In keeping with our mission to provide comprehensive advertising analysis, MediaRadar puts together a report of the most important mergers and acquisitions news each week. Stay in the loop, whether you sell advertising space or focus on business development.
This week, Eli Lilly makes moves in healthcare by buying Dermira, Morgan Stanley is planning to make one of the biggest deals in the last decade and eBay sells StubHub to Viagogo.
Eli Lilly and Company acquires Dermira
Eli Lilly and Company, a global healthcare leader in medicine discovery, has announced the successful acquisition of Dermira, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to medical dermatology. The deal was valued at $1.1 billion at the time of the January announcement.
With this purchase Lilly gained these properties:
- Lebrikizumab, an atopic dermatitis antibody
- QBREXZA® (glycopyrronium), an uncontrolled excessive underarm perspiration treatment.
With nearly 16.5 million adults suffering from atopic dermatitis, Lilly’s acquisition places the company in a strong position to greatly expand its customer-base.
Morgan Stanley agrees to buy E-Trade
Multinational investment bank and financial services company, Morgan Stanley, has announced that it has agreed to acquire E-Trade Financial Corporation, an online-brokerage platform provider. This deal was valued for $13 billion, making it one of the largest finance mergers & acquisitions since 2010.
When this deal closes, E-Trade will add 5.2 million client accounts to Morgan Stanley’s 3 million customers. This will effectively double its customer-base.
This acquisition lines up well with Morgan Stanley’s goals: to increase its deposits for loan funding to high value clientele. E-Trade generates nearly $56 billion in deposits each year. The deal is expected to close in Q4 of 2020.
Viagogo picks up StubHub — with strict monitoring
eBay sold the online ticket scalper StubHub to Viagogo for $4.05 billion. Viagogo was launched by StubHub co-founder Eric Baker when StubHub was sold to eBay in 2007 for $310 million.
Viagogo seeks to capitalize on StubHub’s US dominance and combine it with their established international market to grow the brand.
UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has stepped in, issuing a ban on the two firms from taking any action which might “lead to the integration of the StubHub business with the Viagogo business.” The CMA said that Stubhub and Viagogo must report every two weeks starting Feb 21 to prove that they are separate businesses.
Stubhub has recently been hit with fines by other national regulators for misleading pricing claims in the online sale of tickets.
eBay now expects net revenue for the full year 2020 to total between $9.56 billion and $9.76 billion, with the $3.1 billion in net proceeds from the StubHub sale making up a significant slice of the pie.
In Other News
These aren’t the only three important deals from this past week. Check out the other developments and rumors that spark our interest.
- Fashion retailer Forever 21 has been saved from bankruptcy in an $81 million joint-purchase by Authentic Brands, Simon Property, and Brookfield Property.
- Retail company L Brands is selling a majority stake in Victoria’s Secret to private equity firm Sycamore Partners. Sycamore will acquire a 55% share in Victoria’s Secret for $525 million.
- Dell Technologies is close to completing its sale of RSA Security to private equity firm STG Partners for more than $2 billion.
- Dallas-based Dean Foods Company, the largest U.S. milk producer, has agreed to sell a substantial part of its business to Dairy Farmers of America for $425 million.
- 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. is acquiring online gift retailer PersonalizationMall.com for $252 million cash. PersonalizationMall has achieved steady financial growth for the past several years, with revenues exceeding $150 million in 2019.
- Hormel Foods Corporation announced that it is acquiring Texas-based Sadler’s Smokehouse for $270 million.
- Univision, Spanish-language media broadcasting company, is rumored to be in sales talks with a consortium of investors that includes Searchlight Capital Partners and former and Wade Davis. This acquisition could be valued as high as $10 billion.
- Meal kit service company Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. announced that it is exploring a broad range of strategic alternatives that include business combination and sale of the company.
- Home furnishings retailer Pier 1 Imports, which was already in the process of closing some 450 stores nationwide, and in Canada, has filed for bankruptcy.
