UBS and Credit Suisse merging on July 1
Cracking the Vault: Your weekly roundup on all things finance
Good morning and happy Monday!
UBS and Credit Suisse merging on July 1, advancing integration; Uniper winning arbitration, ending Gazprom gas contracts; Meta halts AI assistant launch in Europe over privacy concerns; Adidas investigates China bribery allegations; US Senate expands BMW parts probe; Siemens Energy plans their largest ever offshore wind turbine; and Art Basel sales slow despite wealthy interest.
Let’s jump in!
Table of contents
Markets
Headline recap
Transaction update
People moves
Macro perspective
Podcast picks
Markets
Headline recap
Top stories
Merger of UBS and CS Switzerland expected to take place on July 1 as progress on combining the two entities is reported - previously not expected until the third quarter (FuW)
German utility Uniper won a $14bn arbitration against former long-time supplier Gazprom, allowing it to tear up dormant gas supply contracts and potentially setting a precedent for similar cases (REU)
Richemont’s luxury e-commerce platform Yoox Net-A-Porter pulling out of China, as weak consumer spending puts increasing strain on high-end brands’ operations (BBG)
Data protection advocates expressed major concerns forcing Meta to react - the company halted the planned launch of the AI assistant in Europe (WiWo)
Adidas managers and executives allegedly involved in bribery scandal in China - whistleblower got the case rolling and the company is investigating the allegations (MM)
Other noteworthy news
US Senate panel expands probe into BMW use of parts from banned Chinese supplier (REU)
Miele is cutting 1300 jobs in Germany and has already concluded a new collective agreement with IG Metall (MM)
Siemens Energy reportedly planning offshore wind turbine with 21 MW capacity, 40% more powerful than their largest turbine, outperforming the largest machines from China (BBG)
Struggling automotive supplier Preh - owned by the Chinese Joyson Group - announces massive job cuts affecting one in four jobs (MM)
At Art Basel, even the world's richest are hesitant to buy in 2024 as sales are happening, just not at the pace that dealers would prefer (BBG)
Transaction update
M&A
Major deals
Clayton Dubilier & Rice is emerging as frontrunner to acquire Stada Arzneimittel for €11bn as its current owners move closer to a decision over how to exit the German generic drugmaker (BBG)
German chemicals company Covestro is close to granting Adnoc access to in-depth due diligence in expectation of an improved takeover bid, signaling fresh impetus for the talks (BBG)
Buyout firms Hellman & Friedman, TPG and Vista Equity Partners are among remaining bidders for the software business of Aareal Bank (BBG)
BlackRock acquires majority stake in Germany's Mainova WebHouse, Mainova’s datacenter subsidiary (DCD)
Carlyle and the German state-owned bank KfW trying to secure a majority stake in defense contractor Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems for a valuation of €1.6bn (MM)
UBS entered final negotiations with a Beijing-backed fund over sale of Credit Suisse’s money-losing China venture after talks with Citadel Securities stalled (FuW)
Deutsche Lufthansa’s €325m investment in Italy’s ITA Airways set to be approved by the European Union (BBG)
Optician chain Fielmann continues to expand in the USA and acquires Shopko Optical from investor Monarch Alternative Capital (MM)
Swedish financial investor EQT could acquire a minority stake in Flix and would allow the long-distance bus and rail operator to raise more money than an IPO (MM)
Mubadala Investment proposed selling troubled insurance tech startup Wefox to UK insurance broker Ardonagh Group in a deal opposed by the German firm’s founders (BBG)
Other notable deals
Invision agreed to sell its stake in ROOF to United Talent Agency (BBG)
Mutares sells Balcke-Dürr Nuklear Service, a provider of nuclear decommissioning and engineering services, to Cyclife Germany (PEH)
EMERAM acquired a majority stake in Garderos, a provider of ruggedized router solutions for secure data communication and optimal connectivity in harsh environments (MAJ)
Accenture completed acquisition of Parsionate, a Stuttgart-based data consultancy specialized in data products and modern data foundation services (FS)
EMERAM acquired a stake in the German D2C provider of high-quality dog and cat food Provital (MAJ)
