What You Need To Know This Week — November 30th, 2019
What You Need To Know This Week
A weekly recap to keep you informed on the most important events this week impacting markets, business, tech and the global economy.
PRIVATE EQUITY FIRM APOLLO FORCED TO INCREASE PRICE FOR ITS ACQUISITION OF TECH DATA
Leading private equity firm Apollo Global Management increased its friendly offer for IT distribution company Tech Data by 11.5%, from $130 to $145 per share. Apollo was forced to increase the consideration after Tech Data received a superior proposal from a competing bidder during the go-shop process. The increased consideration will cost Apollo an extra $400 million. Who was the competing bidder? None other than Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
CATALYST LOBS $11.00 PER SHARE OFFER FOR HUDSON’S BAY, TOPPING THE CHAIRMAN’S $10.30 BID
Toronto-based private equity shop Catalyst Capital announced an $11.00 per share unsolicited offer for department store Hudson’s Bay Co. The proposal represents an effort to hamper HBC Chairman Richard Baker’s plan to take the retailer private at $10.30 per share. Many shareholders have claimed that the insider bid for the company does not represent fair value given the company’s highly valuable real estate assets.
KIRKLAND LAKE AGREES TO BUY DETOUR GOLD IN $4.9 BILLION DEAL
Kirkland Lake Gold announced the friendly acquisition of Detour Gold in an all-share $4.9 billion merger. The deal values Detour’s stock at $27.50 per share, representing a premium of 35%. Kirkland Lake management has their work cut out for them explaining the deal to investors, as their share price has declined -16% since announcing the deal.
LVMH RAISES OFFER FOR TIFFANY’S AND CLINCHES DEAL
Global luxury goods leader LVMH struck a friendly deal to acquire jewelry company Tiffany’s & Co. for $16.6 billion after raising its offer to $135 per share. The definitive deal came one month after LVMH’s initial $120 per share unsolicited offer, which was boosted to $130 per share last week in order to gain access to due diligence materials.
Recommended Articles, Podcasts, Books and Tweets
Listen to Gavin Baker, founder and manager of Atreides Management, discuss the future of video games and artificial intelligence in the context of technology growth investing.
An investigation into the secret life of the late Gerald Cotten, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange Quadriga who suddenly died last year and took Quadriga’s cryptocurrency wallet passwords with him. “Gerry’s alive.”
Facebook tried to buy Fitbit, but Google ultimately won the auction for the health wearables company.
Financings for special purpose acquisition companies (blank cheque companies) hit a new all-time high this year at $12.6 billion, exceeding their previous record of $12.1 billion set in 2007.
The U.S. economy grew 2.1% annualized in the third quarter, above expectations of 1.9%.
Meanwhile, the Canadian economy grew at 1.3% annualized in Q3, in line with expectations.
Financier and renowned mining investor Eric Sprott lost $140 million on Kirkland Lake Gold stock after the company made an unexpected bid for underperforming competitor Detour Gold.
Private equity firm Silver Lake bought a $500 million stake in soccer team Manchester City, valuing the club at $4.8 billion. This was the highest valuation ever paid for a sports team.
Convenience store giant Couche-Tard made a $5.8 billion unsolicited takeover bid for Australia’s Caltex.
SNC-Lavalin paid over $118 million to a shell company that was used to distribute bribes.
Liquid alternatives are a top investment theme for 2020: “Portfolios will require some ballast to help mitigate the volatility, and investment-grade fixed-income remains too low-yielding to provide it. This is where a well-diversified set of liquid alternative strategies can perform a key function.”
South Korean crypto exchange Upbit lost nearly $50mm in ether (ETH) after they got hacked.
Investment newsletter Dennis Gartman will retire and stop writing “The Gartman Letter”.
The TFSA contribution limit for Canadian investors in 2020 was announced at $6,000.
