United Airlines and Continental Airlines have agreed to merge by way of a $3.2 billion share for share exchange. The merged airline will be the largest in the world in terms of traffic, taking a 7% market share (although, for the purposes of this particular…
India is currently in the process of an online auction of 3G licences in which nine mobile operators are bidding for 71 3G slots in the country’s 22 regions. Bids have been aggressive and beyond what many experts believe represent the value of the licences….
Deutsche Bahn, the largest state-owned railway company in Germany and the biggest railway operator in Europe, has agreed to acquire Arriva plc, the third largest transport group in the UK. The German group will pay consideration of £1.58 billion for the British listed company (a…
In a deal worth some $1.5 billion, private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP has agreed to acquire defense contractor DynCorp International Inc. It is one of the largest leveraged buyouts of recent times, with Cerberus paying $1 billion in cash and assuming Dyncorp’s debt….
Ford has agreed to sell Volvo Cars to Zhejiang Geely Holding for $1.8 billion, making it the largest acquisition to date of an overseas carmaker by a Chinese company. The consideration was $1.6 billion in cash and the remainder in the form of a loan…
Phillips-Van Heusen (“PVH”), owner of the Calvin Klein label, has agreed to buy fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger from Apax Partners for $3 billion. The purchase price consists of $2.6 billion in cash and $380 million in shares in PVH. The deal is expected to close…
25 year-old Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has declared that the company will eventually launch an initial public offering (IPO) but added “we are definitely in no rush” to do so. There has been a lot of speculation recently that the social-networking site, which is…
Two of Europe’s largest brewers, Heineken and Carlsberg, have reported a surge in profits for 2009 as both companies cut their costs. However, they also reported a drop in sales volumes as a result of the economic crisis. Heineken has forecast lower beer consumption in…
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) gave its tentative approval to grant antitrust immunity to five partners of oneworld to form a global alliance. Oneworld is one of the world’s three largest global airline alliances. The DoT previously granted immunity to oneworld’s larger rivals Star…
The owners of De Beers, the world’s largest diamond company, have responded to a cash call by the company by agreeing to participate in a $1 billion rights issue. De Beers only has three shareholders: Anglo American (which owns 45 percent), the Oppenheimer family (40…