Reuters News
Kinder Morgan Inc has hired investment bank TD Securities to facilitate a potential sale of its Canadian business, which could fetch as much as $2.4 billion, sources told Reuters. Should the move succeed, it would mark the exit of the U.S. pipeline giant from Canada, having closed its sale of the Trans Mountain pipeline to the Canadian government for about $4.5 billion at the end of last month. The bidding for the business is expected to come from midstream companies, private equity firms and infrastructure funds. Kinder Morgan would likely keep the assets if it does not get a good price as they generate solid cash flows.
Australian office owner Investa Office Fund has postponed a shareholder meeting regarding a takeover offer from U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group after receiving a rival bid, Reuters reported. Investa said it would engage with Oxford Properties Group over a possible binding proposal after the Canadian landlord sweetened its bid for the company this week. Oxford, the real estate investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), had offered A$5.60 for each share in Investa, A$0.10 higher than Blackstone’s offer and valuing Investa at A$3.35 billion.
Canadian landlord Oxford Properties Group has sweetened its bid for Australian office owner Investa Office Fund to A$5.60 (US$4.02) per share, escalating a bidding war with U.S. private equity giant Blackstone Group, Reuters reported. Oxford’s new offer, backed by a top Investa shareholder, ICPF, is A$0.10 per share higher and values Investa at A$3.35 billion (US$2.41 billion). It comes just ahead of a meeting scheduled for Monday where Investa shareholders are set to vote on Blackstone’s rival bid. Oxford is the real estate investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS).
Adobe Systems Inc (ADBE.O), the maker of image-editing software Photoshop, is in negotiations to buy Marketo Inc, a privately held cloud-based marketing software company, Reuters reported.
Japan’s Pioneer Corp secured a bailout worth up to 60 billion yen ($540 million) from Baring Private Equity Asia, after failed bets on car navigation and audio systems saddled it with debt and pushed it into the red, Reuters reported.
Nordea (NDA.ST) and DNB (DNB.OL) have agreed to sell a 60 percent stake in Baltic bank Luminor to a Blackstone (BX.N) private equity consortium for 1 billion euros ($1.16 billion) in cash, Reuters reported.
U.S. private equity firm Carlyle Group LP is in talks to acquire Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc, the largest U.S. insurance claims service provider, for more than US$6 billion, including debt, sources told Reuters. Carlyle has made a higher offer for Sedgwick than U.S. buyout firm Hellman & Friedman LLC, a former owner of the company that is also competing to acquire it, the sources said. Sedgwick’s owners, U.S. buyout firm KKR & Co LP, Stone Point Capital and Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, are hoping they can clinch a deal as early as this week.
Private equity firm Carlyle Group LP (CG.O) is in talks to acquire Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc, the largest U.S. insurance claims service provider, for more than $6 billion, including debt, sources told Reuters.
Chinese electric vehicle start-up NIO Inc (NIO.N) priced its shares near the bottom of its targeted price range in its U.S. initial public offering, according to sources familiar with the matter, dragged down by investor concerns about the prospects of chief competitor Tesla Inc (TSLA.O).
Hudson’s Bay Co and Signa Holding will merge Germany’s Galeria Kaufhof and Karstadt to form Europe’s third biggest department store chain as they battle online rivals, Reuters reported. The combined retail company will have annual sales of around 5.4 billion euros (US$6.3 billion). Austria’s Signa will hold a 50.01 percent stake in the new entity, with HBC possessing the rest. HBC bought Kaufhof in 2015, hoping to make it the centre of its European expansion. But the company is battling its own losses and a campaign by U.S. hedge fund Land & Buildings to boost its share price by extracting value from its real estate holdings.