FRANKFURT (Reuters) – European buyout firm Triton has won more time to negotiate a deal to buy insolvent German department store chain Karstadt after asking for further concessions from workers and landlords. The creditor committee of Karstadt has agreed to extend the deadline for the sale to May 28, having initially aimed to close the […]
LONDON (Reuters) – U.S Private Equity Group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) said on Wednesday it had entered into a partnership with Investindustrial to take a minority stake in helicopter firm Grupo Inaer. The transaction, which was handled by JPMorgan and Credit Suisse, follows a series of so-called “secondary buyouts” in Europe, where private […]
Well, it's official: Palm will not go bankrupt. Nor will it be Palm for much longer. The troubled PDA maker today agreed to be acquired by HP for $1.2 billion, or $5.70 per share. That's a 23% premium to Palm's closing price today, and a 54% premium to where Palm was trading when I last wrote about its prospects. The technorati already is trying to figure out the strategic purpose of this deal, with early consensus being that HP wants Palm's well-regarded OS to serve as the basis for an upcoming tablet. I don't pretend to know, although that makes sense (HP certainly isn't looking to acquire the throngs of Pre owners because, well because there aren't throngs of Pre owners). What I can say, however, is that this deal is terrific news for Elevation Partners, the private equity firm that had invested more than 25% of its $1.8 billion debut fund into Palm. No one at Elevation is going to pretend this is a homerun, or even a single, but it certainly is a save.
LONDON (Reuters) – Travel reservations group Amadeus wrapped up its 1.3 billion euros ($1.7 billion) initial public offering (IPO) in Madrid, ending a two-year drought in Spanish listings. The final price of 11 euros for the listing was slightly above the middle of a price range of 9.2 euros to 12.2 euros which the company […]
(Reuters) – Fulcrum Pharma Plc (FULB.L) said it accepted a 11.6 million pounds ($17.69 million) takeover bid by a company funded by venture capital group SV Life Sciences and private equity firm Halifax Group, sending its shares up 66.7 percent. The offer of 5.85 pence in cash for each Fulcrum share is at a 73 […]
Bad Boss: Authoritarians in Finance (FINS) Big Freaking Surprise: Look! Here are four shocking new behaviors that are "linked to" (but not the cause of?) premature death. (BusinessWeek) I Needed This: Your Mom's Guide to Facebook changes, and how to block them. (GigaOm) PS I know the date is old on this article, but I accessed it via my BusinessWeek "Most Popular" feed. Interesting that BusinessWeek's most popular stories are the ones it syndicates. Best Video I've Seen Today: Huffington Post has compiled five minutes worth of metaphors used by news commentators on the Goldman Sachs Fraud case. It covers everything from tainted meat and castration to antique cars and casinos. (View it after the jump)
(Reuters) – Landry’s Restaurants Inc (LNY.N) said Chief Executive Tilman Fertitta agreed to raise his bid to take the company private by offering $21 per share, or about $341 million, in cash. The new offer values the stock at a discount of 16 percent to its Monday close of $25.03. Shares of the second-largest U.S. […]
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Private equity firm TPG Capital and Caruso Capital Partners LLC said on Tuesday that they had formed a joint venture to invest up to $750 million of debt and equity in retail centers and other properties in the western United States. The Caruso-TPG Partners venture said it would target underperforming retail and […]
Over the weekend we learned that the mystery bidder for CKE Restaurants was Apollo Management (as had been alluded to in prior reports). The reveal was surprising since it came out of a go-shop period — something PE pros seem to avoid like the plague. Go-shop provisions have become a standard way to protect corporate boards from angry shareholders, […]
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch waste management firm Van Gansewinkel said it was looking to divest a stake, preferably through an initial public offering (IPO), as its private equity owners look for an exit. Van Gansewinkel is owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and CVC Capital Partners and is the second private equity-owned Dutch firm after […]