So what’s with the title of this post? Why would we possibly use a feeble-sounding, mealy-mouthed term like “sports-themed” to describe this gallery?
The answer is pretty simple: we’ve found over the years that some of the most effective designs in this category commemorate deals that, it turns out, had absolutely no connection with sports.
As you’ll see, the tombstones shown here spring from both sports and non-sports transactions.
From Tokyo office towers to subsea construction…
The gallery below highlights an array of recent Asian deals—-including those in the transport, real estate, retail, energy, and cosmetics industries.
Star Asia is a Tokyo-based REIT.
Big C is Thailand’s second-largest hypermarket chain. The largest is the Thai unit of Tesco.
The joint venture between Japanese engineering firm Chiyoda and Singapore oilfield services group Ezra Holdings will focus on subsea construction projects.
This deal involved the Burger King franchise in South Korea—about 240 restaurants. Affinity Equity Partners was formerly known as UBS Capital Asia Pacific.
Ping An led the consortium of Chinese investors in Nu Skin. On the other side of this deal, Nu Skin, a Utah-based provider of personal care products, was represented by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
Apex Maritime is a San Francisco-based freight forwarder. Headquartered in Hong Kong, Kerry Logistics has expanded its reach in recent years with acquisitions of two Canadian firms and joint ventures involving Australian and New Zealand partners.
Apex also includes the Starlink airfreight division—-an important partner of Taiwan-based carriers China Airlines and EVA Air.
Invesco Office J-REIT recently bought 5 hotel and retail properties. The properties include one each in Miyagi and Fukuoka, and three in Tokyo, including the Shinagawa Seaside East Tower.
There are a couple of relatively subtle ways you can differentiate Conor McGregor and fellow Irishman William Butler Yeats.
Only one of them knocked out Jose Aldo in Las Vegas in 13 seconds.
Only one of them won a Nobel Prize in Literature.
Only one displayed a chest tattoo of a gorilla wearing a crown.
And only one has had his face commemorated on a Euro coin.
Well, even if you got the first 3 right, there’s still the matter of the Euro coin. See which one was honored—and much more–in our colorful gallery of currency-themed deal toys.
In April the Bavarian government unveiled a prototype “see-through” Euro coin. The design incorporates two special plastic rings— aimed at thwarting counterfeiters.
A report released in May by Desjardins recommended the discontinuation of the Canadian nickel. The Canadian government eliminated the penny in its 2012 budget. Pennies had been minted since 1858.
The Irish government recently dismissed a proposal to put the face of UFC champion Conor “The Notorious” McGregor on the €1 coin. Noting McGregor’s wealth, the petition had argued, “The best incentive to get McGregor to start using the euro is to put his face on the coin”.
Johnson & Johnson derives about 25% of its sales from Europe.
Bridges displayed on Euro notes were merely intended to showcase representative European architectural styles. They didn’t actually exist—until a Dutch designer changed all that. He used them as models for 7 real-life pedestrian bridges in a housing development near Rotterdam.
As an anti-crime measure, 500 Euro notes will not be printed after 2018. Counterfeiters though tend to favor €20 and €50 notes: they account for about 80% of counterfeits, according to the ECB.
This yen-denominated loan by several Japanese banks was earmarked for the purchase of port container cranes. Yilport is a Turkish terminal operator.
Earlier this year China Overseas purchased London’s Helicon Building . The building has become widely recognized for its energy-efficient “double-skin” facade.
Nothing to celebrate?
There has to be something out there for us.
After all, Cleveland just won a championship…finally.
Euro 2016 has 8 countries still alive.
Ramsey Bolton, on the other hand, is pretty much dead. And no one (so far at least) is clamoring to revive him.
So anyway, now that you have a good excuse, you may next want to check out the winners from last month’s World Beer Cup. This year’s competition drew 6,596 beers, representing 55 countries and 1,907 breweries.
But before you actually head out anywhere, also be sure check out the gallery below, a sequel to February’s extremely popular round-up of beer industry deal toys.
Asahi’s 2015 acquisition of Mountain Goat marked its second purchase of an Australian craft brewer. In 2013 the Japanese brewery bought (and continues to produce) the Cricketers Arms brand.
369…. That’s the number of beers on tap at The Raleigh Beer Garden in Raleigh, North Carolina—–the largest selection in the U.S.
Carlsberg has taken sustainability to heart. At the World Economic Forum at Davos last year it announced a plan to develop by 2018 a biodegradable wood-fiber bottle—the first of its kind.
A vintage deal toy—marking Heineken’s 1999 acquisition of Spanish brewer Cruzcampo. At the time of the deal, Cruzcampo produced one of four glasses of beer in the Spanish market. Heineken already had a 72% stake in El Aguila, which itself accounted for almost 15% of the Spanish market.
