Less than two years after buying Aspen Dental, Leonard Green is getting a paid via a $127 mln dividend. Also, Ares and CPPIB have put in at least $636 mln equity into $1.6 bln buy of 99 Cents Only Stores, according to S&P.

Busy week? Now’s a good time to catch up on what you may have missed, including advice for soon-to-be rich Facebookers.

A senior executive at Ares Management said the firm plans to announce a first close on its new $4 billion buyout and growth capital fund, Ares Corporate Opportunities Fund IV LP, during the first quarter of 2012. Ares is known for investing in such high profile firms as GNC Holdings, 99-Cent Only Stores and the Serta and Simmons Bedding Companies….

99-Cent Only Stores has been acquired by affiliates of Ares Management, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Gold/Schiffer family for $22.00 per share in cash. Founded in 1982, 99-Cent Only Stores currently operates 292 stores consisting of 214 stores in California, 36 in Texas, 29 in Arizona, and 13 in Nevada. PRESS RELEASE 99-Cent [...]

Sbarro, which is no longer backed by MidOcean Partners, has successfully come out of bankruptcy.

Late Monday, the quick service restaurant said it had emerged from Chapter 11 with significantly reduced debt and a $35 million capital infusion. “Our reorganization plan eliminates more than 70 percent of our debt, and provides access to $35 million in fresh capital from our new ownership group,” said Nicholas McGrane, Sbarro’s interim president and CEO, in a statement.

Ares Management and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board will pay $22 per share, or $1.6 billion, for 99 Cents Only Stores, Reuters reported Tuesday. Reuters also wrote that members of the Schiffer/Gold family, who are key stakeholders in the company, have agreed to vote in favor of the transaction.

Ares Management, an L.A.-based alternative asset manager, has acquired the investment platform of Wrightwood Capital, a provider of debt capital to the U.S. commercial real estate sector. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but as part of the deal, more than 40 Wrightwood employees have joined the Ares Private Debt Group to focus on [...]

Private equity investor Ares Management will acquire Indicus Advisors, an investment manager in European leveraged finance and global structured corporate credit. Terms of the deal were not released. Ares Management is based in Los Angeles.

Affiliates of private equity firms Aurora Capital Group and Ares Management are among a group selling five million shares of listed, Wisconsin-based Douglas Dynamics via a secondary offering, it was announced. Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated and Piper Jaffray are acting as underwriters for the offering.

Air Lease Corp., an aircraft leasing company backed by Leonard Green & Partners, Ares Management and Wilbur Ross’s WL Ross & Co., raised $802.5 million in its initial public offering Monday, Reuters reported. The company sold 30.3 million shares, for $26.50 each, which was more than expected. Air Lease had planned to sell 25 million shares for $25 to $28 each, Reuters wrote. The company is based in Los Angeles, and will use the proceeds to complete roughly $6.8 billion in aircraft purchases.