Key transactions & industry news Weekly Update

Recent M&A Transactions

Transportation & Logistics

Sep 13, 2024 – DSV A/S agreed to buy a Deutsche Bahn AG unit in a €14.3 billion ($15.9 billion) deal that will turn the Danish company into one of the world’s largest logistics businesses. It’s one of the largest sales of a state-owned business in Germany in years. (Bloomberg)

Sep 10, 2024 – Acosta Europe today announced its strategic acquisition of Dee Set Group, an industry-leading retail and field marketing services provider in the UK. The acquisition positions Acosta Europe as the UK’s most comprehensive agency provider of multi-channel digital and physical field sales solutions to serve retailers and branded manufacturers of all sizes. (PRNewswire)

Sep 10, 2024 – Palermo-headquartered Italian Shipping & Logistics Agency (ISLA) has acquired all shares in Esterminal Europea Servizi Terminalistici Srl (EST). The fully licensed stevedoring company operates terminals in six Sicilian ports and offers a wide range of services, including container terminal operations, Ro-Ro terminal operations, warehousing, and the handling of breakbulk, project, and reefer cargo. (VesselFinder)

Building Products & Materials

Sep 12, 2024 – Austria-based Leube Group has acquired Marolt Beton, Slovenia’s leading ready-mix concrete company, according to ORF. Marolt Beton has an annual revenue of approximately EUR 16M and operations at 10 sites –ready-mix concrete plants and two quarries. Leube said that the acquisition is part of the company’s expansion strategy, which aims for 10-15 per cent of annual growth. (Cemnet)

Sep 10, 2024 – Cemex announced today that it has sold its operations in Guatemala to Holcim Group, for a total consideration of approximately US$200 million. The divested assets mainly consist of one grinding mill, three ready mix plants and five distribution centers. As of December 31, 2023, the grinding mill had an installed capacity of around 0.6M metric tons per year. (Cemex)

Sep 10, 2024 – Beacon, the leading publicly-traded wholesale distributor specializing in roofing, waterproofing and related exterior products, announced that it has completed the acquisition of Chicago Metal Supply & Fabrication(Beacon)

Metals & Mining

Sep 12, 2024 – Ambienta portfolio company Previero has acquired Parini, an engineer, developer and producer of mechanical sorting machines for waste recycling. The transaction will enhance Previero’s turnkey products by integrating additional technological capabilities along the recycling value chain. (PEHub)

Sep 10, 2024 – Mekoprint has entered into a merger agreement with Dahlitech to continue their activities in an expanded “Mekoprint Mechanic Systems” sheet metal business. With this agreement Mekoprint strengthens their position as one of Denmark’s largest metal subcontractors with more than 250 metal specialists across six metal factories in Denmark and Poland (Mekoprint)

Energy

Sep 11, 2024 – Canada’s Pembina Gas Infrastructure (PGI) has signed an agreement to acquire midstream assets from Veren in a deal valued at CAN$400 million (US$294.7 million). PGI is a joint venture between Pembina Pipeline Corporation (Pembina) and investment company KKR. The acquisition includes four batteries in the Gold Creek and Karr areas, boasting a natural gas handling capacity of 320 million cubic ft/d and a liquids handling capacity of 53 000 bpd. (WorldPipelines)

Others

Sep 5, 2024 – Mastercard has agreed to buy threat intelligence company Recorded Future from private equity firm Insight Partners for $2.65 billion. The acquisition will bring expanded threat intelligence capabilities to Mastercard, which recorded $9 trillion in gross dollar volumes last year, a metric that represents the total dollar value of all transactions processed. (Reuters)

Top News Stories

Transportation & Logistics

Norfolk Southern dismisses CEO Alan Shaw, promotes Chief Financial Officer Mark George to president and CEO. Norfolk Southern has terminated the contracts of embattled CEO Alan Shaw and the railroad’s chief legal officer, Nabanita Nag, for having a consensual relationship in violation of company policy. The NS board unanimously named Chief Financial Officer Mark George as president and chief executive officer, effective immediately, the railroad announced Wednesday evening. George joined NS in 2019 from conglomerate United Technologies Corp., where he was global chief financial officer for its Otis Elevator Co. and Carrier Corp. subsidiaries.

Boeing machinists reject new contract, go on strike. More than 30,000 aerospace workers at Boeing will walk off the job Friday after a large majority of them rejected a tentative contract. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers announced the result on its website late Thursday night after vote tabulation was completed. More than 94% of union members voted and 96% of those voted against the deal.

Air Canada labor dispute puts supply chains at risk. Air Canada joined business groups in calling for the Canadian government to intervene to prevent a strike by the airline’s pilots that could start within days. The nation’s flag carrier urged officials to order binding arbitration to resolve stalled contract talks between the company and its 5,200 unionized pilots, saying a potential strike would cause severe economic disruption for the country by halting air travel and delaying time-sensitive cargo shipments.

Metals & Mining

$40M aluminum recycler breaks ground in Logan County. A new facility, which will be operated as a joint venture between Tri-Arrows Aluminum (TAA) and Tennessee Aluminum Processors (TAP), will serve as a recycling facility that will process dross (metal containing by-product) and scrap material from TAA’s casting center at nearby Logan Aluminum. This process will produce molten metal and sows, which will be returned to the TAA recycling/casting facilities at Logan Aluminum and/or other customer facilities. The project will establish the facility on 37 acres to allow for the necessary equipment, storage, transportation and parking.

Hydro opens new aluminium recycling plant in Hungary. Hydro have stated that the new aluminium recycling plant in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, will have an annual capacity of 90,000 tonnes, mainly serving the automotive market. The recycling plant will initially process 15,000 tonnes of post-consumer scrap annually, increasing over the years to come in line with the growing customer demand for recycled, post-consumer aluminium.

Biden’s opposition to U.S. Steel takeover could test ties with key ally Japan. U.S. opponents of a Japanese steelmaker’s $14.9 billion bid for U.S. Steel cite concerns about national security and a reluctance to relinquish a storied American company. In Japan, the business community sees election-year politics at play. President Joe Biden is preparing to formally block the proposed takeover of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel, two people familiar with the matter confirmed, over what he says are national security concerns.

Energy

Europe Gas Futures Drop as Ukraine Transit Worries Ease for Now. European natural gas futures dropped to the lowest since the end of July as concerns eased over near-term exports from Russia that travel across Ukraine. Benchmark front-month contracts fell 2.6 percent, erasing the previous day’s gains. Fuel-shipment orders published by the Ukrainian grid signaled the usual amount of Russian gas will cross the nation on the 13th of September, the same as the 12th. On the 12th, data had signaled a decline, which boosted prices.

Others

Boeing just the latest company to go head to head with union. Aircraft assembly workers walked off the job at at Boeing factories near Seattle and elsewhere early on the 13th after union members voted overwhelmingly to go on strike. Organized labor has made itself heard over the past year and the number of actions taken by unions has soared. There were 470 work stoppages (466 strikes and 4 lockouts) involving approximately 539,000 workers last year, according to Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. The nearly 500 work stoppages resulted in approximately 24,874,522 strike days.

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.