Stock Markets
Nasdaq expects expanded markets to justify $10.5 billion Adenza merger price tag
Nasdaq’s eye-popping $10.5 billion bet on the little known financial software company Adenza will help the exchange operator vastly expand the market for its products, from risk management and regulatory software to anti-financial crime technology. Nasdaq said on June 12 it would buy Adenza from private equity firm Thoma Bravo, and its stock sank over 10% that day as investors reeled from sticker shock. Nasdaq shares are currently down around 12% since the deal was announced.
However, some experts including a major Nasdaq investor and two sources familiar with the deal said in interviews the acquisition was in line with Chief Executive Adena Friedman’s push to transform Nasdaq into a financial technology company and the price might eventually prove justified.
By one metric, Nasdaq paid around what Thoma Bravo spent on creating Adenza through the merger of two software firms, the sources familiar with the deal said. Nasdaq also hopes to cut overlapping costs, which would boost profitability and make the deal look cheaper, one of the sources said. As part of Nasdaq, Adenza would get access to new banking clients in the United States and Europe as well, allowing it to drive revenues more than it could on its own, analysts said.
With Adenza, Nasdaq’s recurring revenues, which investors like for their predictability, will comprise around 77% of overall revenues, up from 71%. As Nasdaq’s recurring revenues have increased, so too has its valuation, which went from one of the lowest in the exchange sector prior to 2017 when Friedman took over, to one of the highest now, said Rosenblatt Securities analyst Andrew Bond.
“This acquisition doesn’t veer off from Nasdaq’s strategy or what Adena’s been pursuing since she’s been the CEO,” Bond said. “The cross-sell opportunities are significant.”
Still, analysts said the upfront price is steep and the deal is risky. Nasdaq, which had a market cap of around $28 billion before the deal was announced, is paying for the acquisition with a roughly even split of stock and cash. That dilutes existing shareholders and increases its debt load. Moody’s downgraded Nasdaq’s debt to BBB from BBB+ on the deal.
“It does seem like they’re buying a high-quality asset but ultimately they’re paying a pretty high price,” Morningstar analyst Michael Miller said.
Nasdaq said it believes it is paying an appropriate price.
MOVING TO FINTECH
Nasdaq and many of its peers have been morphing into financial technology firms, largely through deals, as regulatory and nationalist pushback effectively killed big cross-border exchange mergers, and as trading volumes fell after the 2008-2009 financial crisis, stunting transaction-based revenues.
A director at one of Nasdaq’s largest shareholders, whose firm supports the Adenza deal, said there were few good companies left that could be synergistic to Nasdaq. Adenza was one of the largest, with a compound annual growth rate of 15% and a profit margin above 50%.
The acquisition “diversifies and stabilizes the sources of the revenue,” the shareholder said.
Nasdaq is paying around 31 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for Adenza. The sources close to the deal said that is in line with what Thoma Bravo paid combined for regulatory software firm AxiomSL and financial software maker Calypso, which it merged into Adenza.
Between July and December last year, Thoma Bravo cut $30 million of costs out of Adenza, mostly consisting of overlapping positions and real estate. One of the sources said once Nasdaq also cuts out costs, the multiple will be closer to the mid-20s. In addition, Nasdaq could squeeze out additional revenue as it has done with previous acquisitions.
Nasdaq, for example, bought Verafin in February 2021 for $2.75 billion. Verafin had over 3,500 small and mid-sized banks and credit unions using its cloud-based platform to help detect, investigate, and report money laundering and financial fraud. In April, Nasdaq said it signed up its first big tier-1 bank with more than $1 trillion in assets, for the product, and said that win would make it easier to sign up other big banks.
Nasdaq will find cross-selling opportunities in Adenza’s stable of bank clients, analysts said. They said clients for Adenza’s Calypso offering include tier 3 banks with under $10 billion in assets and tier 2 banks with $10 billion to $100 billion in assets. Its AxiomSL products are aimed at tier 1 banks, especially in Europe, which have assets of $100 billion or more, analysts said.
By Michael Erman
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Drugmakers plan to raise U.S. prices on at least 250 branded medications including Pfizer (NYSE:) COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid, Bristol Myers (NYSE:) Squibb’s cancer cell therapies and vaccines from France’s Sanofi (NASDAQ:) at the start of 2025, according to data analyzed by healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors.
Nearly all of the drug price increases are below 10% – most well below. The median price increase of the drugs being hiked Jan. 1 is 4.5%, which is in line with the median for all price increases last year.
The increases are to list prices, which do not include rebates to pharmacy benefit managers and other discounts.
Larger drug price increases were once far more common in the U.S. but in recent years drugmakers have scaled them back after price hikes drew sharp criticism in the middle of the last decade.
