Transactions: Featured Interviews 74 Pfeifer Group Acquires Pölkky 78 Limerick Twenty Thirty’s Joint Venture With ISIF 82 Sterling Check Corp Acquires Socrates Ltd 86 NCL Corporation Ltd.’s $600 Million Secured Notes Offering 88 Paddy Brennan Acquires McConnell Chartered Surveyors Limited 90 Sirec Energy’s EuSIF Closing 92 The Creation of Tanzania’s First Sports Academy 94 Land Development Agency’s Acquisition of Units in Archers Wood, Delgany, County Wicklow 96 Saint-Gobain’s Acquisition of Revco Hungary April has come to a dramatic end with a roadblock to what might become the biggest M&A deal of the decade so far. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has blocked Microsoft’s $75 billion acquisition of Activision-Blizzard1, citing concerns about the merged company’s potential dominance over cloud gaming platforms. The ruling marks a potentially decisive blow against what might have been the biggest merger ever seen in the video game industry, coming ahead of regulatory decisions from the US and EU. The FTC also sued to block the acquisition in December 2022.2 Further investor disappointments arose elsewhere as Binance. US called off plans to purchase the assets of now-bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital for $1.3 billion, stating that it was facing a “hostile and uncertain regulatory environment”.3 However, several other quarters saw major deals announced; WWE and UFC are to combine their brands under Endeavor Holdings in a $21 billion merger to create an entertainment giant4 (though the move is already facing legal challenges of its own5. Meanwhile, Carrier confirmed6 its decision to buy Viessmann Climate Solutions in a $13.17 billion deal that will expand its air conditioning and heating portfolio, and pharmaceutical giant Merck moved ahead with a planned acquisition of Prometheus Biosciences – along with its experimental treatment for Crohn’s disease – for $10.8 billion.7 Both deals await regulatory approval. The pharmaceutical industry also saw positive IPO prospects with Johnson & Johnson’s upcoming spin-off of its Kenvue unit. The healthcare multinational indicated that it hopes to raise at least $3.5 billion in the offering at a valuation of $40 billion.8 At the same time, disappointment arose from Squarespace’s highly anticipated NYSE listing9, which saw a 13% loss for the tech start-up’s stock. This follows a series of losses for cloud software firms this year, which may feed into a wider trend of tech firm disappointments following a profit surge between 2020 and 2021. 1https://www.ft.com/content/f5a00e12-3336-439b-99bb-271b4c4e8897 2https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/08/ftc-sues-to-block-microsoftsacquisition-of-game-giant-activision-blizzard.html 3https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/binanceus-calls-off-13-bln-dealvoyagers-assets-2023-04-25/ 4https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/mixed-martial-arts/65165453 5https://www.ringsidenews.com/2023/04/26/new-lawsuit-seeks-to-shutdown-wwe-ufc-merger/ 6https://www.wsj.com/articles/carrier-to-buy-viessmann-climatesolutions-for-nearly-13-2-billion-9c1f25ae 7https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/merck-late-stage-talks-acquireprometheus-biosciences-wsj-2023-04-16/ 8https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/johnson-johnson-eyes-40bvaluation-consumer-health-unit-kenvue 9https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/19/squarespace-ceo-worth-2point4billion-after-web-company-holds-nyse-debut.html Mergers & Acquisitions 98 Streets Chartered Accountants Merges with Eadie Young Chartered Accountants Reorganisation & MBOs 99 Swann Systems Completes a Management Buyout
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