The Carlyle Group is competing with South Korea’s Lotte Shopping to acquired Indonesian company Matahari’s Hypermart business, Reuters reported. There have been three to four preliminary bids for the retail chain, which could sell for as high as $1 billion, Reuters reported. The Carlyle Group is based in Washington D.C.
European private equity shop PAI Partners said that it will pay 654 million Euros ($914 million) to acquire passenger and handling company Swissport International AG, Reuters reported. Swissport is currently owned by Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial, which has been selling off assets in order to lighten its debt load. The Swissport deal is expected to close in early 2011. PAI Partners is based in Paris, and has offices throughout Europe.
Many PE firms are expected to increase their hiring or hold their staff steady over the next year while compensation is set to increase by roughly 1%. Don’t get too excited about the increased staffing. Any hiring is likely to be below the partner level, according to FINS, the finance career site of the Wall Street Journal. In today’s uncertain fundraising environment, firms find lower-level professionals attractive because they’re cheaper and less risky. Pay growth is also expected to increase modestly, particularly at large firms. Associate compensation, including salary and bonus, is expected to remain the same as 2009 or increase by only 1% to 2%.
Thomson Reuters, parent of peHUB, said Monday that it had bought Highline Financial, a financial information and analytics provider focused on the U.S. banking system. Financial terms were not disclosed. Austin-based Highline Financial is a portfolio company of Spire Capital Partners, a PE firm with offices in New York and West Conshohocken, Pa. Thomson Reuters, of New York, is a global news and data provider. The Jordan, Edmiston Group provided financial advice to Highline.
Arclight Capital Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm, and OGE Energy Corp. said Monday that they have completed their Enogex Holdings joint venture. In October, Arclight said it had bought a 9.9% stake in Enogex, a midstream natural gas pipeline business, for $183 million. Enogex is a subsidiary of OGE Energy Corp., of Oklahoma City, OK, that deals with midstream natural gas pipelines.
Danville Partners said Monday that it has bought Multi-Flex, a Sarasota, Fla.-based maker of modular extrusion and stainless steel conveyor systems. Financial terms were not announced. The deal is an add-on and will complement Danville's other holdings, Simplimatic Automation and Advantage Puck Technologies. Danville, of Cleveland, is a business development partnership that uses PE investment to fund companies.
It’s Monday and we have a relatively large health care deal. McKesson Corp. announced today that it was buying US Oncology, a Welsh Carson portfolio company, for $2.16 billion, including debt. US Oncology has about $1.6 billion in debt, according to an August 10Q filing, which values the sale at about $560 million. The company had $28.1 million in income from operations for the quarter ended June 30, down nearly 24% from about $36.8 million for the same time period in 2009. US Oncology posted a net loss of about $12 million for the quarter ended June 30, which narrowed from $16.4 million in losses in 2009.
McKesson Corp. said Monday that it has agreed to buy US Oncology, a portfolio company of Welsh Carson, for about $2.16 billion, including debt. The deal is expected to close by the end of McKesson's fiscal third quarter, which is Dec. 31. San Francisco-based McKesson is a health care services and information technology company. US Oncology, of The Woodlands, Texas, is an integrated oncology company. Welsh Carson, a PE firm, invested in US Oncology in 2004.
Private equity firm Advent International has acquired Calgary-based BOS Solutions, a company that develops drilling fluid treatment and recovery technology for the oil and gas exploration industry. Financial terms of the deal were not released. Advent has offices in Boston and New York.
China Private Equity Investments Holdings has paid $2 million for a 40% stake in Beijing-based China iEducation Group. The deal includes funding aimed at expanding China iEducation's services and developing an online social education network.