HealthMedia Inc., an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based provider of online behavior change interventions, has acquired MySelfHelp.com, a provider of online behavioral health interventions, including programs for depression and insomnia. No financial terms were disclosed. HealthMedia has raised over $13 million in VC funding from firms like Chrysalis Ventures, Avalon Ventures, the Princeton Fund and Arboretum Ventures. […]
Buffets Inc., an Egan, Minn.-based portfolio company of Caxton-Iseman Capital, has completed its $16.25 per share acquisition of Ryan's Restaurant Group Inc. (formerly Nasdaq: RYAN). Leverage for the deal was arranged by Credit Suisse Securities, UBS Securities and Goldman, Sachs & Co., which resulted in a full refinancing of Buffets' and Ryan's existing debt; and […]
SGS International Inc., a Louisville, Ky.-based provider of graphics and packaging services, has acquired two companies: The Box Room Ltd., a UK-based artwork and project management services company; and the packaging division of Lukkien Foto & Design BV, a Netherlands-based media and advertising services company. No financial terms were disclosed. SGS is a portfolio company […]
Some quick hits before embarking on the return trip from Portland, Ore. to Boston… *** Today’s big LBO deal news is the possibility that Clear Channel could go private for around $18.5 billion. There are lots of angles of this deal worth discussing – high leverage multiples, family management control but not financial control, a […]
I wanted to share with other fellow readers a recent transaction closed by our investor group ($250M+ EV) in the cable & broadband industry in Central America. There has been some intense activity in this sector with other funds managed by Carlyle, Warburg Pincus, Cinven, Fintech that is worth a look. REsults by public cable […]
Springer Science & Business Media, a German portfolio company of Cinven and Candover, has approached rival publisher and conference organizer Informa about a takeover. The talks are in their early stages, but the combined company would be worth in excess of
HCA has set a shareholder meeting date for its proposed going-private buyout: November 16 at the company’s Nashville, Tenn. executive offices. The delay had led to some speculation of leverage troubles, but now it seems that history’s second-largest LBO is close to the finish line.
I spent most of yesterday working on “big new project,” and this morning must do a bit of actual reporting (it seems I get paid to do so). So, in the meantime… Details remain sketchy on the apparent U.S. Department of Justice probe into possible collusion between private equity firms, with most journalists either rehashing […]
The buyouts market is expected to record its third-straight year of record-breaking deal volume, according to Q3 numbers released this week by Buyouts Magazine. The first three quarters of 2006 saw U.S. firms participate in a total of 770 control-stake deals valued at $181 billion in disclosed value (including leverage), compared to $198 billion for […]
Today represents the end of Q3 2006, which means that it’s time for a quick look back on the quarter’s PE-backed IPO activity. Buyout-backed offerings bested VC-backed offerings in terms of both volume and total raised (see chart below), but LBO-backed companies were not so fortunate in the aftermarket. The average aftermarket performance for […]