1. A bidding war is brewing for Manchester United
Britain’s richest man and founder of Ineos, Sir Jim Ratcliffe will rival Sheikh Jassim in bidding for arguably England’s biggest football club, Manchester United. This comes after a decade of scrutiny against the current owners, the Glazer family, who have withdrawn more than £150m in dividends. The takeover is likely to break the record price for a sports team, even exceeding the $4.6bn that the Denver Broncos American Football team was bought for in 2022. In his pursuit, Ratcliffe has hired both JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs to act as advisers. The Qataris certainly have the edge based off pure financial power; however the English billionaire has been determined to leverage sentimental factors such as being a boyhood fan to win over the decision makers.
2 Adani halts expansion plan amidst Hindenburg drama
After being attacked by New York short seller Hindenburg Research, who accused them of stock manipulation and fraud, Adani group is having to reconsider their proposed $847m acquisition of a coal power station in Chhattisgarh, India. Since the accusation, Adani Enterprise Ltd share price has crumbled by over 50% and in quarterly earnings announcements, several of the companies with the Adani portfolio announced they would be scaling back on capital expenditure. Adani Group has strongly denied the allegations, however this has not been enough to prevent a huge fall in confidence, causing a knock on effect of soaring yields and falling prices on its corporate bonds.
3. KKR owned BMC software files for IPO
KKR owned technology firm, BMC software, has reportedly filed for an initial public offering. KKR bought BMC in 2018 for $8.5bn, from a private investor group led by Bain Capital Private Equity and Golden Gate Capital. This rumoured IPO comes at a time of great uncertainty in the technology sector, which has been caused by widespread sell off and employee redundancies in major firms such as Microsoft. However, diminishing fears of a looming recession, as well as confidence that further monetary policy tightening is unlikely could indicate that valuations are returning to normal. Depending on the scale of market recovery from this, it could lead to BMC being valued anywhere between $14bn and $15bn.
4. HPS and Apollo set to participate in record $5.5 billion credit deal
Private credit firms Apollo and HPS have offered a $5.5 billion loan for the buyout of healthcare technology firm Cotiviti. This will make it the largest financing arrangement for a buyout by private credit firms. Blackstone and other lenders have also been rumoured to be participating in Carlyle's buyout of Cotiviti
5. Price Yachts to be sold to US PE firm KPS Capital Partners
UK's largest luxury boat maker currently owned by PE firm L Catterton is rumoured to be sold to US based firm KPS. This will add to KPS's portfolio which consists of companies in branded consumer goods, luxury and healthcare sectors amongst other things. The firm currently has $14.1 billion under management