Ares Management and Teachers' Private Capital, owner of mattress maker Serta, have agreed to buy Simmons Bedding Co. from THL Partners. The deal would include Simmons filing for a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which would reduce its debt from $1 billion to around $450 million (filing within 30-6 days). The actual sale would be valued at $760 million, including equity from the purchaser and both debt and equity from certain existing Simmons lenders. Serta and Simmons would continue to be operated independently.
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) has formed a joint venture on a portion of its midstream assets, with Global Infrastructure Partners. The deal would create a new entity called Chesapeake Midstream Partners, in which each firm would own a 50% stake. Chesapeake Energy would receive $588 million in cash from Global Infrastructure Partners.
SEOUL (Reuters) – Shares in Hynix Semiconductor (000660.KS) tumbled on Friday on market talk the sale of a stake held by its shareholders including Korea Exchange Bank (004940.KS) could be worth less than earlier expected. Market talk that the stake sale could be discounted to as low as 3 trillion won ($2.51 billion) from the […]
LONDON (Reuters) – British specialist life insurer Just Retirement (JR.L) has agreed to be taken over by private equity company Permira in a 225.5 million pound ($360.5 million) cash deal. Permira-backed bid vehicle Avalon Acquisitions will pay 76 pence per share for Just Retirement and also inject 25 million pounds into the company after the […]
TORONTO (Reuters) – With its prospects for growth uncertain at best, Hudson’s Bay Co, Canada’s oldest retailer and one of its biggest department store chains, is likely to face a tough audience if it opts to offer shares to the public, industry analysts said on Thursday. The company, which was taken private in 2006, is […]
SOFIA (Reuters) – Private equity fund Advent International has agreed to buy about 75 percent of Bulgaria’s leading water bottler Devin DEVIN.BB, majority owned by Austria’s Soravia Group, Devin said on Thursday. In a statement on the Bulgarian stock exchange’s website, Devin said that the deal was worth around 21 million to 22 million euros […]
Marcellus Taylor has acquired United Investment Managers, a Chicago-based emerging manager asset management firm with around $300 million in AUM. No financial terms were disclosed. Taylor previously was co-founder of Erasmus Advisors, a co-investment unit of Dallas-based Aldus Equity. He left Erasmus in 2007, following Deutsche Bank's acquisition of a stake in Aldus.
KPS Capital Partners has recapitalized North American Breweries Inc., just a few months after forming the company as an acquisition platform. RBS Citizens served as lead agent and co-book runner for the financing sundicate, while the other co-book runner was JP Morgan Chase Bank.
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A bidding war around Solvay’s drugs unit appeared to be emerging after a reported bid from Abbott valued the unit at up to 5 billion euros, rivaling an earlier, lower offer from Nycomed. The Wall Street Journal reported that Abbott has emerged as a strong competitor to buy Solvay’s drugs unit as […]
The Blackstone Group is considering a bid for Anheuser-Bush InBev’s theme parks, including SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, according to Dow Jones. Blackstone already has theme park holdings, including Universal Orlando. www.blackstone.com