Category: Corporate Finance

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…

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…

Scooter sharing in Milan In the city of Milan, the scooter sharing service has been active since 2015 with 100% electric vehicles. Indeed, the municipality of Milan carried out a “Safety2Share” awareness campaign. This project aims to raise awareness and increase the safety of motorcycle sharing. It is made up several rules that regulates the usage of these vehicles to plummet risks. Actually, the scooter sharing service offers plenty of advantages to commuters. The five main advantages are: There are no purchase and maintenance costs There are no stamp duty costs and insurance policies Solves the parking problems since takes less space and no garages are needed The scooters are electric and can enter freely in Area B and C You pay fees for actual usage Therefore, for this type…

Introduction CVC Capital Partners is a global investment business which manages assets of over 177 billion euros and operates in a number of different industries throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas. CvC is known for generating long-term value, by buying large shares in businesses with the goal of improving their performances and achieving successful exits. They have a wide range of investments in consumer products, healthcare, technology, and other areas. The well-known Italian restaurant chain "La Piadineria" which has 400 locations, is one of the largest acquisitions made by CVC. “La Piadineria”, which has been owned by Permira since 2018, saw a huge growth during the Covid-19 pandemic and rose to the top of the fast-casual food industry, having more than 70,000 people per day. The company effectively increased its…

Take a look at the latest company report created by the Corporate Finance division about Novo Nordisk! NovoNordisk_Report_CattolicaInvestmentClubDownload Authors: Gianluigi Pezone, Gian Carlo Sari, Iva Jelisavcic, Maelyne Frydman, Giorgia Mentasti and Manfredi Bernardi

Moody’s, Standard & Poor, and Fitch are credit ranking agencies that assesses the creditworthiness of various entities, including countries and banks.  The creditworthiness of an entity, whether this is a bank or a country, refers to its ability to meet financial obligations, particularly with reference to repayment of borrowed money. It can be simplified as an assessment of the l entity’s likelihood of returning the money it owes.  Agencies like Moody’s, Fitch and S&P assess creditworthiness. These evaluate a country’s economic and financial situation, including factors like its GDP, fiscal policies and political stability and mainly government debt. Their credit rating reflects the risk associated with lending money to a country. The higher the credit ranking, the lower the risk of default. This makes it more likely that the country…