OneSource Virtual, a provider of business process cloud-sourcing services, has raised $15 million in fresh capital from Halyard Capital.
Debt collector Encore Capital Group Inc. has agreed to buy Asset Acceptance Capital Corp. for $200 million to strengthen its position in a highly fragmented industry, Reuters reported. Encore's offer of $6.50 per share represents a premium of 13 percent to Asset Acceptance's Tuesday closing price. Warren, Michigan-based Asset Acceptance buys individual consumer accounts, including credit card, telecommunications, and consumer loans.
British beds retailer Dreams has been sold to private equity firm Sun Capital Partners, safeguarding over 1,600 jobs but leaving 400 more at risk, Reuters reported Wednesday. Administrators for the beds and furniture firm, Ernst & Young, said on Wednesday it had sold the struggling company's business and assets for an undisclosed sum, securing it new investment and allowing it to operate outside of insolvency. The sale sees Sun Capital Partners buy 171 of Dreams' 266 stores, as well as its head office and two manufacturing sites, safeguarding around 1,600 of the firm's 2,000 jobs.
Harbert Private Equity Fund II has sold PFC Acquisition Company and its wholly‐owned subsidiary, Presidential Financial Corporation to MidFirst Bank. PFC will operate as a subsidiary of MidFirst Bank and maintain its own brand and management team.
AUA Private Equity Partners, a lower middle-market private equity firm investing in U.S. Hispanic-oriented and/or family-owned businesses has completed a recapitalization of Associated Foods Holdings. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Private equity firm Electra's sale of Allflex is attracting a lot of interest and around a dozen buyout firms are set to bid for the livestock identification company, writes Reuters. Buyout house Electra hired Rothschild earlier this year to explore a sale or refinancing of Allflex, which could fetch around $1 billion.
Riverstone Global Energy and Power Fund V, L.P., an energy-focused private equity fund managed by Riverstone Holdings, will make a strategic investment alongside Ridgewood Energy Corporation, a private upstream oil and gas investment company, in a series of deepwater exploration projects located in the Gulf of Mexico. The Ridgewood management team will manage the investments on behalf of the venture. Combined with a similar commitment by an affiliate of Riverstone/Carlyle Global Energy and Power Fund IV, L.P. in 2010, this brings the total Riverstone sponsored fund commitment to the venture to over $550 million.
Danger looms for U.S. banks looking to take part in the burgeoning LBO and M&A market, says Fitch Ratings. A possible pickup in deals could cause U.S. banks to put too much risk on their balance sheets.
First Advantage, which is backed by Symphony Technology Group, has closed its buy of LexisNexis Risk Solutions' employment and resident screening business.LexisNexis Risk Solutions is a division of Reed Elsevier. The transaction was announced in January. BofA Merrill Lynch acted as financial advisor to First Advantage. BofA Merrill Lynch and Tennenbaum Capital Partners provided financing.
Lincoln, Nebraska-based Neebo, a large textbook supplier with over 250 college bookstores around the country, has paid $27 million on its senior secured loan term and obtained financing of up to $80 million, the company announced today.