Mergers and acquisitions

EFG closed the integration with BSI

Swiss private bank EFG International has concluded the integration of all operations of local rival BSI into its platform. The deal came to a close with migration of BSI’s Ticino business to EFG’s IT platform. The merger comprised 15 individual IT migrations this year. With the deal, EFG advances to one of Switzerland’s largest private banks, which 147.5 billion in assets under management as of October.

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Nestlé: big acquisition with $2.3 billion bid for supplement maker Atrium

Nestlé Chief Executive Officer Mark Schneider made his biggest acquisition yet, agreeing to buy Canadian dietary supplements maker Atrium Innovations for $2.3 billion in a bid for growth beyond stagnating mainstream food brands.

The world’s biggest food company is acquiring Westmount, Quebec-based Atrium from an investor group led by Permira Funds, Nestlé said in a statement Tuesday. The Swiss owner of Nespresso and Lean Cuisine is paying cash for the Garden of Life supplement maker, whose 2017 sales are expected to approach $700 million.

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Air Berlin plane blocked in Iceland for unpaid bills

An Air Berlin flight was grounded in Reykjavik over the airline’s unpaid airport charges. The Icelandic aviation authority would not allow the plane to take off without paying its bills.
Cash-strapped Air Berlin, one of Germany’s largest airlines, filed for insolvency in August after shareholder Etihad announced it would no longer be providing financial support. A €210 million ($247 million) bid by Lufthansa to buy the airline was accepted last week.

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Credit Suisse targeted by activist hedge fund

Activist investor RBR Capital Advisors, supported by Gaël de Boissard, a former Credit Suisse investment bank co-head on Tuesday confirmed it has built a position in Credit Suisse and has been talking with the Swiss bank’s management. RBR Capital Advisors will reveal its plan later in the week at a conference in New York, the Financial Times reported.

According to the report, the plan will offer the argument for a three-way split of Credit Suisse into an investment bank, an asset management group and a wealth manager accommodating the Switzerland-based bank’s retail and business banking operations.

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Bayer to sell unit to BASF to ease Monsanto takeover

Germany’s Bayer said Friday it would sell parts of its agrichemical business to rival BASF, kick-starting a competitor in the seeds market even as it clears the way for its mammoth takeover of US-based Monsanto.

Bayer is selling some of its Crop Science business to BASF to help clear the way for its pending $66 billion acquisition of Monsanto Co. Bayer announced Friday that it had signed an agreement to sell the units for 5.9 million euro, or about $7 billion.

"We are taking an active approach to address potential regulatory concerns, with the goal of facilitating a successful close of the Monsanto transaction,” Werner Baumann, Bayer chairman, said in a statement.

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