Part 11: M&A in Emerging Markets
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September 19 2012 Deals & Dealmakers Part 11: M&A in emerging markets SUPPORTEDBY www.ft.com/dealmakers 2 FINANCIAL TIMES WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19 2012 3 DEALS & DEALMAKERS | OVERVIEW DEALS & DEALMAKERS | OVERVIEW CONTENTS Reaching out in the search for growth Emerging markets are not immune to the global economic malaise – but there are still deals to be done. By Anousha Sakoui 2 OVERVIEW HERE IS NO SECURITY ON In tough times for the global economy, are this earth, there is only oppor- deals still being done in emerging markets? tunity,” Douglas MacArthur, the 4 RISK US general, once pronounced. In Companies must tread carefully when the fog of the financial crisis, hunting growth in developing nations opportunities still abound for 6 LATIN AMERICA those companies that have The upcoming Brazil football World Cup strong balance sheets. and Olympics are creating opportunities Stock markets remain depressed in many parts 7 PROFILE Tof the world, and competitors are laid low. But Brazilian businessman Eike Batista with most western economies stagnating and 8 CHINA little hope of a return to strong growth soon, one What a private equity investment in water of the most common dealmaking mantras is that treatment tells us about dealmaking in China companies should take advantage of opportuni- 9 CASE STUDY ties in the still-growing emerging markets. The secrets of KKR’s success in China “With limited growth opportunities at home, 10 AFRICA corporates in developed economies continue to A growing demand for consumer goods is pursue the potential for greater returns in higher rewriting the continent’s investment story growth emerging markets,” says Guy Norman, 11 OPINION head of corporate in the Middle East at Clifford Rethinking “emerging markets” – and how Chance, the law firm. “But the unsettling and to spot the “breakout nations” ongoing mix of political and economic uncertain- ties across the globe is reflected in a more cau- tious approach than we were seeing a year ago.” CONTRIBUTORS Positive growth in countries such as Brazil, DAVID GELLES is the FT’s US mergers and China and India is enough to draw in western acquisitions correspondent corporates looking to expand. Moreover, burgeon- JOE LEAHY is the FT’s Brazil bureau chief ing middle classes in countries such as Nigeria ANOUSHA SAKOUI is the FT’s mergers and and India also present opportunities to tap into a acquisitions correspondent secular as well as a cyclical upswing. HENNY SENDER is the FT’s chief interna- However, times are tough for dealmaking. tional finance correspondent Lending remains constrained and in many coun- RUCHIR SHARMA is the head of emerging tries the fragility of the economic backdrop markets at Morgan Stanley investment man- means it is hard for companies to make bold agement and author of Breakout Nations calls and take advantage of opportunities to do WILLIAM WALLIS is the FT’s Africa editor transformational mergers and acquisitions. The emerging markets are no different. “You cannot extricate emerging markets from ILLUSTRATIONS the rest of the world – quite the contrary,” says Nick Lowndes James Friel, head of investment bank Roth- schild’s business in Russia and the Common- wealth of Independent States. “Financing for Special reports editor Michael Skapinker acquisitions, heavily impacted by the broader Editor Hugo Greenhalgh European debt crisis, is simply not available in Lead editor Jerry Andrews the way it was until 2008. The dearth of available Production editor Jearelle Wolhuter acquisition finance is particularly pronounced in Art director Derek Westwood the emerging markets, with few exceptions such Picture editor Michael Crabtree as funding for oil and gas deals in Russia.” Graphics Russell Birkett According to Mergermarket, the data provider, Intern Hesham Zakai in the first half of 2012, emerging market deal- Head of strategic sales Patrick Collins making fell 18.9 per cent to $200.6bn compared Senior campaign manager Rachel Harris with the first six months of last year. European Head of professional services Robert Grange deals into the emerging markets were down by 57.9 per cent in the first six months of 2012. Europe, made cheaper by the continuing All editorial content in this report is produced by sovereign debt crisis, received nearly half of the the FT. Our advertisers have no influence over or outbound investments from emerging market prior sight of the articles. corporates in the first half of the year, up 87.1 per cent on the same period in 2011. There is, however, an upward trend in the proportion of total deals worldwide accounted for Corporates are looking for avenues of growth, ago. This year, Chinese domestic and inbound some of them will be strategically important.” by the emerging markets. Mergermarket says