Payments giant Worldpay, Inc Class A Com Stk (DI) (WPY) has been sold for £37bn ($43bn) to US rival Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) in the biggest merger yet for its sector. This deal announced Monday will grant Worldpay shareholders $11 a share in cash as well as 0.9287 of a FIS share, worth a combined $112.12 as of last week. The announcement was billed as a merger but will see FIS shareholders take a 53% stake in the combined group, while Worldpay investors will have 47%. The combined entity will have approximately $12.3bn pro forma 2018 annual revenue, the companies said.
Low-cost airline easyJet (EZJ) has withdrawn from talks to join a rescue deal for Italy’s troubled carrier Alitalia, which collapsed into administration two years ago. EasyJet had been mulling a capital injection of up to €400m (£341m) as part of a consortium with Italy’s state-controlled railway Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane and US airline Delta in a bid to keep Alitalia afloat. The Sunday Telegraph reported over the weekend that Italian officials had travelled to the US to drum up interest in the ailing carrier as concerns mounted that EasyJet would walk away from discussions to form a “new Alitalia”.
Sir Martin Sorrell said that his new advertising venture S4 Capital (SFOR) was “firing on all cylinders” despite reporting a loss in its first set of results. S4 is comprised of Dutch advertising company MediaMonks bought last July, and California-based digital agency MightHive, which helps larger companies buy online advertising, added in December. In its first set of annual results, S4 posted a pre-tax loss of £9.1m for the year to December on revenues of £54.8m. However, when results from MediaMonks and Mightyhive for the full year were included, the company reported pre-tax profits of £7.6m, while revenues shot up 58% to £135.9m.
The children of Footasylum’s co-founder are in for a £50m windfall after waving through a takeover bid by rival JD Sports. JD Sports Fashion (JD.) has offered to buy the struggling shoe retailer for £90m, paying 82.5p per share for the company. The price tag represents a 77% premium to Footasylum (FOOT) shares before news of the bid was made public. The deal will net Clare Nesbitt, chief executive of Footasylum, and her siblings Thomas Makin and Amy Mason, a bumper pay-out. They each own 7.47% of Footasylum, but they are also the sole beneficiaries of a trust set up by John Wardle, who co-founded both JD Sports and Footasylum with their father David Makin and had no children of his own.
Domino’s Pizza Group (DOM) has denied reports that it misled investors over the extent of its strained relationship with its franchise partners, who run most of its stores. The delivery chain has been embroiled in a row with some of its franchisees, who are refusing to open new stores unless they get a bigger slice of the company’s profits. Domino’s received a letter from a group of store owners who said they were “at total odds” with the company and claimed that its suggestions of a resolution were “extremely misleading”, the Sunday Times reported. On Monday Domino’s hit back at the claims, saying that it “strongly refutes the reported allegations”.
Moss Bros Group (MOSB) has appointed Colin Porter, the chief executive of fashion brand Joules Group (JOUL), as its new chairman. Despite the high profile-nature of both roles, Mr Porter said he had no intention of giving up his role at Joules when he takes the chairmanship at the suit hire company in May. “This is an exciting appointment for me and one which I am very much looking forward to. However, I would like to reiterate that I remain as active in and committed to my role as chief executive of Joules as ever,” he said. Mr Porter will replace long-serving chairman Debbie Hewitt, who joined Moss Bros nearly a decade ago. She also chairs The Restaurant Group and Visa Europe.
Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank launch merger talks. Germany’s Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank have begun talks about a merger after getting approval about a tie-up from the Berlin government. Discussions about a combination will move forward after politicians indicated that they would accept job losses and other cost cuts that a merger would entail. The boards of both banks are understood to have met separately on Sunday about starting talks, before confirming that formal discussions about a tie-up will begin. In a statement, Deutsche said that its management board had decided to “review strategic options… focused on improving the growth profile and profitability of the bank.
Patisserie Valerie administrators face legal challenge over fraud report. Patisserie Holdings (CAKE) shareholders are threatening to take the collapsed chain’s administrators KPMG to court to get hold of a devastating report alleged to show how the company’s cash balances were artificially inflated. Produced by forensic accountants at PwC, the document is alleged to detail a suspected fraud running to tens of millions of pounds. It is claimed to reveal how suppliers provided fake invoices and multi-million pound cheques were submitted to bolster the company’s finances.
Barclays board faces fresh cull under incoming chairman. Barclays (BARC) board faces a sweeping overhaul in the coming months as incoming chairman Nigel Higgins prepares to further stamp his mark on the bank. Sources told The Telegraph that a major cull will take place later this year as the veteran Rothschild investment banker prepares to replace John McFarlane in May. Four non-executives have left the board in the past few weeks alone after investors pushed for change. The exits mean that 11 of the bank’s 14 remaining board members are seeking re-election at the group’s annual meeting in May. One Barclays shareholder said “not many of the existing team” will remain after the shake-up takes place amid investor demands to shrink the board’s size.
£10bn of North Sea deals may have stalled, quashing hopes about the region’s revival. The North Sea revival has hit an almost $10bn impasse since the steep drop in oil prices late last year, leaving a string of billion-dollar deals high and dry. Major oil companies have put at least six portfolios of UK oil and gas assets on the block since last summer, but none of have been agreed despite strong private equity fuelled interest in the deals. The stalemate between buyers and sellers has underlined the fragility of the North Sea’s renaissance, which relies on nimble new oil players taking on the assets owned by the incumbent oil majors to maximise the lifetime of the fields.
Investor flight from Europe now longest in a decade. European markets are suffering the longest withdrawal of money in a decade as investors desert the politically volatile and slowing region. Money has poured out of Europe’s equity funds for 50 consecutive weeks, the longest run of outflows in 10 years, according to Morgan Stanley. The direction of investment has reversed in the last 12 months amid mounting political tensions in the UK and Italy. Although global stock prices have staged a recovery in 2019, investors have continued to pull money out of Europe amid stronger growth in the US.
