PUBLISHED IN THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW, 30 JULY 2014 The “soap opera drama” around the merger between South Africa’s Woolworths and David Jones deal will put pressure on the company to show some fast results, an expert in post merger and acquisition integration says. Carlos Keener, founding...
There has been a 54% year-on-year increase in the value of M&A activity targeted on the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2014 with announced deals valued at US$79.5bn so far this year – the highest YTD volume since 2011’s US$91.3bn –...
The suggestion that China is about to start privatising large chunks of its giant state-owned enterprises is certain to pique the interest of international investors, although the devil – as always – will be in the detail. It was the decision of the Government of Beijing...
As economic conditions at last begin to strengthen around the globe, indicators confirm that M&A is resuming levels of activity not seen since 2007. As we've said many times before, while deals are becoming easier to complete, their ability to generate long-term value will remain...
The US$2.6bn sale by Petrobras of its Peruvian interests to PetroChina confirms the growing extent to which the financially stretched state-run Brazilian oil company is coming to depend on the Chinese for cash. The deal comes less than a month after PetroChina’s CNPC parent and the...
In a revealing interview setting out his strategic priorities, the chief executive-elect of Pernod Ricard, Alexandre Ricard, has emphasised that his company will actively look for acquisition opportunities in the US. Ricard lamented that the US accounts for 40% of the group’s sales but little more...
Earlier this week the Wall Street Journal and others reported on Xstrata Glencore's post-merger writedown of $7.7bn, equivalent to over 10% of the combined annual turnover for the group, and over 13 times the targeted annual synergies of $500 million. More so than any other...
According to figures compiled by consulting firm DC Advisory, China has now overtaken the UK, Canada and Germany to rival Japan and the US as the nation with the world’s most acquisitive companies. Significantly, the report suggests that alongside the well-known tale of breakneck growth and increasing consumerism, “China is attempting a huge shift from an order-taker to an innovator, producing leading technology and infrastructure for both domestic and global markets.”1 What does this mean for ‘Western’ entities intending to join forces with a new Chinese parent company?