On Monday, the Tokyo
Electric Power Company sold its shares in KDDI
back to the mobile network operator for $2.4 billion. This firm has
been unwinding much of its assets since the Tokyo Earthquake in an
attempt to raise money to compensate victims of the Fukushima Nuclear
Disaster. The seller gained 1.8%, while KDDI was up 0.6%. Also that
day, KKR purchased Capital Safety, a producer of
fall protection equipment, for $1.12 billion. The private equity firm
said that they saw growth in the industry due to increasing safety
regulations in developing countries as well as its dependency on the
energy and infrastructure sectors. The buyer was boosted 8%. The nest
major deal came on Thursday, when BP sold its
Canadian natural gas unit to Plains All American Pipeline
for $1.67 billion in an all-cash deal; the latest in a string of
sales aimed at strengthening its balance sheet. The global energy
giant fell 1.8% as Plains finished 1.7% higher. There was also action
in the electronic design automation market as Synopsys
bought Magma Design Automation for $507 million.
They believe that R&D will be a lot more productive in the new
firm. Synopsys finished 1.7% lower while the target was elevated a
massive 24.7%, reflecting the large premium being paid.
The following day, Heineken acquired a chain of 918 British pubs, known as the Galaxy Pub Estate, from RBS for $646 million. The British bank has divested much of its noncore assets in the face of a worsening economic environment in recent years. The brewer was down 1.7% while the vendor increased by 3.9%. Verizon attained 122 spectrum licences for $3.6 billion from a group of firms including Comcast and Time Warner. These licences allow the expansion of wireless networks, which the bidder will utilise as demand for its services increase. Verizon was relatively unchanged, as Comcast and Time Warner gained 3.5% and 0.6% respectively. Also that day, Google‘s $400 million takeover of Admeld, a provider of online display advertising, was approved by the Justice Department. The online giant’s motive is to advance from its traditional text based offerings into advertising which includes images and video. The world’s largest search engine had grew 1.1% by the bell.
