“BlackRock Inc. (BLK), the world’s largest asset manager, will buy Swiss Re Ltd. (SREN)’s Private Equity Partners AG for an undisclosed amount to extend its investments into infrastructure.
Swiss Re’s $7.5 billion European private equity and infrastructure fund of funds unit will be integrated with BlackRock’s existing business, the New York-based firm said today in an e-mailed statement. Those funds include a “significant” commitment from Swiss Re.”
Comments »“Micron Technology Inc. (MU) agreed to buy bankrupt Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory Inc. in a transaction valued at 200 billion yen ($2.5 billion), gaining memory chip- making assets that may help it avert price swings that fueled four straight quarters of losses.
Micron will pay 60 billion yen in cash at the closing of the deal, while the remaining 140 billion yen in future annual installments through 2019 will come from cash flow generated by Boise, Idaho-based Micron’s payment for chips made by Elpida, according to a statement today.”
Comments »“The world’s largest brewer just got much larger. Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) will buy the half of Grupo Modelo is does not already own. The price is $20.1 billion. Grupo Modelo is based in Mexico, and by some measures has most of the market for beer in that country. It also exports several products that are popular in the United States, such as Corona.”
Comments »“Melrose Plc (MRO), a U.K. investment company focused on engineering companies, agreed to buy Elster Group SE (ELT) for $2.3 billion in cash to access gas- and power- meters for advanced electricity grids.
The $20.50-a-share offer for Elster, partly owned by CVC Capital Partners Ltd., will be funded by a 1.2 billion-pound ($1.9 billion) rights offering and debt, the London-based company said. The offer is 49 percent higher than Elster’s closing price on June 11, the day prior to bid speculation.”
Comments »“Micron Technology Inc. (MU) will buy bankrupt Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory Inc. for an estimated 200 billion yen ($2.5 billion), the Nikkei newspaper said.
As much as 140 billion yen of the acquisition price will be used to pay Elpida’s debts, and about 70 percent of the Tokyo- based company’s liabilities won’t be repaid, the Nikkei reported, without saying where it got the information. Micron will invest 100 billion yen in Elpida facilities including its plant in Hiroshima, Japan, to boost output of dynamic random- access memory chips, the report said.”
Comments »“Best Buy Co. BBY +4.44% founder Richard Schulze is working with a Wall Street bank to explore taking the electronics retailer private, according to people familiar with his thinking, the latest twist in a tumultuous year at the company.
Mr. Schulze, the retailer’s largest shareholder with a slightly more than 20% stake, abruptly resigned his post as chairman and a director of the Richfield, Minn., company earlier this month, saying he was pondering options for his shares.
People familiar with Mr. Schulze’s thinking say he wants to preserve the value of his holdings, which he fears will continue to decline unless major changes are made at the company.”
Comments »“Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ABI), the world’s biggest brewer, is close to buying the remainder of Mexico’s Grupo Modelo (GMODELOC) SAB for more than $12 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.”
Comments »“NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Navistar International Corp. NAV -5.51% said Wednesday it adopted a stockholder rights plan, or poison pill, to prevent a hostile takeover of the Lisle, Ill.-based maker of engines, military vehicles and recreational vehicles. “The plan is designed to deter coercive tactics including the accumulation of shares in the open market or through private transactions and to prevent an acquirer from gaining control of the company without offering a fair and adequate price to all of the company’s stockholders,” Navistar said.”
Comments »“Business software company Yammer has agreed to sell itself to Microsoft for more than $1 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.”
Comments »“Database software maker Quest Software Inc. (NASDAQ: QSFT) said this morning that the company had received a takeover offer of $25.50/share from an unnamed “strategic bidder.” The company had already agreed to a March takeover bid of $23/share from Insight Venture Partners, with a 60-day ‘go-shop’ period that Quest essentially said it would ignore.”
Comments »“On its Web site, Wildfire describes itself as “an easy-to-use yet powerful tool to grow, engage, and monetize your audience on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.”
Facebook, we’re told, is a leading suitor. This makes some sense. Facebook needs to find a way to tax marketers for the value they get out of pushing their products using Facebook’s free tools.”
Comments »“Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) has been a troubled stock in a difficult financial position for over a decade now. So, it tends to stand out when research firms act very positively on it. Credit Suisse reiterated its Outperform rating with a $2.00 price target. This implies upside of 61% from the current $1.24 share price.”
Comments »“(Reuters) – Oracle Corp will buy Collective Intellect, which helps businesses to get information about consumers from Facebook and Twitter pages.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The deal comes a day after Oracle’s rival Salesforce.com Inc agreed to buy Buddy Media, a social media marketing company.”
Comments »“NEW YORK – The Pep Boys — Manny, Moe & Jack has called off its planned $791 million acquisition by investment firm The Gores Group.
The company’s shares tumbled $1.49, or 13.4 percent, to $9.60 in premarket trading Wednesday.
The auto parts chain said late Tuesday that it will receive a $50 million settlement from Gores and will be reimbursed for certain acquisition-related expenses.
Pep Boys cancelled its special shareholders meeting, which had been scheduled for Thursday.”
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