Heineken’s stake in Cruzcampo was sold by Diageo. The move was seen at the time as a further strategic step by Diageo away from lager, and towards stout. Diageo had been formed in 1997 through the merger of Grand Metropolitan and Guinness.
This piece commemorated the 2014 sale by Heineken UK of 111 Star Pubs & Bars.
Mitchells & Butlers saw great opportunity in upgrading Orchid’s pubs. At the time of this 2014 transaction, M&B pubs, on average, took in £23,000 per week in sales; the average Orchid pub pulled in around £15,000.
British pubs were closing at the alarming rate of 29 per week during the first half of 2015. Though that rate slowed slightly over the balance of the year, the industry continues to call for a cut in the beer tax, among other measures.
Ordering rush deal toys doesn’t have to be an ordeal—assuming you act fast and follow some time-tested guidelines.
Maybe you just forgot…
Or maybe someone simply forgot to tell you.
Or maybe the closing event just got scheduled—so it’s really no one’s fault.
But it’s still your problem….And however it happened you now have to get deal toys made….fast.
So first off, relax. We’ve guided bankers like you through this many times.
The next step is to take a step back and go through the tips we’ve put together here.
#1 Catch Your Breath: Your “Rush” Deal Toys May Not Be The Emergency You Think
Your rush deal toys may not be so “rush” after all.
Yes, if your closing dinner or event is tomorrow or the day after, you unquestionably have a rush situation on your hands.
On the other hand, we sometimes get desperate calls from bankers only to find that their deadline is weeks, even months, away.
Many analysts are under the impression that all deal toys—regardless of size, design complexity, or the materials involved—require a minimum of at least two weeks to produce. That’s not the case. True: your choices invariably narrow as the time available decreases, but you may still be surprised at the options that your deadline actually allows.
This is one of those situations in which so many variables are implicated (precise timing, location of your closing dinner or event etc.), that it’s very difficult to generalize much more beyond this. But don’t jump to conclusions about what may or may not be possible given your circumstances. Again, you may in fact be in much better shape than you think,
#2 Don’t Buy Yourself a Headache
When it comes to rush situations, simpler is better. Your goal should be to think simple and manage expectations.
This is an extension of point #1: the more complicated the deal toy design, the more time-consuming it will be….And that means more time-consuming not only from a production standpoint, but also in terms of the likely time necessary for you to gain internal approval as well. This can be a crucial, if often overlooked, stumbling block in rush situations.
A simple design may not match the immediate aesthetic preferences of your team. And simple doesn’t have to mean a design totally lacking in customization and cachet—though, frankly, that will depend on your exact circumstances, as well as the experience, creativity, and capabilities of your deal toy company.
Depending on how severe your rush order is, you may have to be open to other materials and media than you’d originally had in mind. In the case of an extreme rush, for instance, you may have to look past customized designs in Lucite, resin, crystal etc. There are a number of off-the-shelf alternatives that might work instead.
The obvious key is to make sure you understand the designs that are achievable, and that, again, you manage the expectations of your team.
#3 Consider Ordering One Tombstone Only
This is one alternative you might dismiss immediately. But it’s one you should keep in mind.
It sounds like a cop out….but shipping only one piece to a dinner to be used for display is sometimes a good idea regardless of the timeline involved. Sometimes that’s because the pieces are fragile, but there are other situations in which having pieces shipped directly to recipients after the event—rather than handing them out then and there—makes a lot of sense.
Think it through for a moment: producing a single piece is almost always going to be a lot less time-consuming than producing them in quantity; and because of that, this route is going to open up a good many more design options than would otherwise be possible.
Beyond that, most recipients are going to be relieved that they don’t have to risk leaving their deal toy at the event (or in a cab), or pack it up again to carry on a plane.
#4 Try not To lie
Lying about the exact timing of a closing dinner probably isn’t the most profound ethical issue of the day.
But lying about your deadline isn’t always the best idea—and can sometimes even backfire.
Padding your deadline by even a day can cause a deal toy company to take certain creative options off the table—totally unnecessarily. It can also bite you in the form of exorbitant—and again unnecessary–rush freight charges from carriers.
This is admittedly a tough call: from a banker’s perspective, white lies of this sort be an understandable form of insurance. And given the stakes–for you, your team, your group, and even your bank—shading the truth can be a trade-off you’re more than happy to make.
Just be aware of the potential downside.
#5 Anticipate the Logistical Issues
Don’t get tripped up by a last-minute logistical oversight.
There are many ways that bankers rallying to deal with a rush situation end up snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. 11th-hour logistical lapses are among the most common.
If you’re in, say, Manhattan or San Francisco, and you just discovered that your rush order will be delivered to your office by 4PM on the day of the dinner, that could be great news….unless your closing dinner is actually in Greenwich, Connecticut or at a winery in Napa, and you’re now facing the prospect of fighting rush-hour traffic.
