FRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) – Shares in German cable television company Kabel Deutschland (KD8Gn.DE) were flat in a lacklustre market debut on Monday, the biggest in Europe so far this year, signalling the fragility of investor appetite. The initial public offering (IPO) on the Frankfurt stock exchange, which was 2.2 times covered, amounted to 759 million euros […]
Centerbridge Partners, MAK Capital and Sankaty Advisors have completed their acquisition of bankrupt homebuilder Champion Enterprises Holdings LLC. The deal includes $50 million in new equity, with Champion's debt load being lowered to $40 million.
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Financial investors are interested in acquiring Metro’s (MOEG.DE) department store chain Kaufhof and Arcandor’s (AROG.DE) Karstadt chain, aiming to merge them into one, two people familiar with the matter said on Sunday. “Metro is already in talks with private equity firms, who are also interested in Karstadt,” one of the people said. […]
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Storied Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer may opt for a stand-alone plan if bids disappoint, and creditors are expected to meet early next week as the company sifts through expected offers, sources said. The studio, struggling with $3.7 billion of debt, said in November it was exploring a potential sale of the company. It said at the time its other options included operating as a stand-alone entity or forming strategic partnerships. Second-round bids were due on Friday but it was not immediately clear how many firms submitted offers.
Morgan Stanley predicts a huge increase in the demand for private credit. In a new report titled, “The Coming Rebound in Credit Demands,” the investment bank refers to the credit crunch as a “financial purging and healing.” Commentators haven’t shied away from the “binge” metaphor when discussing the 2007 boom-era, so I suppose there’s no harm in extending it to the credit crunch. With banks’ balance sheets de-levered and stimulus money in hand, the credit crunch is basically over, the report argues. And that means one thing: Time To Binge Again! According to Morgan Stanley, credit demands, which declined through the fourth quarter of 2010, will bounce back any time now. The report doesn’t directly address leveraged loans, but we know the issue of credit availability is certainly near and dear to the hearts of all general partners (whether they admit it or not). We’re already seeing increased credit demands from private equity with lenders meandering back to the table and deal volume picking up slightly.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Lexmark International (LXK.N), Pactiv Corp (PTV.N), Lubrizol Corp (LZ.N), Harris Corp (HRS.N) and United States Cellular Corp (USM.N) may be among U.S. companies targeted for leveraged buyouts, as the number of deals picks up, Bank of America said. A resurgence of credit demand, tight credit spreads, attractive equity valuations and capital at […]
LONDON (Reuters) – Tyco International (TYC.N) has put its German water-valve and flow-control unit Tyco Waterworks up for sale, three banking sources said on Friday. First round bids were due last week and a number of private equity firms are looking at it, the sources said. With earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of […]
LONDON/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Owners of top German cable television firm Kabel Deutschland have raised 759 million euros ($1.03 billion) after pricing the initial public offering towards the low end of an indicated range. The KDG offering, Germany’s biggest in two years, was priced at 22 euros per share, compared with the initial range of 21.50 […]
Arsenal Capital Partners has acquired FrontStream Payments Inc. , a Nashville, Tenn.-based provider of payments products to small and medium-sized businesses and independent credit card sales organizations. No financial terms were disclosed. Some of the proceeds were used by FrontStream to buy Fast Transact, a provider of processing solutions for e-commerce and physical points of sale.
Francisco Partners has completed its $126 million take-private acquisition of QuadraMed Corp., a Reston, Va.-based provider of healthcare IT services. The deal was first announced last December. Wells Fargo Foothill and Silicon Valley Bank committed debt financing.