Notable Mergers and Acquisitions of the Day 12/28: UPFC, PTR, SLH

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United PanAm Financial Corp. (Pink Sheets: UPFC) announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by an entity controlled by Guillermo Bron, Chairman of the Board of Directors of UPFC, and by affiliates of Pine Brook Road Partners, LLC, for a consideration of $7.05 per outstanding common share in cash, or $110 million total.

The transaction is expected to close in Q111.

Following completion of the merger, UPFC will continue its operations, but as a privately-held company.
According to a release from the company, Kunlun Energy Co. has agreed to acquire a 60% stake in PetroChina Beijing Natural Gas Pipeline Co., a subsidiary of PetroChina (NYSE: PTR), for a consideration of $2.9 billion.

Beijing Gas Group Co., a unit of Beijing Enterprises Holdings Ltd., owns the other 40%. The company primarily provides services to urban gas operators along the No.1 and No.2 line of Shaanxi-Beijing natural gas pipeline, of which PetroChina Beijing Gas Pipeline owns a total length of 2,200 kilometers (1,367 miles).

Beijing's government forecasts that nat gas consumption will increase 17% this year.

The transaction isn't the first between the two energy giants. In October, Kunlun announced that they have agreed to acquire a 75% stake in Dalian LNG from PetroChina for 2 billion yuan, and in May Kunlun said that they will pay 500 million yuan per year for a stake in PetroChina LNG Jiangsu Co.

PetroChina holds a 50.75% stake in Kunlun Energy.
Solera Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SLH) has purchased a minority equity stake in Digidentity B.V., a Dutch company that is a leading provider of next-generation E-identification certificates for authentication of online identities.

"This transaction represents our first investment from HEMI's $150 million M&A initiative of which $10 million has been initially targeted for investment in disruptive and innovative technologies. Our investment in Digidentity is designed to accelerate our ability to deliver further value to our core customers not only within the HEMI region but across Solera's portfolio of companies as increased security within the claims process emerges alongside more robust applications. In addition to strengthening our core offerings in the Netherlands, Digidentity's scalable and cloud computing based products can enrich our Market Scan and AUTOonline offerings," said Tony Aquila, Solera's Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.