Yet Another Semiconductor Deal: a brief look at AMD and Xilinx
(Jordi Brown, Jack Boswell, Jaahnavi Sikand) Introduction AMD is a California-based firm that designs computer processors, both for the consumer and business markets. The processors AMD designs include central processing units (CPUs) – which are responsible for executing instructions; graphical processing units (GPUs) – which process images and video; and accelerated processing units (APUs) –…
Re-emergence of PIK bonds Report
(Claudia Horsham, Michael Best, Xie Shi Jie David) Current climate of the bond market Since the Covid crisis began firms and consumers have been cutting back on spending which has led to many companies experiencing cash flow or liquidity problems. Government restrictions in many states, as well as an increase in employees working at home…
Demand for US Junk Bonds Continues To Rise as Investors Search For Higher Yields
(Shaokun Chen, Jack Boswell & Jack Williams) Intro In recent months, capital markets have been warped by the coronavirus pandemic, and the US market for junk bonds has not been exempt from pronounced volatility. In March, US high-yield bonds plunged at their fastest pace in history as investors exited the market through fear of widespread…
Snowflake: Taking Advantage of the Rallying Tech Industry
(Daniel Aliwell, Ankit Mittal & Jeanne Royer) THE COMPANY AND ITS BUSINESS MODEL Snowflake, a cloud data-based warehousing start-up founded in 2012 is currently aiming for an IPO between now and October, with the goal to raise $100 million in the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm produces cloud-based software for data…
Case Study: A Look Back On Hilton’s LBO By Blackstone
(Alisha Gragya & Nikhil Sahdev) Financial markets are dynamic and hence characterised by the term VUCA: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. Rightly so, it keeps providing examples that contradict most investor expectations and yet turn out to result in archetypes of financial profits and success. One prominent example is the acquisition of Hilton Hotels, a…
The Largest IPO In History? Ant Technology Group Might Break The Record
(Giorgio Curti, Matthew Lingham & Jeanne Royer) THE COMPANY AND ITS BUSINESS MODEL Ant Technology group, the payments arm of the Alibaba Group has a total estimated valuation of $150bn, making it the highest-valued FinTech company in the world. Founded by Jackie Ma in October 2000, it has grown to be the largest mobile payment…
Leverage Buyout of Caesars Entertainment by Eldorado Resorts
(Shaokun Chen, Claudia Horsham & Nikhil Sahdev) Introduction At a time when banks that have agreed to finance leveraged buyouts are starting to feel the pain from the lack of investors willing to purchase high risk corporate debt (Bloomberg, 2020), casino operator Eldorado Resorts has sealed the cash-and-stock $17.3 billion deal, to purchase Caesars Entertainment…
Adevinta Acquires eBay’s Classifieds Group To Create World’s Largest Classified Advertising Business
(Ankit Mittal & Jack Williams) On July 21st it was announced that eBay’s Classifieds Group was to be acquired by Adevinta in a cash and equity deal that is set to create the largest classified advertising business in the world. The classified advertising business model involves generating leads for sellers by pairing them up with…
Saudi Aramco’s IPO Controversy
(Alisha Gragya & Taiga Nakamura) Background Beginning January 2016, the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman publicly declared that he intended to sell 5 percent of Saudi Aramco, a government-owned oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, in the face of a widening economic deficit and depleting foreign reserves. The government planned…
Royalty Pharma’s IPO
(Barkha Babbar & Ali Soufraki) Introduction RoyaltyPharma is a biopharmaceutical company. It purchases the royalty rights in drugs from research and life science organisations. It not only develops these drugs but also invests in clinical trials for new treatments. RoyaltyPharma has been integral in drug innovation. Since 1996, it has invested $18 billion buying shares…
The European Commission’s Capital Markets Recovery Package: a coronavirus response in the road to economic recovery
(Giorgio Curti, Jeanne Royer & Sonia Ruan Ye) “Capital markets are vital to the recovery, because public financing alone will not be enough to get our economies back on track,” said Valdis Dombrovskis, the Commission’s executive Vice-President (European Commission, 2020). On the 24th of July 2020, the European Commission adopted a Capital Markets Recovery Package,…
Nvidia Considers Acquiring ARM Amid Monopoly Concerns
(Jordi Brown & Claudia Horsham) In recent weeks Nvidia, an American multinational technology company which designs graphic processing units (GPUs) and system on chip (SoC) units for the mobile, computing and automotive markets, has expressed interest in acquiring SoftBank’s chip designer, Arm Ltd. The GPU on a computer processes images and video – Nvidia’s GPUs…
The Right Time For An IPO In The Mortgage Industry? Quicken Loans IPO Report
(Jordi Brown & Ali Soufraki) Company Description and Business Model Based in Detroit, Quicken Loans operates in the non-bank mortgage lending industry as it constantly seeks to revamp the traditional home loan application process. Quicken Loans’ use of innovative technology has given the company a defensible comparative advantage by enabling it to offer its renowned…
Italy’s Largest Bank Set To Acquire The Third: Intesa’s Hostile Takeover Bid For Rival UBI Banca
(Barkha Babbar & Giorgio Curti) Given the fragmented nature of the Italian banking system, Italy’s largest retail lender, Intesa had proposed a hostile takeover of its smaller rival UBI Banca on February 18th, in an effort to trigger further consolidation within the banking industry. UBI is predominantly based in the industrialised north of Italy and therefore its…
Thyssenkrupp’s Elevator Unit Set To Undergo 2020’s largest LBO
(Claudia Horsham) Thyssenkrupp AG is selling its Elevator technology business, which is said to be the ‘crown jewel’ of the 20-year-old German conglomerate, to a consortium led by Advent, Cinven and RAG-Stiftung foundations for a purchase price of €17.2 billion. The motivation for the sale comes from the fact that the company is reeling from…
O2 and Virgin Media join forces in recently agreed broadband and mobile merger in the UK
(Giorgio Curti) On May 7th, an agreement on a merger between broadband giant Virgin Media and mobile provider O2 was announced by the owners of the two companies, which belong to the multinational groups Liberty Global and Telefonica, respectively. Virgin Media provides broadband access and cable TV to around 6 million users, as well as having 3 million mobile…
Long dated Japanese Government Bonds offer highest yield in more than a year amid government desperation for stimulus funds
(Daniel Wring) Introduction With over 17,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 (as of June 8th), the Japanese finance ministry have announced the planned issuance of Japanese government bonds (JGBs) to the value of Y253tn ($2.3tn) for the financial year ending in March 2021, an increase from the initial plan of Y153tn and the third increase since April. This…
JD.com’s Hong Kong Stock Exchange IPO
(Georgia Ling) JD.com’s Upcoming IPO on HK Stock Exchange JD.com, Inc is China’s second largest e-commerce company. Often hailed the ‘Amazon of China’ due to the similarities in its supply chain operations, JD.com provides an online marketplace for Chinese consumers to buy a vast range of products, ranging from fresh food to electronics. The IPO On the 5th June, JD.com announced that…
Warner Music Group to be listed on Nasdaq
(Guglielmo Santamaria) On May 26 Warner Music Group confirmed its upcoming IPO by filing a S-1/A amendment to its S-1 form with the US Securities & Exchange Commission. WMG’s listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange is one of the most anticipated of the year, and was supposed to take place in the month of March, but was delayed to June…
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