Just over a month into 2009 and we've already seen 11 LBO-backed bankruptcies. That's up over the eight we had this time last year, but nowhere near the massive wave some were predicting. In fact, the size of these bankruptcies has also been much smaller than expected. The argument remains that mega-buyouts from the '06 and early '07 glory days have a few years before their debt matures. Judging by purchase price, the largest companies to go down are Star Tribune, the newspaper backed by Avista, sugar alternative maker Merisant Worldwide, backed by Pegasus Capital, and Bruno's Supermarkets, backed by Lone Star Funds. If TPG's Aleris files in the coming weeks as expected, it would take the prize. TPG purchased the struggling aerospace supplier for $3.3 billion in 2006. Find the spreadsheet after the jump.
Cinven, a pan-European buyout firm, is in pole position to buy AIM-listed insurer Just Retirement. Rival private equity firms are reported to be Cinven’s main competition with TPG Capital and General Atlantic also bidding. Surrey-based Just Retirement shares were up 5.49% today from yesterday’s close of 45.5p to 48p at 1pm GMT today. Last June, […]
Is private equity the new taxpayer? That seems to be the word out of Washington DC, where Tim Geithner tomorrow will introduce the nextest bestest bank bailout plan. Details are still sketchy, but Geithner apparently will propose that the second half of allocated TARP funds be used to buy up so-called “toxic assets” from bank balance sheets. If that sounds familiar, it’s because that’s what the first half of TARP funds was allocated for (before Hank Paulson became a serial freelancer). The difference seems to be that Geithner wants private investors to also chip in, since the price tag will be WAY more than $350 billion. That means private equity, hedge funds and anyone else sitting on a pile of dry powder. The assumption is that such investments would come with major downside protections, as an incentive for investors who, for the most part, have eschewed the opportunity to buy said “toxic assets” on the open market. The obvious question, therefore, is if private equity firms would want any part of this?
Thoma Bravo has increased its stake in Double-Take Software Inc. (Nasdaq: DBTK) from around 6.92% to around 8.22 percent, according to a regulatory filing. The firm now holds around 1.52 million shares, which are currently valued at around $12.6 million. Double-Take is a Southborough, Mass.-based provider of software for reducing downtime of business-critical systems. www.doubletake.com
Fluid Routing Solutions Inc., a Rochester Hills, Mich.-based maker of fluid and fuel handling systems for automobiles, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company was formed in 2007, when Sun Capital Partners completed a carveout from Mark IV Industries Inc. Read the Chapter 11 filing here
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Private equity firm KPS Capital Partners is among the final bidders for Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (INTB.BR) Labatt USA unit, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter. InBev reached a deal with U.S. anti-trust regulators last year to sell the Labatt USA business and associated licenses in […]
Puget Energy (NYSE: PSD), a regulated utility providing electric and natural gas service to the growing Puget Sound region of western Washington, has been taken private for $30 per share. The total deal was valued at $7.4 billion, including $3.2 billion in equity, $1.6 billion in leveraged financing and $2.6 billion in assumed debt. The […]
Private equities still outperform public equities, according to new data from Thomson Reuters (publisher of peHUB). On the other hand, that's a bit like saying that you only lost three fingers instead of five, or that at least your house fire didn't spread to the toolshed. The numbers are through Q3 '08, so take them with a giant grain of anachrony (PE returns will drop like stones in the next report): Buyout performance fell from both the prior quarter and the prior year, but still came in at positive 12.2% for the five-year horizon. This dropped to 8.3% for the three-year horizon and -8.2% for the one-year horizon. Each of these figures compares favorably to the S&P 500 and NASDAQ over the same period. This is even true once venture capital performance is thrown into the mix. Get more data after the jump...
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The government could ease scarce bankruptcy financing by guaranteeing the loans companies take to restructure their operations, Blackstone Group (BX.N) co-restructuring head Arthur Newman suggested on Friday. Bankruptcy financing, called debtor-in-possession or DIP financing, has been difficult for companies to find since the global credit crisis has caused lenders to pull […]
Aleris, the aerospace supplier backed by TPG Capital, is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to Debtwire. The company reportedly is looking for $400 million in DIP financing, has warned its lenders that it would be restructuring, and has hired advisors for the filing. TPG purchased Aleris in December of 2006 for $1.7 billion, plus the assuming of $1.6 billion in debt. The equity check was not disclosed, but it came from fund TPG Partners V, a $15 billion pool that closed shortly after the deal. The fund includes such investments as Petco, Univision, Freescale