On Friday we reported that Chicago buyout firm Willis Stein & Partners would take a second dividend on Roundy's, its Midwestern supermarket chain. Today we've learned more details. Willis Stein has used the dividend to take excess capital off Roundy's balance sheet while pushing back debt maturities from 2010 to 2012. Willis Stein will take a dividend on the company worth $75 million. That does not change the company's leverage rate of 3.1x debt-to-Ebitda. Roundy's has $728.5 million in debt and $235 million in Ebitda, a source familiar with the deal said. J.P. Morgan has served as lead arranger on the deal, with participation from Credit Suisse, Bank of America and Rabobank.
Hub International Ltd., a Chicago-based insurance brokerage, has completed and funded a $200 million incremental senior secured term loan under its existing senior secured credit facility. Hub was taken private in 2007 for $1.8 billion by Apax Partners and Morgan Stanley Principal Investments. PRESS RELEASE Hub International Limited (“HUB”) today announced that it completed and […]
Private equity's fingerprints are nowhere near the largest deals of 2009. Unless you consider Berkshire Hathaway a private equity firm, a title which Warren Buffet would be horrified to hold. (He likes to refer to buyout firms as porn shop operators, you may recall) Berkshire Hathaway's deal for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, announced today, is the fifth-largest deal in the world this year. It's Buffet's largest deal ever. Below, we've posted the full list, courtesy of Thomson Reuters.
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Private equity firms Bain Capital and General Atlantic are among those eyeing Morgan Stanley’s (MS.N) stake in China International Capital Corp (CICC), the country’s largest investment bank, in a deal that could fetch more than $1.2 billion. Morgan Stanley paid just $37 million for its piece of CICC when the Chinese […]
EnCap Energy Infrastructure Fund and TPH Partners have formed Meritage Midstream Services, a Golden, Colo.-based provider of midstream services to oil and gas producers. No details of the equity commitments were disclosed.
Huron Capital Partners has invested $30 million into Maple Leaf Automotive Inc., an Ontario-based manufacturer of replacement parts for the automotive aftermarket.
Shackleton Equity Partners has acquired SafeHarbor Technology Corp., a Seattle-based provider of Web self-service software solutions. No financial terms were disclosed.
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Gas Natural (GAS.MC) has between four to six bidders for assets worth about 1.5 billion euros ($2.22 billion) and hopes to close their sale by the end of the year, La Vanguardia reported on Tuesday, citing sources close to the process. Citigroup and JP Morgan are advising on the sale, which […]
AMSTERDAM, Nov 3 (Reuters) – Dutch bancassurer ING Groep (ING.AS) said on Tuesday it will sell three of its U.S. independent broker-dealer units to private equity firm Lightyear Capital LLC as it restructures its operations worldwide. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close early next year, were not disclosed. The sale follows ING’s […]
Now Hiring: Meredith Whitney (Fierce Finance) Unpopular: PE-backed companies wanting to IPO have an uphill battle, including, "not least a wary public that won't be keen to take on companies whose owners have a reputation for piling on debt and asset-stripping." (WSJ) Op-Eds: Nouriel Roubini writes for the FT that the "mother of all carry trades faces an inevitable bust." (FT) Lawyer-y Stuff: The Place Of Private Equity In The Investment World, as told by Sean Hill of Proskauer Rose. (Metro Corp Counsel)