Category: Corporate Finance

Deal overview Alphabet, through its subsidiary Google, is in negotiations to acquire cybersecurity start-up Wiz for approximately $23 billion, potentially marking the largest acquisition in Alphabet's history. This deal could face significant antitrust scrutiny, as regulators under U.S. President Joe Biden's administration have shown resistance to large tech acquisitions, especially involving Google. Alphabet's last major acquisition was Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion over a decade ago. The acquisition of Wiz, valued at $12 billion, would significantly bolster Alphabet's cybersecurity capabilities following its $5.4 billion acquisition of Mandiant two years ago. Wiz, headquartered in New York and led by Israeli founder and former Microsoft executive Assaf Rappaport, has raised about $2 billion from investors, including Sequoia, Thrive, and Blackstone. Wiz assists companies like Salesforce, Mars, and BMW in securing cloud programs…

INTRODUCTION Private equity investments are characterized by illiquid assets. To realize their returns, Limited Partners (LPs) and General Partners (GPs) must employ an exit strategy. This article provides a detailed analysis of the primary exit routes adopted by private equity firms.  “To make more on their investments Venture capitalist 1 need to turn illiquid stakes in private companies into realized return” Gompers and Lerner 2001 A defining feature of PE finance is the investment horizon. Limited Partners (LPs) typically commit their capital to a PE fund for a period of 10 years, with potential extensions of 1 to 3 years. This predetermined time frame forces PE firms to focus on realizing investments within the set period. This ensures that LPs receive their invested capital and a return on their investment.…

Introduction Tesla, Inc., founded in 2003 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, has been a pioneering force in the electric vehicle (EV) industry. Known for its innovative and high-performance electric cars, Tesla’s main product lineup includes the Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, and Tesla Semi. In addition to vehicles, Tesla also offers energy generation and storage products such as solar panels, Powerwall, Powerpack, and Megapack. Tesla is listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker TSLA and has a market capitalization of approximately $554.1 billion as of 2024.In the first quarter of 2024, Tesla reported revenue of $21.3 billion (9% year-over-year decline) and a net income of $1.1 billion. The company’s gross profit was $3.7 billion, and it held $26.9 billion in cash. Over the trailing twelve months…

Introduction International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) is set to acquire HashiCorp Inc. (NASDAQ: HCP), as the definitive agreement was made public on April 24th, 2024. IBM´s all-cash offer of $35 per share is valuing HashiCorp Inc, a key player in the multi-cloud software infrastructure industry, for $6,4 billion. The announcement underscores IBM's strategic focus and commitment to expanding its hybrid cloud services and AI capabilities. Industry description The software infrastructure industry consists of the foundational elements and technologies that enable the development, operation, and management of software applications and systems. This includes software frameworks, middleware, databases, networking components, and cloud infrastructure. The industry's key focus is on providing scalable, reliable, and efficient solutions to support the growing demand for digital services and applications across various. As organizations increasingly rely on…

INTRODUCTION TO LBO Leveraged Buyouts represent one of the numerous investment techniques adopted within Private equity firms. Throughout this article we will analyze the fundamental pillars of this method. The acronym LBO stands for “Leveraged Buyout”. As the name suggests, this type of financial transactions are related to the leverage. Indeed, it consists in purchasing a target company by a small group of investors using a high level of debt and moderate equity investment. On average it is estimated that the equity contribution is around 40%, while the debt is 60%. Since an LBO is a sophisticated operation, it’s usually promoted by buyout firms. These transactions are generally financed by investors known as Limited Partners (LP) and managed by private equity firms known as General Partner (GP). Limited Partners tend…

“We never had an objective to sell a low-cost phone. Our primary objective is to sell a great phone and provide a great experience, and we figured out a way to do it at a lower cost.” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO INTRODUCTION Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technological company based in Cupertino, California. Given its extraordinary performances it’s considered as one of the Big Tech companies, as well as being in prestigious positions such as the world’s largest company by market capitalisation from 2011 to 2024 (now the position is held by Microsoft), and the largest technology company by revenues in 2022 with $394.3B. Apple is listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker AAPL, as of April 26th the stock price is $169.30 with a $-0.59 change…

Introduction Kering is a global Luxury group that manages the development of a series of renowned Houses in Fashion, Leather Goods and Jewellery: Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen. Acquisition On April 4th, the French luxury group Kering bought a prestigious retail block in Monte Napoleone’s street (Milan). The sale of the 18th century building amounted to 1.3 billion euros and belonged to Blackstone since 2021. Indeed, Keering declared that they remained focused on proactively managing its real estate portfolio with the short to medium term objective of retaining a stake in its prime assets alongside co-investors in dedicated vehicles. This investment is part of Kering’s selective real estate strategy, aimed at securing key highly desirable locations for its Houses. This is Italy’s biggest property deal, indeed the…

An Overview of Boeing: The Boeing Company is a U.S. based global aerospace company which develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defense products and space systems. Its customers operate in more than 150 countries. Nowadays, there are more than 10,000 Boeing commercial jetliners in service, as the division of Boeing Commercial Airlines aims at providing airplanes with superior design, efficiency and value. Competition is very intense in the airplanes industry, but we will focus on Boeing's main and most famous competitor, Airbus, as well as giving an insight into the company's main KPIs. Boeing, quoted as BA in NYSE, closed with a price per share of $202.96 as of March 7th 2024. Currently, Boeing has a market cap of $122.03 Billion with a change of -22.62% with respect to 2023.…

In December 2023, after the European Commission approved the acquisition in October 2023, one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) acquired the global biotechnology company Seagen Inc. (NASDAQ: SGEN) to “Reimagining the Future of Cancer” after the completion of other closing transactions. Lately there’s been a rush from pharma companies to bring breakthroughs for the cure of cancer and Pfizer didn’t lag behind and made a significant investment with the world-leader in antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) Seagen. The acquisition was set for $229 in cash per share, totalling around $43 billion. As the CEO Dr. Albert Bourla stated this appropriation will drive a notable growth and will contribute to achieve short- and long-term financial goals. Pfizer is quoted in the New York Stock Exchange, the latest update was…

ARM, a well-known semiconductor company, has experienced a substantial increase in its stock prices, attracting the attention of investors and industry observers. This article delves into the key factors contributing to ARM's exceptional stock increase, underlying the primary numerical indicators that underpin its recent success in early 2024.  ARM  ARM, founded in 1990 and headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom, is a leading designer of advanced microprocessors and related artificial intelligence (AI) properties. The innovative design, approach and technological advantages have ranked ARM in the global semiconductor industry.  Primary products of ARM ARM company products are used in a variety of devices, some of which are smartphones, tablets, systems and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. One of the primary products and architectures, developed by ARM corporation include Cortex-A, Cortex-R and Cortex-M…