News and Analysis

LONDON (Reuters) – The price of loans in Europe’s secondary market moved lower again to new record lows of 82.76 percent of face value as the extent of hedge funds’ quarter-end redemptions weighed on already weak sentiment. Average bids on Europe’s top 40 leveraged loans lost another 70 basis points on Tuesday and breached 83 […]

The Riverside Company has acquired DuBois Chemicals Inc., a Racine, Wis.–based maker of specialty chemicals and solutions for manufacturing problems and lean initiatives, from JohnsonDiversey Inc. No pricing terms were disclosed. Key Bank and US Bank provided senior debt, while New Canaan provided mezzanine debt.

Alpine Investors has made an undisclosed investment in YLighting, according to a source familiar with the situation. An announcement is due in the coming days. This news comes as the firm enters the market with its fourth fund.

Emdeon, a provider of revenue and payment cycle management solutions for the healthcare industry, has acquired GE Healthcare IT’s patient statement business. No financial terms were disclosed. Emdeon is in registration for a $460 million IPO, and is backed by General Atlantic and Hellman & Friedman.

Reliant Energy (NYSE: RRI) has secured $1 billion in new capital commitments, including a $650 million term loan commitment from GS Loan Partners and a $350 million convertible preferred stock purchase by First Reserve Corp. The Houston-based company said the move was prompted by “disappointing” 2008 retail results, plus difficulties related to Hurricane Ike.

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Private equity firms Bain Capital and Silver Lake have submitted formal offers for a stake in Huawei Technologies’ mobile handset unit, sources involved with the matter said, as the auction moves forward despite the global market turmoil. While suitors often come and go in corporate auctions, it appears as if Bain […]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Chemical maker Huntsman Corp (HUN.N) said a court has ordered private equity firm Apollo Management and its unit Hexion Specialty Chemicals Inc to honor the terms of their $6.5 billion offer to acquire Huntsman. Apollo and Hexion have been trying to back out of the deal, which was announced at the […]

What we know First of all, there’s Wachovia Capital Partners. It’s located under Wachovia’s “Capital Markets: Principal Investing” division. The firm has invested $3.5 billion in more than 200 mid-market companies, and its partners have been together since 1988. It’s based in Charlotte, N.C., and led by Scott B. Perper, Frederick W. Eubank, II and L. Watts Hamrick, III. According to the firm’s web site, it can do turnarounds, mezzanine, MBOs, LBOs, growth, and recap investments. What’s the status of its funds?

To herald the near-end of Q3, we have a list of the year’s largest announced private equity deals. Earlier I pointed out that TPG could be in the running to strike the second largest American PE deal of the year. Beating out the US were two foreign infrastructure deals: TransAlta Corp., the $7.8 billion Canadian buyout backed by Credit Suisse, GE Infrastructure and LS Power Equity Partners; and Asciano Group, a $4.08 billion Austrailian buyout executed by TPG, and once again, CS and GE. Click here to download a chart of the top 20 with full details. See the Top 10 after the jump.

Charlesbank Capital Partners has acquired Tecomet, a Wilmington, Mass.-based contract manufacturer of complex components for the medical device and aerospace industries. No financial terms were disclosed. The seller was Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH).