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, Euronext Acquires VP Securities. Apple moves into the mobile point-of-sale space with Mobeewave and Motorola makes another video-security purchase with Pelco. 

Euronext Acquires VP Securities 

Euronext N.V., the leading European stock exchange group, has completed its acquisition of Danish company VP Securities A/S from Danmarks Nationalbank, Danske Bank, Nordea, Nykredit and Jyske Bank. 

As part of the acquisition, Maria Hjorth, the current deputy chief executive of VP Securities will take on the role of CEO. 

“Post-trade activities are at the heart of Euronext’s growth strategy, and will be an even larger contributor to our revenue following the acquisition of VP Securities,” said Stéphane Boujnah, CEO and Chairman of the Managing Board of Euronext. 

With VP Securities now in the fold, Euronext is now a leading central securities depository (CSD) operator in Europe, with three CSDs – Euronext VPS in Norway, Interbolsa in Portugal, and now VP Securities in Denmark. Together, the CSDs represent €2.2 trillion in assets under custody. 

Apple takes on Samsung and Square with its Mobeewave purchase

Apple acquired Canadian point-of-sale solutions startup Mobeewave for approximately $100 million. Mobeewave’s technology allows mobile devices to accept contactless payments via app without the need of additional hardware like a dongle.

The calculated move will help Apple more efficiently move into the mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) space by allowing iPhones and possibly other NFC-enabled (near field communication) Apple devices to facilitate payment transactions for merchants. 

The acquisition also keeps the competition between Apple and competitor Samsung neck-and-neck. Samsung last year partnered with Mobeewave to deploy an mPOS solution globally to their devices. Samsung has also notably worked with Fiserv and Visa in the past to create mPOS solutions. 

The acquisition of Mobeewave also pits Apple against traditional POS solution provider Square. Whatever solution arises from the Apple/Mobeewave combination is sure to be as streamlined as Apple devices themselves and, hopefully, inexpensive due to their mobile nature.

Motorola Solutions expands its video security footprint with Pelco

Motorola Solutions Inc. bought California-based video security company Pelco Inc. from private equity firm Transom Capital Group  for $110 million. 

Pelco makes and distributes video technology, including video security cameras and video management system software. The acquisition comes almost exactly a year after Motorola acquired WatchGuard Inc., another video technology company. 

WatchGuard designs in-car video systems, body-worn cameras, evidence management systems and software. 

Both acquisitions will bolster Motorola’s objective of growing its “global footprint with enterprise and public safety customers.” Since 2016 Motorola Solutions has spent an estimated $3.3 billion in acquisitions across a number of industries. 

At the beginning of 2019 Motorola acquired VaaS International Holdings. The prior year, the company spent $1 billion on Avigilon.

In Other News

There are more deals in the works. Here are the details:

• Bed Bath & Beyond offloaded PersonalizationMall.com to 1-800-FLOWERS.COM Inc. to the tune of $245 million.

• San Francisco-based video game developer Zynga Inc. announced that it is acquiring Istanbul-based Rollic, a fast-growing hyper-casual mobile game company. 

• The Blackstone Group announced that it has agreed to acquire digital family history research and DNA testing service provider Ancestry.com Inc. for $4.7 billion including debt. 

• Global SaaS platform Intuit, Inc. has agreed to acquire Singapore-based inventory and order management software company TradeGecko.

• Germany’s Siemens Healthineers is making a mega-purchase. The medtech giant is scooping up radiotherapy hardware and software developer Varian Medical Systems for a whopping $16.4 billion all-cash deal in one of the largest healthcare acquisitions of the year. 

• US software company Microsoft Corporation said on Sunday that it was in talks with ByteDance, the Chinese owner of viral video app TikTok, to acquire its operations in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. 

• After 15 months of anti-competitive investigation into Amazon’s investment in the U.K.’s food delivery service Deliveroo, the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) finally approved the investment this week.