Bryan Matthews

Astellas buys Xyphos .    Astellas Pharmaceuticals buys Xyphos Biosciences for up to $655 million including potential development milestones.     Xyphos is focused on the creation and development of immuno-oncology therapeutics aimed to use the power of our immune system to cure cancer. Xyphos ' ACCEL (Advanced Cellular Control through Engineered Ligands ) tech platform allows new ways to activate and control immune cells to find and destroy precisely targeted cells in our body. The platform enables our immune cells to be relayed by bispecific antibodies or to be re-programmed to express a flexible Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR). This tech enables the exclusive or preferred class delivery of single or multiple steering and modulating agents, including bispecific antibodies, cytokines, and kill functions. Resulting convertibleCAR-cells can be guided to tumor cells and tumor destruction can be controlled from outside the CAR-cell.     Kenji Yasukawa of Astellas s

Driving is a fabulous form of oblivion. All is revealed, all is annihilated. There's the primeval shock of the deserts and the glare, then the lesser radiance of the voyage begins. That of the harsh distance and nameless faces. Of some astonishing geological structures which ultimately confirm no human will, while retaining an aura of upheaval. This ritual of travel admits no exceptions. When it runs up against a familiar face, a known landscape, some readable idea, the charm vanishes. The amnesic, austere, asymptotic allure of evaporation gives way to effect and semiology .     This kind of travel fashions its own strange events and innervation, so it also has its own unique form of fatigue. Like fibrillation of muscles, striated by the surfeit of heat and haste, by the excess of things seen or heard, of places passed through and forgotten.  The defibrillation of the body laden with bare clues, handy tokens, the superb radiance of the sky, and somnambulist spaces, is a slu

Brookfield buys Cincinnati Bell.     Brookfield Infrastructure buys Cincinnati Bell for $2.6 billion.     Cincinnati Bell delivers to residential and business customers over its fiber-optic and copper networks with high-speed internet, video, voice, and data. Enterprise customers across North America rely on CBTS and OnX, wholly-owned subsidiaries, for office communications systems and IT solutions. Cincy Bell owns and operates the leading data transmission and distribution network in Cincinnati and Hawaii, with a footprint of over 1.3 million homes, delivering core fiber broadband, video, and voice services. A network upgrade to next-generation fiber supports the growing demand for data and the advent of 5G. To date, Cincy Bell has future-proofed 50% of its network - 17,000 miles of dense metro and last-mile fiber. This ongoing upgrade allows it to provide utility-like services for broadband and data, generating stable and growing cash flows.     Sam Pollock of Brookf

F5 buys Shape.     F5 Networks buys Shape Security for $1 billion.     Shape protects the largest banks, airlines, retailers, and government agencies with a bot, fraud, and abuse defense. It defends against credential stuffing attacks, where stolen passwords from third-party data breaches are used to take over other online accounts. Shape has built an innovative platform, using artificial intelligence and machine learning, supported by cloud-based analytics, to protect against attacks that bypass other security and fraud controls.     This deal brings together F5’s ability in protecting apps across multi-cloud environments with Shape’s fraud and abuse prevention capabilities to transform app security. Together F5 and Shape offer comprehensive, end-to-end app security, potentially saving billions of dollars lost to fraud, reputation damage, and disruption to critical online services.     Shape’s app protection platform assesses the data flow from the client into the app and

Leidos buys Dynetics .     Leidos Holdings buys Dynetics for $1.65 billion.     D ynetics provides high-tech, mission-critical services and solutions to the US Government, tackling the nation's toughest and most technically advanced missions. The addition of Dynetics boosts Leidos ' leadership position across its Defense, Intelligence, and Civil Groups. It also speeds up opportunities within the Leidos Innovations Center ( LInC ), an innovation engine that develops new technologies and solutions to address challenging customer requirements. This deal is an opportunity to grow in new, attractive segments, including hypersonic , space, and weapons solutions. Specifically, Dynetics brings top programs in small glide munitions, hypersonics , and directed energy. Dynetics ' rapid prototyping and secure agile manufacturing and systems integration capabilities complement Leidos ' current abilities within the LInC . Dynetics ' prototyping ability spans r

Equinox buys Leagold .     Equinox Gold buys Leagold Mining for $578 million.     The deal unites two Vancouver-based miners, both backed by industry heavyweights and both focused on the Americas, with six mines spread across Brazil, Mexico, and the US. Equinox has a multi-million-ounce gold reserve base and growth potential from three wholly-owned mines. It's producing gold from its Mesquite mine in California and its Aurizona mine in Brazil and is building its Castle Mountain mine in California with the target of pouring gold in Q3 2020. Leagold operates four gold mines in Mexico and Brazil, along with a near-term mine restart project in Brazil and an expansion project at the Los Filos mine complex in Mexico. The new company will keep the Equinox name and have a market capitalization of $1.75 billion.     Ross Beaty of Equinox said: ‘This merger will create one of the world's largest gold companies operating entirely in the Americas. Besides having strong financi

