Bain Capital Partners LLC of Boston signed a definitive agreement for affiliates to acquire Gymboree Corp.’s outstanding stock for $65.40 per share, or $1.8 billion. The deal has the unanimous approval of Gymboree’s board of directors. The offer represents a 57.4 percent premium to the Gymboree’s share price on Sept. 30, before market rumors of deal and a 23.5 percent compared to Gymboree’s closing stock price on Oct. 8.
Vikram Lall, CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire), has joined the board of Elephant Capital, the India-focussed private equity fund. Lall previously worked at Brewin Dolphin Holdings PLC, where he was corporate finance director and a board member for ten years. He was also corporate finance director at Bell Lawrie and White & Co. He was appointed CBE in 2005 for services to business in Scotland.
Private equity group Cidron has failed to get 50 percent of owners to back its buyout of the Swedish humidity control firm Munters. Cidron, which is owned by private equity fund Nordic Capital VII Ltd, is now considering its position. Cidron had been in a bidding war with Alfa Laval, which offered 75 crowns per share, 5.55 billion Swedish crowns ($828.1 million), which beat Cidron’s first bid of 73 crowns.
Energy Future Holdings Corp, which is backed by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, expects to take a non-cash $4 billion goodwill impairment charge in the third quarter because of lower wholesale power prices, according to Reuters. KKR and Texas Pacific Group bought the company in 2007. In July, Standard & Poor's cut its rating on the company by four notches, saying that it sees a debt exchange as distressed and equivalent to a default.
Finnish investment firm CapMan intends to sell off OneMed, its medical supplies company. Potential buyers will be given information memorandums next week. Nordic buyout firms such as IK Investment Partners, Nordic Capital and EQT are likely to be interested by the sale. CapMan owns a 65.9 percent stake in OneMed.
France could drop its objections to a law which would control hedge funds operating in the EU, in exchange for concessions from London, according to Reuters. The proposed law has upset US hedge funds and private equity firms because it would restrict how they operate within the EU.
Entertainment website Hulu’s planned IPO could raise between $200 million and $300 according to Reuters. The IPO plan could be filed with the SEC this year and take place in the first half of 2011. The deal would value the company at about $2 billion. The online video service is backed by General Electric Co's NBC Universal, Walt Disney Co, News Corp and private equity firm Providence Equity Partners.
FOCUS Brands, which is backed by Roark Capital, has agreed to buy Auntie Anne's, the hand-rolled soft pretzel chain. Financial terms were not announced. Auntie Anne's is based in Lancaster, Pa, and has 11 (CORRECTION: 1100) stores in 44 states. Roark is an Atlanta PE firm that invests in business and consumers services companies. FOCUS Brands owns ice cream shops, bakeries and restaurants including Carvel, Cinnabon and Schlotzsky's.
SK Capital may not take its mammoth $922 million dividend from its portfolio company, Ascend Performance Materials. Morgan Stanley has reduced a planned $800 million term loan for Ascend to $500 million while a $275 million revolver has been cut to $150 million, a financing source says. Such a reduction implies that the dividend could be cut in half, the person says. Morgan Stanley is leading the sale of the loan. Barry Siadat, SK’s co-founder and a managing director, confirmed that Morgan has a mandate to build a book for a $500 million term loan B. Morgan has exceeded that number, he says. The $275 million revolver is closed, Siadat says.
Despite the bubbling M&A market, unrealistic expectations can still destroy an auction. Consider First American Payment Systems. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company, which is owned by Lindsay Goldberg, provides credit, debit and other electronic payment processing services to more than 120,000 merchants. First American had about $211 million of revenue in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, according to Moody's Investors Service. Earlier this year, First American hired Citadel to advise on its auction. The company has about $50 million EBITDA and was seeking bids of 12x, five banking and PE sources say. Several buyout shops—believed to include General Atlantic, TA Associates, Bain Capital, TPG, KKR and Warburg—put in proposals, sources say.