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DealZone

Behind the deals and deal-makers

June 25th, 2008

Qatar Hero

Posted by: Chris Kaufman
Tags: DealZone, , , ,

guitar-hero.jpgInvestors buying freshly diluted equity has become something of a refrain in Europe. Barclays raised 4.5 billion pounds ($8.8 billion) from investors including Qatar and Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui to rebuild capital and pursue growth. That drove the London bank’s shares up more than 5 percent. Existing shareholders will get a chance to buy up to 4 billion pounds of shares at a discount, with outside “anchor” investors underwriting the fundraising. The fact that the capital raising was well-flagged and successfully completed was enough to encourage buyers.

Also rising 5 percent were shares of UBS, as the New York Post reported the Swiss banking giant has hired Lazard to conduct a strategic review, lending a touch more credence to the talk that the bank is looking to split its wealth management and investment banking businesses. UBS’s share could also be reacting to the Barclays news, which shows that sovereign wealth funds haven’t gone into hiding.

Qatar, which on Tuesday agreed to sell 25 percent of its stock market to NYSE Euronext, is in talks with London and German stock exchanges about new partnerships, according to Al Arabiya Television. Qatar, the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, agreed to sell a stake in the Doha Securities Market for $250 million in a bid to become the booming region’s financial hub. “Qatar is in talks with the London Stock Exchange and the bourse in Germany to build new strategic partnerships,” Al Arabiya Television reported, citing Hussein al-Abdullah, executive board member for the $60 billion Qatar Investment Authority.

Other deals of the day:

* Dalian Port plans to buy an 18.9 percent stake in Jinzhou Port for about 1.91 billion yuan ($278 million) to become its second-biggest shareholder and a strategic partner, Jinzhou Port said.

* Chinese steel mills are seeking to buy an equity stake in Australian iron ore prospector Brockman Resources, Managing Director Wayne Richards said, adding that his firm was open to an approach.

* Idea Cellular, India’s fifth-largest mobile operator, said it would buy Spice Group’s 40.8 percent stake in another mobile firm, Spice Communications, at 77.3 rupees per share.

* Sweden’s Assa Abloy said it had bought Rockwood Manufacturing, a maker of door hardware in the United States, for an undisclosed sum.

* China’s Changsha Zoomlion Industry Science and Technology Development said it had won a joint bid with Goldman Sachs and two other investors to buy Italy’s Compagnia Italiana Forme Acciaio SpA, or Cifa, for 271 million euros ($421.9 million).

* Progress Software Corp said it will buy IONA Technologies PLC , a software integration technology company, for $106 million.

* Southeast Asia’s largest property developer CapitaLand said it had paid S$250 million ($183 million) for 62 percent of a retail mall in Malaysia.

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