Biotech firm Amgen is buying biopharmaceutical company Horizon Therapeutics for $27.8B. The deal is the largest healthcare merger this year. Amgen is paying $116.50 a share for Horizon, representing a ~20% premium on the company’s Friday close price. Horizon shares jumped more than 15% following news of the deal. More: - Horizon develops treatments for rare autoimmune and severe inflammatory diseases such as thyroid eye disease.
- Horizon’s primary market is the U.S.; however, the company has been working to gain regulatory approval to sell its products in Europe and Japan.
- Last month, the company disclosed that it had been receiving takeover bids from Amgen, Johnson & Johnson, and Sanofi.
- Horizon generated $3.23B in net sales in 2021 and expects global net sales to top $4B in the coming years.
- In October, Amgen completed its $3.7B acquisition of another biopharmaceutical company ChemoCentryx.
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EV startup Rivian announced on Monday that it is suspending its plans to develop electric vans in Europe with Mercedes-Benz. Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said the company was pursuing the best risk-adjusted return on its capital investments. More: - In September, both automakers had signed a memorandum of understanding to open a plant in central Europe that would produce electric delivery vans.
- Scaringe added that Rivian will now focus on its consumer and commercial businesses, noting they were the most attractive near-term opportunities to maximize value for the startup.
- Mercedes, responding to the statement, said it respects and understands the company’s decision and would still move ahead with the new plant located in Jawor, Poland.
- Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans, Mathias Geisen, said the company is open to exploring future strategic opportunities with Rivian, noting both companies share the same ambition.
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Thoma Bravo is taking spend management firm Coupa Software private in an $8B all-cash acquisition. Thoma is paying $81 a share for the cloud-based business, representing a ~30% premium on Coupa’s Friday close price. The amount is also a 77% premium on the Coupa’s close price on Nov. 22 before reports of a possible deal emerged. More: - The deal includes a minority investment from a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
- According to a regulatory filing, Thoma Bravo is using its recent and largest buyout fund, Thoma Bravo Fund XV LP, to finance the deal.
- The transaction is expected to close in H1, 2023.
- Thoma Bravo recently closed a $32.5B fundraise, which included the $24.3B Thoma Bravo Fund XV LP.
- Coupa joins Thoma Bravo’s growing portfolio of software companies.
- In October, Thoma Bravo announced plans to buy digital identity technology company ForgeRock for $2.3B and customer experience video company UserTesting for $1.3B.
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Fast-fashion brand Shein is considering turning its business into a marketplace platform for other retailers to sell directly to customers. According to a memo sent to investors, the planned marketplace would open additional merchandise and shipping options to customers, resulting in increased engagement and satisfaction. More: - Shein has been diversifying its supply chain away from China; earlier this year, the company moved its headquarters from China, where it was founded, to Singapore.
- According to the memo, Shein opened a manufacturing location in Turkey this summer and operates warehouses in Poland to service customers in Western Europe.
- Shein was valued at $100B at its last capital raise in April; investors included Sequoia Capital China, Tiger Global Management, and private equity firm General Atlantic.
- According to sources, Shein is on track to generate $24B in revenue this year.
- Shein generated $15.7B in revenue in 2021.
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Microsoft is buying a £1.5B ($1.84B) stake in the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) as part of a 10-year strategic cloud partnership. Microsoft is buying the ~4% stake from Blackstone, Thomson Reuters, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC. More: - LSEG owns the London Stock Exchange (LSE), Europe’s largest stock exchange by market value.
- As part of the deal, the LSEG has to spend a minimum of $2.8B on cloud-related products with Microsoft over the 10-year period.
- Microsoft will provide LSEG with new data infrastructure, analytics, and modeling solutions with Microsoft Azure, AI, and Microsoft Teams.
- Scott Guthrie, Microsoft’s executive vice president for the Cloud and AI Group, will join LSEG’s board as a non-executive director.
- On news of the deal, LSEG shares rose 4% on Monday.
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Big Four accounting firm EY told its U.S. employees they would not receive holiday bonuses this year. The company made the announcement on Friday during an all-hands meeting. EY executives cited the changing global economic environment. More: - In the last couple of years, EY has paid a merit bonus to top performers around this time of the year.
- This year-end bonus is in addition to its primary bonus awards given at the end of its fiscal year in June.
- EY noted that it has continued to see strong revenue growth but elected not to fund the additional year-end bonuses this year.
- The company added that it could bring back the year-end bonuses sometime in the future.
- EY is in the middle of a planned separation of its tax and advisory businesses.
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- According to sources, prosecutors at the Justice Department are divided on whether to bring criminal charges against Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao or take more time to review more evidence. The DOJ began probing Binance and some of its executives in 2018 over the firm’s compliance with U.S. anti-money laundering laws and sanctions.
- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have made a significant breakthrough in nuclear fusion. According to sources, the researchers produced a fusion reaction that generated more energy than it consumed.
- According to sources, Japan and the Netherlands have agreed in principle to join the U.S. in tightening controls over the export of advanced chipmaking machinery to China. Both countries are expected to announce in the coming weeks that they will adopt some of the U.S. export restrictions announced in October.
- U.K. journalist Emma Tucker has been appointed as the next editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal, succeeding Matt Murray. Tucker will assume the role on February 1. Murray will continue in a senior position at the parent company News Corp, reporting to CEO Robert Thomson.
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 |  | Vanessa Omeokachie is a writer for Inside.com; she writes the daily Inside Business newsletter. Her interests include finance, technology, and entrepreneurship. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending concerts and music festivals, traveling, and exploring. Connect with her on Twitter @VanessaOmeo or on LinkedIn. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords. | |
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