Transactions: Featured Interviews 102 Simply UK Acquires Six Care Homes Across Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire 106 Metagenics Inc Acquires Nutri Advanced 110 Vickers-Lee Holdings’ Reorganisation of Shares 112 ORCHA, Peak Technology Solutions and MCS Move to Sci-Tech Daresbury’s £17.8 Million Violet Development Funding Round Mixed signals in the market point to shifts in M&A deals, while the outlook for IPOs grows more pessimistic. More detailed analysis of M&A moves during the summer months has become available, showing a clear downturn in activity that can largely be accredited to international events. PwC’s Consumer Markets M&A Deals newsletter for September 2022 found that 45 ‘notable’ deals done in August, down almost by half from July and down 32 year-on-year. The firm also found that most commodities, including natural gas and cotton, had risen in price. However, S&P Global reported an increase in the total value of US M&A deals during the month of August, indicating an uptick in overall activity despite headwinds. As for September, several major deals were announced, some following a good deal of anticipation. UK waste management company Biffa Plc agreed to private equity firm Energy Capital Partners’ (lowered) takeover offer of £1.3 billion almost three months after the deal was originally announced, Australia-based Santos Ltd received a proposed offer worth $1.1 billion from Kumul Petroleum for 5% of its investments in the Papua Lng project, and OpenText agreed to acquire Micro Focus for $6 billion in an all-cash deal. However, the month also saw hospital operator Ramsay Health Care terminate a buyout bid by a consortium led by KKR & Co which would have been worth $13 billion if carried out. While the M&A market appears cool, IPOs appear to have practically frozen solid. Widespread stock market downturns have diminished an already unenthusiastic investor base, leading (among other things) to a more than 240-day stretch without a tech IPO of $50 million or more being launched; the longest such absence since the 2008 financial crisis. Much-amped stock market floats worldwide have failed to deliver expected returns, with especially stark examples emerging across India. However, some optimism has been generated by VW’s targeting of a $75 billion IPO for Porsche. While lower than the initially stated target of $85 billion, the flotation is nonetheless likely to garner a good deal of investor attention, with VW intending to leverage the proceeds to fund the carmaker’s EV transition and invest further in software. However, it remains to be seen if this mammoth end-of-month debut can overcome the market’s gloom. 1https://www.pwc.nl/nl/actueel-publicaties/assets/pdfs/pwcconsumer-markets-m-a-deals-newsletter-emea-september-2022.pdf 2https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/ research/a-bit-of-life-returns-to-m-and-a-market-in-august 3https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/uk-waste-firm-biffaagrees-energy-capital-partners-141-bln-buyout-deal-2022-09-27/ 4https://www.ogj.com/general-interest/article/14283382/kumalpetroleum-offers-santos-14-billion-for-5-png-lng-interest 5https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/08/26/opentext-micro-focus/ 6https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-25/australia-sramsay-terminates-takeover-talks-with-kkr-group 7https://www.ft.com/content/90cb4e56-b460-4654-b4209c470218fd9b 8https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/12-bigticket-ipos-leave-investors-high-dry-as-they-crack-50-65-from-highs/ articleshow/94470971.cms 9https://www.autonews.com/automakers-suppliers/vw-targets-75billion-valuation-landmark-porsche-ipo Mergers & Acquisitions 114 Breedon Group Acquires Severn Sands 115 Helios Energy Invest JSC’s Acquisition of Helios Projects 116 ICG Acquires British Solar Renewables 117 Tri-Wall UK Ltd Acquires The Corrugated Case Company 118 Urban Fun Acquires FunBox 119 Polskie ePlatnosci’s Acquisition of Team4U Funds & Investments 120 Nightcap’s Refinancing of Banking Facilities with HSBC
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