Bernard Vaughan

TA Associates appears poised to invest in CoSentry.net LLC, an Omaha, Neb.-based company that provides technical services for data centers and cloud computing, Buyouts reported earlier, citing a recent regulatory filing. Boston-based TA would be making the investment out of its $4 billion 11th fund, closed in 2009. The Federal Trade Commission granted TA early […]

Two restaurant companies owned by Sun Capital Partners Inc. recently filed for bankruptcy, highlighting the risks for the many sponsors that have bought into the cyclical sector in recent months, Buyouts reports in its upcoming issue. Friendly’s Ice Cream Corp. and Real Mex Restaurants Inc. filed for bankruptcy within days of each other, citing a […]

In 2009, Steve Yager and his colleagues noticed that their firm, The Gores Group LLC, was losing deals more frequently to firms with aggressive teams dedicated to certain industries, according to a recent profile of the firm in Buyouts. “We found ourselves running up against guys who knew the space top to bottom,” Yager told […]

Credit Suisse, the investment bank Sunoco Inc. hired to shop two oil refineries in Philadelphia, is reaching out to private equity firms as potential buyers, Buyouts recently reported, citing an executive at one firm who received a book on the sale. Executives at the oil company said last month it would sell the two refineries—one […]

The Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman's $3.9 billion agreement to buy Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc. marks the latest example of buyout shops buying companies that run clinical trials for pharma and biotech companies. These so-called contract research organizations, or CROs, are expected to expand and consolidate, making it highly likely we could see more LBOs. Click through below to see a selection of other noteworthy CROs, presented alphabetically, that could look attractive to sponsors. These include public companies that, like PPD, might find it easier to navigate the market's consolidation under private ownership; public companies with recent changes at the CEO level; and private equity-owned companies, including one that's been in its owner's portfolio for almost four years now.

Lightyear Capital LLC, the financial services specialist founded by former Paine Webber Group Inc. CEO Don Marron, is closing in on its fundraising target for its third buyout fund, sister magazine Buyouts reported yesterday, citing a source close to the effort. Lightyear, which has raised about $653.8 million from third parties, has some $700 million altogether including personal commitments […]

The Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman LLC are the latest buyout firms racing to tap into the rapidly consolidating industry of companies that run clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies, according to an analyst and a source at Carlyle. The firms agreed on Monday to take Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc. private for $3.9 billion in […]

Wind Point Partners has tapped KeyBanc Capital Markets to shop Citadel Plastics Holdings Inc., a plastics business it’s been building since 2007, Buyouts reported Friday, citing a source who has reviewed marketing materials provided by KeyBanc. The company makes compounded grades of nylon, polycarbonate and other products used in the power tool, lawn and garden, […]

We’re currently reporting our quarterly wrap up, so here’s a preview of some of the most active PE buyers so far. Below are 5 firms that have closed the most platform acquisitions in Q3 as of Sept. 15, according to Thomson Reuters. In cases where firms closed the same number of investments, firms are ranked […]

A subsidiary of Energy Future Holdings Corp., the Texas utility that a group of buyout firms bought in 2007 for $45 billion with support from environmental advocacy groups, sued the Environmental Protection Agency this week for imposing anti-pollution rules it says will kill jobs and threaten reliable electricity, Buyouts reported earlier today. The lawsuit by […]