Merger Monday: Gilead Sciences Inc. (Nasdaq: GILDF) is acquiring Immunomedics Inc. (Nasdaq: IMMU) for about $21 billion, a substantial premium for the maker of a promising breast-cancer therapy, and another big bet by Gilead that an innovative tumor-fighting drug can boost its fortunes. The New Jersey-based target makes a breast-cancer treatment called Trodelvy that gained approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April. Trodelvy’s approval came after clinical trial data showed it beat back triple-negative breast cancer for almost four months longer than chemotherapy in patients getting the medication as a third line of therapy. The hard-to-treat disease -- which accounts for about 10 to 15 percent of all breast cancers -- doesn’t respond to many of the current treatment regimens. Immunomedics plans to file for full approval of the medicine later this year, reports Bloomberg News. Faced with declining sales of its blockbuster hepatitis C treatments, Gilead has been making efforts to expand in oncology for several years. In 2017, it paid $11.9 billion to take over Kite Pharma, the maker of CAR-T cancer therapy Yescarta. But that treatment hasn’t seen the kind of stellar sales that analysts hoped for, and the slow start has increased pressure on Gilead to find a standout cancer treatment. Gilead has been focusing on drugs that harness the immune system to fight tumors. Earlier in 2020, it paid about $4.9 billion for drugmaker Forty Seven and its experimental immunotherapy drug magrolimab. It has also forged agreements with companies including Arcus Biosciences Inc. and Jounce Therapeutics Inc., which are also working on experimental immuno-oncology treatments. Foster City, California-based Gilead has been in the spotlight this year because of its antiviral therapy remdesivir, the first drug to gain clearance for treating Covid-19. Read the full story by Bloomberg News: Gilead ramps up cancer focus with $21 billion Immunomedics deal.
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted entire industries in 2020, but perhaps none so much as healthcare. Contained in one industry is the global competition to develop test, manufacture and distribute a Covid-19 vaccine in record time and the fight to save patients from a virus that has infected more than 5 million people and killed more than 190,000 in the U.S. alone. The healthcare industry is also developing Covid-19 treatments; producing, administering and interpreting tests; and adapting new technologies and better methods for healthcare delivery and interaction with patients.For the full story, see: Covid-19 vaccines, tests and treatments spur healthcare M&A deals.
DEAL NEWS
Nvidia Corp. (Nasdaq: NVDA) is buying SoftBank Group Corp.’s chip division Arm Ltd. for $40 billion, taking control of some of the most widely used electronics technology in the semiconductor industry’s largest-ever deal. Nvidia will pay $21.5 billion in stock and $12 billion in cash for the U.K.-based chip designer, including a $2 billion payment at signing. SoftBank may receive an additional $5 billion in cash or stock if Arm’s performance meets certain targets, the companies said in a statement. An additional $1.5 billion will be paid to Arm employees in Nvidia stock. Arm’s importance far outweighs its revenue, which comes from licensing chip fundamentals and selling processor designs. Its technology is at the heart of the more than 1 billion smartphones sold annually. Chips that use its code and its layouts are in everything from factory equipment to home electronics. Read the full story by Bloomberg: Nvidia buys SoftBank’s arm in record $40 billion chip deal.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) is acquiring TracFone Wireless Inc. from America Movil SAB for as much as $6.9 billion, as the largest U.S. wireless carrier seeks to expand its mobile business into the so-called prepaid market. Verizon will pay $3.125 billion in cash and $3.125 billion in stock, with as much as $650 million additional tied to performance goals, it said in a statement. TracFone, a U.S. prepaid mobile service, is a subsidiary of billionaire Carlos Slim’s Mexico-based wireless carrier. It’s the largest U.S. prepaid service, with 21 million subscribers. The acquisition comes as Verizon faces new pressure from an enlarged T-Mobile US Inc., which concluded its merger with Sprint Corp. earlier this year. T-Mobile has 20.6 million prepaid subscribers, with the largest group under the Metro brand. AT&T Inc. has 18 million prepaid subscribers, most under its Cricket brand. Though Verizon is the largest wireless carrier overall, with 116 million regular monthly subscribers, it has only 4 million prepaid customers. Read the full story by Bloomberg: Verizon buys TracFone Wireless for up to $6.9 billion.
