11 firm offers were announced during Q1 2016 with a combined offer value of over £23bn. This compares to 12 firm offers valued at over £8bn in Q1 2015 and 13 firm offers valued at over £77bn in Q4 2015. Ten of the 11 firm offers in Q1 were recommended at the time of the firm offer announcement, however, the recommendation was withdrawn on two deals following higher competing offers. Q1 saw the announcement of the merger of Deutsche Börse and the London Stock Exchange, a £20.3bn mega deal as well as the £1.2bn bid by J Sainsbury for Home Retail (on which Ashurst is advising Morgan Stanley and UBS as financial advisers to J Sainsbury). Ashurst also advised Vectura Group on its £441m merger with Skyepharma.
As well as the above, this update includes a summary of:
- Consultation Paper PCP 2016/1 on the communication and distribution of information during an offer; and
- Panel Statement 2016/4 – Home Retail Group plc.
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