It has been a vibrant February according to IFLR1000's selection of deal announcements, with deals across M&A, capital markets, and banking in a range of sectors. The banking, energy, government and public policy, and healthcare sectors were the most active, and there were a number of landmark transactions—and a near miss too.

Snap—the parent company of social media site Snapchat—completed its long-anticipated IPO on the NYSE, raising $3.4 billion, which was the largest social media IPO since Twitter's three years ago, and UniCredit launched a €13 billion capital increase, which almost doubles the bank's capitilisation and is arguably the biggest share issue in Italian history; also Korean Air took out $140 million to finance the purchase of a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, and Chinese state-owned oil and gas company, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), acquired 8% in an Abu Dhabi onshore oil concession for $1.77 billion from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), the Emirates' national oil company. 

At over $100 billion deal values had swollen to astronomical levels at the start of the new year, but have come back down to earth this month at a tick over $31 billion. Interestingly, Kirkland & Ellis topped the deal value charts—with a sizeable gap between them and Davis Polk & Wardwell in second place—at the expense of its top ranking in the deal volume table, ending a streak of seven months on top.

Elsewhere, Poland is making a habit out of landmark transactions, having completed the largest ever transaction in the Polish food retail sector and the largest ever private equity exit in the country when CVC Capital Partners acquired Żabka Polska from Mid Europa Partners for an undisclosed amount, and France narrowly missed out—to Poland—on being the first government to issue a green bond, when it issued its first at €7 billion 1.75%. 

Also Delek Group made a bid to acquire Ithaca Energy for £518 million, which was the latest in a string of North sea deals completed in the past few months; the Kingdom of Bahrain sold a $600 million sovereign eurobond through a tap issue to a $1 billion bond issued in October 2016; and Polyus Gold international—the largest gold producer in Russia—has issued $800 million in notes.

If you have any public deal announcements you would like us to take into account for our reports please send them to - amajeed@iflr1000.com

The EMEA launch of IFLR1000 Deal Data—a fully searchable database whose BETA version went live in May last year—is imminent. This database of significant deal records from over 120 countries will include searchable and filterable data on the most significant legal transactions from around the globe, and all of our featured monthly deals will be included along with many more garnered from the IFLR1000's own research, press releases and other deal announcements.

Below you can access our top picks for February 2017 linked to their record in the new deals database.

Adam Majeed - Asia-Editor 

 

Mergermarket table 1 - Law firms by global M&A deal value

 

Mergermarket table 2 - Law firms by global M&A deal volume

 

Deal 1: BDO Unibank $1.2 billion rights issue

 

Jurisdictions: Philippines

Deal type: Secondary offering of shares 

Industry sectors: Banking 

Deal 2: CNPC $1.77 billion acquisition of 8% in Abu Dhabi onshore oil concession

 

Jurisdictions: China, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates

Deal type: Private acquisition, Concession 

Industry sectors: Energy 

Deal 3: Commonwealth Bank of Australia A$1.45 billion PERLS IX 3.90% notes issue

 

Jurisdictions: Australia, New Zealand

Deal type: Investment grade bond/note issue

Industry sectors: Banking 

Deal 4: CVC Capital Partners acquisition of Żabka Polska

 

Jurisdictions: Poland

Deal type: Private acquisition 

Industry sectors: Consumer goods and services, Food and beverage 

Deal 5: Delek £518 million acquisition of Ithaca Energy

 

Jurisdictions: United Kingdom

Deal type: Public acquisition 

Industry sectors: Oil and gas 

Deal 6: Hermes Pardini Bovespa IPO

 

Jurisdictions: Brazil

Deal type: IPO 

Industry sectors: Healthcare 

Deal 7: Kingdom of Bahrain $600 million 7% sovereign eurobond tap issue

 

Jurisdictions: Ireland, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates

Deal type: Sovereign bond issue

Industry sectors: Government and public policy 

Deal 8: Korean Airlines $140 million financing of Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner

 

Jurisdictions: South Korea

Deal type: Asset finance, Financing 

Industry sectors: Aviation 

Deal 9: Lonza Group SFr865 accelerated bookbuilding

 

Jurisdictions: Switzerland

Deal type: Acquisition finance, Secondary offering of shares 

Industry sectors: Healthcare, Industrials and manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals and life sciences 

Deal 10: MacDonald Dettwiler C$4.7 billion acquisition of DigitalGlobe

 

Jurisdictions: Canada, United States

Deal type: Public acquisition 

Industry sectors: Technology and telecommunications 

Deal 11: Polyus Gold International $800 million 5.25% eurobond offering

 

Jurisdictions: United Kingdom, Russia, Channel Islands: Jersey

Deal type: High-yield bond/note issue 

Industry sectors: Mining 

Deal 12: Republic of France €7 billion 1.75% green bond issue

 

Jurisdictions: France

Deal type: Investment grade bond/note issue, Sovereign bond issue, Green bond issue 

Industry sector:  Government and public policy  

Deal 13: Snap NYSE IPO

 

Jurisdictions: United States

Deal type: IPO 

Industry sectors: Technology and telecommunications

Deal 14: Stoneway Capital Corporation $500 million 10% project bond issue

 

Jurisdictions: Argentina

Deal type: Project bond issue 

Industry sectors: Energy 

Deal 15: UniCredit €13 billion capital increase

 

Jurisdictions: Germany, Italy, Poland

Deal type: Secondary offering of shares

Industry sectors: Banking 

Deal 16: United Overseas Bank $1 billion 0.125% and 2.125% covered bond issues

 

Jurisdictions: Singapore

Deal type: Covered bond issue, Investment grade bond/note issue

Industry sectors: Banking

 

Reporters

Sam Duke - Editor

Adam Majeed - Asia-Pacific Editor

Ben Naylor - EMEA Editor

Jon Moore - Journalist EMEA

Wai Yee Tsang - Journalist Asia-Pacific

Rani Mehta - Journalist Latin America

Kurt Stumpo - Journalist - North America and the Caribbean