Wealthy European families have been involved in many large, high-profile M&A deals in recent years,
a Bloomberg report noted.
Wealthy European families have been involved in many large, high-profile M&A deals in recent years,
a Bloomberg report noted.
For example, the article said, the Agnelli family's investment company, Exor SpA, based in Italy, won a bidding war for reinsurance company PartnerRe Ltd. for $6.9 billion, and Coty Inc., controlled by the German-Austrian Reimann family, agreed to acquire 43 of Procter & Gamble's beauty brands for $12.5 billion.
“The recent purchases reflect how some [European] families are focusing on less risky sectors, such as consumer goods or reinsurance, while in other cases consolidating in old-line industries that are facing low-cost competition,” the Bloomberg article said.
Hermann Prelle, chairman for Germany at UBS Group AG, told Bloomberg, “There is a belief among families that you can only have an entrepreneurial edge if you take a long-term view.”
Citing data complied by PitchBook, a research firm, the Bloomberg article said that there were 13 deals by European family offices in 2014, the highest level since before the financial crisis in 2007, when there were 18.
The Bloomberg report also said that European families are joining with private equity firms to make deals. This year, family offices put 27% of their assets into private equity, compared with 18% five years ago, the article said, citing research from Prequin, a data provider. For example, the report said that in November, Germany's Struengmann family partnered with Swedish brim EQT Partners AB to buy Siemens AG's hearing aids division for $2.7 billion. (Source: Bloomberg, Sept. 27, 2015.)
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