JPMorgan Chase reported increased profits today but headcount and compensation at the bank's corporate/PE unit both dropped. Today, JPMorgan Chase reported that third-quarter profits surged 23% to $4.42 billion, or $1.01 a share, compared with $3.55 billion or 82 cents a share for the same time period in 2009. The bank said it added 16,000 workers in the past year, bringing its ranks to almost 237,000 globally.
3M said Wednesday that its closed its $810 million buy of Arizant, of Eden Prairie, Minn., which develops products that keep patients warm in surgical settings. Court Square Capital, a New York PE firm, owned a majority of Arizant since 2004. St. Paul, Minn.-based 3M is a conglomerate that provides everything from post-it notes to dog treats.
TPG Capital said Wednesday that is has formed Petro Harvester Oil & Gas to invest in oil and gas producing properties in North America. Petro Harvester, of Houston, is led by Gareth Roberts, the founder and former CEO of Denbury Resources. Petro Harvester, Wednesday, also inked its first deal with an agreement to buy the long-life oil and gas properties located in Mississippi of Comstock Resources. Financial terms were not announced. TPG is a PE firm.
While mergers may be sizzling, PE-backed U.S. IPOs are not, according to data from Thomson Reuters. There were 26 PE-backed new issues for the first three quarters of 2010, valued at $6.4 billion. The totals are double the seven IPOs that raised $3.2 billion during the first nine months of 2009. However, the number of PE-backed IPOs slowed during third quarter. There were eight new issues that raised about $2 billion, from July to September. This is down from the 11 companies that went public in second quarter (valued at $2.2 billion).
Blackstone, in a venture with Centerbridge Partners and Paulson & Co, has bought $300 million of junior debt in 14 hotels currently owned by Columbia Sussex Group, Kentucky businessman Bill Yung III's hotel group, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Columbia Sussex had bought the hotels from Blackstone for $1.4 billion in 2006. Blackstone Group has not yet commented on the deal. Earlier this week, Blackstone, Centerbridge, and Paulson purchased hotel group Extended Stay Inc in a deal worth $3.925 billion.
ARC Capital Holdings Limited has sold its entire stake in Shanghai Jiadeli Supermarket to Shanghai Haihang Jiale Enterprise Management Co. Ltd in a deal with RMB1.1 billion (equivalent to US$164.8 million). The supermarket group is the third largest in Shanghai. ARC invested $89.1 million between January 2007 and August 2008. This is ARC’s first control investment to go full-cycle, from acquisition to sale.
Lockheed Martin is to sell its Enterprise Integration Group unit to the Veritas Capital Fund IV $815 million, according to Veritas Capital. Lockheed had been in talks with a number of private equity firms to sell EIG, which advises government agencies on military platforms. Lockheed sold the unit to avoid any conflict of interest that might be created by advising government agencies on defense and also receiving major defense contracts. According to Lockheed, EIG has earnings of $65 million before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
(Reuters) – Private equity firm Nordic Capital raised its bid for Swedish engineer Munters (MTRS.ST: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to 5.7 billion Swedish crowns ($859 million), retaking the lead in a bid battle investors were betting has not yet ended. Munters shares were up 2.6 percent to 78.75 crowns at 1140 GMT on Wednesday, […]
As it discusses selling 25 percent of its stake in Korea Exchange Bank, Texas-based private equity firm Lone Star is also getting read to sell German Bank IKB, with the deal expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2011 according to Reuters. IKB was the first German victim of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis and Lone Star bought 91.5 percent of the bank’s shares after it was bailed out by Germany. No price has yet been announced.
Cinven, a private equity firm based in London, is close to selling its stake in Jost, a German truck and trailer parts maker, to creditors. According to Reuters, an earnings slump prompted Jost’s management, its private equity backers, and holders of just under 400 million euros ($554 million) of loans to enter into a debt-for-equity swap. The arrangement could drop Cinven’s stake in Jost from 73 percent to 65 percent, while management, which holds the other 27 percent, would lose 7 percent.