(Reuters) – Broadband services provider RCN Corp (RCNI.O) said it agreed to be bought by investment fund ABRY Partners for about $536 million, excluding debt, as private-equity firms return to the deal market. ABRY’s offer of $15 a share in cash is 22 percent more than RCN’s closing price on Thursday. Shares of the company […]
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil and gas exploration company Oasis Petroleum Inc filed for an initial public offering of up to $350 million on Thursday. Houston, Texas-based Oasis is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and development company. Most of the company’s business is focused in the Williston Basin in northeastern Montana and northwestern […]
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Auto parts maker Tower International Inc filed for an initial public offering worth up to $100 million on Thursday. Livonia, Michigan-based Tower makes structural metal parts for cars such as body structure stampings, frame and chassis structures and complex welded assemblies. It also recently entered into an agreement to make large […]
LONDON (Reuters) – More buyers could hijack planned flotations at the last minute after Prudential’s surprise purchase of AIG’s Asian life insurance unit showed the benefits of such “dual track” disposals. The assurance of a direct sale compared to the uncertainty of selling a minority stake and braving the equity market can be hard to […]
Just one hour ago, KKR portfolio company NorthgateArinso, a UK-based provider of HR software and services company, signed a deal to buy the HR unit of Convergys for $100 million in cash. The paperwork originally was supposed to be finished up before market close, but sometimes these things take a bit longer than expected. I spent a few minutes on the phone with NorthgateArinso CEO Mike Ettling, shortly after the final T was crossed. What follows is an edited version of our conversation: 1. How did this deal process begin? Ettling: Convergys started the process last fall, and we've been engaged since last October. We stayed in it, and ultimately were the last horse in the race." [Ed. note: Jefferies ran the auction] 2. What does the Convergys unit bring NorthgateArinso that it didn't already have? Strategically we have a goal to become world’s leading HR services company. Today 35% of the global market is in the U.S., but up to this point only a very small percentage of our global revenues came from the U.S. In addition, one of our primary sweet spots in terms of our service offerings is providing services to global multinational corporations, and the U.S. simply has more of them than anyone else. So we just had to have a much bigger presence in the U.S. markets, which is why we stayed focused on this transaction and why we were there in the end. It just makes an enormous amount of sense for us.
NorthgateArinso, a KKR portfolio company that provides HR software and services, has agreed to acquire the HR management unit of Convergys (NYSE: CVG). The deal is valued at $100 million in cash, including an $85 million up-front payment.
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s largest private equity firm, Pacific Equity Partners, is considering selling or floating its Hoyts cinema chain, the latest in a string of potential private equity exits, a source familiar with the situation said.Australian press reports have put the value of the cinema chain, the country’s second largest, at up to A$1 […]
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Commercial broadcaster ProSiebenSat1 (PSMG_p.DE) refrained from giving an outlook for 2010 due to the continued lack of market visibility and said it plans to keep its dividend flat “Despite a fourth quarter that exceeded expectations, any comments on the current fiscal years would be based on too much uncertainty,” the company said […]
BEIJING (Reuters) – Morgan Stanley (MS.N) has found buyers for its stake in Chinese investment bank China International Capital Corp, CICC Chairman Li Jiange said on Thursday. The firms have reached a consensus regarding the stake sale and the deal was awaiting regulatory approval, Li said. “The deal has been proceeding very smoothly and has […]
LONDON (Reuters) – SVG Capital Plc (SVI.L) said asset values rebounded after Permira — the buy-out group whose main backer it is — cut debt and saw the companies it owns improve their performance, sending its shares soaring. The private equity investor, a listed proxy for Permira, said on Thursday its net asset value per […]