Red Ventures is buying CNET Media Group from ViacomCBS for $500 million. "Red Ventures is eager to invest in CNET Media Group's growth with more personalized consumer experiences that will reinvigorate CNET Media Group's brands and unlock unprecedented opportunity for all," says Red Ventures CEO Ric Elias. Evercore and K&L Gates are advising Red Ventures. Citi and Shearman & Sterling LLP are advising ViacomCBS.
Thomas H. Lee Partners is purchasing a majority stake in Insurance Technologies LLC from NexPhase Capital. The target offers sales and regulatory automation services for the insurance and financial services industries. William Blair and Lowenstein Sandler LLP are advising Insurance Technologies. Houlihan Lokey, Kirkland & Ellis and Oliver Wyman are advising TH Lee.
Francisco Partners-backed Dynamo Software has acquired Imagineer Technology Group. The latter provides investor relations and reporting software for hedgefunds. Kirkland & Ellis advised Francisco Partners
PEOPLE MOVES
Colin Phinisey was promoted to head of debt capital markets at private equity firm HGGC. He joined the firm in 2018. In addition, Peter Cozzi and Hao Qin were promoted to vice president, and Patrick Malanga was promoted to senior associate. The promotions come as HGGC closed 29 deals in the first half of 2020.
John Rhea has joined investment bank Centerview Partners as a partner where he is focusing consumer and real estate sectors. He was previously with Siebert Williams Shank & Co.
Linn Mayhew was hired by law firm McGuireWoods as a partner where she is focusing on leveraged finance. She was previously with NatWest.
CORONAVIRUS IMPACT
The pet supply sector is soaring during the pandemic, as demand for companion animals, particularly dogs and cats, is rising with people turning to comfort while quarantined. Consumers continue to spend more money on their pets even while cutting back in other areas, and are treating pets as family members. Earlier in 2020, Petmate acquired Pet Qwerks, a maker of dog chews and toys. Carl Marks Advisors advised the target. Mergers & Acquisitions' spoke with Carl Marks managing director Chris Parisi about the deal and M&A trends in the sector. Read the full story: Q&A: Rise in pandemic-driven dog and cat adoptions attracts Petmate and other M&A buyers.
Today’s private equity firms face greater risk and uncertainty when evaluating potential portfolio acquisitions, in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. While things like market size and product quality are still important factors, private equity firms must also gauge a portfolio company’s character and ability to withstand economic turbulence. Read the full article: Agility matters: 4 signs PE firms should examine when considering acquisitions.
Car dealerships saw a drop in sales during the height of the pandemic from the slowdown in production with less people driving, and that impacted some deals. For example, Asbury Automotive Group Inc. (NYSE: ABG) originally backed away from its $1 billion acquisition of Park Place Dealerships. However, citing a pickup in business, Asbury revived the deal for $735 million. Now some dealmakers are predicting robust sector dealflow in the second half of 2020. Mergers & Acquisitions spoke with Erin Kerrigan, managing director of auto dealership-focused investment bank Kerrigan Advisors about deal trends in the industry. Read the full story: M&A among car dealers expected to reach record levels in the second half of the year.
With everything from Broadway to indoor dining closed, people are starved for entertainment. Enter mobile gaming. Despite restrictions slowly easing, mobile games are expected to see strong interest in the long-term and game makers are looking for acquisitions to keep their portfolios fresh. “There’s a lot of supply of great companies out there, big, small and different categories in different regions of the world," Zynga CEO Frank Gibeau recently told investors. He pointed out that Zynga has the cash to make more deals and will continue to look for them. "So, consolidation is obviously underway in the interactive category. We’re actively participating in growth through finding partnerships with companies out there. Scale is going to be increasingly important in mobile.” Read the full story: Quarantine drives M&A in mobile gaming.
Covid-19 and quarantines may lead to an increase in carve-out deals. The Covid quarantines across the globe led to economic disruption. All sectors of the economy are impacted. Many corporations looking to improve their financial situation will likely look to sell non-core units. Read the full article: More carve-out deals ahead, driven by pandemic.
The construction software industry is fragmented, and there is a growing demand for technology that will help contractors, drawing deal activity particularly from strategic buyers. One company that is active in the sector is Autodesk Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSK), which recently aquired Pype. Pype's software helps automate construction projects. Mergers & Acquisitions spoke with Sidharth Haksar, Autodesk's director of corporate development about the Pype deal. Read the full story: Autodesk seeks construction software deals during pandemic.
