International M&A Makes Headway in Mid-January

​International M&A news sees major developments in ongoing deals such as 21st Century Fox's SKY UK deal falling through due to recent CMA remarks, the Spanish government's approval of a takeover bid for Spanish motorway controller Abertis by Italian motorway operating firm Atlantia, and a bio-tech deal troubled by insider trading allegations. 

• Private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners nears a $2.2 billion acquisition of Pro Mach Group Inc., a US manufacturing and packaging firm currently owned by AEA Investors LP. Pro Mach offers over 300 packaging models under 26 product brands.
• RCN, the broadband service provider owned by PE Firm TPG Capital, officially closed its previously announced $2.37 billion buyout of Wave Broadband (Wave), a Kirkland, WA-based broadband fiber company. Partners at TPG Capital believe the broadband merger will establish a national market-leading platform as the sixth largest cable company.
• 21st Century Fox (NASDAQ: FOXA) was denied by London's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for its $16 billion bid to takeover Sky UK (LSE: SKY). Fox's failure to buy out Sky could strain its pending $54.2 billion divestiture to Disney that was proposed at the end of last year.
• The Spanish government has approved Italian Atlantia's (MIL: ATL) 17.1 billion Euro bid for Abertis (MCE: ABE), a Spanish conglomerate that manages toll roads and telecommunication infrastructures, late in 2017. The Spanish government's approval continues an ongoing bidding war between Atlantia and Spanish ACS-owned German builder, Hochtief (ETR: HOT). The proposed merger between Abertis and Atlantia would result in a combined market value of 40 billion euros ($46.89B)
• At the beginning of last week, Sanofi, a Paris-based pharmaceutical firm, purchased the Boston-based biotech firm Bioverativ, Inc., for a total of $11.6 billion at $105 per share, marking Sanofi’s largest deal in seven years. Bioverativ, having previously spun off from Biogen, develops and delivers drug treatments for hemophilia.
• Bermuda-based Bacardi will acquire Patron Spirits International, the famed maker of Patron tequila, for $3.57 billion. Bacardi already owned 30% of Patron, meaning the total value of Patron is an estimated $5.1 billion. The acquisition gives Bacardi a larger footprint in agave-based beverages. Sales of super-premium tequila grew eight fold over the 2002 to 2016 period, according to the Distilled Spirits Council.