Key transactions & industry news Weekly Update 08/16/2024
Recent M&A Transactions
Transportation & Logistics
Aug 15, 2024 – The owners of separate asset-light and asset-heavy companies are combining in the Southeast to form a significantly larger brokerage, truckload and LTL business. The name of the new entity is BRW. It comes from the acquisition of B.R. Williams Trucking and B.R. Williams LTL Logistics by Haney and White Enterprise, which owns brokerages Haney and White Logistics and Running Ox Logistics. (FreightWaves)
Aug 15, 2024 – Virginia International Logistics, the warehousing and freight transport business, has agreed to buy Kilkenny-based freight firm Allmed in a deal that will create a new logistics group with €70 million in annual revenues. (IrishTimes)
Aug 14, 2024 – TFI International absorbed two Canada-based carriers with its acquisition of CMW Express and its sister company FRL Express. The carriers are TL and LTL specialists serving the provinces of Quebec, the Maritimes, Ontario and the eastern U.S.. The deal follows several other tuck-in deals executed by TFI this year as it integrates its Daseke acquisition and plans to spin off the flatbed giant and its other truckload holdings. (TruckingDive)
Building Products & Materials
Aug 16, 2024 – Saint-Gobain has entered a definitive agreement to acquire OVNIVER Group, a company specializing in the construction chemicals market in Mexico and Central America, for $815m in cash. This acquisition is a move to bolster Saint-Gobain’s global presence in the construction chemicals sector, following previous acquisitions of Chryso, GCP, and the ongoing FOSROC deal. (YahooFinance)
Aug 13, 2024 – Cementir Holding N.V. announces that its fully owned subsidiary Aalborg Portland Holding A/S has acquired an additional 25.40% stake in Sinai White Portland Cement Co. S.A.E. from Sinai Cement Company, a Vicat Group subsidiary, for about EUR 30 million. Following this transaction Cementir will indirectly hold 96.5% of the share capital of SWCC. (Cementir)
Metals & Mining
Aug 15, 2024 – Australian lithium mining company Pilbara Minerals announced that it plans to acquire Latin Resources for approximately A$559.9m to diversify its operations. Pilbara Minerals has secured Latin Resources’ primary Salinas lithium project in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The project has the potential to emerge as one of the world’s top ten hard rock lithium-producing operations outside of Africa. (YahooFinance)
Aug 14, 2024 – Pea Ridge Recycling has announced its recent acquisition of Pontotoc Aluminum Recycling in Mississippi. This new addition, now operating under the banner of Pea Ridge Metals, is situated at the corner of West Reynolds Street and South Columbia Street. (AlCircle)
Aug 12, 2024 – Sims has announced that it has entered into a binding agreement to sell its UK Metal business (UKM) to Unimetals Group for £195 million. The deal includes 28 facilities, including three port facilities and four shedders. UKM sales are said to have represented approximately 14% of the total Sims Metal sales volumes in 2024. (LetsRecycle)
Aug 12, 2024 – Osisko Mining Inc. announced that it has entered into a definitive arrangement agreement pursuant to which Gold Fields Limited has agreed to acquire all of the common shares of Osisko at a price of C$4.90 per Share, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately C$2.16 billion. (OsoskoMining)
Energy
Aug 12, 2024 – Canada’s Tourmaline Oil will acquire Crew Energy in a C$1.3 billion ($947.52 million) all-stock deal, which includes debt, to boost its presence in the Montney shale play in Alberta. The shale formation, which spans northern Alberta and British Columbia, accounts for roughly half of Canada’s gas production, and is one of the country’s most attractive energy-producing regions due to its strong economics. (Reuters)
Others
Aug 12, 2024 – Scotiabank is buying a 14.9% stake in American regional lender KeyCorp for $2.8 billion, as the Canadian bank taps into the stressed regional U.S. banking sector for growth outside its saturated home market. (Reuters)
Top News Stories
Transportation & Logistics
Elliott targets Southwest Airlines board in bid to shake up leadership. Elliott Investment Management has launched a boardroom battle at Southwest Airlines seeking to replace 10 of 15 directors, as the hedge fund pushes to oust the airline’s chief executive and improve performance, it said on Tuesday. The move is an escalation in a fight over who should lead the airline and how it should change.
Refrigerated carrier A&A Express closes South Dakota facility, cuts 111 jobs. A small refrigerated trucking company has announced it is laying off 111 employees, including around 85 truck drivers, and plans to wind down operations at its facility in Brandon, South Dakota. The company is not filing for bankruptcy, “so we have funds to finish our loads and route drivers in and all drivers will be paid, accordingly.”
