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In a much-talked-about piece in the New York Times recently, Hernan Cristerna, Co-Head of Global M&A at JP Morgan Chase, diagnosed the global mergers and acquisitions market as alive and very much kicking – in spite of ongoing Brexit anxieties and considerable political uncertainty around the Trump administration. Cross-border European-US transactions have already increased by over 80% this year, with some truly blockbuster deals counting among them such as Johnson & Johnson’s… Read More
California-based Hewlett Packard Enterprise has been busy bolstering its portfolio to stay ahead in cloud computing, with even more acquisitions on the horizon. This year, the company revealed purchases worth more than $1.5 billion and is looking to boost demand for server and storage products in order to stay ahead of competitors, such as Dell and Amazon.com. These recent acquisitions come after CEO, Meg Whitman, split the computer and printer business and… Read More
After years of approaches, US-based Huntsman Corp and Switzerland’s Clariant AG have announced that they will merge to create a chemicals manufacturer worth more than $14 billion. Last year, it was reported that talks had broken down between the two over a disagreement of who would play the lead role; however, a statement from Clariant AG announced that the deal will create a global specialty chemicals company that is 52 per cent… Read More
Amazon has announced it will acquire upmarket grocer, Whole Foods Market Inc, for $13.7 billion in a deal that includes the company’s debt. Expected to close late 2017, the deal will not only be the largest in the online retailer’s history, but also a major step in expanding into bricks-and-mortar retail. Founded in 1978 in Texas, Whole Foods Market has been a pioneer of natural and organic foods, and, today, boasts… Read More
American computing giant Microsoft continues to expand its acquisitions of Israeli-based software companies, with a reported $100 million deal for cybersecurity start-up Hexadite. Founded in Tel Aviv and now based out of Boston MA, Hexadite deals in cyberattacks and mitigating damage to systems through machine learning, which helps its clients increase productivity and reduce costs. The software can easily be added to existing firewall solutions, making it simple for Microsoft to integrate… Read More
Following news last week that Apple had completed a deal to acquire sleep-tracking device company Beddit, the tech behemoth has completed yet another acquisition in the form of Lattice.io. In a higher profile deal than Beddit, Apple revealed it had acquired the artificial intelligence and machine learning start-up, which takes dark data and turns it into useable information. While no official information was released as to the value of the deal, it’s… Read More
Following our report last month on the $130bn mega-merger between US chemical giants Dow Chemical and DuPont, a new deal has announced the creation of a chemicals giant with a market value of approx $14 billion. This latest high-profile transaction across the diversified chemicals sector sees companies are striking ever more aggressive deals to find new ways to slash costs and gain greater scale of their segments, typifying the current market trend… Read More
Last week it was revealed that Apple had completed a low-key deal to acquire Beddit, a Finnish company that makes sleep-tracking devices compatible with apps for both iOS and the Apple Watch. News of the acquisition was broken by CNBC which reported that the privacy section of the Beddit website had been updated to note the deal and confirm that all consumer data is now subject to Apple’s own privacy policy. Beddit… Read More
New York design house of modern luxury accessories and lifestyle brands, Coach Inc has acquired its rival Kate Spade & Company for $2.4 billion, a figure “not justified strictly by the numbers” according to the New York Times. The deal figure represents a 27.5 per cent premium on the share price of Kate Space before talk of a deal emerged in December. Coach’s chief executive Victor Luis has promised to only cut… Read More
Apple has hit the headlines this week with the media speculating whether or not they are set for a mammoth acquisition due to its significant and ever-growing stash of cash. It’s estimated that the tech giant holds somewhere in the region of a quarter-trillion dollars that it could use to snap up another business or two. Amongst the potential acquisition targets is Netflix and Tesla Motors, with both brands making a lot… Read More
This week it was announced SiriusXM would acquire San Francisco-based connected car company Automatic Labs Inc. in a deal worth $100 million, according to TechCrunch. The acquisition brings together two giants in the connected car industry with Automatic’s data driven platform providing drivers with vehicle diagnostic alerts, emergency crash assistance, fuel monitoring, access to parting information and live vehicle location tracking, joining SiriusXM which offers leading, commercial-free audio entertainment and data services… Read More
In the biggest deal of the company’s 120-year history, medical device giant Becton, Dickinson & Company has announced its acquisition of C.R. Bard for $24 billion. The cash and stock deal will see Bard shareholders receive $222.93 in cash and 0.5077 shares of Becton Dickinson stock per Bard share, or $317 per Bard share based on Becton Dickinson’s closing price of $185.29. The acquisition means Becton Dickinson’s portfolio, currently comprising syringes and… Read More
This week, PetSmart announced its intention to acquire fast-growing pet food and product site Chewy.com in a deal alleged to fetch $3.35 billion, surpassing Walmart’s $3.3 billion purchase of Jet.com to become the biggest e-commerce deal ever. What makes the deal even more interesting is that traditional bricks-and-mortar retailer PetSmart was itself valued at just $8.7 billion in 2015 when it was taken over by private investors. Despite this, it’s clear to… Read More
Following months of speculation, it was confirmed last week that US cereal giant Post Holdings is to acquire British cereal company Weetabix in a deal worth £1.4 billion. Rumours of acquisition started after Weetabix owners Bright Food and Baring Private Equity Asia put the business up for sale earlier this year. It follows what has been a hugely successful year for Weetabix in which its grew UK market share for cereals and… Read More
In the biggest deal to date in the natural and organic foods category, and in its largest takeover since 2007, French food company Danone is set to double the size of its US business this month with the acquisition of US organic food producer WhiteWave Foods. This included significant run-rate EBIT synergies of $300 million by 2020, an improvement of Danone’s full year like-for-like sales growth by an extra 0.5 percent to… Read More
The $130bn mega-merger between US chemical giants Dow Chemical and DuPont has been given the go-ahead by the European Commission. Earlier this year, it was announced that the deal would be subject to an investigation from EU competition regulators due to antitrust concerns. The Dow and DuPont deal is the first of three mega deals in the sector that the European Commission is looking into. It is expected that Brussels will clear… Read More
It was announced this week that Apple has purchased DeskConnect, the start-up business behind popular iOS app, Workflow. The app allows users to build custom actions that involve multiple apps, for example, linking Maps and messages so your phone sends an automated text to a contact to let them know when you’ll be home, based on your location. At present, the app supports more than 200 actions and integrates into Apple apps… Read More
It’s no secret that Walmart has grand plans to muscle in on some of Amazon’s online retail market share and it seems the US retail giant has edged closer with the acquisition of ModCloth. The purchase of the vintage-style clothing retailer was made by Walmart’s ecommerce business Jet for an undisclosed sum, although industry sources believe ModCloth would have been lucky to get around the $80 million it had previously raised from… Read More
Pinterest, the photo sharing site, has announced this week its acquisition of Jelly, the Q&A app founded by Biz Stone, cofounder of Twitter, in 2013. Jelly officially launched in 2014 and received a disappointing reception. Stone and fellow Jelly cofounder Ben Finkel subsequently changed directions by launching photo app Super before relaunching Jelly again in 2016. The latest iteration of the app repurposed the Q&A format as a search engine, but like… Read More
Online education platform Udacity has completed its first ever acquisition with its purchase of CloudLab for an undisclosed figure. With its specialism in tech-related nanodegrees – vocational qualifications that can be achieved faster and cost less than traditional degrees – Udacity plans to use CloudLab’s platform to allow users to code interactively and collaboratively from within their browsers. Udacity also has grand plans to implement CloudLab’s live developer environments into its courses… Read More