Deal activity in the cybersecurity sector is being driven by a combination of rising cyber threats and more people working from home. Earlier in 2020, Francisco Partners and Vector Capital-backed cybersecurity company WatchGuard Technologies acquired network security provider Panda Security. Mergers & Acquisitions spoke with WatchGuard CEO Prakash Panjwani about the Panda deal and M&A trends in the sector. "The security market will continue to experience significant consolidation throughout 2020 and beyond," says Panjwani. "This has been and will continue to be driven by customer needs. As the volume and sophistication of security threats continue to grow, vendors will answer with innovative new solutions. At the same time, the security expertise and resources required to deploy and manage those solutions will continue to be scarce." Read our full coverage: Work from home and increasing cyber threats will drive cybersecurity M&A.
While the novel coronavirus has reshaped the U.S. economy and the healthcare industry, pharmaceutical manufacturing has proven resilient—both in terms of business durability and its increasingly critical role in the global response to the virus. Covid-19 crystalized the U.S. dependence on overseas manufacturing for finished dose products as well as the active pharmaceutical ingredients necessary to produce life-saving medications. Read the full article: Why investors need to consider pharmaceutical manufacturing services.
EQUALITY AND INCLUSION
Bank of America Corp. invested $50 million in three Black-owned banks as part of its $1 billion pledge over four years to advance racial equality. The second-largest U.S. lender took equity stakes of about 5% in three minority depository institutions: First Independence Corp. in Detroit, Liberty Financial Services Inc. in New Orleans and SCCB Financial Corp. in Columbia, South Carolina. The bank also laid out plans for other initiatives aimed at promoting racial and economic equality, including $200 million allocated to direct equity investments in Black- and Hispanic-owned businesses. Read the full story by Bloomberg News: BofA invests $50 Million in black-owned banks in equality drive.
Ten private equity firms have pledged to each create and post five board seats to make them available to minority and women candidates, participating in an initiative to increase diversity on company boards of directors. Aurora Capital Partners, Clearlake Capital, Genstar Capital, Grain Management, Hellman & Friedman, Hg, Insight Partners, K1 Investment Management, TA Associates and Vista Equity Partners have committed to the board initiative announced by Diligent Corp., provider of company governance software and a portfolio company of Clearlake and Insight. Read our full coverage: Clearlake, Insight, Vista and other private equity firms create 50 new board roles for diverse candidates.
Portfolia Rising America Fund "invests directly in early and growth-stage companies in the U.S. led by people of color and/or LGBTQ founders, or products and services that cater to these markets," says investment partner Lorine Pendleton in a Q&A with Mergers & Acquisitions. "These are founders, ecosystems, products and services historically overlooked by traditional venture capitalists but positioned for significant growth and profitability." The firm is led by five women of color. In addition to Pendleton, the firm's leaders are: Noramay Cadena, co-founder and managing partner of MiLA Capital; Daphne Dufresne, a managing partner of GenNx 360 Capital Partners; Juliana Garaizar, an angel investor; and Karen Kerr, executive managing director at GE Ventures. "We believe that strength lies in differences and seek out entrepreneurs and startups who are using shifting demographics and their own diversity of experience and thought to create innovation that offers outsized opportunities for returns and impact." The fund had its first close earlier in 2020 and has made two investments to date: The first investment is in MoCaFi, a fintech startup founded by Wole Coaxum, a former JPMorgan Chase commercial banking executive and entrepreneur, who is African American. "MoCaFi offers a mobile-first banking platform that brings digital banking products to underbanked or unbanked communities (an 88 million U.S. market), allowing them to build credit and financial mobility," Pendleton explains. The second investment is in a women’s tele-medicine network. For more, read the full interview: Led by 5 women of color, Portfolia Rising America Fund backs mobile banking and women's telemedicine startups.
"As stewards of capital we have an outsized role in determining which businesses to support," says Mina Pacheco Nazemi of Barings Alternative Investments. "As asset allocators, we need to hold ourselves accountable. I can do more. Will you join me?" Dealmakers begin to weigh in, as Gerge Floyd's death sparked two weeks of Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality and racial injustice. Read the story: "Justice doesn’t just happen. It requires action, dedication and accountability," says one private equity investor.
