PE HUB Wire Highlights, 9.11.19

Whitehorse leads strip sale out of Carlyle’s debut mid-market fund; Morgan Stanley Capital Partners weighs sale of Pathway Vet Alliance; LSE gets surprise $39 bln offer from Hong Kong Exchange

Could Refinitiv‘s $27 billion sale to the London Stock Exchange be in trouble?

That’s what ran through my head this morning when I saw that Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltdmade a surprise $39 billion offer for the LSE. HKEK said it plans to fund the offer with a mix of existing cash and new credit facilities. The offer, however, is contingent on the LSE abandoning its $27 billion bid for Refinitiv.

Also, HKEK’s statement isn’t really an offer…yet. HKEK cautioned that its statement should not be construed as an announcement of a firm intention to make an offer. “There can be no certainty that an offer will be made. A further announcement will be made as and when appropriate,” the HKEK said.

But, if the HKEK did make an offer, it would be a takeover.

The HKEK has until 5 p.m. on Oct. 9 to announce whether it will make an offer for the LSE or not, the statement said.

The LSE’s board this morning confirmed that HKEK made an “unsolicited, preliminary and highly conditional proposal to acquire the entire share capital of LSEG.” The LSE said it remains committed to and continues to make good progress on its proposed $27 billion buy of Refinitiv. See our brief here.

In other deal news, Providence Strategic Growth has sold its majority stake in Burning Glass Technologies to KKR. Financial terms weren’t announced. Burning Glass Technologies is an analytics software company that provides labor market data.

Cannabis: Marijuana legalization is slowly gaining ground in the U.S. So far 11 states have legalized pot including Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.

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