Erin Griffith

Oak Hill Capital Partners today agreed to sell New York-based drug store chain Duane Reade to Walgreen Co. for nearly $1.1 billion. Oak Hill earned just over 1.5x its money on the deal, according to a source familiar with the situation. Return-wise, it’s not a home run. But considering the company's struggle with debt and drug store industry consolidation (e.g., Rite Aid/Eckerd, CVS/Long's), it can be viewed as a solid double. Analysts called the price fair—it represents an 11.4x adjusted EBITDA multiple, which is only slightly higher than the 10.3x trailing EBITDA that CVS paid for Longs in 2008.

Last Year's PE Doldrums: They're fading fast, according to a study from Pitchbook via DealFlow media. Leaving the Baby in the Arms of Private Equity: In response to my article last week on Succession Capital partners, Nick Leopard at Accordion Partners had some thoughts. (Changing the Game) Fund Managers Do Not Trust Private Equity: Bold Headline. Sub only. (Financial news) Hong Kong Singapore Shanghai and Shenzen: Those are four finance hiring hotspots in Asia, according to this detailed article. (FINS) PE Roll-Ups: PE firms are shopping for bite-sized acquisitions in the new post-LBO world, but will today's roll-up pan out? (IDD) Monomoy Capital Partners seems to think so. (peHUB) Scorn: There's at least one person who isn't a fan of Obama's financial reforms and that's Hank Paulson. (Times Online)

Update: This story has been updated to correct the size of Monomoy's latest fund. Today Monomoy Capital Partners announced it acquired Casual Living USA, a Tampa, Fla.-based women's apparel retailer, from its family owners. I spoke with Daniel Collin, Partner with Monomoy, about the deal, which is the first add-on to the firm's catalog apparel platform, Boston Apparel Group. peHUB: You started the platform in July 2008, when you acquired Chadwicks and metrostyle from Redcats Group to form Boston Apparel Group for $25 million. Is this your first add-on to the platform? Daniel Collin: Yes. How many more acquisitions would you like to do on the platform? We're opportunistic. The initial investment has been very successful for us. We took it from a money-losing company to being profitable in 2009. We have capacity to be three times the size of our current business with our distribution, so we're actively looking for add-on acquisitions of direct retailers to plug into our cost structure.

Here are some potential M&A ideas, rumored or official, to jumpstart your deal pipeline. Our sources are various news reports and the Buyouts “Seeking Buyers” list. For prior lists, see below. First Uranium, a publicly listed South African mining company, has formed a special committee to review strategic alternatives. L-1 Identity Solutions, Inc., a supplier of identity solutions and services, continues to explore strategic alternatives. MGM Mirage Inc. was rumored to be seeking a buyer for its 50 percent interest in Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, which is a venture with Boyd Gaming Corp. Citi Property Investors is seeking a buyer.

Here's a look at the last week's worth of scoops, data, and analysis from the peHUB team. Catch up on what you missed before it goes behind our paywall... All First Reads | All Second Opinions Make Your Meetings Suck Less: Here's How 10 Reasons Sherlock Holmes Is The Ideal VC Wharton PE Conference Notebook: VC Panels Bain Capital Ventures Raises Fund, Hires Operating Partner LPs' $400 Million Vote of Confidence: Redpoint Ventures Raises Fund IV New Fund Performance Data from UTIMCO "The Bachelor" Dumped by Facebook Employee Notes on the Pantheon Ventures Acquisition Dear FDIC, It's Been Six Months... How About Those Bank Deals? Is Sequoia Interfering with Portfolio Company Firesale? Tesla CEO Took Private Jet to Washington D.C. Freeman Spogli & Co. Chipping Away at Fund Six Teens in Tech: They're Here, They're Young, Get Used To It Did Owen Van Natta's Social Skills Fail Him? A Few Surprises About the Year's Biggest Take-Private

Happy early Valentine's Day, everyone... Revenge of the Wall Street Traders: Moe Tkacik reports from Wall Street's version of the Tea Parties. Leading the charge is a firm called John Thomas Financial. (Daily Finance) Scary Headlines: David Reilly is fear-mongering the President into taking action with headlines like this one: Man Up, Obama, or Make Way for President Palin: (Bloomberg) How Generous are PE Pros: Slate and PE Beat have outlined the most generous Americans in 2009 and you'd be surprised at which PE pro is ranked highest. (Slate, PE Beat) The Elusive IPO: Not as easy as for private equity as we might have thought. (Dealbook)

As usual, we have a week’s worth of ratings actions on the debt of LBO-backed companies from ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and Moody’s Investors Service. Company: Penton Business Media Holdings, Inc. Sponsor: MidOcean Partners and Wasserstein Ventures Action: Moody’s and S&P downgraded the company’s ratings to D in tandem with its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Highlight: From Moody’s: “Penton has received acceptance of its prepackaged Plan of Reorganization by the requisite number of first and second lien lenders. In accordance with the terms of the Plan, the restructuring would result in the elimination of $270 million of debt (all of the second lien facility).” From S&P: “The weak operating performance raised leverage, weakened interest coverage, and reduced liquidity. We believe these factors contributed to the company's decision to file for bankruptcy protection.”

Today Moody’s upgraded its debt ratings on PE-backed Clear Channel with the expectation that “a full restructuring or bankruptcy filing is no longer imminent.” The ratings agency upgraded Clear Channel’s bank credit facilities to Caa1 from Caa2 and its speculative grade liquidity rating to SGL-2 from SGL-4. THL Partners and Bain Capital acquired the company […]

Advent International, Bain Capital and Berkshire Partners today announced an agreement to acquire Skillsoft (Nasdaq: SKIL), a Dublin, Ireland-based provider of e-learning and performance support SaaS solutions. The $1.1 billion deal is the year’s largest take-private, and represents a 10.66% premium over yesterday's closing price. The buyout firms secured debt financing from Morgan Stanley and Barclays Bank, which consists of a $40 million senior secured revolving facility, a $435 million senior secured term loan and a $240 million senior unsecured interim loan. That equates to a $385 million equity check, presumably split evenly between the three sponsors. On a conference call for the deal this morning, analysts and shareholders seemed unimpressed by both the price and the opportunity for a counterbid.

Blackstone IPO Pipeline Clogs: "The worst may be over, but there is little to celebrate." That includes the below-expectation pricing on Graham Packaging. And PS., will you look at the lovely News Corp. influence on the photo choice for this story? Of course a story about IPOs has to be accompanied by photo of a hot woman. (WSJ) Love Stinks: Five parodies of the Google Superbowl ad. (Mashable) Chartjunk: How companies skirt the truth with pretty pictures. (DealZone) Silicon Valley the New SoHo? Is Silicon Valley losing its edge? One source quoted compares it to SoHo, once a cheap place to live and make art but now too expensive for artists. The mere question reminds me of the LCD Soundsystem song, "Losing My Edge," with the lyrics: "I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent. And they're actually really, really nice." And also: "I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know." (Dealbook) Write-Ups On The Way: Private equity portfolio valuations could rise by up to 20 percent in 2009, in a sign the buyouts industry is coming back to life after more than a year of turmoil, industry participants said. (Reuters) Ruffled Feathers: GE is taking issue with some parts of Hank Paulson's new book "On the Brink," and if Paulson's account is true, there could be legal ramifications. (Dealbook)