Deals wrap: Express Scripts to buy Medco
Express Scripts will buy rival Medco Health Solutions for $29.1 billion in cash and stock to create a powerhouse in managing prescription drug benefits in the United States, the companies said on Thursday. The WSJ live blogged the companies’ conference call on the merger.
Two Chinese Internet firms have postponed their U.S. fundraising plans due to volatile global markets and after a series of accounting scandals tarnished the reputation of overseas-listed Chinese companies.
Shares of real estate site Zillow skyrocketed in their market debut on Wednesday, the latest to ride a wave of dotcom exuberance while stoking fears of lofty Internet valuations.
AT&T’s second-quarter revenue beat Wall Street expectations but the strong results could be overshadowed by growing opposition to AT&T’s controversial plan to buy T-Mobile USA. The WSJ asks readers if the merger is good for consumers and the Free Press has created some satirical videos on the topic.
DealZone Daily
The Dubai government unveiled plans to recapitalise its indebted Dubai World flagship and repay Nakheel bonds in full, injecting what it said was $9.5 billion in new funding, but without new aid from Abu Dhabi. Read the Reuters story here.
Bharti Airtel looked set to wrap up its $9 billion deal to buy most of Kuwaiti telecom group Zain’s African assets, giving India’s top mobile operator a foothold in the frontier market after two failed attempts to buy South Africa’s MTN. Read the Reuters story here.
For more on these and the rest of the latest deal-related news from Reuters, click here.
In M&A and corporate finance news reported by other media on Wednesday:
German carmaker Daimler AG and France’s Renault are close to deciding on a wide-ranging strategic partnership that would include a swap of small equity stakes, the Financial Times said, citing unnamed sources close to the situation.
DealZone Daily
U.S. drugstore operator Walgreen is to buy rival Duane Reed for $618 million from private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, giving the company the market lead in New York. The acquisition brings the company 257 new stores in the city and has prompted analysts to think that struggling chain Rite Aid might make an attractive target for Walgreen rival CVS Caremark as it looks to catch up.
Britain’s Babcock International has increased a proposed offer to buy defence firm VT Group to as much as 1.29 billion pounds, but its advances have again been rejected.
For more Reuters deals stories, click here.
In other media:
Beijing’s sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp, is investing $1.5 billion with three private equity secondary specialists – firms that buy positions in buyout funds from other investors – the FT reported. CIC will put $500 million with each of Lexington Partners, Goldman Sachs and Pantheon Ventures in special accounts that will be kept separate from the firms’ main funds.
Leading shareholders in Telecom Italia are discussing among themselves the possibility of merging with Telefonica of Spain, the FT writes. The discussions are said to be informal and preliminary but involve Telecom Italia’s three biggest Italian shareholders – Mediobanca, Intesa Sanpaolo and Generali.
Still feels like the same old, same old. Just buying up more real estate. http://tinyurl.com/yeokayf
Deals du Jour
U.S. network equipment maker Cisco systems offers to buy Norwegian video-conferencing equipment maker Tandberg ASA for $3 billion in cash. The offer price of NOK 153.5 per share represents a premium of 11 percent to Tandberg’s closing price on Wednesday.
Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA) says it has acquired privately-held Fovea, a privately-held firm specialised in eye diseases, for up to 370 million euros.
For these stories and more deals-related news from Reuters, click here.
And here’s what we found in Thursday’s papers:
* ViaSat Inc (VSAT.O), which provides satellite and other wireless networking systems, has agreed to buy Wild Blue Communications Inc for more than $565 million, the Wall Street Journal reports. The deal is a combination of $440 million in cash and $125 million in new Viasat shares. Wild Blue is owned by Liberty Media Corp (LINTA.O).
* British Airways (BAY.L) has a chance of finalising its proposed merger with Iberia (IBLA.MC) by the end of the year and is also keen to make an offer for BMI, BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh told the Financial Times.
* Hershey Co (HSY.N) “remains stymied” in its ability to assemble a takeover offer for Cadbury Plc (CBRY.L), leaving Kraft Food Inc (KFT.N) as the sole bidder for the British confectioner, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Deals du Jour
Portugal Telecom <PTC.LS> and Spanish firm Telefonica <TEF.MC> have both agreed to sell their 32.2 percent stakes in Moroccan telecoms firm Meditel to local investors in a deal likely to be closed by the end of the year
Reports suggest that online telephony firm Skype is set to be sold to private investors by its current owner eBay, with further details likely to be announced today. Sources indicated to the New York Times that co-founder of Netscape, Marc Andreessen is among the group of investors.
For the latest news from Reuters on mergers and acquisitions click here.
Here are some of the stories reported in today’s press (some external websites may require subscriptions):
* Belgian bancassurer KBC <KBC.BR> may sell its Polish insurer Warta, which it values at 1 billion zlotys ($348.4 million), Polish daily Parkiet reported without naming its sources.