Arcosa buys Cherry.     Arcosa buys Cherry Industries for $298 million.     Cherry is the largest privately owned producer of natural and recycled aggregates in the Houston area. Established in 1952, Cherry has developed a unique platform of mines, processing facilities, and services to offer a broad range of construction materials to customers. It serves highway, industrial, commercial, and residential markets, and also provides concrete demolition services, primarily to secure raw material for recycled aggregates. As one of the nation’s largest demolition contractors, Cherry has positioned itself as the go-to firm for demolition, asset recovery, and dismantling. Operating a fleet of large-class heavy equipment and specialized attachments instead of renting, it can make quick decisions and speed up its projects and products. Cherry operates 12 sites across the Houston area, including 9 recycling centers. One of the largest recyclers on the Gulf Coast, it recycles 2 million

Sony buys Silvergate.     Sony Pictures Television buys Silvergate Media from its management and Shamrock Capital for $195 million.     Silvergate focuses on developing, producing, and licensing children’s animation.  It was founded in 2011 with the rights purchase of two preschool properties.  The company has since expanded its intellectual property and opened out its range with shows such as ‘The Octonauts’, ‘Peter Rabbit’, and ‘Sunny Day’.  Silvergate has a strong and growing presence in China, working with firms there to effectively monetize intellectual property with its partners.     This deal comes as Sony looks to push deeper into kids’ television, with its Sony Pictures Animation arm unveiling plans to expand into television series.  It will also open out Sony Pictures Television production interests, which include ‘The Crown’ producer Left Bank and Stellify Media.     Mike Hopkins of SPT said: ‘“We are excited to extend our capabilities and gain valuable children’s in

Sanofi buys Synthorx.     Sanofi buys Synthorx to boost its immuno-oncology conduit for $2.5 billion.     Synthorx is a clinical-stage biotech firm focused on extending and improving the lives of people with cancer and autoimmune disorders.  Synthorx’s proprietary Expanded Genetic Alphabet platform opens out the genetic code by adding a new DNA base pair.  It's designed to create optimized biologics called Synthorins.  A Synthorin is a protein enhanced by integrating fresh amino acids encoded by the new DNA base pair.  This makes possible site-specific changes, which boost the pharmacological properties of these therapeutics.     The Expanded Genetic Alphabet platform will be used to develop a distinctive therapeutic conduit.  Alone, and combined with other existing Sanofi platforms, it will support the development of a broad range of new biologics, such as drug conjugates, protein fusions, and multi-specific biologics.  These medicines stretch out way beyond oncology to othe

Cliffs buys AK.     Cleveland-Cliffs buys AK Steel for $1.1 billion.     This deal merges Cliffs, North America’s biggest maker of iron ore pellets, with AK Steel, a maker of innovative flat-rolled carbon, stainless, and electrical steel products. It creates a vertically integrated maker starting with mining to pelletizing to the development and production of high-value finished steel products. The deal ensures pellet volume commitments to AK Steel blast furnaces and Cliffs' hot briquetted iron facility. This complements long-term agreements with other integrated steel producers for the least volume pellet offtake . The startup of pig iron making in the Ashland, Kentucky facility would create openings for pellet demand and other metallic products. This is another step toward the electric arc furnace market, which would follow the HBI plant.     Lourenco Goncalves of Cliffs said: ‘We are excited to be able to deliver real value to the shareholders of both Cliffs and AK

Hostess buys Voortman .     Hostess Brands buys Voortman Bakery from Swander Pace Capital for $320 million.     Voortman is the number one maker of crème wafers and sugar-free cookies. Founded in 1951 by brothers William and Harry Voortman , they sell cookies at retail locations across Canada, the United States, Puerto Rico, and 70 other countries. This mixture of Hostess’ current portfolio of treats with Voortman Bakery, besides the usual financial and strategic benefits, makes for a fashionably diverse company.     Andy Callahan of Hostess said ‘ Voortman is a leading brand with a well-defined consumer position that complements and extends the growing Hostess portfolio into the growing cookie and better-for-you sweet snacking categories with a meaningful runway for future growth. We believe the acquisition of Voortman will create significant value for all our stakeholders. We expect the combination of Hostess’ lean, proven operating model and Voortman’s brand and adjace