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Corporate Financier’s Notes by Aivars Jurcans
Done! And Done
AIA, a pan-Asian life insurer, has agreed to buy BEA Life, the life insurance unit of Bank of East Asia (a Hong Kong based lender), in a USD 653 million deal.
Source: Bloomberg
Wells Fargo has agreed to sell its corporate trust business to Australia’s Computershare for USD 750 million.
Source: Bloomberg
Azimut Holding, an Italian asset manager, has agreed to buy a minority stake in HighPost Capital, a US private equity firm partially owned by the Bezos family. Under the deal Azimut will buy an initial 12.5% stake with the opportunity to increase its ownership to 24.9% over time.
Source: Reuters
Toronto-Dominion Bank has agreed to buy Headlands Tech Global Markets, a quantitative fixed-income trading company. Financial details of the purchase were not disclosed. Founded in 2013, Headlands has proprietary software that offers fully automated market-making services.
Source: Bloomberg
Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm, has agreed to buy Calypso Technology, an online trading services provider. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed; however, the deal is thought to value Calypso at USD 3.75 billion.
Source: Reuters
NatWest, a UK lender, has agreed to buy back GBP 1.1 billion of its shares from the British government. The sale crystallises a further loss of around GBP 1.8 billion for the government on its GBP 45 billion rescue of NatWest.
Source: Reuters
WestPac Banking Corp, an Australian lender, has agreed to sell its lenders mortgage insurance business to Arch Capital Group. Lenders mortgage insurance covers the bank for any shortfall if a customer defaults on a home loan or if the proceeds from the sale of the property are not enough to pay off the loan.
Source: Reuters
Deals On The Table
AvidXchange, a business payments processor, is said to be preparing for an initial public offering which can value the company at more than USD 7 billion. AvidXchange provides software that automates payments, invoicing and accounting for small and mid-sized businesses.
Source: Reuters
UBS, a Swiss lender, is said to be in talks to buy a controlling stake in BB DTVM, an asset management unit of Banco do Brasil, a state-owned lender. BB DTVM has USD 217 billion in assets under management.
Source: Bloomberg
Caixa Economica Federal, a Brazilian state lender, is expected to list its asset management unit in September 2021.
Source: Reuters
HSBC is said to be “in final negotiations” to sell its French retail network to MyMoneyGroup, a subsidiary of Cerberus (a US private equity group). The scope of a potential deal is said not to include insurance or asset management.
Source: FT
Thanks, But No Deal
Hartford Financial Services Group, a US insurer, has rejected an unsolicited USD 23 billion takeover offer by Chubb, its rival.
Source: FT
Melqart Asset Management, a London-based hedge fund, which owns 4.8% stake in Credito Valtellinese, says it doesn’t plan to tender its shares to Credit Agricole which has offered to buy Creval for about EUR 737 million.
Source: Bloomberg
Up-and-Comers
Robinhood, a stock trading app, is said to have filed confidentially for an initial public offering where, based on trading in the secondary market, it could be worth as much as USD 40 billion. The company was valued at USD 11.7 billion in a private funding round in 2020.
Source: Bloomberg
Exciting Numbers
According to the Rainforest Action Network, global banks provided USD 750 billion in financing to coal, oil and gas companies in 2020, despite many having pledged to back the Paris climate accord and cut their funding for fossil fuels.
Source: FT
A Thought Worth Noting
“This is a time to be focused on stock picking and conviction investing. This business cycle will be faster and there is a lot of pent-up demand. The dynamics of the cycle will play to the strengths of stock pickers.”
Tony DeSpirito, CIO of US fundamental equities, BlackRock
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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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