Luisa Beltran

All that dry powder is driving up multiples for industrial deals. Before the go-go days of 2006, industrial firms were selling for 6.5x to 7.5x EBITDA. The credit-fueled buyout craze then caused multiples to surge to 8.5x to 9.5x EBITDA for industrial companies that were worth only 7x, before the credit crunch made multiples irrelevant (no deals, no multiples). Today, PE firms are back shopping for deals and industrial companies are selling for inflated multiples, roughly 8.5x to 9.5x EBITDA, an East Coast private equity pro told me earlier today.

The credit markets may have uncrunched, but banks remain nervous about going it alone on private equity transactions. One lender I spoke today he was called by two very large sponsors who were in final rounds for a $190 million deal that required $100 million in debt financing. “I wanted to bring on more partners but the sponsors wanted someone to take a very large hold size and make sure the deal gets done,” the banker said. It wasn’t clear whether the lender won that deal but the situation is clear: Private equity firms view bank clubs as risky. “When you have 10 guys in your syndicate all wanting to make sure they get what they need, it makes it tough to pull the deal together,” one private equity executive explained.

The auction of Modern Luxury Media, a publisher of magazines focused on lavish lifestyles, has reached its second round, peHUB has learned. Bidders have ncluded a raft of private equity shops -- we've heard up to 10 firms expressed interest -- and some strategics. Michael Kong, Modern Luxury's founder and ex-CEO, also is trying to get a proposal in place, but is not viewed as a leading bidder. It’s unclear what Modern Luxury can fetch. Berkery Noyes is running the auction. “There was a lot more interest in the business than was anticipated,” a source said.

DLJ Merchant Banking Partners is prepping portfolio company Total Safety U.S. for a sale, multiple sources tell peHUB. Before continuing, it is important to note that those sources do not include either DLJMB or Total Safety CEO David Fanta, who strenuously denied sale plans. "We're owned by private equity, so obviously there will a deal at some point," Fanta said. "But it's not happening right now." So we have a case of "they said, they said." Pretty typical, although on-the-record denials about such things are fairly unusual (we considered spiking the story, but then got independent confirmation from an additional source).

Offshore Moratorium: A New Orleans federal judge plans to decide Wednesday whether the Obama administration's temporary ban on deepwater offshore drilling can continue. Seriously? Who says economists aren't realistic?: Economists find a trove of information to study in an imaginary place set 20,000 years into the future. No more AP: CNN, which is owned by Time Warner, will stop using the Associated Press service and materials. Instead, CNN will focus on its own news gathering efforts. Jobs along with Medicare: The U.S. House won't pass a Senate bill to halt a cut in Medicare payments to doctors until the Senate acts on a job-creation bill.

Booz Allen Hamilton today filed for a $300 million IPO, and could be a public market dream. Sure it has lots of leverage, but it also has rising revenue and a primary customer -- the U.S. government -- that never seems to run out of needs or cash. The defense contractor's revenue has nearly doubled in the past four years, climbing to $5.1 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, from $2.9 billion in 2006. Booz's net income was $25.4 million in 2010, up from $8.5 million four years ago. The long-term debtload is $1.5 billion. Since being acquired by The Carlyle Group in 2008 -- when Booz Allen’s U.S. government business was separated from its global commercial business -- revenue has jumped nearly 42% while net income was up nearly 43 percent.

There's still a few more salvos to go in the $3.5 billion battle for RBS WorldPay, but a banking source tells peHUB that Advent International and Bain Capital could have the upper hand. The auction, run by UBS, has attracted interest from numerous players, including Permira, Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe, American Express and Moneris Solutions. But most suitors have since moved on, leaving the final showdown between two PE firm pairings: Advent with Bain, and TPG Capital with Clayton Dubilier & Rice. RBS will ultimately choose based on price, but give Advent-Bain an edge if the offers are close. In 2009, Advent paid $561 million to acquire a 51% stake in the payment processing business of Fifth Third Bancorp. That unit processes over $292 billion in debt and credit card sales, and our source says: "RBS will take comfort in fact that Advent did this successfully with Fifth Third last year and they’re just trying to redo same structure."

Goldman gets more time: The SEC has given Goldman an extension to respond to fraud lawsuit. Yardsale at BP: BP plans to sell $10 billion of assets to help pay for the oil spill cleanup. Gothamist sale in trouble: Village Voice reporting that Cablevision's buy of Gothamist has collapsed. Kobe gets Big Ratings: NBA finals score a huge ratings win for ABC. How about that World Cup?

SunTrust Financial should just face it: It may need to sell asset management unit RidgeWorth Investments to a financial buyer. The Atlanta-based bank thought it had a deal to sell portions of Ridgeworth to UK investment manager Henderson Group, but late yesterday said that talks had died (adding that it would continue to review “strategic options”).

Asset management M&A, which was hot in 2009, has remained somewhat dormant this year. But the sector is still ripe for PE investment since multiples have bounced back. Several banks sold their asset management units in 2009 to raise cash and pay off TARP. Lincoln Financial sold Delaware Investments to Macquarie Group. Morgan Stanley sold […]