Aspen Dental, which is being acquired by Leonard Green, received a “B” corporate credit rating with a stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s. S&P, in a statement Thursday, said the stable rating reflects expectations that Aspen will continue growing but that leverage will remain high. It’s unclear how much debt Aspen actually has. However, Aspen Dental is in the market trying to raise about $230 million in fresh credit. This includes a $195 million term loan and a $35 million 5-year revolving credit facility, according to Thomson Reuters Loan Pricing Corp. UBS is leading the loan package, LPC said.
An investor group led by Gores Group LLC of Los Angeles acquired the Cosmopolis high purity cellulose mill from Weyerhaeuser Co. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The group includes Dermot Smurfit, a paper and packaging industry veteran.
Catterton Partners sold a controlling stake in its portfolio company Heartland Recreational Vehicles LLC to Thor Industries Inc. for more than $200 million in cash and stock. Heartland will continue to operate under the same name and will maintain its current brand portfolio.
K-Sea Transportation Partners LP completed its agreement with KA First Reserve LLC. K-Sea Transportation sold 2.8 million more convertible preferred units for $15 million. The transactions raised $100 million in exchange for a total of 18.4 million convertible preferred units. KA First Reserve is a partnership between First Reserve and Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors that previously agreed to invest $100 million in K-Sea Transportation Partners L.P. in exchange for the 18.4 million units.
(Reuters) - VMware Inc (VMW.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is in advanced talks to buy Novell Inc's (NOVL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Linux operating system business, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The paper reported that private equity-backed software company Attachmate Corp [WIZARA.UL] could buy some or all of Novell's remaining assets.
(Reuters) -- TDC A/S, the private equity-backed Danish telephone company, is close to a deal to sell Swiss unit Sunrise to buyout firm CVC Capital Partners CVC.UL, six people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The deal will place an enterprise value on Sunrise of about 3.3 billion Swiss francs ($3.3 billion), four of the people said, making it one of the year's largest leveraged buyouts. A deal is likely to be announced on Friday, some of the people added.
SouFun Holdings Ltd. said late Thursday that it had priced 2,933,238 American depositary shares at $42.50 each. Each ADS represents four Class A ordinary shares of the company. SouFun will begin trading Friday on the NYSE under the ticker "SFUN." Underwriters on the deal have the option to buy another 439,986 ADS's. Current major shareholders of SouFun include IDG Venture Capital and Telstra. After the IPO, General Atlantic and Apax Partners will become major shareholders. SouFun is a real estate Internet portal and home furnishing and improvement website in China.
Navigation Capital Partners of Atlanta’s James Brown Contracting Inc. acquired Schrader Trucking Co. Inc., a Jefferson City, Tenn.-based dry van truckload carrier. Schrader has 95 trucks and 201 trailers. It operates in the Southeast as well as in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, Texas and Canada.
Jones Energy acquired certain oil and natural gas properties primarily in Ellis County, Okla. for of $33 million. The properties have a current daily production rate of 530 BOE and an incremental 6,700 MBOE attributable to identified drilling locations. Metalmark Capital made its initial investment in Jones Energy in December 2009.
Kevin Angelis doesn't want anyone to know his age but admits he's young for having started his own PE firm. Angelis, who is 31, launched BHMS Investments in August with cofounder Robert Salamon. The PE shop will target lower middle-market deals or transactions with an enterprise value of $50 million or less. Angelis makes no apologies for his age. "I’m eager and I’m hungry," he says. "This is a big deal to me, to fight the good fight." BHMS will operate as a distressed investor as well as traditional PE firm. BHMS is open to all sectors although there are industries Angelis favors like business services, hard industrial companies as well as transportation and logistics.
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