Major Deals Highlight 1Q M&A
A revived M&A market continued into 2013 with some big corporate deals. While a total of 2,547 deals worth $405.9 billion lagged behind the year-earlier period, U.S. deals climbed to a combined total of $167 billion. Here are the top global deals struck in the first quarter. Data source: Mergermarket (REUTERS)
HJ Heinz Company In what was billed as the largest deal ever for the food industry, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway partnered with 3G Capital Partners to buy famed ketchup maker Heinz for $27.36 billion. (Heinz)
Virgin Media John Malone’s Liberty Global agreed to buy Virgin Media, a U.K. cable television and Internet provider, in a deal that totaled $21.85 billion. (REUTERS)
Dell An ongoing M&A battle has competing firms bidding for Dell, which already has a $21.77 billion takeover deal lined up with founder Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners. Recent reports indicate that Michael Dell, who owns a 15.6% stake in the PC and laptop maker, will only back a buyout bid from Blackstone Group (NYSE:BX) if the firm allows him to remain CEO. (REUTERS)
NBC Universal Cable giant Comcast agreed to buy from General Electric the remaining 49% of NBC Universal it did not already own. The deal was valued at $16.7 billion. (Reuters)
Repsol Repsol, a Spanish oil and gas company, sold a package of liquefied natural gas assets to Royal Dutch Shell for $6.7 billion. (REUTERS)
Orascom Telecom Holding A subsidiary of Russian billionaire Mikhail Friedman’s Altimo made a $6.4 billion offer for Orascom, an Egyptian network operator. (REUTERS)
US Airways American Airlines parent AMR Corp. and US Airways are set to merge after agreeing to a $4.9 billion deal that was approved by a bankruptcy court. (REUTERS)
Berry Petroleum Company U.S. oil and gas producer Linn Energy agreed in February to buy Colorado-based Berry Petroleum for a total of $4.3 billion. (REUTERS)
Copano Energy Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, one of the largest gas pipeline operators in North America, and Copano announced in January a $4.27 billion merger agreement. Richard Kinder is the CEO of Kinder Morgan. (REUTERS)
ENI East Africa Italian oil giant ENI sold 28.6% of its East Africa unit to China National Petroleum for $4.21 billion. (REUTERS)