from RTT - Biotech https://ift.tt/2J7FU2y
via IFTTT
A total of $1.2tn spend greets US tax reform and faster European economic growth
Global mergers and acquisitions had their strongest start ever in the first quarter of 2018, totalling $1.2tn in value, as US tax reform and faster economic growth in Europe unleashed many companies’ dealmaking instincts.
Strong equity and debt markets and swelling corporate cash coffers also helped boost the confidence of chief executives, convincing them that now is as good a time as ever to pursue transformative mergers, dealmakers said.
Continue reading...Labour leader attacks Tories over engineering firm’s takeover by ‘asset stripper’ Melrose
Jeremy Corbyn has accused the government of putting the profits of speculators before the interests of staff at one of Britain’s oldest engineering firms, which is the object of a hostile takeover deal that has been labelled an “abuse of capitalism”.
On Thursday, shareholders in GKN, which made cannonballs for Waterloo and Spitfires for the second world war, voted to accept an £8.1bn offer from Melrose, a firm that specialises in turning round failing companies and selling them on at a profit, and which has been labelled an “asset stripper”.
You know things are bad when the Daily Mail calls out a rigged economic system.
The Tories have put the interests of city speculators over people's jobs.
Labour would have stopped the takeover of GKN and in government we'll make our economy work for the many, not the few. pic.twitter.com/J8U7rmK9BI
Playing long game in tussle with justice department has resulted in penalty investors can stomach
They fought the law, and the law won? At first glance, that is how Barclays’ $2bn (£1.4bn) settlement with the US Department of Justice may seem. The UK bank refused a deal with the DoJ 16 months ago but is now having to pay a large bill for polluting the financial system with mortgage junk – aka, residential mortgage-backed securities – between 2005 and 2007.
But resistance was not futile, which is the critical point. The sums are everything. Nobody will ever confirm figures, but it was widely reported that Barclays was offered a settlement at about $5bn in 2016. If so, chief executive Jes Staley’s threat to take the case to court was justified. The figure has more than halved.
Continue reading...Credibility gap, gung-ho Melrose investors, panicked breakup plan and tepid political reaction led to bid being accepted
On day one of Melrose’s bid for GKN in January, everybody in the City knew one thing. GKN, a 259-year old company that made cannonballs for Waterloo and Spitfires in the second world war, was doomed if its management mounted a defence based on its recent financial record.
GKN had disappointed its shareholders too often and three months previously had confessed to discovering a pile of overvalued stock in its US aerospace division. Credibility was low and GKN was up against a takeover specialist with a big City fanclub and a keen sense of when to pounce. As Melrose’s chairman, Christopher “Jock” Miller, volunteered, his firm had been watching GKN for years. The bidder was ready for action; the target wasn’t.
Related: GKN shareholders accept Melrose's £8bn hostile takeover
GKN is a global engineering business based in Redditch, Worcestershire. It employs nearly 60,000 people across 30 countries.
Continue reading...Vote on controversial final bid from turnaround specialist Melrose will conclude at 1pm on Thursday
The fate of 250-year-old British engineering company GKN will be decided on Thursday as shareholders vote on a hostile £8bn bid from turnaround specialist Melrose, which would represent the biggest UK hostile takeover for nearly a decade.
The increasingly bitter takeover battle has pitted one of Britain’s largest industrial groups, which began as a south Wales ironworks in 1759, against a company set up in 2003 with the aim of buying up and turning around underperforming businesses.
GKN is a global engineering business based in Redditch, Worcestershire. It employs nearly 60,000 people across 30 countries.
Related: MPs urge HMRC chief to investigate shareholder dealings in GKN takeover
Continue reading...Labour and Conservative MPs express concern over short-term investors’ tax liabilities if Melrose’s hostile bid for firm succeeds
A Labour and a Conservative MP have written to Britain’s most senior tax collector complaining that a substantial proportion of shares in GKN, the target of a hostile takeover bid, are being controlled by short-term investors in such a way that they will not have to pay tax if their shares are acquired by Melrose.
Labour MP Jack Dromey, who represents Birmingham Erdington, and Conservative MP Jeremy Lefroy, who represents Stafford, told the chief executive of HM Revenue & Customs, Jon Thompson, that they were unhappy that a chunk of the engineering group GKN was controlled by arbitrageurs holding shares via derivatives, meaning they were not liable for stamp duty on disposal.
Related: Melrose pledges to keep its HQ in UK after hostile GKN bid
Continue reading...UK firm offers to return £700m to investors if they back plan to merge auto business and keep aerospace
UK engineering company GKN, which is battling a hostile £7.8bn bid from turnaround specialist Melrose, sought to persuade shareholders to back an alternative deal with Dana by saying it would receive more cash from the US company and would return £700m to shareholders as soon as possible. GKN share price was slightly up on the news, rising by 0.16% to 429.7p in early morning trade.
Investors have to decide by Thursday noon whether to support the offer from Melrose or the GKN management plan to spin off its automotive business and merge it with the US-based Dana, leaving GKN focused on aerospace.
Continue reading...