IK Investment Partners has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Scandanavian dental care company Norwegian Colosseum Dental. No financial terms were disclosed.
KKR has agreed to acquire Intelligence Ltd., the recruitment services subsidiary of Japan's Usen Corp., for approximately $356 million.
Asset management M&A, which was hot in 2009, has remained somewhat dormant this year. But the sector is still ripe for PE investment since multiples have bounced back. Several banks sold their asset management units in 2009 to raise cash and pay off TARP. Lincoln Financial sold Delaware Investments to Macquarie Group. Morgan Stanley sold […]
Dow Chemical Co. has completed the sale of its Styron plastics unit to Bain Capital for $1.63 billion. Dow retained a 7.5% equity position, although it had an option to retain up to 15 percent.
Two years after famously acquiring TV Guide for just $1, OpenGate Capital says that the weekly magazine has reached profitability. I met earlier today with OpenGate CEO Andrew Nikou, who was in New York for undisclosed reasons (it probably rhymes with "booze leak"). He told me that TV Guide was unprofitable and generating double-digit losses when acquired by OpenGate, in a deal that included around $50 million in assumed liabilities. Now, however, the slimmed-down company apparently is generating income in the mid-to high single digit millions. "It was the gem that not many people realized existed," Nikou said. "Four to five years ago they were a $500 million business, but they've downsized to reflect the current business model." Indeed, cutting back has been TV Guide's path to profitability. Its ad pages, for example fell 16% year-over-year, according to data from Media Monitor. Paid circulation also dropped, from 3.2 million in 2008 to 2 million today. Nikjou acknowledged the circ figures, but argued that it was a planned pruning in which the company eliminated unprofitable subscribers to focus on "clean" ones. Moreover, he said the company refocused on "TV enthusiasts" who still consider TV Guide as the source to find "what’s worth watching."
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The recent auction for hotel chain Extended Stay America Inc [ESAIN.UL] looked like it had been fairly run based on the court documents submitted, a bankruptcy court judge said on Thursday during a hearing. Starwood Capital, which lost the auction, has objected to Extended Stay’s plan, saying that it does not […]
Lincoln Financial this week became the latest bank to repay its TARP funds, in part thanks to last year's sale of money management unit Delaware Investments to Macquarie Group. Kind of like how BoA paid back a bunch of money thanks, in part, to the sale of First Republic Bank to Colony Capital and General Atlantic. But never fear financial buyers: A smattering of TARP repayments does not mean that banks are no longer a source of sell-side dealflow. As one PE exec said: “There are plenty of troubled banks with more than 700 on FDIC troubled bank list.” In fact, the FDIC lists 251 banks that have failed this year. Banks, even the problem ones, provide a chance for buyout shops to buy cheap deposits that can be grown and loaned out for decent returns. Well, most of the time (think TPG's WaMu debacle).
Industrial Opportunity Partners has invested an undisclosed amount into Edelbrock LLC, a Torrance, Calif.-based maker of automotive aftermarket products. The deal was done in partnership with company management.
Lime Rock Resources has acquired oil and gas interests in Oklahoma's West Edmund Hunton Lime Unit, for $100 million.
Madison Dearborn Capital Partners has completed its take-private acquisition of BWAY Holding Co., a North American supplier of general line rigid containers. BWAY stockholders received $20 per share, for an enterprise value of approximately $915 million (including assumed debt). Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank Securities provided leveraged financing.