The auction of Newsweek looks to be heading to some sort of ending. Bids for the troubled weekly are expected by 5pm Thursday at investment bank Allen & Co., according to the New York Post. There are five parties in the running, including Newsmax Media, OpenGate Capital, Thane Ritchie, Sidney Harmon and Fred Drasner, the one-time partner of Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman. A source close to the sale said there is currently no frontrunner. Much has been made about the financial state of Newsweek, the legendary weekly that produced $56 million in operating losses in 2009 and an $11 million loss in first quarter. The magazine has no EBITDA (negative EBITDA, actually) which has made it a hard sell to PE firms. "The amount of money they lost is shocking," said one buyout executive who saw the Newsweek books but passed. "It's a classic old world publishing business that did nothing to adjust to the new world reality."
American Capital said Monday that it had restructured its loans and reduced its debt by $1.03 billion. At the close of the deal, American Capital said had $1.31 billion of secured debt, $11 million of unsecured debt and $1.61 billion of securitized debt and holds approximately $240 million of unrestricted cash and marketable securities on its balance sheet. American Capital is a publicly traded public equity firm.
Atrium Co., a leading maker of vinyl and aluminum windows and patio doors in North America, said Monday that President and CEO Gregory Faherty had retired. He was replaced by Kevin O'Meara, currently Atrium's chairman and an operating partner at Golden Gate Capital. San Francisco-based Golden Gate has a majority stake in Atrium.
(Reuters) – Air transport services provider Global Aviation Holdings Inc Monday filed with U.S. regulators for an initial public offering of up to $100 million. The company said it would use proceeds from the offering mainly to repay debt. It did not say how many shares it plans to sell or provide an expected price […]
Thompson Street Capital Partners has acquired Express Oil Change from Carousel Capital for an undisclosed amount. Express Oil is a Birmingham, Ala.-based operator of quick lube and automotive service centers. It was acquired by Carousel in 2005.
Modern Luxury Media may receive bids much lower than the $20 million-plus it is seeking, multiple banking sources tell peHUB. Second-round proposals for Modern Luxury, known for its upscale regional magazines, were due last week. The magazine publisher still has a brand name and will likely fetch about half its goal, or just over $10 million, one banker said. Interested parties also are expected to assume some liabilities. It's worth noting that a source close to the company calls the $10 million price too low, but it's in that source's interest to say that. Private equity is mainly involved in the auction, with bidders including Platinum Equity and Castanea Partners. Berkery Noyes is managing the process.
Does the watered-down Volcker Rule prevent banks from providing leverage to transactions sponsored by their in-house private equity funds? That's my gut reaction to the following language, which can be found in Title VI of the financial reform bill released this morning:
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No banking entity that serves, directly or indirectly, as the investment manager, investment adviser, or sponsor to a hedge fund or private equity fund, or that organizes and offers a hedge fund or private equity fund pursuant to paragraph (d)(1)(G), and no affiliate of such entity, may enter into a transaction with the fund, or with any other hedge fund or private equity fund that is controlled by such fund, that would be a covered transaction, as defined in section 23A of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 371c), with the hedge fund or private equity fund, as if such banking entity and the affiliate thereof were a member bank and the hedge fund or private equity fund were an affiliate thereof.
Wall Street caught some big breaks in this bill, vis-a-vis private equity. Banks will still be allowed to sponsor in-house funds, so long as they: (1) Stay below capital commitment caps; (2) Do not use their "brand" to name the funds; and (3) Prevent employees from investing in the funds, unless the employees work directly on the funds. But this leverage restriction could trump all of that. In fact, it could be a backdoor that effectively forces banks to divest of their in-house PE funds (if they have to choose to participate in equity or debt, they'll choose debt). Unless I'm reading this wrong... Am I?
(Reuters) – Canada’s SMART Technologies expects its initial public offering of 35.3 million shares to be priced between $16.00 and $18.00 per share. In an amended filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the maker of digital whiteboards said it plans to sell 8.8 million shares, while stockholders will sell an additional 26.5 million […]
Weston Presidio has invested an undisclosed amount in real estate franchisor RE/MAX LLC, as part of a larger leveraged transaction.
Camelot Information Systems Inc., a Beijing-based provider of enterprise application services and financial industry IT services in China, has filed for a $250 million IPO. It plans to trade on the NYSE under ticker symbol CIS, with Barclays Capital and Goldman Sachs (Asia) serving as co-lead underwriters. Citigroup Venture Capital holds a 29% pre-IPO stake. […]