LDC has sponsored an £11 million management buyout of Homeserve Emergency Services, a UK-based provider of home emergency fulfillment services to the domestic insurance industry, from Homeserve PLC.
JLL Partners and Warburg Pincus are facing an investor lawsuit in opposition to their plan to recapitalize Builders FirstSource Inc. (Nasdaq: BLDR). The two firms currently hold a combined 49.9% stake in the residential construction company, and have agreed to both a $75 million rights offering at $2 per share and a debt-for-equity swap. The suit claims the recap would not be in the best interest of the company or its other shareholders.
As usual, we have a week’s worth of ratings actions on the debt of sponsor-backed companies via Standard & Poor’s Investors Service and Moody’s Investor Services. Last week was Carlyle Week, with three of the firm’s companies receiving downgrades on their debt ratings. This week it’s Castle Harlan week. Two of the firm’s companies caught the attention of the ratings agencies this week, receiving one downgrade and one upgrade. We’ll call it a break-even. Perkins & Marie Callender's, the company’s struggling restaurant business, saw the ratings on its speculative grade debt downgraded on concerns over the company’s cash flow and borrowing ability. Conversely, Ames True Temper climbed its’s way out of the C’s when S&P upgraded its corporate credit rating to B- on its stable operating performance through the recession. The timing is perfect, considering Castle Harlan's John Castle recently addressed the New York Chamber of Commerce about "Private equity after the world's economic meltdown." We've published the full text of his speech here.
Ares Management and Teachers' Private Capital, owner of mattress maker Serta, have agreed to buy Simmons Bedding Co. from THL Partners. The deal would include Simmons filing for a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which would reduce its debt from $1 billion to around $450 million (filing within 30-6 days). The actual sale would be valued at $760 million, including equity from the purchaser and both debt and equity from certain existing Simmons lenders. Serta and Simmons would continue to be operated independently.
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) has formed a joint venture on a portion of its midstream assets, with Global Infrastructure Partners. The deal would create a new entity called Chesapeake Midstream Partners, in which each firm would own a 50% stake. Chesapeake Energy would receive $588 million in cash from Global Infrastructure Partners.
SEOUL (Reuters) – Shares in Hynix Semiconductor (000660.KS) tumbled on Friday on market talk the sale of a stake held by its shareholders including Korea Exchange Bank (004940.KS) could be worth less than earlier expected. Market talk that the stake sale could be discounted to as low as 3 trillion won ($2.51 billion) from the […]
LONDON (Reuters) – British specialist life insurer Just Retirement (JR.L) has agreed to be taken over by private equity company Permira in a 225.5 million pound ($360.5 million) cash deal. Permira-backed bid vehicle Avalon Acquisitions will pay 76 pence per share for Just Retirement and also inject 25 million pounds into the company after the […]
TORONTO (Reuters) – With its prospects for growth uncertain at best, Hudson’s Bay Co, Canada’s oldest retailer and one of its biggest department store chains, is likely to face a tough audience if it opts to offer shares to the public, industry analysts said on Thursday. The company, which was taken private in 2006, is […]
SOFIA (Reuters) – Private equity fund Advent International has agreed to buy about 75 percent of Bulgaria’s leading water bottler Devin DEVIN.BB, majority owned by Austria’s Soravia Group, Devin said on Thursday. In a statement on the Bulgarian stock exchange’s website, Devin said that the deal was worth around 21 million to 22 million euros […]
Marcellus Taylor has acquired United Investment Managers, a Chicago-based emerging manager asset management firm with around $300 million in AUM. No financial terms were disclosed. Taylor previously was co-founder of Erasmus Advisors, a co-investment unit of Dallas-based Aldus Equity. He left Erasmus in 2007, following Deutsche Bank's acquisition of a stake in Aldus.