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Stonepeak Partners eyes as much as $20bn for North America infrastructure fund. (FS)?
T. Rowe Price raises concerns about News' merger with Fox. (FS)
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EU antitrust regulators cleared with conditions French car leasing company ALD's bid for Dutch rival LeasePlan after the 法国兴业银行 unit agreed to divest some businesses across Europe to address competition concerns.
ALD Automotive announced the $5.5bn deal in January, which would give it ownership of the biggest electric vehicle fleet in Europe. The European Commission said ALD agreed to sell its operational leasing businesses in Ireland, Norway, Portugal and LeasePlan's businesses in the Czech Republic, Finland and Luxembourg to address competition worries,?Reuters?reported.
LeasePlan is advised by 普华永道 , AXECO , 高盛 , 瑞银集团 , De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek (led by Pete Lawley and Mariken (Marie) Van Loopik ), 富而德律师事务所 (led by Hervé Pisani , Rafique Bachour and James Scott ) and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP (led by Ben Perry , Eric Diamond and Olivier de Vilmorin ). 法国兴业银行 is advised by 花旗 , Rothschild & Co (led by Eric De Lacroix Vaubois , Georges Amatoury and Cyril de Mont-Marin) and 法国兴业银行 . ALD Automotive is advised by J.P. 摩根 , Bredin Prat (led by Matthieu Pouchepadass ), Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier (led by Bertrand Cardi and Christophe Vinsonneau ), 年利达 (led by Mariken van Esch , Cyril Boussion , Bruno Derieux, Will Aitken-Davies, Christian Ahlborn and Dan Schuster-Woldan ), NautaDutilh (led by Stefan Wissing) and Plesner (led by Emil Deleuran and Simon Lindvig Rasmussen ). Financial advisors are advised by White & Case LLP (led by Marc Petitier ).
AVEVA shareholders have backed an improved offer for the UK software developer from France’s 施耐德电气 , ending a takeover battle that will strip the London market of one of its major technology companies.?
The two companies said that enough investors had accepted Schneider’s revised price of $39 per share, an increase on an initial bid of $37.5 per share that some had rejected as opportunistic. Including debt, the deal values Aveva at $12.8bn,?FT?reported.
AVEVA (led by Peter Herweck ) is advised by J.P. 摩根 (led by F. James Robinson III and Bill Hutchings ), Lazard (led by Cyrus Kapadia ), Deutsche Numis (led by Jamie Loughborough and Simon Willis ), 富而德律师事务所 , Macfarlanes (led by Harry Coghill ) and FTI Consulting (led by Edward Bridges ). 施耐德电气 (led by Jean-Pascal Tricoire ) is advised by 花旗 (led by Rob J. , Sian Evans and Robin Rousseau ), Slaughter and May and 博然思维集团 (led by Paul Durman and Simon Sporborg ).
微软 's best chance to win approval for its $69bn Activision Blizzard deal from US regulators is to persuade the Biden administration to accept a settlement in which the Xbox maker pledges it won’t withhold its popular titles from rivals,?Bloomberg?reported.
That’s a very long shot given Biden’s antitrust enforcers aren’t fond of such agreements -- especially after Ticketmaster blowup put the spotlight back on a failed 2010 Justice Department settlement with Live Nation Entertainment.
Activision Blizzard (led by Bobby Kotick ) is advised by Allen & Company LLC. , 摩根士丹利 , Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates (led by Kenton King ), 博然思维集团 (led by Jonathan Doorley ) and FGS Global . Financial advisors are advised by White & Case LLP (led by Denise Cerasani). 微软 (led by Satya Nadella ) is advised by 高盛 (led by Sam Britton ), Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP , Sidley Austin LLP (led by Frederick Beckner, Christopher Shenk and Robert Keeling ), Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP (led by William Allen , Anthony Vernace and Alan M. Klein ), Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP (led by Michael Moiseyev ) and Assembly Global .
Stonepeak Partners eyes as much as $20bn for North America infrastructure fund. (FS)
Private equity firm Stonepeak is aiming to raise between $15bn and $20bn for its next flagship North American infrastructure fund to invest in assets such as utilities, data centers, ports and railways.
The fundraising plans underscore strong demand from investors for infrastructure assets, whose inflation-linked cash flows provide a shield from soaring prices. Stonepeak completed raising $14bn for such a fund only nine months ago. Private equity funds of this size are typically spaced out by at least a couple of years to have enough time to deploy their capital.
Stonepeak has begun contacting investors to gauge their interest in the fund launch, which is expected next year. Stonepeak has also began raising its first global "core" infrastructure fund, with an initial target of $5bn, and the firm is aiming to reach its first fundraising close by the end of this year,?Reuters?reported.
T. Rowe Price raises concerns about News' merger with Fox. (FS)
T. Rowe Price , a major shareholder of News, said that it has strong reservations about the plans of its chairman, Rupert Murdoch, to combine the two parts of his media business, News and Fox - the biggest indicator yet that Mr. Murdoch could face significant opposition,?New York Times?reported.
T. Rowe Price, which owns about 12% of News making it the company’s largest shareholder after the Murdoch family - said that a merger of the two companies would probably undervalue News, which it believes is trading for less than the company is worth. It also said that because the Murdoch family owns a bigger share of Fox than News, the family’s interests may lie more with Fox.
The deal, which could put Fox News TV under the same corporate umbrella as The Wall Street Journal, would reverse a decision made nearly a decade ago to divide the company’s film and TV holdings from its sprawling global portfolio of newspapers.
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