capital (down from 0.8x times previously).
Source: FT
Deals On The Table
Yes Bank, an Indian lender, is said to be planning to raise at least USD 1 billion in a public offering of shares to boost its capital. The fundraising is expected to increase its Tier 1 core capital ratio to around 10%, from 6.3% as of Q1 2020.
Source: Bloomberg
Alpha Bank, a Greek lender, is said to have resumed talks with unidentified US investors over its EUR 10 billion Galaxy portfolio, a mix of wholesale and retail non-performing assets. Alpha’s non-performing exposures stood at EUR 21 billion with an NPL ratio of 30% in Q1 2020.
Source: FT
Lakshmi Vilas Bank, an Indian private lender, is said to have been approached by Clix Capital, a finance company, which “had proposed taking a significant stake in LVB”.
Source: Reuters
Metro Bank, a UK lender, is said to be in exclusive talks to buy RateSetter, a peer-to-peer lender, to “grow its unsecured consumer lending book”. Valued using similar metrics than those of Funding Circle, a listed P2P lender, RateSetter might be worth GBP 62 million.
Source: FT
Liverpool Victoria, a UK insurer, is said to have attracted bids from Phoenix Group Holdings, Cinven and several fellow mutual insurers. LV could be valued at GBP 500 million to GBP 1 billion.
Source: Bloomberg, FT
Thanks, But No Deal
Travelex, a currency exchange, has pulled the sale of its business after its banks and bondholders rejected a number of non-binding offers received as “unacceptable”.
Source: FT
Metrics To Watch
Mizuho, a Japanese lender, price-to-book ratio stands at 0.4x times.
Source: FT
Up-and-Comers
Wahed, a New York-based digital Islamic investment platform, has raised USD 25 million from investors led by a VC arm of Saudi Aramco, an oil company.
Source: FT
Monzo, a UK digital bank, has completed a fundraising round at a 40% discount to its previous valuation. It has raised about GBP 60 million at a valuation of around GBP 1.25 billion.
Source: FT
Exciting Numbers
The 5,100 lenders and savings institutions in the US declared dividends of USD 32.7 billion for Q1 2020 when they made profits of USD 18.5 billion, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Source: FT
The number of private equity barons with personal fortunes of more than USD 2 billion has risen from three in 2005 to 22.
Source: FT
Nearly 90% of funding for companies in Europe in 2018 came from bank lending, according to the Association for Financial Markets.
Source: FT
A Thought Worth Noting
“It’s hard to say exactly what the [economic recovery] is going to look like, but we think it’s going to be digital, domestic spending is going to be important, and debit cards [rather than credit] are going to be important.”
Charlotte Hogg, chief executive, Visa Europe
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Aivars Jurcans has more than 20 years of corporate finance and investment banking experience. His services are currently available through MURINUS ADVISERS.
Design by Artis Briedis, Photo by Joe Taylor on Unsplash
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