Business operations of luxury department stores KaDeWe (Berlin), Oberpollinger (Munich) and Alsterhaus (Hamburg) are sold to Thai Central Group (MM)
Windyty, the operator of the weather service Windy.com, acquired a majority stake in Meteoblue, a Basel-based company providing high-precision weather forecasting services (ST)
Montana Aerospace sells 100% of the shares in Alu Menziken Extrusion to Mengtai Germany, the German subsidiary of the Chinese Mengtai Group (FuW)
Emmi acquires coffee roasting company Hochstrasser, which roasts the coffee beans for the Emmi Caffè Latte brand among other things (FuW)
FemtoTools, a developer of nanoindentation instruments, acquired by Oxford Instruments for CHF24m (ST)
IPO
German technology group Robert Bosch is open to public listings of certain divisions as it explores financing options for acquisitions (REU)
Venture capital
Düsseldorf-based Cognigy, specialized in AI customer service agents, ****raised $100m in a Series C financing round, led by Eurazeo Growth (STU)
Vienna-based fintech Fiskaly secures an investment of €20m to €250m from European private equity investor Verdane (BK)
Under the new management of Benedikt Kalteier, the insurance start-up Clark is aiming for a large financing round and secure €100m (FWD)
Austrian startup SwiftSolar raised $27m in a Series A financing round, led by Eni Next and Fontinalis Partners (BK)
BrickMark Group attracts CHF10m from tokenization pioneers Dynasty Global Investments as part of a Series A financing (ST)
Munich-based ARX Robotics announced the closing of a €9m financing round, led by NATO Innovation Fund (EUS)
Verdane backs Fiskaly, a cloud-based fiscalisation provider (PEH)
Restate, a Berlin-based startup that takes the guesswork out of building distributed applications, raised $7m in seed funding, led by Redpoint Ventures (FS)
Rivia, a Zurich-based startup specializing in AI-driven analytics and clinical trial data infrastructure for Biotechs, raised €3m in Seed funding, led by Speedinvest (FS)
Fundraising & Financing
Partners Group closes its fifth direct private equity program with total commitments above its target of $15bn (PR)
German real estate lender Deutsche Pfandbriefbank’s bid to buy back some of its bonds fell short as investors opted to hold on to them (BBG)
With the HTGF Opportunity Fund, High-Tech Gründerfonds launched another fund with a volume of €660m and is focused on supporting startups in advanced growth phases (BMK)
Bankruptcies
Swiss authorities shut down FlowBank, saying the online-trading platform had run short of capital and its financial situation is much worse than originally reported (WSJ)
Weltbild Group files for insolvency of its largest subsidiary (FM)
Logistics billionaire Klaus-Michael Kuehne anticipates triple-digit million-euro losses from investments in the insolvent real estate firm Signa Prime Selection (BBG)
People moves
Swatch Group shaking up executive management committee just months after watch and jewelery maker faced investor calls for improved corporate governance (BBG)
After a year of searching, Hamburg Commercial Bank (HCOB) found a new CEO in Luc Popelier (FM)
André Wehrhahn, CFO at the bathroom fittings manufacturer Hansgrohe, will step down (FM)
Emmi CFO Sacha Gerber is leaving the company after just one year and will be succeeded by his former deputy (FM)
Macro perspective
Despite warnings from German car bosses, the EU Commission is imposing punitive tariffs of up to 38.1% on certain electric cars from China on condition that no other solution is found by the beginning of July (MM)
80 countries at Swiss conference agree territorial integrity of Ukraine must be basis of any peace (CNBC)
German finance ministry considering a supplementary budget for this year with additional borrowing of as much as €11bn (BBG)
More and more Germans can’t make ends meet as the shocks of recent years gradually work their way through Europe’s largest economy (BBG)
Germany in talks with Uzbekistan over migration pact including deportation of Afghan asylum seekers so that Berlin does not have to make any direct deals with the Taliban (BBG)
Podcast picks
Screw It, Let's Do It: Lessons in Life by Richard Branson (Founders)
No Mercy / No Malice: Second Mouse.AI (The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway)
The paths to power: How to grow your influence and advance your career with Jeffrey Pfeffer (Lenny's Podcast)
Until next time, stay curious!
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