MORE FEATURED CONTENT
Mergers & Acquisitions, the oldest trade publication serving the dealmaker community, has been acquired by Middle Market Information LLC from Arizent. Started in 1965 as Mergers & Acquisitions: a Dealmakers Journal, M&A’s print and digital magazine, news website, daily email newsletters and social media channels inform private equity firms, strategic acquirers, investment banks and other deal intermediaries on breaking news, emerging trends, and rising stars in the industry. Middle Market Information, a B2B data and information company, says M&A will retain its core values of providing quality intelligence to discerning professionals in the dealmaking community. “We are delighted to have an opportunity to invest in and grow Mergers & Acquisitions, a brand that’s been trusted by dealmakers for over 55 years,” said Middle Market Information CEO Jim Beecher. “This industry needs an independent voice that can deliver thoughtful analysis and deep coverage of both private equity and corporate deal activity. Through our website, www.themiddlemarket.com, and our publication, we will build upon the foundation of the brand and deliver an even better experience for the community in the coming months and years.” Editor-in-Chief Mary Kathleen Flynn adds: "The new challenges M&A and private equity professionals are facing in 2020 underscore the need for the trusted, insightful editorial content we produce at Mergers & Acquisitions and themiddlemarket.com. We've built a great foundation under Arizent, and we're looking forward to growing and extending our brand further with Jim and Middle Market Information." See full coverage: Middle Market Information LLC buys Mergers & Acquisitions publishing brand.
Mergers & Acquisitions is recognizing nine dealmakers as the 2020 Rising Stars of Private Equity:
- David Farsai, Principal, Mainsail Partners, who is the first at the firm to rise from associate to principal
- Andrea McGuirt, Senior Associate, Palladium Equity Partners, who established a strategy for sourcing and executing opportunities in the current deal environment
- Molly Fitzpatrick, Vice President, Rallyday Partners, who led three investments and a divestment for the new PE firm
- Jenny Zhang, Vice President, Investments, Grain Management, who helps portfolio companies in the telecom infrastructure sector find organic growth opportunities
- Ross Stern, Principal, Summit Partners, who played a role in nearly $1.3 billion worth of healthcare company investments
- Arjun Mehta, Vice President, Bregal Sagemount, who has made eight platform investments and seven add-on acquisitions
- Miguel Tejeda, Vice President, Motive Partners, who stands out for his investment acumen and ability to distill complicated concepts and processes
- Clara Jackson, Principal, TA Associates, who has become a trusted supporter during the pandemic to help portfolio companies remain sustainable
- KJ McConnell, Principal, GTCR, who played a leading role in about 10 of the group’s last dozen deals
Click here for full coverage of Mergers & Acquisitions' 2020 Rising Stars of Private Equity.
In the challenging times we face now, it’s more important than ever to come together as a community and recognize the people and companies that excel and lead. We invite you to join us in honoring the 2019 winners of Mergers & Acquisitions’ M&A Mid-Market Awards. In contrast with the volatile coronavirus-driven conditions unfolding in 2020, the dealmaking environment of 2019 was remarkably stable. Among the PE firms benefitting from the auspicious fundraising climate was Vista Private Equity, which raised a $16 billion fund – the largest technology-focused PE fund ever raised. Mergers & Acquisitions is honoring Vista founder and CEO Robert F. Smith with our 2019 Dealmaker of the Year award. In addition to leading his firm’s unprecedented fundraising, Smith excelled in philanthropy. When he spoke at the commencement of Morehouse College, he announced he would pay off all the student loans of the HBCU’s 2019 graduates, providing a helping hand in the student debt crisis facing many U.S. families. The financial services sector saw a lot of consolidation in 2019. Piper Jaffray wins our 2019 Deal of the Year for buying Sandler O’Neill to form Piper Sandler, which instantly became a leading investment bank in the financial services sector. And Stifel wins our 2019 Investment Bank of the Year for growing dramatically and making several acquisitions. Read our full awards coverage: Meet the winners of Mergers & Acquisitions’ M&A Mid-Market Awards.
To celebrate deals, dealmakers and dealmaking firms, Mergers & Acquisitions produces three special reports every year: the M&A Mid-Market Awards; the Rising Stars of Private Equity; and the Most Influenital Women in Mid-Market M&A. For an overview of what we're looking for in each project, including timelines, see Special reports overview: M&A Mid-Market Awards, Rising Stars, Most Influential Women.
Editor's Note: M&A wrap is a bi-weekly column, published on Mondays and Thursdays
