INTERNATIONAL CORPORATE FINANCE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
10 Largest Announced Deals of 2015
Shell targets BG Group:
$81 billion
Royal Dutch Shell announced the acquisition of British oil and
gas company BG in April 2015. It is believed that Shell made
the move in order to diversify its petroleum-focused business.
The move would make Shell the biggest liquefied natural gas
trader in the world. The deal was approved by shareholders in
January 2016.Dow Chemical targets DuPont:
$68 billion
The two agriculture and material science conglomerates
announced an all-stock “merger of equals” in December.
Shareholders of both companies will each own half of the
combined company. The new entity will be named DowDuPont
and will be separated into three independent, public-traded
companies in the 18 to 24 months after the closing.Charter targets Time Warner Cable:
$78 billion
US telecoms company Charter Communications announced
the deal with Time Warner Cable in Q2 2015. The acquirer
purchased Time Warner with cash and stocks. The deal was
completed in May 2016. Charter will change Time Warner’s
name in the near future and introduce its own branding.Pfizer targets Allergan:
$191 billion
The leading American pharmaceutical company announced
the acquisition of its Irish counterpart in November 2015. This
deal was structured to reduce Pfizer’s tax bill by moving its
domicile to Ireland and thus enjoy a tax rate of 17% to 18%
instead of the current 25%. However the deal was scrapped by
Pfizer following the announcement of new US Treasury rules
in April.AB InBev targets SABMiller:
$120 billion
The Belgian brewer reached an agreement to buy its UK
counterpart for £44 per share in Q4 2015. The two major
brewers combined would account for 29% of the world’s beer
supply, according to Euromonitor’s figure. The combined
entity is expected to achieve pre-tax cost synergies of at least
$1.4 billion per year by 2020.