Buyout shop the Blackstone Group has paid $160 million to buy the top floors of the Times Square Building from Africa Israel USA, a unit of Africa Israel Investments, Reuters reported. The deal is for 32,000-square-meters in the building that was once home to the New York Times.
Stocks: Shares still pointing up on encouraging earnings results These Your LPs? Then probably expect them to start clamoring for returns. Now. New Money: Democrats look to take on a boatload of cash to take on the GOP come election season OK, They Got Married: Let’s move along then, shall we?
Scott Sperling, co-president of Boston-based buyout shop Thomas H. Lee Partners, this week said he sees continuing opportunities to buy companies providing services to other businesses. "That's one of the major thrusts we still see out there," he said. Speaking Tuesday at the Buyouts New York conference, where he was interviewed as part of a "Newsmakers of the Year" program by Reuters journalists Felix Salmon and Chrystia Freeland, Sperling seemed particularly excited by the firm's purchase last year of inVentiv Health Inc. for less than 7.5x EBITDA. The company provides clinical trial and other services to pharmaceutical companies. Sperling described the deal as "very complex"--just the kind of transaction Thomas H. Lee favors to keep rival bidders at bay. The firm, which plans to help inVentiv Health expand through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions, announced this January two add-on acquisitions, that of Campbell Alliance and i3. For more on Sperling's views on business services, China and deal pricing, click below.
Highland Capital Management has put Tony Roma's up for sale, sources say. Five bidders, a mix of strategics and private equity, are vying for the company, one person said. Houlihan Lokey is advising. The auction began one month ago, the source said. One banker said the sale of Tony Roma's is a small deal. The company has less than $20 million EBITDA, the banker said. A strategic is expected to acquire Tony Roma's, the first source said.
(Reuters) – A group of Facebook shareholders is seeking to offload $1 billion worth of shares on the secondary market, a sale that would value the company at more than $70 billion, according to five sources with direct knowledge of the situation. It would represent one of the largest transactions of Facebook shares to date […]
Patria Investimentos SA, which is partly owned by the Blackstone Group, is expected to smash through the $900 million target of its fourth fund, several sources say. "The target keeps going up," one LP said. "They will fill the $900 million easy. Brazil is hot."
General Electric and unnamed private equity firms are among the bidders for Swiss-based smart metering company Landis+Gyr in an auction that could fetch as much as $2 billion, Reuters reported. The auction has advanced to a second round, Reuters reported. Landis+Gyr makes "smart" meters used for measuring power and other energy uses, and has hired Credit Suisse and Lazard Ltd. to advise on a potential sale.
Private equity firm Nautic Partners has acquired Omnicare Clinical Research from Omnicare Inc. Based in King of Prussia, Penn., Omnicare Clinical Research provides early phase, phase II/III and late phase clinical trials for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. Terms of the deal were not released. Nautic Partners is a middle-market private equity firm with over $2.5 billion under management.
The Horror: Devastation across Alabama as tornados rip the state A Bright Future? Baidu’s growth rate is impressive, but China’s search industry is still wee Mr. Jobs Goes to Washington: The Apple chief will testify before Congress on Apple’s device tracking. On a panel led by Al Franken. Yup, that one. Get On With It! Galleon jurors listen to more of Rajaratnam’s tapped calls as Wall St. awaits a verdict
The Blackstone Group is considering a takeover of Australian property firm Valad Property Group, Reuters reported, citing a story in the Australian Financial Review. Valad, a real estate investment group managing roughly $8 billion across seven geographic regions, is heavily in debt, Reuters reported.