SEOUL (Reuters) – Shares in Hynix Semiconductor (000660.KS) tumbled on Friday on market talk the sale of a stake held by its shareholders including Korea Exchange Bank (004940.KS) could be worth less than earlier expected. Market talk that the stake sale could be discounted to as low as 3 trillion won ($2.51 billion) from the […]
LONDON (Reuters) – British specialist life insurer Just Retirement (JR.L) has agreed to be taken over by private equity company Permira in a 225.5 million pound ($360.5 million) cash deal. Permira-backed bid vehicle Avalon Acquisitions will pay 76 pence per share for Just Retirement and also inject 25 million pounds into the company after the […]
SOFIA (Reuters) – Private equity fund Advent International has agreed to buy about 75 percent of Bulgaria’s leading water bottler Devin DEVIN.BB, majority owned by Austria’s Soravia Group, Devin said on Thursday. In a statement on the Bulgarian stock exchange’s website, Devin said that the deal was worth around 21 million to 22 million euros […]
Marcellus Taylor has acquired United Investment Managers, a Chicago-based emerging manager asset management firm with around $300 million in AUM. No financial terms were disclosed. Taylor previously was co-founder of Erasmus Advisors, a co-investment unit of Dallas-based Aldus Equity. He left Erasmus in 2007, following Deutsche Bank's acquisition of a stake in Aldus.
KPS Capital Partners has recapitalized North American Breweries Inc., just a few months after forming the company as an acquisition platform. RBS Citizens served as lead agent and co-book runner for the financing sundicate, while the other co-book runner was JP Morgan Chase Bank.
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A bidding war around Solvay’s drugs unit appeared to be emerging after a reported bid from Abbott valued the unit at up to 5 billion euros, rivaling an earlier, lower offer from Nycomed. The Wall Street Journal reported that Abbott has emerged as a strong competitor to buy Solvay’s drugs unit as […]
The Blackstone Group is considering a bid for Anheuser-Bush InBev’s theme parks, including SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, according to Dow Jones. Blackstone already has theme park holdings, including Universal Orlando. www.blackstone.com
LONDON (Reuters) – Montagu Private Equity, the British buyout house, said on Thursday it has agreed a deal to acquire airfield lighting company ADB Airfield Solutions from Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE). The companies did not disclose financial terms of the deal. Late last month Thomson Reuters LPC reported that Bank of Ireland and West LB were […]
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Unison Capital, a top buyout firm in Japan, expects to see more leveraged buyouts in the world’s second-largest economy as big domestic banks are keen to sponsor deals, a senior executive said. Private equity investments in Japan should be attractive this year and next year because of good valuations and returns […]
Newspaper publisher Freedom Communications filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 1. It was the 59th private equity-backed company to do so in 2009, compared to just 49 in all of 2008. But then a funny thing happened. Or, more specifically, didn't happen. No other PE-backed companies filed for bankruptcy protection in September. Two companies announced plans to file for bankruptcty protection as part of prepackaged restructurings -- NTK Holdings (THL Partners) and Lazy Days’ RV Center Inc. (Bruckman Rosser Sherrill ) -- but it's unclear if either will do so before September ends.