Each month, we present you with a selection of M&A transactions that allow you to decipher industry trends. Here are the transactions we have selected for February:
- Maison Moderne, the Luxembourg media group that publishes the business magazine Paperjam , continues to invest in Bingo.lu, a real estate ad site launching in 2020 to rival atHome, the market leader in Luxembourg. In June 2023, Maison Moderne acquired 35% of the company via a contribution in kind (advertising space and visibility), and now holds 55% of the capital. Parus S.A., which manages Bingo.lu, recorded a loss of €588k in 2022.
- Villeroy & Boch has finalized the acquisition of Ideal Standard, a Brussels-based manufacturer of sanitaryware. Villeroy & Boch, a German ceramics manufacturer, becomes one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of bathroom products, doubling the sales of its Bathroom & Wellness division to €1.4 billion. Ideal Standard achieved sales of €737 million and an estimated EBITDA of €73.7 million in 2022. The agreement, signed in September 2023, values Ideal Standard at €600 million, or 8.1x EBITDA, and was finalized after receipt of the necessary approvals from the competition authorities.
- CMA CGM finalized the acquisition of Bolloré Logistics (€7.1 billion in sales) for €4.9 billion. This operation is part of French shipowner CMA CGM’s logistics expansion strategy, which began with the acquisition of Ceva Logistics in 2019 and was followed by the acquisitions of Ingram Micro, Colis Privé and Gefco. The group thus moves up to fifth place worldwide in logistics, closing in on Kuehne Nagel, DHL (Deutsche Post), DSV-Panalpina and DB Schenker. The transaction, signed in May 2023, was finalized after receiving the opinion of the competition authorities in some twenty countries.
- Beaumanoir has announced that it is in exclusive negotiations to acquire the European assets of Boardriders, known to the general public for its Quiksilver, Billabong, Roxy and DC Shoes clothing brands. Beaumanoir, a French family-owned group with sales of €2.2 billion, has stepped up its external growth strategy in recent years with the acquisition of La Halle, Caroll and Sarenza.
- Unseenlabs, a French company specializing in satellite-based maritime surveillance, has raised €85 million (€55 million in a capital increase and €30 million in a bank loan) in an operation led by the Isalt and Supernova funds to develop its international activities. The company, which currently manages 11 microsatellites in low-Earth orbit, plans to double this number by 2025.
- Amundi announced a binding agreement to acquire Alpha Associates, an independent Swiss asset manager specializing in private assets, for €350 million. Alpha Associates manages €8.5 billion in private debt, infrastructure and private equity assets. With this acquisition, Amundi, Europe’s leading asset manager, strengthens its expertise in the alternative sector, bringing the assets under management of its non-listed division to €76 billion.
- Capital One, an American bank backed by Warren Buffet, has signed the acquisition of credit card issuer Discover Financial Services ($20.6 billion in sales), the world’s4th largest credit card network behind Visa, Mastercard and American Express, for $35 billion. This transaction, carried out entirely via an exchange of shares, creates the sixth-largest US bank in terms of assets and the largest credit card issuer in the US in terms of loan volume.
#M&A #Market trends #Corporate strategy
