Late on March 4, 2015, AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) announced its acquisition of Pharmacyclics (NASDAQ: PCYC), the maker of a cancer-treatment drug called Imbruvica, for approximately 21 billion dollars.
AbbVie to Acquire Cancer Drug Maker Pharmacyclics for $21 Billion
Female Billionaire Urges BPI-BCP Merger to Thwart CaixaBank Takeover
Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the president of Angola and Africa’s sole female billionaire, is unhappy with CaixaBank’s takeover bid for BPI. As the second largest investor in BPI, Santos owns 18.6% of the Portuguese bank through her investment company Santoro Finance, just shy of the 20% benchmark at which BPI caps shareholder voting power. CaixaBank, a Spanish Bank that owns 44.1% of BPI, has offered €1.94 billion for the remaining 55.9% of BPI, or €1.329 per share. Unimpressed with this bid, Santos wrote a letter to BPI and Millennium BCP, a Portuguese rival to BPI, urging a merger. This attempt to thwart CaixaBank was followed by an 8% spike in BPI’s share price to €1.48 last Tuesday, while BCP rose 2.4%.
Citigroup Sells Subprime Lender to Springleaf
Citigroup has announced the sale of its consumer lending unit, OneMain Financial, to Springleaf Holdings for $4.25 billion. Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat has called OneMain “a terrific business” after the subprime lending unit turned profitable after difficult times throughout the global financial crisis (GFC). However, Mr. Corbat felt the business did not fit “the Citi model,” as the firm wants to focus on providing banking services to more affluent customers in the United States.
Valeant Triumphs Over Rivals in Pharmaceutical M&A Battle
The year 2014 saw $3.5 trillion in merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions, the most since 2008, and according to KPMG data, this year could be even bigger. The highly acquisitive Canadian pharmaceutical company, Valeant (VRX), recently added to 2015’s already growing total by entering a deal to purchase Salix Pharmaceuticals (SLXP) for a total value of $14.6 billion. (more…)
Burger King’s Parent Poised for Continued Growth Despite Fourth Quarter Loss
Restaurant Brands International, the third-largest fast-food chain restaurant group in the world, posted a quarterly loss in the fourth quarter of 2014. The rather large net loss of $514.2 million, attributable to shareholders, is particularly significant because it marks the first quarterly financial data available since the formation of the group through Burger King’s purchase of Canadian coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons. The loss can primarily be explained by “one-time costs related to the merger.”
CIT and One West to Merge
Commercial Investment Trust, a private commercial lender that focuses mainly on middle-market lending in various industries, recently announced its intent to acquire fellow bank One West. The CEO of CIT, John Thain, wants to take advantage of the synergies that will be created by marrying the commercial lending of CIT to the residential lending that dominates One West’s asset sheet. Yet investors may not be as keen on the deal given the two banks rocky experiences with the financial crisis.
Staples Proposes Merger with Office Depot: Merging the 3 Largest Office Supply Retailers
In an effort to compete with giants like Wal-Mart and Amazon, Staples announced its plan to purchase Office Depot in a $6.3 billion dollar deal. Staples is currently the world’s largest office supply chain store, posting annual revenues of $23.1 billion in 2013 [read performance summary here]. Office Depot posted revenues of $11.24 billion in the same year. Together, Staples and Office Depot control more than 70 percent of the office supply market.
AT&T to Acquire Nextel Mexico Through Bankruptcy Proceedings
AT&T’s goal of creating an all-encompassing North American Mobile Service just took another large step forward. The second-largest mobile-phone carrier in the United States recently agreed to buy Nextel Mexico for $1.875bn, less any outstanding debt of the business, in a transaction under Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
Consolidation in the Reinsurance Industry
Reinsurance is used by insurance companies to transfer some of their risk to other parties. The company willing to accept the risk is known as the reinsurer and the company transferring the risk is known as the “ceding company”. The reinsurer agrees to indemnify the ceding company against some of the primary insurance risks underwritten by the ceding company under one or more insurance contracts. The ceding company pays a premium to the reinsurer and in return it will receive a payment if specified event occurs. Examples include extensive damage from flooding and earthquakes.
Recap – M&A Speaker Series: The View from New York
On January 22, expert M&A attorneys from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP shared their perspectives on M&A practice and reviewed some of the newest developments in the field. The following is a recap of their discussion, which was co-sponsored by the Berkeley Center for Law, Business, and the Economy (BCLBE) and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.