Deal roundup, 2.24.15

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  • Technology consultant Computer Sciences Corp has drawn buyout interest from French consulting company Cap Gemini SA and private equity firm Carlyle Group LP, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

  • Italian aerospace and defence group Finmeccanica has agreed to sell its rail business to Hitachi Ltd in a deal which will cost the Japanese conglomerate up to 1.9 billion euros ($2.2 billion) and cut Finmeccanica’s debt by 15 percent.

 

  • Boston Scientific Corp is close to buying Endo International PLC’s AMS medical device unit, a deal that could value the business at around $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

  • Russian investor Boris Mints’ O1 vehicle may take a stake in Austrian property group Immofinanz, newspaper Die Presse reported on Tuesday, adding it had approached shareholder Rudolf Fries about buying his group’s 6.5 percent stake.

 

  • European meat products group Danish Crown is to buy Tican, securing the future of its smaller rival which has been looking for a buyer for the past year. They gave no financial details on the deal.

 

  • TravelCenters of America LLC is being urged by activist investor Russell Glass to sell and lease back stores and to spin off its truck-repair business, Bloomberg reported, citing a letter from Glass’s RDG Capital Fund Management.

 

  • Italy’s Lavazza has exclusive rights to consider the potential acquisition of premium coffee brand Carte Noire from U.S.-based Mondelez International, the coffee maker told Reuters on Tuesday.

 

  • A capital increase for French nuclear group Areva is not a priority, French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron told Reuters on Tuesday, also ruling out selling state-held shares in utilities EDF and GDF Suez to finance support for the group.

 

  • Comcast Corp said on Tuesday it was “optimistic” that it would close its $45 billion deal to buy Time Warner Cable Inc in early 2015.

 

  • Ireland’s transport minister said the government was still considering a bid for Aer Lingus by the owner of British Airways, but listed additional concessions that it would need in order to support the bid.

 

  • Mosaic Co, the world’s largest producer of finished phosphate products, is interested in buying Brazilian phosphate producers if they come up for sale, Chief Executive Jim Prokopanko said on Tuesday.

 

  • South Korea’s Lotte Group has submitted a proposal to acquire a controlling stake in Italy’s World Duty Free SpA in a deal estimated at 3-4 trillion won ($2.71 billion-$3.61 billion), Korean media reported.

 

  • World Duty Free has been approached by several parties interested in buying a stake but has received no offers, said shareholder Gilberto Benetton.

 

  • Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Ltd, an aircraft leasing and maintenance company controlled by the government of Dubai, is looking to sell its aviation services unit, StandardAero, for more than $1.8 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

  • Private equity firm Onex Corp is looking to sell Sitel Worldwide Corp in a deal that could value one of the world’s largest call center operators at close to $1 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

  • Huntington Bancshares Inc has agreed to acquire Macquarie Group Ltd’s equipment finance unit for around $380 million to bolster its equipment leasing business, two people familiar with the matter said.

 

  • Dublin-based drugmaker Shire Plc said it had bought U.S. firm Meritage Pharma for at least $70 million, boosting its gastrointestinal drugs business.

 

  • Mondelez International Inc and D.E. Master Blenders 1753 proposed selling the Carte Noire coffee brand instead of two smaller marques to soothe European competition concerns about their merger.

 

  • Japan’s Astomos Energy Corp said it had signed a three-year contract to buy U.S. shale-derived liquefied petroleum gas from Texas-based Targa Resources Corp.

 

  • American Airlines Group Inc and Delta Air Lines Inc have no plans to rescue Japan’s bankrupt Skymark Airlines Inc, the two companies said separately following a media report on their alleged interest in the budget carrier.

 

  • Bob Geldof’s African private equity fund said it had acquired a 42 percent stake in Orient Bank, a medium-sized Ugandan commercial bank, to tap into a growing economy and a largely unbanked population.

 

($1 = 6.59 Danish crowns; $1 = 0.88 euros)

(Compiled by Amrutha Gayathri and Kshitiz Goliya in Bengaluru)