Finmeccanica Market Cap (as of 11/10/13): €3.23bn Fondo Strategico Italiano (FSI) Market Cap: N/A Italian defence and industrial conglomerate Finmeccanica has agreed to sell its 55% stake in Ansaldo Energia, a maker of thermoelectric turbines, to Fondo Strategico Italiano (FSI), an arm of state-owned lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Read more…
AGL Market Cap: 1.6 bn WDF Market Cap: 2.0 bn On the 1st of October 2013, Autogrill S.p.A. completed the spin-off of Travel Retail & Duty Free (TR&DF) that is now controlled by World Duty Free S.p.A. WDF started to trade at a price of €7.13 with AGL trading at Read more…
KKR & Co. LP (Assets Under Management: US$83.5bn as of June 30th 2013) Melrose PLC (Market Cap: US$5.95bn as of October 10th 2013) On October 10th KKR & Co. L.P. announced the acquisition of The Crosby Group and Acco Material Handling Solutions from Melrose Industries PLC in a deal valued Read more…
Oi Market Cap (as of 04/10/13): $2.78bn Portugal Telecom Market Cap (as of 04/10/13): $4.02bn On Wednesday, October 2nd, Oi of Brazil and Portugal Telecom (PT henceforth) agreed to merge after three years of alliance, forming a telecommunication heavyweight which will bring together 100mln customers across the Portuguese-speaking world. The Read more…
Sotheby’s Market Cap (as of 4/10/13): $ 3.46bn Daniel Loeb, CEO of the hedge fund Third Point LLC, announced on the 2nd of October that he has upped his stake in the arts auctioneering firm Sotheby’s to 9.3%, making him the firm’s biggest shareholder. Mr Loeb now holds 6.8m shares Read more…
Since the crisis hit, interest rates have been kept artificially to the lowest level the world has ever seen. This launched what was called the ‘hunt for yield’. As many investors ran for high-yield junk bonds, risk-averse investors who were uncomfortable with that level of risk turned to quality stocks, Read more…
The main rationale for the trade is a possible positive surprise of the European economy by the end of the year. The periphery has performed well and the recent resolution of the Berlusconi’s issue has reduced the political risk of the area. Moreover, the economic performances outline the beginning of Read more…
Telefonica (Market Capitalization as of 27/09: €52.5bn) Telecom Italia (Market Capitalization as of 27/09: €10.6bn) Recent news regarding Telefonica’s interest in Telecom Italia (“TI”) came to no surprise. The deal fits into the recent revival of dealmaking within the TMT sector and culminates months of speculation surrounding Telecom Italia. Read more…
Verizon Communications (Market Capitalization as of 27/05/13: $134.5bn) Vodafone (Market Capitalization as of 27/05/13: $169.2bn) In this follow up on our May 25th article(https://bsic.it/2013/05/25/vodafone-to-do-or-not-to-do-that-is-not-the-only-problem/) we analyze this year’s biggest M&A deal yet, the sale of Vodafone of its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless (henceforth VW) to Verizon Communications Read more…
BlackBerry Limited (Market capitalization as of 27/09/2013: $4.20bn) Fairfax Financial Holding Limited (Assets under Management as of 30/06: $2.5bn) On September 23rd, Fairfax Financial Holding Limited, a Canadian insurance and investment company, announced it was leading a group of investors to take over BlackBerry Limited, the Canadian smartphone company Read more…
When first appointed in 2006 by President Bush, Ben Bernanke probably didn’t expect his two terms as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve to be the most decisive ones of the past century. First denying an housing bubble, he had to face its real burst and the most threatening crisis Read more…
After the huge operating loss and the consequent job-cutting of the second quarter, Blackberry received an offer to go private by Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited for $9 per share. Fairfax holds the 9.9% of Blackberry and is doing the due diligence; on November 4th the company will give more details. Read more…
AT&T Inc. (Market Capitalization as of 24/05/2013: $197.6bn) Verizon Communications Inc. (Market Capitalization as of 24/05/2013: $147.0bn) Vodafone Group PLC (Market Capitalization as of 24/05/2013: $144.7bn) Vodafone: M&A since 1985 The strong winds of market activity in the US telecom landscape have recently reignited a dormant flame in the Read more…
Type of deal: Joint Venture Danone (Market Capitalization as of 23/05/2013 €34.63bn) COFCO: state-owned food company in China China Mengniu Dairy Company Ltd.: (Market Capitalization as of 23/05/2013 HK$ 46.87bn, i.e. €4.68bn) On May 20th 2013, with a press release, Danone, the world leader in fresh dairy products, announced its Read more…