Deals in Brief

Morgan Stanley, an investment bank and financial services company, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a 100% stake in E*TRADE Financial Corporation for $13bn.

E*TRADE is an electronic trading platform to trade financial assets including common stocks, preferred stocks, futures contracts, exchange-traded funds, options, mutual funds, and fixed income investments. Both the companies involved in the transaction are based in the US.

Under the terms of the agreement, E*TRADE stockholders will receive 1.0432 Morgan Stanley shares for each E*TRADE share, which represents per share consideration of USD58.74 based on the closing price of Morgan Stanley common stock on February 19, 2020.

Following the transaction, Mike Pizzi, CEO of E*TRADE, will be joining Morgan Stanley. Mike will continue to run the E*TRADE business within the Morgan Stanley franchise and lead the ongoing integration effort. 

Upon integration, the combined Wealth and Investment Management businesses will contribute approximately 57% of the Firm’s pre-tax profits, excluding potential synergies, compared to only approximately 26% in 2010.

Tesla, a US-based designer, manufacturer, and seller of high-performance electric vehicles and electric vehicle powertrain components, has raised $2.31bn in an offering of common stock, including giving underwriters an option to purchase additional 397,500 shares of common stock.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Morgan Stanley are acting as lead joint book-running managers for the offering, with Barclays, BofA Securities, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank Securities, and Wells Fargo Securities acting as additional book-running managers, and Societe Generale acting as co-manager.

Mubadala Investment Co, Silver Lake Partners, LP, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, all private equity firms, have invested $2.25bn in Waymo, a US-based self-driving technology company.

In addition, parent company Alphabet Inc, Andreessen Horowitz LLC, AutoNation Inc and Magna International Inc also invested in Waymo.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP acted as legal advisor to Waymo.

Salesforce.com, Inc, a cloud-based software company, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Vlocity, Inc, a provider of cloud and mobile software solutions, for a consideration of approximately $1.33bn, subject to customary purchase price adjustments. 

The purchase price will be paid in cash and the assumption of outstanding invested equity awards held by Vlocity employees. 

As part of the transaction, David Schmaier, the CEO & founder of Vlocity, will become adviser to Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. 

The anticipated financial impact of the Vlocity acquisition is reflected in the Salesforce's revenue, non-GAAP earnings per share, and operating cash flow guidance for the full fiscal year 2021.

The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter fiscal 2021, subject to customary closing conditions, including the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.

ForeScout Technologies Inc, a US-based cybersecurity company, has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement under which Advent International, global private equity investors, will acquire all outstanding shares of Forescout common stock for $33.00 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $1.9 billion.

Under the terms of the agreement, which has been unanimously approved by the Forescout Board of Directors, Forescout shareholders will receive $33.00 in cash for each share of common stock they own.

Advent will be joined by Crosspoint Capital Partners, a private equity investment firm focused on the cybersecurity and privacy industries, as a co-investor and advisor.

The purchase price represents a premium of approximately 30% over Forescout’s closing share price of $25.45 on October 18, 2019.

Upon completion of the transaction, Forescout will become a private company with the flexibility to continue investing in the development and deployment of leading-edge cybersecurity products and solutions that serve the evolving needs of enterprise customers. CEO and President Michael DeCesare will continue to lead the company, and Forescout will continue to be headquartered in San Jose, California.

Karius Inc, a life sciences company focused on generating genomic insights for infectious diseases with a non-invasive blood test, has secured $165m in Series B financing.

The financing round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with additional participation from General Catalyst, HBM Healthcare Investments, and existing investors Khosla Ventures and LightSpeed Venture Partners.

The company intends to use the proceeds to expand access to its proprietary microbial cell-free DNA technology to help doctors diagnose infectious diseases, broaden clinical development, and accelerate technology innovation.