Transactions: Featured Interviews 76 The Rehabilitation of Camuzzi Group 80 MAN Energy Solutions’ Sale of its Gas Turbine Business to GHGT 84 Vivalto Partners’ Equity Investment in Laboratoires Delbert 88 Aldebaran Capital Partners Acquires NumWorks 90 Priory Lodge Vets Joins Pennard Vets 92 Norsk Luftambulanse’s Deal Agreement with the Danish Regions A series of regulatory victories has brought new hope for the completion of several mega-mergers in the tech sector. The titanic merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard has inched closer to a resolution, as a US federal judge denied a preliminary injunction and restraining order by the US Federal Trade Commission against the acquisition1, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals did not grant the FTC emergency relief to temporarily halt the deal. The $68.7 billion deal is still a long way from completion, however, with Microsoft having until October 2025 to close matters. The FTC is set to appeal the denial of the preliminary injunction.2 In further tech M&A news, EU and UK regulators have given a green light to Broadcom’s $69 billion bid for visualisation software giant VMWare3. The deal, which comprises $61 billion in equity and $8 billion in debt, represents a significant diversification of Broadcom’s business from hardware and into enterprise infrastructure software. The FTC’s ongoing investigation of the deal now remains its only potential regulatory stumbling block.4 Other major deals of the past month include fintech group FIS’s sale of its stake in Worldpay to private equity group GTCR for $18.5 billion5 – one of the largest corporate carve-outs in history – and Thales’ agreement to purchase Imperva for $3.6 billion, significantly strengthening its cybersecurity offering.6 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has also increased its bid for German chemical mainstay Covestro to $12.4 billion7 following the company’s rejection of a smaller bid in June. In IPO news, Jack Ma’s Ant Group has announced plans to restructure its business8, breaking off operations that are not part of its core Chinese financial business in a move that paves the way for a potential IPO in Hong Kong. In 2020, the group had planned for the largest stock market flotation in history with a $30 billion IPO in Hong Kong and Shanghai, though the plans fell through following intervention by the Chinese government. Elsewhere, German bus firm Flix, owner of the Greyhound brand, has picked three banks (JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas) for a planned $4.4 billion IPO in early 20249, according to sources quoted by Reuters. 1https://www.fool.com/investing/2023/07/22/the-microsoft-activisionblizzard-deal-moves-forwa/ 2https://www.spiceworks.com/tech/tech-general/news/microsoftactivision-wins-against-ftc/ 3https://www.channelfutures.com/emea/uk-regulator-green-lightsbroadcom-acquisition-of-vmware 4https://www.barrons.com/ 5https://www.ft.com/content/b133fa58-5ef2-4cc4-972b8271f749779e 6https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/07/25/thales-impervaacquisiton-3-6-billion/ 7https://www.offshore-technology.com/news/adnoc-increases-bidcovestro/ 8https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-26/ jack-ma-backed-ant-plans-restructuring-paving-way-for-hkipo?leadSource=uverify%20wall 9https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/greyhound-owner-flix-picksjp-morgan-goldman-sachs-bnp-paribas-planned-ipo-2023-07-25/ Mergers & Acquisitions 94 FederKombat’s Transformation into a National Sports Federation 95 PesoRama’s $20 Million Revolving Credit Facility Funds & Investments 96 A New Shareholder Enters Me Food Srl Bowls and More 97 Deutsche Investment Kapitalverwaltung AG’s Acquisition of Residential and Commercial Buildings in Cologne 98 Republic of Guatemala’s New Issue of Eurobonds for $1 Billion 99 The Seed Round and Establishment of We are Emma
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