News and Analysis

As the weather (slowly) warms up, plenty of M&A bankers are hoping the market for deals will as well. We've noticed a few more targets coming to market in recent weeks and have compiled a list of some of those we've come across. Our sources are various news reports and the Buyouts "Seeking Buyers" list. The following companies (among many, many others) are either formally considering "strategic alternatives," reported to be on the block, or rumored to be in sale talks in the past week. I can't be comprehensive, but I can try. For prior lists, go here, or here, and send any additions my way. Digital Ally- The Deal reports the company hired Banc of America Securities to help is explore strategic alternatives before Michael Caulfield, BofA's managing director on the account, joined the company as its VP of Strategic Development. AIG has lowered its asking price on its Taiwan insurance unit to between $1.8 billion and $2 billion, from between $2 billion and $2.5 billion, according to local reports.
I'm certain that, in general, I'm not alone in my ratings agency rage, but mine is a very insular, specific rage. Standard & Poor's recently released a report titled "Global Credit Comment: Exposure to Deteriorating Assets Increases Risks To Private Equity." It's not unlike prior reports the firm has released titled "Private Equity Swirling In The Eye Of The Storm" and "Default Autopsy Finds Traces of Private Equity DNA," both of which I've been equally critical of. This report states that more half of the 293 companies on its Weakest Links list "have been involved in transactions with private equity at one point or another." The Weakest Links list consists of entities rated ‘B-‘ and lower. If the purpose of the report is the assess risk to private equity, as the title states, then it makes no sense to include companies that private equity has already exited. A buyout fund can't be exposed to risk on a company it no longer owns.
LONDON/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch utility Essent scrapped the sale of its waste-management unit, blaming low prices and other problems with bids for the failure of an auction that had once aimed to raise a billion euros or more. The sale of Essent Milieu, which bankers began working on in late 2008, had originally promised to […]
LONDON (Reuters) – The auction for a 49 percent stake in German academic publisher Springer Science and Business Media has narrowed to four private equity groups, three people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Apax Partners, TPG Capital, Swedish private equity firm EQT (EQT.N) and a consortium of Carlyle Group and Providence are expected […]
Technitrol Inc. (NYSE: TNL) has agreed to sell its Denmark-based Medtech components business to Altor Equity for $200 million. The business generated $110 million in revenue last year, and includes the balanced armature receivers, high-end microphones and electromechanical devices for the hearing aid, high-end audio headset and medical device markets.
Andrews International, a Valencia, Calif.-based provider of private security and risk mitigation services, has acquired the U.S. and Mexico guarding operations of Garda World Security Corp. (TSX:GW) for US$44.25 million. Andrews is a portfolio company of Audax Group.
American Industrial Partners has agreed to buy the motor home business of Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. (OTC BB: FLTWQ). The deal is valued at $53 million, with assumed liabilities not to exceed $18 million. Greenhill & Co. is running the sale process, which is subject to U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval. Fleetwood shareholders include Tennenbaum Capital Partners.
TPH Partners, the private equity arm of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co., has formed BlueRock Energy Capital II, a financing company for small, independent energy exploration and production operators. No financial terms of the commitment were disclosed, except that BlueRock will provide between $1 million and $10 million to companies for acquisition and development efforts.
(Reuters) – A U.S. bankruptcy judge has approved investment firm CrossHarbor Capital Partners LLC’s $115 million purchase of Yellowstone Mountain Club LLC ski and golf resort, court documents showed. Judge Ralph Kirscher of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Montana approved the sale and the club’s reorganization on Tuesday, according to the documents. Boston-based CrossHarbor, which […]
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s Chery Automobile Co has raised about 2 billion yuan ($293 million) by selling a 20 percent stake to domestic private equity investors, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the situation. The investors included Bohai Industrial Investment Fund Management Co and CDH Investments, the newspaper said. Chery […]
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