Erin Griffith

Monomoy Capital Partners bought a catalogue retailer this week. A curious move, I thought, considering the mail order business has been made nearly obsolete by e-commerce, and retail itself isn’t weathering its hottest days. Just a few months ago, Sun Capital’s catalogue business, Lillian Vernon, went bankrupt, citing rises in paper costs as one of […]

***So much coverage of the KKR news. Favorite headline: “Why now, Henry?” from Dealzone. Apparently it’s good timing.  Riiiight. Also check out Dealbook’s story about KKR’s lobbyists. ***S&P is not happy with the SEC’s ratings overhaul, claiming it’ll cost ‘em $16 million a year to comply with, not to mention a $57 million initial cost. […]

These days, the word “big” is a relative term for PE professionals. In a new semi-regular column, I’ll explore how the some of the biggest (or at least most interesting) deals are getting done. Today’s Big Deal (Kind Of) goes to Vestar Capital Partners. The firm inked a $1.45 billion deal for Unilever’s North American […]

***GE’s realignment makes the NBC Universal divestiture I’ve been hoping for less likely. I’m really crossing my fingers for it so that (A) I can cover it and (B) some of you can bid on it. And maaaaaybe so (C) Bain and Blackstone will buy it and fully merge The Weather Channel with it, making […]

These days, specialized PE firms are all the rage. It’s a great way to distinguish oneself from the (still growing) pack. But what happens when you’ve put all your eggs in one basket, and that basket isn’t recession-proof? I’m asking myself that in light of the recent slew of LBO-backed consumer products companies filing Chapter […]

CORRECTION: The previously posted file contained three companies which were in default but had not yet filed for bankruptcy. Those non-bankrupt (but in default) companies are Monitor Clipper Partners’s Recycled Paper Greetings, Cerberus’s Residential Capital Partners, and GWLS Holdings, owned by Investcorp. The updated file, sans defaulters, is available for download after the jump. *** […]

* What are companies doing about the recession? Talking about it apparently. (Via Big Picture) * Yuk, yuk, yuk. The blog 23/6 created the receipt from Wall Street’s drinking binge. Personally I think it could’ve been funnier if instead of actual drinks, the charges were for CDOs and CLOs, you know, “fancy financial tools.” (Via […]

A bit brief today but here are some links worth clicking: ***More on the Cubs auction. ***PE pros looking to go hostile, take note of the compare/contrast offered by Dealbook. There should be a personality quiz to go along with it: Are you a Microsoft or an Inbev? ***This goes out to you, MBA Students. […]

Following Dan’s post on Mervyns, I heard through the grapevine that Cerberus managed to score 2.5X its money on the deal. Since the firm hasn’t disclosed its initial investment, it’s not clear how much money that evens out to be. The point is that it’s a profit on a failing, near-bankrupt business. That profit was […]

And another one gone and another one gone… Today SemGroup, an energy service provider backed by Carlyle Group and Riverstone Holdings, filed for Chapter 11. It’s apparently the largest bankruptcy this year, in terms of assets. The company had assets of nearly $6.14 billion and liabilities of around $7.53 billion. In light of SemGroup’s filing […]