According to the Wall Street Journal, investment firms Cinven and Investindustrial might be interested in buying Swiss-based bank BSI. The seller is Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali.
Investment fund Amber Capital bought part of an 8.7 percent stake in Italian gas distribution company Ascopiave that was sold by Blue Flame, sources told Reuters. "Amber bought a significant stake," said one of the sources, meaning a holding of more than 2 percent. "Several investors have come in," the source said.
Lightyear Capital has agreed to sell Antares Holdings Limited, a specialist insurer and reinsurer, to Qatar Insurance Company. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2014.
High Road Capital Partners has completed the acquisition of Canadian Process & Control as an add-on to its portfolio company Celco Controls. Canadian Process & Controls designs, manufactures and installs process control systems for refining, chemical and wastewater treatment industries.
Highlander Partners has agreed to buy shares of the Warsaw-listed cardboard packaging manufacturer Druk-Pak from Penton Partners as an add-on to the firm's portfolio company Akomex. The deal requires the approval of the Polish Antimonopoly Office.
Jos. A Bank Clothiers has agreed to acquire Everest Holdings, parent company of the Eddie Bauer brand, from Golden Gate Capital for an enterprise value of about $825 million. The purchase price will include a combination of $564 million in cash and about 4.7 million new shares of common stock of Jos. A. Bank at $56 per share. Golden Gate closed its acquisition of Eddie Bauer in 2009 for about $286 million in cash.
Irving Place Capital is exiting its investment in Victor Technologies after more than three years.
Alliance Laundry Holdings LLC has agreed to purchase Primus Laundry Equipment Group, a Belgian marketer of commercial washer-extractors, tumbler dryers, ironers and feeding and folding equipment. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Alliance Laundry Holdings is the parent of Alliance Laundry Systems, a Ripon, WI-based manufacturer of commercial laundry equipment used in laundromats, multi-housing laundries and on-premise laundries. It is also a portfolio company of Teachers Private Capital, which bought Alliance Laundry from U.S. private equity firms in 2005 for US$450 million. The acquisition of Primus Laundry Equipment is expected to close before the end of March.
Mexican bread maker Grupo Bimbo has agreed to buy Canada Bread Co Ltd (TSX: CBY) from majority owner Maple Leaf Foods Inc for $1.83 billion. The proposed transaction, which has been approved by the boards of directors of Canada Bread and Grupo Bimbo, will require the approval of over two-thirds of the votes cast by shareholders of Canada Bread at a special meeting expected to take place in Apr. 2014. Maple Leaf has agreed to vote its 90% interest in favour of the acquisition. As reported by Reuters in January, other bidders for Canada Bread had included U.S. private equity firms Bain Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. Toronto-based food processor Maple Leaf (TSX: MFI) is a portfolio investment of Canadian private investment firm West Face Capital.
The private equity owners of Kronos Inc have rejected bids that valued the human resources software company at more than $4.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, leaving in limbo what would have been one of the largest technology leveraged buyouts of the last 12 months.