Reuters News

(Reuters) – Ares Management LLC and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board agreed to buy 99 Cents Only Stores (NDN.N) for about $1.6 billion in cash, topping a rival offer by private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners. Ares Management is teaming up with the members of the Schiffer/Gold family, who are the biggest shareholders in […]

(Reuters): Thomas H. Lee Partners and a consortium that includes Blackstone Group and Carlyle Group are finalists to acquire Regions Financial Corp’s Morgan Keegan brokerage and investment banking unit, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday. A deal is far from certain, the sources said, as debt-financing markets remain tight, and Morgan Keegan faces […]

(Reuters) – The daily deal industry has jolted a formerly sleepy corner of the $30 billion online advertising market as Groupon battles with rivals to attract new customers. The customer-acquisition rush centers on the local part of the paid search marketing business, which is dominated by Google Inc in the United States. SEM, as it […]

(Reuters) – Microsoft Corp is considering a bid for Yahoo Inc, resurfacing as a potential buyer after a bitter and unsuccessful fight to take over the Internet company in 2008, sources close to the situation said on Wednesday. Microsoft joins a host of other companies looking at Yahoo, which has a market value of about […]

(Reuters) - U.S. burger and ice cream chain Friendly's filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, as the sluggish economy and slowing consumer spending claimed another restaurant chain. As part of the filing, Friendly's will enter a sale process with an affiliate of its current owners, Sun Capital Partners, as the lead or "stalking horse" bidder to quickly restructure the company. Friendly's said it received a commitment for about $70 million in financing, which, along with the company's cash flow, will provide the working capital necessary to meet its ongoing obligations during the restructuring. "The strategic decision to pursue a financial restructuring will allow us to proactively and quickly improve our financial position and ensure we have the resources to build a better and stronger Friendly's," Chief Executive Harsha Agadi said.

(Reuters) – India launched what it dubbed the world’s cheapest tablet computer Wednesday, to be sold to students at the subsidized price of $35 and later in shops for about $60. Most of India’s 1.2 billion people are poor and products such as Apple Inc’s iPad are beyond the reach even of many in the […]

(Reuters) – American Airlines may be the most likely big U.S. airline to go bankrupt, but the sum of its hardships — high labor costs and weak cash flow — do not add up to an imminent Chapter 11 filing, according to analysts who study the carrier’s finances. Shares of American’s corporate parent, AMR Corp, […]

(Reuters) – Two of the longest-running names in digital music, Rhapsody and Napster, are combining in a bid to grow market share and stay ahead of newer rivals like Spotify, Rdio and MOG. Rhapsody, which is the largest U.S. digital music service with 800,000 subscribers, said Monday it would take over Napster, which is currently […]

(Reuters) - The heads of two of the world's most powerful private equity firms issued a dire report on the U.S. economy on Wednesday, signaling problems for political leaders and their own firms' ability to realize profit on their portfolios. "We never really emerged from the last recession," Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein said at a breakfast session at Lincoln Center that also featured Blackstone Group Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman. "It will last a few more years before we get unemployment to a level that is tolerable," Rubenstein said.

(Reuters) - Yale University's endowment earned a 21.9 percent investment return last year with foreign stocks and private equity investments fueling gains, the Ivy League school said on Wednesday. The elite school said the endowment value rose to $19.4 billion, making it one of the richest in the world. Due to large bets on private investments, real estate and hedge funds, the New Haven, Connecticut-based school put up slightly better returns than arch rival Harvard, which reported a 21.4 percent investment gain. Harvard's endowment remains much larger, however, at $32 billion.