Unfortunately, this happens.
Your deal toy company should’ve had the foresight to anticipate this problem. Maybe they thought–or just assumed—that the event was being held near your office. Whatever the case, make sure you share the ultimate destination for your rush pieces.
David Parry is Director of Digital Strategy at The Corporate Presence.
Zombie Dust…Kozy Yak…Surly Darkness…Viking’s Lament…
These are just a few of the (characteristically) cryptic names of craft beers.
But they could also conceivably be subjects of upcoming deals.
2015 saw 19 craft-beer deals announced in the U.S. alone, totaling $13 billion in value; and while high-profile deals have also recently involved global macro brewers such as Anheuser-Busch InBev, SABMiller, and Asahi, craft beers continue to be appealing acquisition targets. Sales in the traditional beer sector have remained flat during the past four years. Craft beers, on the other hand, have more than doubled their share of the $100 billion U.S. market—to 11%. With another 1,755 breweries reported to be in the planning stages as of June, 2015, this trend is more than likely to hold.
The deals commemorated below—with mugs, taps, glasses, kegs, bottle caps, and openers—reflect a range of countries, brewers, and brands.[Please note that all images below are clickable].
That place where the Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos play—what’s it called again?
Good question.
For years the Denver Post refused to call it anything other than Mile High, even after that venue had been demolished and replaced, in 2001, by Invesco Field. Some local fans and holdouts, claiming a proprietary right based on the taxpayer’s share of stadium costs, still continue to take their pick: “Mile High”, or “Invesco Field”, or, even, its actual, official name: “Sports Authority Field at Mile High”.
This 2001 deal toy commemorates the stadium’s inaugural game, and recognizes as well the team’s banking partners in the project financing. A 2014 refinancing consolidated the remaining debt, leaving U.S. Bank the sole original participant.
And the name thing? That’s still somewhat tricky. In 2011, Colorado-based Sports Authority purchased the 10 years remaining on Invesco’s original naming rights deal. That would seemingly settle the matter until August 1, 2021—but not quite. Sports Authority unfortunately missed an interest payment in late January, precipitating concerns about the troubled retailer’s ability to meet its annual $6 million obligation under the naming rights agreement.
This 2001 Lucite is actually a battle relic; a vestige of that watershed 90’s conflict known as the “Bagel Wars”.
The Einstein Bros. Bagels chain, at the time the largest in the U.S., was purchased out of bankruptcy by New World Manhattan Bagel for $190 million. (New World Manhattan Bagel had originally been launched in 1993—by ex-Lehman M&A banker Ramin Kamfar—as New World Coffee). The stated ambition of the deal was building the “Starbucks” of the bagel industry.
So how did things turn out?
After years of strategic expansion and acquisition, The Einstein Noah Restaurant Group (the name reflecting the acquisition of Noah’s New York Bagels) was eventually acquired in 2014 by German conglomerate JAB. On further inspection the potential synergies of the deal became apparent: JAB already controlled Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Caribou Coffee, and D.E. Blenders.
The purchase price was estimated at $374 million.
Batman…Superman…Wonder Woman…Captain America…Iron Man.
For moviegoers everywhere, 2016 holds the promise of many things, including Truth, Justice…and the continued overuse of the word “iconic”.
Scheduled for release on March 25th, “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice” will feature, unsurprisingly, the iconic clash of the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel. Subsequent releases will focus on such lesser icons as “The Flash” (March 23rd), “Aquaman” (July 27th), “Shazam” (April 5th), and “Cyborg” (April 3rd).
The crowded Mid-Majors of the hero/anti-hero continuum will be represented by iconic up-and-comers Deadshot, Enchantress, Harley, Killer Croc, and the rest of the “Suicide Squad” (August 5th), along with the likes of the “Green Lantern Corps” (June 19th).
The Corporate Presence, you should know, is hardly a slouch in the icon department. Since our inception in 1981, we’ve done a number of deal toys featuring superheroes and/or villains.
The real superhuman feat, unfortunately, involves tracking down either one of the surviving deal toys, or even just a photo; but we’ve managed to locate a few for you here:
Our two previous posts in this series (The Tombstone Tomb and More Tales from The Crypt) generated so much interest that we wanted to provide another installment.
But not without addressing again a very basic concern: namely, that we might come off as snarky or mean-spirited jerks.
Over the years we’ve received many requests for deal tombstones involving firms no longer in existence. Some of these requests come from predictable sources: eBay opportunists, financial end-of-days ghouls, the always-reliable schadenfreude set etc.
To us, the firms represented here are not just now-defunct entities; they are instead valued, former clients— whose bankers over the years showed us a great deal of trust, loyalty, and friendship.
It’s in that spirit that we present this gallery.
