Transactions: Featured Interviews 98 Efeso Acquires a Majority Stake in Tsetinis Consulting 102 Addtech’s Acquisition of a Majority Stake in Feritech Global 104 Lumina Gold’s $300 Million Metals Streaming Agreement with Wheaton Precious Metals 106 Passenger Secures a £15 Million Investment from Growth Partner Consolidation between industry giants made headlines in June, while others have been met by a series of regulatory setbacks. In a move that shocked the sports sector, the formerly disputing PGA Tour, DPA World Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Tour agreed to merge and form a single commercial entity.1 This decision, the terms of which are yet to be fully revealed, follows a history of feuding and player-poaching between the organisations that has often seen the LIV Tour accused of ‘sportswashing’ the human rights violations of Saudi Arabia’s ruling family. Assuming the deal can be finalised in the wake of legal challenges2, it will surely have a seismic impact on the $100 billion global golf sector. Meanwhile, another merger of giants has been completed: UBS has finished its takeover of Credit Suisse3, creating a Swiss banking and wealth management group which will oversee $5 trillion worth of assets. After negotiating a knockdown price of three billion Swiss francs and up to five billion francs in assumed losses – with a backstop of nine billion francs for losses resulting from winding down parts of Credit Suisse’s business – UBS succeeded in rescuing the embattled bank in under three months. In the tech sector, the FTC took to federal court to argue for a preliminary injunction to temporarily block Microsoft’s acquisition of leading video game producer Activision Blizzard4, its opposition signalling a further setback for the seismic merger following its blocking in the UK by the CMA in April.5 Elsewhere, Adobe’s $20 billion combination with cloud-based designer platform Figma is also facing a lengthy investigation by EU regulators.6 Disappointment also reigned in the UK IPO scene as, in the span of two weeks, WE Soda announced and pulled plans for a $7.5 billion debut on the London Stock Exchange, citing “extreme investor caution”7 in the city. The cancellation of what would have been the largest deal on the London Stock Exchange in 2023, has been marked8 by experts as a further sign of market hesitance in the wake of Brexit and economic uncertainties, and of New York pulling ahead as an attractive destination for firms. 1https://www.reuters.com/sports/golf/pga-tour-european-tour-livgolf-announce-merger-2023-06-06/ 2https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/21/us-senatesaudi-yasir-al-rumayyan-pga-golf 3https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/12/business/ubs-completes-creditsuisse-takeover/index.html 4https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/ftc-argue-microsofts-dealbuy-activision-should-be-paused-2023-06-22/ 5https://www.gov.uk/government/news/microsoft-activision-dealprevented-to-protect-innovation-and-choice-in-cloud-gaming 6https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/gadgets-news/eu-to-probeadobes-20-billion-figma-acquisition-deal/articleshow/101138402.cms 7https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/market-news/ we-soda-cancels-ipo/15999494 8https://finance.yahoo.com/news/soda-scraps-london-ipociting-143647453.html Mergers & Acquisitions 108 Şişecam’s Acquisition of EBRD’s Shares in Şişecam Environmental Systems Restructuring 109 The Restructuring of R-Logitech’s €200 Million Bond
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