Contributed by Martin Mitchell of the Corporate Training Group
Mergers and Acquisitions
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India’s biggest mobile operator Bharti Airtel is talking to South African rival MTN about a cross shareholding deal that could lead to a full merger. Under the proposal MTN would acquire 25% of Bharti with a cash payment of $2.9bn as well as some new shares. Bharti would buy 36% of MTN’s existing shares for R86 plus 0.5 a Bharti share per share.
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A deal to rescue the European arm of General Motors is nearing a conclusion. Canadian company Magna International looks the likely winner with a deal that also involves Russia’s Sberbank. Magna and Sberbank have offered €700m for 55% and also will provide €300m of emergency funding. Confirmation of the deal will unlock a €1.5bn bridging loan from the German government. General Motors is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US on Monday.
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City of London headhunter Whitehead Mann has held talks with US recruiter Korn/Ferry aimed at selling a majority stake in the business.
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Social networking site Facebook has accepted a $200m investment from Digital Sky Technologies, a private Russian internet investment group, that values Facebook at around $10bn. Goldman Sachs facilitated the deal by introducing the two parties.
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The London Metals Exchange (LME) has joined the consortium that already includes 11 banks and Icap, in the €830m bid for European clearer LCH.Clearnet. The banks are Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS, Barclays Capital, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Nomura.