Last week, three mid-market firms scored big exits and, get this–they were not by IPO. On Monday, Thoma Bravo scored a 4x return on its sale of Datatel to Hellman & Friedman and JMI Equity. Five days later, Sun Capital made 5.25x its money selling Timothy’s Coffees to Green Mountain Roasters Inc., while Castle Harlan and its […]
Pharos Capital Group has acquired Rush Tracking Systems, a Kansas City-based RFID business process consulting and systems integration company. No financial terms were disclosed.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Simmons Co, maker of the Beautyrest mattress and other bedding products, has filed for bankruptcy protection and expects to be sold to two buyers in a transaction valued at roughly $760 million. Private equity firm Ares Management LLC and the Teachers’ Private Capital unit of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which […]
(Reuters) – Citigroup Inc (C.N) recently rejected a proposal from Guy Hands’ private equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners to restructure the debt of music group EMI, the Wall Street Journal said on Monday. The buyout firm had offered to inject about 1 billion pounds ($1.67 billion) into EMI in exchange for Citigroup waving a […]
Investcorp has agreed to acquire a 20% stake in Gulf Cryo, a Kuwait-based manufacturer of industrial, medical and specialty gases. No financial terms were disclosed. Gulf Cryo was founded by, and is still owned by, the Al Huneidi family. It has annual sales of approximately $1.5 billion.
LONDON (Reuters) – French cable television operator Numericable said that it has increased the interest margin on a loan amendment request, the company said on Monday. Numericable is seeking to amend its loan to allow it to buy back debt and raise senior secured bonds but the original request was rejected twice despite extending deadlines. […]
TOKYO (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc (C.N) said on Sunday it has agreed to sell its stake in Japanese telemarketer Bellsystem24 to U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital for 93.5 billion yen ($1 billion). Bain has been widely expected to buy Bellsystem24 after securing exclusive negotiation rights earlier this month. Sources had told Reuters last week […]
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer said on Friday it is exploring a potential sale of the company as the storied Hollywood studio struggles to deal with looming debt payments and come up with a long-term business plan. MGM, whose lenders extended a forbearance until January 31, said its other options include operating as a stand-alone […]
NEW YORK(Reuters) – Playboy Enterprises Inc (PLA.N) is in talks with Jim Griffiths, a former entertainment president at Playboy, and private equity firm Golden Gate Capital, to sell itself for about $300 million, a source familiar with the matter said Friday. Playboy declined to comment. Golden Gate Capital, which is in joint talks with Griffiths, […]
As usual, we have a week's worth of ratings agency actions on the debt of LBO-backed companies from Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investor Services. This was a ridiculously slow week for PE-backed debt (unless you count the Energy Future Holdings disappointment, which will surely change the company's ratings next week). This week there was just one downgrade and one withdrawal.