Cobham (COB) is to be loaded up with debt after a controversial £4bn takeover by US private equity firm Advent. The 85-year-old British pioneer of air-to-air refuelling is expected to issue more than £1bn of bonds following the deal, which was waved through late on Friday night by Andrea Leadsom, the Business Secretary, in the face of a furious backlash from its founding family. Advent is funding the takeover with £1.2bn of its own money and using short-term loans arranged with banks including Credit Suisse, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs for the remainder.
The US private equity giant behind Addison Lee is expected to unveil a swoop on Aim-listed Harwood Wealth Management Group (HW.) tomorrow amid ongoing consolidation across the financial planning sector. Carlyle Group, which has held a majority stake in Addison Lee since 2013 and which also bankrolled Taylor Swift’s former record label, has reportedly struck a £100m deal for Harwood, a price in line with the company’s market capitalisation at the close on Friday. Over the past two months, shares in Harwood have surged by 24%. According to Sky News, which reported the acquisition, the deal will be unveiled when the London Stock Exchange opens tomorrow morning.
A boardroom row has erupted at Aviva (AV.) over its refusal to trigger a radical break-up plan designed to drag the insurer out of its prolonged stock market slump. It is understood that some of its top directors have been pushing for the struggling insurer to consider splitting itself in two amid concerns that it could become the target of an aggressive activist investor. Senior City sources say such a bold move could boost Aviva’s flagging stock market value by as much as £3bn and see off the possible threat of an activist campaign from a powerful Wall Street agitator such as Elliott Management or Carl Icahn. The company is currently valued at £16.3bn on the London stock exchange.
The controversial £4bn takeover of aerospace and defence company Cobham (COB) by US private equity firm Advent has been approved by the Government. The deal – which received the backing of more than 90pc of Cobham investors – had raised concerns that it could harm British national security and damage the UK’s industrial base. Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom announced late on Friday night the sale can go ahead after she received assurances that UK interests would be protected with a series of binding undertakings. However, the timing of the decision was labelled “cynical” by Lady Nadine Cobham, daughter-in-law of the firm’s founder Sir Alan who had spearheaded resistance to the sale.
Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ (RDSB) said it will miss targets for the fourth quarter and take a $2.3bn hit on poorly performing operations in a disappointing end to a difficult year for the oil giant. The company forecast “materially lower” margins in its chemicals business and cut back projection for quarterly sales of oil products, which include gasoline, aviation fuel, and lubricants. It also highlighted impairment charges of nearly $2.3bn but did not specify what the costs related to. However, they are likely to pertain to Shell’s shale operations in the US. In recent months, oil majors have written down close to $20bn, mainly in their US shale assets, as an oversupply of gas pushes down prices.
Questor: WPP (WPP) investors will need yet more patience but it has long-term recovery potential. Questor share tip: all-encompassing changes to its business model and the shares’ low valuation make the advertising firm a hold
