S&P Global Market Intelligence provides a wrap-up of European media and communications deal announcements, completions and updates from Oct. 8 to Oct. 12.
TOP NEWS
* Comcast Corp. has become the majority owner of British pay TV company Sky PLC after completing the acquisition of Sky shares held by 21st Century Fox Inc., according to an Oct. 9 statement. Comcast unit Comcast Bidco Ltd.'s cash offer to acquire the entire issued and to-be-issued share capital of Sky for £17.28 per Sky share became unconditional, following the completion of its purchase of the 672,783,139 Sky shares held by 21st Century Fox. Comcast will shortly begin the compulsory buyout of the remaining shares of Sky that it does not already own. The company had received from Sky shareholders acceptances of its takeover offer representing about 95.32% of the existing issued share capital, as of Oct. 11.
* Apple Inc. has struck a $600 million deal with Dialog Semiconductor PLC to acquire some of the British chipmaker's power management technologies, as well as several of its assets and more than 300 employees. As part of the deal, Apple will take over some of Dialog's facilities in Nabern and Neuaubing, Germany; Livorno, Italy; and Swindon, U.K., along with Dialog engineers and employees who have provided chip development support for Apple. The U.S. tech giant will pay $300 million in cash for the deal and prepay another $300 million for the supply of Dialog chips over the next three years. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2019, subject to regulatory clearance and other customary closing conditions.
M&A media
* Canada's Stingray Digital Group Inc. acquired DJ-Matic, a European provider of in-store media solutions for businesses, according to an Oct. 12 news release. As part of the transaction, Stingray will fully own and operate DJ-Matic, which will be combined with the former's Stingray Business unit.
* Apple acquired Danish startup Spektral for more than $30 million, TechCrunch.com reported Oct. 11, citing a company confirmation.
* Paris-based media and advertising research company Ipsos closed its acquisition of four global divisions of German market research institute GfK Group for an enterprise value of €105 million.
* Warner Music Group Corp.'s indirect subsidiary Warner Music Group Germany Holding GmbH completed a previously announced merchandising acquisition for about €165.6 million. The assets acquired from funds associated with Sycamore Partners Management LP include certain shares of EMP Merchandising Handelsgesellschaft mbH and all of the share capital of MIG Merchandising Investment GmbH.
M&A communications
* Broadcom Inc. has obtained antitrust approval from the EU on its proposed acquisition of CA Inc., clearing the final regulatory hurdle to complete the $18.9 billion deal. The buyer expects to complete the acquisition Nov. 5.
* VEON Ltd. said Oct. 11 that it terminated its proposed $2.55 billion acquisition of Global Telecom Holding SAE's assets in Pakistan and Bangladesh. The move follows recent events regarding the Pakistani rupee, as well as the supposedly forthcoming disapproval of the deal from Global Telecom's minority shareholders.
* RingCentral Inc. agreed to buy Dimelo SA, a cloud-based digital customer engagement platform.
* DASAN Zhone Solutions Inc. struck a deal to buy KEYMILE GmbH, a service provider and manufacturer of telecommunication systems for broadband access.
* The European Commission has unconditionally approved the merger of Swedish telecom operator Tele2 AB and cable player Com Hem. In a news release, the commission said "the transaction would raise no competition concerns as the companies' activities and assets are largely complementary." The deal is expected to close Nov. 5 when the Swedish Companies Registration Office registers the merger and Com Hem is dissolved, according to a news release by Tele2 dated Oct. 8.
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