STB monitors potential strike’s impact on U.S. rail network. The Surface Transportation Board is monitoring the potential impacts a rail labor strike in Canada could have on the U.S. supply chain. A strike could begin as early as Aug. 22. The board is aware that embargoes related to the potential strike have been issued and that the scope of the embargoes could expand in the coming days.
Pension Funds, Creditors Vie Over Proceeds From Yellow Bankruptcy. Collapsed trucker Yellow is facing perhaps its last major reckoning with its long list of creditors, and hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake. A bankruptcy court judge is due to decide in the coming weeks whether the bulk of the failed business’s remaining assets, largely from the proceeds of the sale of properties and equipment, should go to pay off pension plans that claim they collectively are owed billions of dollars.
Metals & Mining
Aluminum demand in building and construction poised to grow by 9 percent by 2027. A new survey conducted by Michigan-based Ducker Carlisle and released by the Aluminum Association concludes that aluminum use in the building and construction market likely will grow by nearly 9 percent by 2027 over 2022 volumes.
Constellium’s Muscle Shoals facility receives DoD grant to increase casting capacity. The funding was awarded via the Defense Production Act Investments (DPAI) Program. Constellium will use the funds to install state-of-the-art casting equipment on the site of a dismantled casting center intended to add up to 300 million pounds of annual casting capacity. With this added capacity, the plant expects to increase its recycled input, reduce its use of primary metal, and provide the U.S. industrial base an additional, self-reliant, domestic source of supply for aluminium rolling ingot.
Iron Ore Hits Lowest Since 2022 as Steel Crisis Rattles Market. Iron ore hit the lowest level since 2022 on concern that global supply is running ahead of demand, with China’s steelmakers mired in a crisis and cutting output just as major miners boost exports. Futures sank for a fourth day in Singapore, falling below $94 a ton, as data from China showed mills reduced steel production to about 83 million tons last month, 9% lower than a year earlier. The country is the largest importer of seaborne iron ore, and sets the tone in the global market.
US Steel Outperforms on Bets Nippon Steel Deal Has Better Chance. US Steel Corp. is beating peers in the stock market as investors speculate that political and labor opposition to its $14.1 billion takeover by Nippon Steel Corp. may be easing. Shares in the Pittsburgh-based firm are up more than 6% in the past month, recovering more of the ground lost when President Joe Biden and Donald Trump voiced opposition to the deal. In the same span, competitors Cleveland Cliffs Inc., Nucor Corp. and Steel Dynamics Inc. have posted double-digit declines.
Energy
Oil Ends Choppy Week Posting Marginal Loss. Oil posted a marginal weekly decline, with traders continuing to weigh the impact of a slowdown in China against a possible attack by Iran or proxies on Israel. West Texas Intermediate settled below $77 a barrel after rising earlier in the week. Oil prices have been choppy in the depths of summer trading, roiled by the tumult in wider markets, bumper swings in algorithmic positioning and geopolitical risk in the Middle East.
Subsea Market Poised to Experience Significant Influx of Capital. The subsea market segment is poised to experience a significant influx of capital. Deepwater developments are set to dominate the sector projected to account for 45 percent of the market from 2024 to 2028.
DOI to Provide $775MM to 21 States to Plug Orphan Wells. The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) is providing $775 million for 21 states to clean up orphaned oil and gas wells and well sites. The resources allocated to clean up legacy pollution sites, of which over $1 billion has already been distributed, will eliminate harmful methane leaks and reduce environmental and public health risks to surface water and groundwater resources critical to U.S. communities and ecosystems, the agency said in a news release.
Others
Inflation continues to cool ahead of the Federal Reserve’s next rate decision. Inflation continued to cool in July, falling to its lowest level in three years and positioning the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates next month. The fresh report gives the Fed “the green light to cut interest rates by 25 basis points at its September meeting,” said Ryan Sweet, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. Wednesday’s report from the Labor Department had consumer prices rising only 0.2% from June to July after falling some the prior month for the first time in four years.
About RJM
RJM & Company is a specialized M&A and capital markets advisory investment bank. We provide boards and management teams of public and private companies with independent advice and expertise in a variety of sectors including road, rail and marine transportation, infrastructure, chemicals, energy, metals and mining, manufacturing, building materials, and other coverage areas of the industrial complex. RJM advises clients on all aspects of transactions including timing, structure, and pricing. RJM originates opportunities and helps negotiate and execute transactions already under evaluation.