"Club Deals" from Sovereign Wealth Funds

This is to my knowledge one of the first so called "club deals" in which two or more state owned or controlled entities are teaming up for a takeover or merger. This is a very significant event which if it succeeds should be very positive for equity markets overall.

It will be interesting to see how ABN and the Dutch public will react to this Barclay's/Temasek/China Development Bank offer. I think it is very difficult "politically" speaking for SVF to make bigger takeovers without a "strategic" partner like in this case Barclay's. But this "indirect" approach could be a way to dampen the "fear" that the "Chinese", "Emirates" or "Russians" are buying brand names or "national icons".

We in Europe have this discussion right now with the tendency to create a "golden share" that gives the countries a veto. The rule today is only in place for defence related companies but the trend is to open the gates and include utilities etc......

This would be the exact opposite what the EU was praying for the past decade.....excluding France...:-) . This deal could give us a first hint

Das ist meinem Kenntnisstand nach einer der ersten gößeren Deals in dem sich zwei staatlich kontrollierte Unternehmungen zusammenschließen um eine Übernahme zu stemmen. Das könnte der Anfang eines Trends sein der die Aktienmärkte bei Erfolg wohl nachhaltig unterstützen dürfte.

Ich bin besonders auf die Reaktion von ABN und der holländicshen Öffentlichkeit gespannt. Ich denke das es "politisch" immer noch sehr schwer für die SVF ist größere Übernahmen von "Brand Names" in Eigenregie durchzuführen. Der jetzt eingeschlagenen Weg den Anfang mit einem strategischen Partner wie in diesem Falle Barclay´s zu machen könnte die Furcht vor den Chinesen, Russen, oder Arabern evtl. etwas lindern.

Das ganze wird umso brisanter als wir in Europa ja gerade die Diskussion um die mit einem Vetorecht ausgestattete "goldene Aktie" führen. Bisher greift diese Regelung nur bei Aktien die mit dem Verteidigungssektor zu tun haben. Die aktuelle Diskussion läßt erahnen das eine Ausweitung auf andere Sektoren ( Versorger) durchaus im Bereich des möglichen liegt.

Das wäre das genaue Gegenteil von dem was die EU seit Jahren predigt....... mit Ausnahme von Frankreich :-). Dieser Deals könnte einen ersten Aufschluß geben wie die Stimmungslage ist.

Barclays Raises ABN Offer on China, Singapore Funding

July 23 (Bloomberg) -- Barclays Plc, vying to buy ABN Amro Holding NV in the biggest banking takeover, raised its offer to 67.5 billion euros ($93.4 billion) after securing investments from the governments of China and Singapore.

China Development Bank will invest 2.2 billion euros in Barclays, and a further 7.6 billion euros if the bid for ABN Amro succeeds. Singapore's Temasek Holdings Pte, the city-state's investment arm, will invest 1.4 billion euros initially, and an additional 2.2 billion euros upon the purchase of ABN Amro.

A merger of ABN Amro and Barclays would create a bank with a market capitalization of more than $160 billion. The Royal Bank- led group's offer, which will end Oct. 5, is 93 percent in cash.

``China and Singapore, especially through Temasek, have always had a long-term ambition within the global markets,'' said Lok Yim, head of fixed income and equity for Deutsche Bank AG's private wealth management group, based in Hong Kong. ``As the renaissance of Asia comes into full fruition, it is only natural that foreign exchange reserves are deployed differently.'' ....

> taken from Temasek Holdings

China Development Bank is one of the nation's so-called ``policy banks,'' which support the government's development and political agenda by lending for public works and to targeted industries. The government is planning to reorganize all three into commercial, profit-oriented banks.

Temasek's investment in banks, including stakes in Bank of China Ltd. and China Construction Bank, helped bolster its earnings. Its full-year profit surged 71 percent to a record S$12.8 billion ($8.2 billion) in the year ended March 31, 2006, according to its annual report. Investments overseas account for 56 percent of the $85 billion of assets Temasek manages, the report said.