* State-owned China Development Bank has set up an investment arm with 35 billion yuan ($5.1 billion) in registered capital which will focus on private equity deals, the official Financial News reported on Tuesday.
Deals du Jour
Reliance Communications is one of the bidders for Zain’s African operations, two banking sources with knowledge of the situation have told us. Talks over the deal — reported to be worth $10 billion — are preliminary.
There is a queue of banks for the other big telecoms deal in the works, willing to fund Bharti Airtel’s acquisition of a stake in South Africa’s MTN, says the Economic Times. The two are in exclusive merger talks till Aug. 31.
For an overview of other stories in the papers, click here.
Deals du Jour
Wall Street banks and lawyers could collect nearly $1 billion in fees from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and American International Group to help manage and break apart the insurer, the Wall Street Journal said, citing its own analysis.
The following M&A related stories were reported by Reuters and other media on Thursday:
Jewelry retailer Finlay Enterprises filed for Chapter 11 protection and said it would sell its assets in an auction supervised by the bankruptcy court. The company listed assets and debt in the range of $500 million to $1 billion in its filing, Reuters reported.
Indian cellular firm Aircel, 74 percent owned by Malaysia’s Maxis, has shortlisted four firms including American Tower and Bharti Infratel to conduct due diligence as it looks to sell all or part of its tower operations, Reuters said.
China South City Holdings, an operator of a wholesale and logistics centre in Shenzhen, is expected to revive its Hong Kong listing plan next month, raising $500 million for expansion, the South China Morning Post said.
UK broadcaster ITV is set to sell social networking site Friends Reunited to DC Thomson, publisher of the Beano comic for 25 million pounds, the Financial Times said.
Deals du Jour
Citigroup plans to sell 20 businesses in consumer finance, many of them located in Europe, its chief executive Vikram Pandit said in an interview with Singapore’s Business Times.
He said the move was due to the shift in the consumer finance market where “there is less funding availability and they are probably less robust as businesses.”
Pandit also said that the group’s capital position following the completion of the exchange of preferred shares for common equity in July, reflected an “incredible financial strength.”
In other M&A related stories reported by Reuters and other media on Wednesday:
Austrian oil and gas group OMV is in talks to buy a $1.2 billion stake in Turkish fuel retailer Petrol Ofisi, OMV and Petrol’s majority owner Dogan Holding said. The move comes after OMV earlier this year sold its stake in Hungarian peer MOL after an ill-fated takeover attempt, raising money that analysts expected it to use to expand in other parts of the region. For the Reuters report click here.
India’s Bharti Airtel plans to bid for telecom operator Millicom’s Sri Lankan mobile network, the Economic Times said, citing two executives familiar with the developments.
Deals du Jour
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd will likely clinch a deal this week to buy some Asian assets from British lender Royal Bank of Scotland Group for about $775 million, a source briefed on the situation told Reuters, marking it the Australian bank’s biggest overseas purchase.
In other M&A related stories reported by other media on Monday:
British-based, US-listed cable operator Virgin Media is considering a secondary listing of its shares in London to attract UK-based investors, according to a report in the Times newspaper. Virgin will make an announcement about its decision at its second-quarter results this month, the report said.
The biggest private equity groups are sitting on $400 billion of debt that needs to be repaid over the next five years, putting the future of some of the largest buyouts in doubt, the Financial Times said, citing data from S&P LCD.
Yahoo Inc, which last week announced a Web search deal with Microsoft Corp , will invest money from reduced marketing and infrastructure costs into its display ad, content and mobile services technology, its chief executive Carol Bartz told the New York Times in an interview.
Andrew Hall, the trader behind Phibro LLC, the energy trading arm of beleaguered bank Citigroup Inc, is pushing for a “quiet divorce” from his parent company and has had preliminary talks with one potential suitor, the New York Times said.
Private equity firm Candover is considering plans to inject fresh funds to support its investment in DX Group, a UK postal services company it bought two years ago for 347 million pounds, the Financial Times reported.
Deals du Jour
Ford Motor Co has slowed the sale of its Volvo car unit as it plans to open up the auction to losing bidders for General Motors’ Opel, the Wall Street Journal cited a person close to the company as saying.
In other M&A related stories reported by Reuters and other media on Friday:
Russian mobile network Mobile TeleSystems (MBT.N) is set to pay $1.28 billion, or $5.98 per share, for a 51 percent stake in fixed line carrier Comstar (CMSTq.L), newspaper Kommersant reported.
Low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines is preparing a bid to acquire bankrupt Frontier Airlines for a minimum of $113.6 million, exceeding the $108.8 million bid from Republic Airways Holdings. For the Reuters story, click here.
