Weekly Highlights: Deals
Ria V Vaghela Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in professional sports rose to a record $18.6 billion in 2022, a 79% increase compared to the previous year. The deals included the takeovers of the Denver Broncos football team and the English soccer club Chelsea FC, making these the biggest-ever deals in professional sports. More deals are expected to follow, particularly in soccer. The NFL’s Washington Commanders and Premier League’s Manchester United FC are both up for sale, with multibillion-dollar price tags.
Banks, such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Bank of America, are vying for revenue from trophy deals in the sports industry, including advising on deals where private equity firms buy slices of media rights.
Microsoft’s $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard is under scrutiny from the European Union antitrust watchdogs. Meanwhile, Hybe, the parent company of K-pop sensation BTS, has indicated that a takeover of SM Entertainment is crucial to solidifying K-pop’s influence and making it mainstream globally.
Teck Resources plans to spin off its steelmaking coal business to shareholders, focusing on producing base metals. Germany’s government is in talks to pay more than €20 billion for the local unit of power grid operator TenneT, a deal that could mark the beginning of a consolidation of the country’s power grids.
Italy may end a “stalemate” over the sale of Telecom Italia’s landline network by backing a single bid that would see state lender CDP joining forces with KKR, which has already submitted a preliminary offer. US-listed SPAC Bridgetown Holdings is considering a merger with financial technology firm Hyphen that could value the combined company at several hundred million dollars. Indonesian Amman Mineral Internasional is also considering an IPO in Jakarta that could raise as much as $1 billion.
2022 saw a significant shift in automakers’ strategy towards battery-metals miners, with companies increasingly considering takeovers and stake purchases instead of traditional long-term supply contracts to secure mining materials needed for EV batteries. Tesla has been weighing a takeover of battery-metals miner Sigma Lithium, while General Motors is competing for a stake in Brazilian mining giant Vale’s base metals unit. Demand for battery metals, including lithium, was forecast to jump by 28% to 4.8 million metric tons in 2022, racing to more than 17.5 million tons by the end of the decade.
Asia’s stock markets rallied early in the year, but initial public offering activity remained slow.
Other events included:
- Euronext made an indicative takeover offer to buy fund distribution platform Allfunds Group for €5.5 billion
- Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is among parties considering a bid for a 34% stake in Associated British Ports
- News Corp.’s deal to sell the parent of Realtor.com to CoStar is no longer under discussion
- Brookfield Asset Management-led consortium aims to finalize a A$15.3 billion takeover of Australian utility Origin Energy within weeks
- Talks between Saudi Arabia and Egypt over the purchase of Cairo-based United Bank have stalled
- Rio Tinto faces a tough battle to grow its lithium business, with some of the biggest carmakers prepared to pay a price it won’t match
- L Catterton is in advanced talks to acquire Ilegal Mezcal, which would be valued at less than $200 million in a transaction
Disclaimer: The information provided in this deals summary article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice. The deals and investments discussed in this article are subject to change and may not be representative of the overall market. The deals data is based on publicly available information and should not be taken as a guarantee of future performance. The information provided in this article is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice and readers should always conduct their own research and due diligence before making any investment decisions.
Ria Vaghela
MSc Finance graduate from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
Ria V Vaghela is an M&A Executive at RSM UK and an MSc Finance graduate from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She has worked at Jefferies, Dial Partners and 7i Capital prior to RSM UK gaining an experience of about 1.5 years. She has also worked as an Editor and Content Writer for The Representative Media. Apart from finance, she is interested in reading books on psychology and economics and also likes to paint and play lawn tennis