“Drugmakers don’t have much real estate any longer to increase prices over time, which means taking greater liberties on launch prices is really the only option they have in the face of expanded penalties for year-over-year price increases,” 3 Axis President Antonio Ciaccia said.
A Reuters analysis of prices for new drugs found that pharmaceutical companies launched new U.S. drugs in 2023 at prices 35% higher than in 2022.
The over 250 drug hikes represent an increase from Dec. 29 last year when drugmakers unveiled plans to raise prices on more than 140 brands of drugs.
Drug companies are also reducing some prices on Jan. 1. Merck & Co (NYSE:) plans to cut the list price of its heavily discounted diabetes drugs Januvia and Janumet “to align the list price more closely to the net price.”
U.S. PAYS MOST
The U.S. pays more for prescription medicines than any other country, and incoming President Donald Trump has vowed to lower drug costs by focusing on middlemen in the U.S. healthcare system.
More drug price increases are likely to be announced by other drugmakers over the course of January – historically the biggest month for drugmakers to raise prices.
Pfizer raised prices of the most drugs on the latest list – more than 60 drugs. As well as a 3% hike on Paxlovid, the company raised prices on medicines including migraine treatment Nurtec and cancer drugs Adcetris, Ibrance and Xeljanz between 3% and 5%.
“Pfizer has adjusted the average list prices of our medicines and vaccines for 2025 below the overall rate of inflation – approximately 2.4% – across many products in our diverse product portfolio,” Pfizer spokesperson Amy Rose said in an email. She said the increases help support investments in drug development and offset costs.
Bristol Myers raised the price of its expensive cancer cell therapies Abecma and Breyanzi by 6% and 9%, respectively. The personalized blood cancer treatments can already cost close to half a million dollars.
A BMS spokesperson said in an email that the company is “committed to achieving unfettered patient access” to its medicines. She said the price of Breyanzi in particular “is reflective of the potentially transformative, individualized treatment in a one-time infusion.”
Sanofi raised prices on around a dozen of its vaccines between 2.9% and 9%.
The largest brand price increases according to the 3 Axis analysis were from Leadiant Pharmaceuticals, a unit of Italy’s Essetifin. The company raised prices around 15% on its Hodgkin’s disease treatment Matulane and about 20% on Cystaran, eye drops to help patients with symptoms from a rare condition called cystinosis.
Spokespeople from Leadiant and Sanofi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
New York, New York–(Newsfile Corp. – December 31, 2024) – Kuehn Law, PLLC, a shareholder litigation law firm, is investigating whether certain officers and directors of Gitlab (NASDAQ:) Inc. (NASDAQ: GTLB) breached their fiduciary duties to shareholders.
According to a federal securities lawsuit, Gitlab insiders caused the company to misrepresent or fail to disclose material adverse facts concerning GitLab’s ability to develop AI features that would generate code more efficiently and increase market demand for its DevSecOps platform, and, as a result, positive statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
If you currently own GTLB and purchased prior to June 6, 2023 please contact Justin Kuehn, Esq. here, by email at justin@kuehn.law or call (833) 672-0814. The consultation and case are free with no obligation to you. Kuehn Law pays all case costs and does not charge its investor clients. Shareholders should contact the firm immediately as there may be limited time to enforce your rights.
Why Your Participation Matters:
As a shareholder your voice matters, and by getting involved, you contribute to the integrity and fairness of the financial markets. Your investment. Your voice. Your future.™
For additional information, please visit Shareholder Derivative Litigation – Kuehn Law.
Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/235670
LONDON, Dec. 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Travelzoo ® (NASDAQ: TZOO), the club for travel enthusiasts, has won “Best Travel Website for Travel Deals” for the 13th year in a row at the prestigious British Travel Awards. Travelzoo is one of only a small handful of brands with such a long-standing number of consecutive wins.
Over 1.2 million votes were cast in 2024, making the British Travel Awards the biggest consumer voted awards in the UK.
It was the biggest event of the UK travel awards season. The ceremony pulled out all the stops, with comedian and actor Tom Davis, star of The BBC’s King Gary, presenting. James Clarke, Travelzoo’s General Manager, UK, accepted the award on behalf of the team.
About Travelzoo
We, Travelzoo ®, are the club for travel enthusiasts. Our 30 million members receive exclusive offers and one-of-a-kind experiences personally reviewed by our deal experts around the globe. We have our finger on the pulse of outstanding travel, entertainment, and lifestyle experiences. We work in partnership with more than 5,000 top travel suppliers”our long-standing relationships give Travelzoo members access to irresistible deals.
Travelzoo is a registered trademark of Travelzoo. All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
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Media Contacts:
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