Category: M&A

Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau has taken its first step into Asia with the acquisition of a 45% stake in India’s SJK Steel Plant. In a note to regulators on Friday, the company said that it has agreed to pay around $71m for the shareholding. The plant has an production capacity of around 275,000 metric tons.

Oslo-listed Peruvian fishing company Copeinca is raising at least 780m Norwegian kroner ($130m) via a marketed private placement of shares this week to help pay for the acquisition of Piangesa, another fishing company. The company’s officials are on roadshow in New York and Europe, including stops in Frankfurt, London and Oslo. The deal will up the company’s float by 26% to 58.5m shares, from 46.5m, in a transaction that is dilutive to existing shareholders. The company recently issued 6.2m shares to help pay for another acquisition and raised a $185m loan at Libor plus 350bp via Credit Suisse and three other banks for acquisitions and general purposes. The private placement of shares will close Thursday, and is being managed by Glitnir Securities and SEB Enskilda, two Norwegian firms.

The acquisition of RBTT by FirstCaribbean is apparently in the works, but Caribbean-based bankers say that the two financial institutions are still hammering out a price. According to people close to the banks, the combined entity would have assets of almost $20 billion, making it the biggest in the region. The retail and corporate/investment banking operations are seen as complementary and forming a regional banking powerhouse. Meanwhile, RBTT is heard working on a variety of corporate finance deals, including bi-lateral loans in Venezuela. Officials at both banks did not answer requests for comment on the likely merger. FirstCaribbean is owned by CIBC.

Chilean retailer Cencosud says it is evaluating the acquisition of some Unimarc assets. In a filing with the country’s securities market regulator, SVS, Cencosud said it was interested in some of the assets of the local supermarket chain but had reached no agreement as yet with Unimarc.

Mexican satellite company Satélites Mexicanos (SatMex) says it has rejected all recent offers of acquisition, including one recently revealed from French satellite operator Eutelsat, saying that all have “failed to meet its ojectives”. Local companies Teléfonos de México and Grupo Televisa had earlier expressed an interest in bidding, as had European conglomerate SES Global. Last year SatMex successfully restructured to position itself as a target in the consolidating satellite communications sector. It appointed Morgan Stanley to advise on the sale to a strategic buyer. The restructuring, which has been praised for its fair treatment of foreign creditors, left 78% of the company’s equity in the hands of the debt holders. The remaining 22% is held by the Mexican government (20%) and jointly by local telco Principa and US operator Loral (2%).

Moody’s has put Banco Santander Banespa on positive outlook after the announcement of a proposed acquisition of ABN AMRO by a consortium including RBS, Santander and Fortis. “The potential acquisition of ABN AMRO’s Brazilian operations by Santander would double the existing share of assets and deposits of its subsidiary, Santander Banespa, and would raise it to a leading position in the Brazilian banking system,” says Moody’s. “A potential combination of Santander Banespa and ABN AMRO Real would also generate geographic and business synergies that could favor earnings,” it adds. Moody’s also noted that Santander’s track record of acquisitions and cost streamlining in LatAm would be positive for Banespa’s ratings, owing to gains of scale. As of March 31, Banespa had consolidated assets of 101.3bn reais and 8.6bn reais in equity.