Versa Capital Management has acquired the assets of Böwe Bell + Howell to form Bell and Howell LLC. Financial terms were not disclosed. Access Value Investors is coinvesting, a statement said. Bell and Howell provides solutions and services for paper-based and digital messaging.

Versa Capital Management, a Philadelphia-based turnaround firm, has opened offices in Chicago and Los Angeles. The Chicago office will be led by Suzanne Yoon, a former senior vice president of CIT’s national restructuring group. The LA office will be led by David McReynolds, a former principal with American Capital.

Versa Capital has sponsored a recapitalization of Allen-Vanguard Corp., an Ottawa, Canada-based provider of protection hazardous devices for the military and homeland security markets. No financial terms were disclosed.

As usual, we have a week’s worth of ratings actions (mostly downgrades) on the debt of LBO-backed companies from ratings agencies S&P and Moody’s.

This week brought some good news from the debt raters. S&P sees encouragement in the performance of Dana Holding Corp., the giant auto parts maker that Centerbridge bought out of bankruptcy. Meanwhile Moody’s feels comfortable enough about the performance of Bain Capital’s Sensata Technologies B.V. to upgrade the company’s ratings. The ratings agencies served up two more downgrades as well, for companies owned by Kohlberg & Co., Versa Capital Management, Apax Partners and Trimaran Capital Partners.

Company: Dana Holding Corp.
Sponsor: Centerbridge Capital Partners LP
Action: S&P raised its corporate credit rating on Dana to ‘B’ from ‘B-’ and raised the debt ratings. The outlook is stable.
Highlight: “Dana’s earnings and cash flow for the third quarter were better than we expected, reflecting benefits from aggressive restructuring actions after emerging from Chapter 11 in early 2008, despite weak auto sales. In addition, Dana reduced debt by $254 million in the first nine months of 2009 through a Dutch auction, market purchases of debt, and raising funds through a common equity offering. As a result, the company’s covenant cushion has improved.”

Aaron Headley has joined Versa Capital Management as an associate. He recently received his MBA from Wharton and, before that, worked at Schultze Asset Management, TouchStone Partners and Wachovia. www.versa.com

Versa Capital, based in Philadelphia, has reportedly closed its second buyout fund with $650 million in commitments, topping its $600 million target. The firm, which invests in distressed companies, began fundraising in January 2008. Versa invested $15 million in the debt of now-bankrupt Chrysler. The company also saw portfolio company American Restaurant Group go bankrupt [...]

Just over a month into 2009 and we’ve already seen 11 LBO-backed bankruptcies. That’s up over the eight we had this time last year, but nowhere near the massive wave some were predicting.

In fact, the size of these bankruptcies has also been much smaller than expected. The argument remains that mega-buyouts from the ’06 and early ’07 glory days have a few years before their debt matures.

Judging by purchase price, the largest companies to go down are Star Tribune, the newspaper backed by Avista, sugar alternative maker Merisant Worldwide, backed by Pegasus Capital, and Bruno’s Supermarkets, backed by Lone Star Funds. If TPG’s Aleris files in the coming weeks as expected, it would take the prize. TPG purchased the struggling aerospace supplier for $3.3 billion in 2006.

Find the spreadsheet after the jump.

The company is backed by Versa Capital Management. (Reuters) – The parent of the Black Angus Steakhouse restaurant chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Thursday, the latest in a fast-growing list of business bankruptcies caused by the troubled economy and lower consumer spending. Pecus ARG Holding Inc, based in Los Altos, California, filed for [...]

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Boscov’s Department Store LLC said on Tuesday it had signed an asset purchase agreement for the sale of nearly all of its assets to a family group led by Albert Boscov and Edwin Lakin. The department store chain, which filed for bankruptcy in August, also said it had terminated a previously [...]

Boscov’s Department Store LLC has extended the bankruptcy court-supervised sale process of its assets, with a hearing now scheduled for November 5. Earlier this month, the company agreed to sell substantially all its assets to Versa Capital Management.