says Mr Friel of Rothschild, with markets such M&A are also at record highs for the year to date. Mr Braham adds that one recent development emerging market deals made up 22.4 per cent of as Russia, Turkey and to a lesser extent Poland Asia’s emergence as Indeed, according to the data this year, China is that Chinese groups are looking to team up More online global M&A activity in the first half of this year, being the most attractive in Europe. “Russia, has gone from a targeted nation to one on the with private equity funds. “Chinese companies up from 20.9 per cent in 2011. however, remains a challenging market for for- an acquirer of foreign acquisition trail. Earlier this summer, Cnooc, the are often nervous about their ability to manage Mr Norman of Clifford Chance says the contin- eign investors,” he says. “Public shareholder dis- companies is one of Chinese energy group, launched a $15.1bn deal for the companies they have bought,” he says. “We A podcast featuring uing eurozone crisis, slowing growth and leader- putes [such as the ones with TNK-BP, the oil Nexen of Canada, its biggest international bid have seen Chinese buyers looking to team up ship change in China, forthcoming elections in company, and VimpelCom, the mobile operator], since a failed attempt to take over US oil group with a private equity fund to help manage the leading figures from the US and conflict and instability in Syria and the perception that not enough is being done to the notable trends Unocal in 2005. But it is not only resources that often challenging integration of the acquired the world of emerging other parts of the Middle East have all contrib- tackle corruption, and the fear of excessive state Chinese groups are interested in. Weetabix, the company into the Chinese group.” uted to a slowdown in emerging-markets M&A as intervention are putting buyers off.” absent from Russia, while billions of dollars of PE food group, was taken over by China’s Bright markets dealmaking, investors await greater clarity. “This is particularly true of global private investments have been made in Turkey,” he adds. Food earlier this year and Beijing-backed nuclear “We [nevertheless] remain cautiously optimistic equity firms, which have thus far been largely One of the most notable trends of the past year companies are among those vying to acquire plus an interactive about the prospects for emerging-markets M&A has been the emergence of Asia as an acquirer of Horizon, an Eon and RWE Npower project to World view graphic mapping the in the medium term and beyond, even if varying foreign companies. “Asian owners and chief exec- build UK nuclear power plants. Vikas Seth attractions and risks as between jurisdictions utives are confident, ambitious and have access “Until recently China was mainly focused on Head of investment banking for Middle East, Turkey and Africa latest trends in mergers mean that some will see more activity than Russia and Turkey to a pool of liquidity in the local markets with resources deals,” says Edward Braham, global and co-head of global emerging markets M&A, Credit Suisse and acquisitions and others,” says Mr Norman. “The appeal of particu- which to fund their ambitions,” says Colin Ban- head of M&A at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, lar markets will also vary according to sector are among the field, head of M&A for Asia Pacific at Citigroup. the law firm. “These continue, but the latest five- “M&A flows have continued to shift in response to weak The Dealmaker column with, for example, healthcare companies being China in particular has been active in 2012. Chi- year plan contemplates a broader range of deals market conditions. We are seeing more sell-side activity in www.ft.com/dealmakers drawn to countries such as China and natural most attractive nese outbound deals are at a record high of $42bn to acquire brands, strengthen market share and emerging markets as corporates struggle to raise equity in resources in Australia and Africa attracting as of August 28, according to Dealogic, the data buy advanced technologies. Western companies capital markets. Sovereign wealth funds are also redirecting attention in those regions.” markets in Europe provider. This is 22 times the volume of a decade will be on the shopping list more often, and investment to emerging markets.” 4 FINANCIAL TIMES WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19 2012 5 DEALS & DEALMAKERS | RISK Treading carefully Investigating emerging market targets in forensic detail can prevent unpleasant surprises. By David Gelles HEN BALL Corporation, a US industrial conglomer- ate, was looking to diversify internation- ally during the mid- 2000s, its attention fell on Formametal SA, an Argentine maker of metal cans. The Wtarget looked like a good fit, adding a reliably in-demand product to Ball’s broad portfolio, and in 2006 the deal was done.