The US$8.7 billion bid battle for Britain’s fourth-largest supermarket group, Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC, ratcheted up yesterday when a third private equity group, Apollo Global Management Inc, entered the fray.
US group Apollo, which last year missed out on buying Asda Stores Ltd, the No. 3 grocery player in the UK, said it was in the preliminary stages of evaluating a possible offer for Morrisons, but had not approached its board.
Morrisons on Saturday agreed to a takeover led by Softbank Group Corp-owned Fortress Investment Group LLC that valued the firm at ￡6.3 billion (US$8.7 billion).
Photo: Reuters
The offer from Fortress, along with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Koch Real Estate Investments, exceeded a ￡5.52 billion unsolicited proposal from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice LLC (CD&R), which Morrisons rejected on June 19.
However, it was less than the ￡6.5 billion asked for by top 10 Morrisons investor JO Hambro Capital Management Ltd last week.
Analysts have speculated that other private equity groups and Amazon.com Inc, which has a partnership deal with Morrisons, could create a potential bidding war.
Under British takeover rules CD&R has until Saturday next week to come back with a firm offer.
The Panel on Takeovers and Mergers is yet to announce the deadline by which Apollo must clarify its intentions in relation to Morrisons.
The interest in Morrisons underlines the growing appetite from private funds for British supermarket chains, which are seen as attractive because of their cash generation and freehold assets. The funds believe the stock market is not recognizing the grocers’ value in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, Apollo lost out on buying Asda to the Issa brothers and TDR Capital LLP.
Apollo says its private equity business had more than US$89 billion in assets under management by the end of March, in 150 companies such as Watches of Switzerland, telecommunications, media and technology group Endemol Shine, bookmaker Ladbrokes Coral Group PLC and Norwegian Cruise Line.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
RSS