Greetings reader and welcome to the Bloomberg Deals newsletter. Today, Ed Breen is at the deals again, Dubai goes big on listings and a Trump Jr.-endorsed coffee company takes the SPAC route.
Today's top stories
Keen Breen
Ed Breen is at it again.
The CEO of chemical company DuPont has become a banker’s best friend by divesting assets at a fast clip in recent years and is now in buying mode. — Liana Baker and Kiel Porter
DuPont today agreed to acquire engineering materials maker Rogers (not the Rogers that’s in the midst of a real-life ‘Succession’ drama gripping Canada) for about $5.2 billion to expand into electric cars and driver assistance systems. The advisers, including Goldman Sachs, got their own section in bold on the deal’s press release — something we don’t see too often.
With Breen back in the CEO seat since February 2020, DuPont’s direction seems clear: buy things that’ll deliver growth and dump those more exposed to cyclical trends, like most of its mobility and materials business unit (known as M&M by company management).
We got wind of Breen’s latest move last night and were told it looked like a good fit with Laird, the electronic materials business that DuPont bought from private equity firm Advent for $2.3 billion
earlier this year.Rogers specializes in making materials used in high-tech items that can be installed in everything from automobiles and aircraft to portable electronics and even footwear. This is a faster-growing and steadier market than DuPont’s historical customer base.
“The timing could not be better to enter these markets, ” Breen said on an investor call.
Breen helped lead the 2017 tie-up of DuPont and Dow Chemical, then the largest-ever chemicals industry merger, and the subsequent breakup that formed three companies DuPont, Dow and Corteva.
Former cable equipment salesman Breen cut his teeth on deals in 2002, when he sold General Instrument to Motorola, and has been sharpening them ever since. At Tyco, transactions he was a part of led to new companies being created and then doing deals of their own, like TE Connectivity, Covidien (now part of Medtronic) and ADT (now backed by Apollo and public again).
By the time he joined DuPont in 2015, M&A was second nature. So don’t expect it to stop anytime soon. He’s already tried to fire the starting gun on a private equity auction for M&M (remember, chemicals, not chocolate).
“I have personally had phone calls from people that have interest in this asset,” Breen told those on Tuesday’s investor call. “I think the private equity world is going to be extremely interested.”
M&A focus
SoftBank is considering a sale of Fortress Investment Group as the Japanese conglomerate reviews options for the asset manager it acquired four years ago, write Gillian Tan and Giles Turner. The move is driven in part by the fact that the Japanese conglomerate was unable to mesh Fortress’s operations with its own.
Lingerie and swimwear maker Hop Lun is reviving a sale that was previously stalled due to the pandemic, writes Vinicy Chan. The Hong Kong-based company is seeking investors such as private equity firms in the renewed sale process, and a valuation of more than $500 million.
HRL Morrison’s interest in a takeover of Australian oncology provider Icon Group is cooling, write Harry Brumpton and Manuel Baigorri. The infrastructure investor is no longer actively pursuing a deal following disagreements over price. Bidders had been discussing a valuation of about A$2.5 billion ($1.9 billion).
Closely held health-care information technology firms PatientPop and Kareo are merging in a deal that’ll value the combined company at $1 billion including debt, write Michelle F. Davis and Gillian Tan. Kareo’s board members include Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick.
IPO watch
Dubai plans to sell shares in its main utility, valuing the firm at more than $25 billion in a deal that will probably be the emirate’s biggest listing, write Dinesh Nair and Farah Elbahrawy.
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s initial public offering is likely to be the first of many as the government tries to revive a flagging local bourse, which has missed out the Middle East IPO boom. Dubai plans to list 10 state-owned companies on its stock exchange to boost the size of its financial market to 3 trillion dirhams ($817 billion) as it seeks to catch up with Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.
Rivian Automotive, the electric truck maker backed by Amazon, is seeking to raise as much as $8.4 billion in an IPO that could give it a market value of as much as $53 billion. It’s attracted cornerstone investors including T. Rowe Price, Franklin Templeton and Blackstone.
Carsome, an online used-car marketplace in Southeast Asia, is seeking to raise about $200 million in a funding round ahead of a potential listing in the U.S. next year, write Elffie Chew and Manuel Baigorri. Malaysia’s most valuable unicorn said in September statement that it’d raised $170 million in a series D2 round at a $1.3 billion valuation.
Activist corner
Another top-10 holder in Acceleron Pharma has
come out against its proposed $11.5 billion takeover by Merck, writes Scott Deveau. Farallon, which owns a more than 4% stake in Acceleron, said in an emailed statement that it appreciated the value the management team has created and the strategic position it has achieved.Opinion
THG is best known for selling lipstick and liquid eyeliner but its second biggest shareholder BlackRock selling a chunk of its stock is not a good look. The British online retailer-turned- tech company faces an uphill battle in reassuring investors, writes Andrea Felsted.
SPAC wrap
Black Rifle Coffee, a coffee company celebrated by conservatives for its strong support of the military and police, has agreed to go public through a merger with blank-check form SilverBox that values the combined group at $1.7 billion.
Black Rifle has been endorsed by Donald Trump Jr. and dubbed the “unofficial coffee of the MAGA universe” by the New York Times. It was founded by Evan Hafer, a veteran deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
So far, investors seem as keen on the deal. Shares in SilverBox surged as much as 60% in trading Tuesday.
Who’s news
Betty Yap, managing partner for the China practice of New York-based law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, is leaving the firm, writes Manuel Baigorri. A veteran dealmaker in Asia, Yap plans to pursue other career opportunities.
Best of the rest
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Bankers' Best Friend Breen Strikes Again at DuPont - Bloomberg
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