Private Equity
Britain’s OakNorth, a start-up specialist bank that provides business and property loans, has been valued at $2.3 billion after closing a $100 million funding round, Reuters reported.
2 min read · 06 September 2018
South African fintech start-up Yoco raised $16 million from international and local investors in a private funding round, it said on Thursday.
2 min read · 06 September 2018
Great-West Lifeco Inc, Canada’s second-biggest insurance company, is exploring the sale of a collection of insurance contacts that could fetch as much as US$2 billion, sources told Reuters. Goldman Sachs Group Inc is arranging the sale process. Among the parties to have shown interest in the policies include other insurance firms and financial companies. Private equity and specialist investment firms have been significant buyers of run-off insurance blocks, believing they can juice the profits from administering such policies by cutting costs.
2 min read · 05 September 2018
Australian office landlord Investa Office Fund said it will study a A$3.3 billion (US$2.4 billion) takeover bid from Canada’s Oxford Properties Group, an offer that was criticized by rival suitor Blackstone Group which also threatened to drop its own bid, Reuters reported. Oxford, the real estate investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), had lobbed a last-minute offer for Investa this week that was A$90 million higher than Blackstone’s bid which had already won the backing of the target. Investa said it is adjourning a shareholder meeting that was set to vote on Blackstone’s offer while it weighs the attractiveness of Oxford’s bid.
2 min read · 05 September 2018
Britain’s Royal Mail Plc has bought Canadian parcel delivery company Dicom Canada for $360 million, adding to its growing operations in a number of U.S. states and across Europe, Reuters reported. The acquisition from U.S. private equity firm Wind Point Partners comes as Royal Mail aims to boost revenue share from outside the United Kingdom through its international unit. Dicom Canada, which offers ground-based parcel, freight and logistics services, operates a network of 28 depots and works with partners to provide pan-Canadian logistics services, Royal Mail said, adding the Montréal-based company had posted good revenue and profit growth in recent years.
2 min read · 04 September 2018
Canadian landlord Oxford Properties Group has lobbed a last-minute A$3.3 billion (US$2.4 billion) bid for Australian office owner Investa Office Fund, edging out an earlier offer from U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group, Reuters reported. The bid lands two days before a scheduled shareholder meeting to approve Blackstone’s takeover that has Investa’s blessings. It caps years of suitors circling Investa as tight supply and strong growth lift rents in Australia, especially in Sydney where Investa’s towers are concentrated. Oxford invests in and manages real estate assets on behalf of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS).
2 min read · 04 September 2018
Luxury carmaker Aston Martin plans to float on the London Stock Exchange, completing a turnaround for the once perennially loss-making company that could now be valued at up to 5 billion pounds ($6.4 billion), Reuters reported.
3 min read · 29 August 2018
Australian property developer Goodman Group Pty Ltd and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) have committed an extra US$1.75 billion of equity to their Chinese logistics partnership to further expand in China, Reuters reported. The funds, 80 percent of which will come from CPPIB, will take the partners’ total equity commitment to US$5 billion. The investment increase is the latest in China’s logistics industry which is experiencing a boom in demand for warehousing and delivery from e-commerce companies such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and JD.com Inc.
2 min read · 23 August 2018
Syndication of the US$13.5 billion debt package backing Blackstone Group’s buyout of Thomson Reuters’ Financial and Risk division is expected to launch in the first week of September, at the same time as a €7.3 billion debt financing backing the buyout of Akzo Nobel’s specialty chemicals business, bankers close to the deal told Reuters. Thomson Reuters’ loan and bond package is expected to launch in Europe on September 3 and in the United States on September 4 after the Labour Day holiday. The deal is the largest buyout financing since the crisis and its launch has been eagerly awaited since the deal was underwritten in January.
3 min read · 22 August 2018
Australian oil and gas firm Santos Ltd agreed on Wednesday to buy privately held Quadrant Energy for at least $2.15 billion, grabbing what may be the biggest oil find off Western Australia in over two decades, Reuters reported.
2 min read · 22 August 2018
