PE HUB Wire Highlights, 11.13.18

One Equity to exit Sonneborn in $655 mln sale; Kellogg puts Keebler, Famous Amos on the block; A big secondaries deal just went down north of the border

I woke up today to a world without Stan Lee. Even though I’ve always been more a DC Comics person, Lee was huge. We will miss you.

Blackstone‘s Jon Gray is responding to concerns that BX is accepting money from Saudi Arabia. The Saudis have pledged as much as $20 billion to help Blackstone build the world’s largest infrastructure fund, Bloomberghas reported. Blackstone’s acceptance of the funds has been called into question since the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Gray, Blackstone’s president and COO, was asked if recent events have changed anything about Saudi Arabia’s big commitment to BX’s infrastructure fund. “We’re very much in a long-term business,” Gray said in the Nov. 13 Bloomberg story. “We have long-term relationships with institutions. We make commitments to them when we take their capital for a decade or more. That is the essence of our business model, and we don’t intend to change that. In this case, obviously what occurred there was very concerning. But again we’re taking a long-term view.”

I read this as a non-answer. Hubsters, what do you think about this? Let me know at lbeltran@buyoutsinsider.com

A life well lived: There’s all sorts of stories out there about hard-living bankers who burn out and come perilously close to losing it. Then there are those few who are just good at their jobs. Today, we have a story about Simon Cox, who built his career at UBS in Australia. Cox is famous for completing 33 IPOs in 30 months sometime in 2016, according to efinancialcareers.com. Cox took his health seriously and would often walk 7.5km to his office at Credit Suisse, the story said. He was set to join Bank of America and was on gardening leave when he died of a suspected heart attack in his 50s. This story resonates with me, hubsters.

Deals: Kellogg has put its Keebler, Famous Amos and fruit snacks businesses on the block, CNBC is reporting. It’s keeping its morning foods, snacks and frozen foods brands. Read my brief here.

One Equity is selling Sonneborn, which makes white oil, petrolatum, microcrystalline wax, sodium sulfonate and compressor lubricants, to HollyFrontier Corp for $655 million. One Equity invested in Sonneborn in March 2012. Check out our brief here.

General Electric is working with bankers to restructure its business and may sell more assets, Fox Business Network is reporting. Blackstone is mentioned as a potential buyer. See our brief here.

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