The auction of Merchant e-Solutions is one of the few financial tech deals still racing to get done before the end of the year. Merchant e-Solutions is drawing interest from strategics including Global Payments and Intuit, two sources say, although a third source, a banker, says "Global Payment is unlikely to buy Merchant e-Solutions given the high price." Cielo, the Brazilian payment processor, is also believed to be looking at Merchant e-Solutions, a different person says. It’s not clear whether PE is still involved in the auction. One source says that buyout shops opted out of the auction due to Merchant e-Solutions’s high price tag. In October, I reported that the payment processor, which is backed by Trident Capital, was seeking bids of 15X, which is considered to be very rich. Merchant e-Solutions produces roughly $40 to $45 million EBITDA. JP Morgan and Bank of America are advising on the sale.
KSL Capital Partners said Tuesday that it has completed its buy of the Squaw Valley Development Co., which includes the Squaw Valley USA ski operations, the Village of Squaw Valley and related real estate holdings. Squaw Valley, of Olympic Valley, Calif., is a ski resort. KSL Capital is a Denver PE firm.
Private equity investor Partners Group, along with DLJ South American Partners, have invested an undisclosed amount in Brazilian watchmaker Technos da Amazônia. Technos assembles and distributes wristwatches in Brazil, and has a roughly 36% share of that market. The investment is designed to help Technos expand its international partnerships and expand the company’s reach.
Buyout shop Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. plans to invest as much as $625 million in a partnership with El Paso Corp., an energy company, Reuters reported. The deal will focus on developing natural gas processing plants and pipelines. The private equity firm will pay $125 million for a 50% stake in El Paso's Altamont gas gathering and processing assets, Reuters said. The firm will spend up to $500 million more for future projects.
Japan's Daikin Industries, an air conditioner manufacturer, is in talks to buy its U.S.-based rival Goodman Global Group from private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, Reuters said, citing a Bloomberg report. The buyout shop has rejected one proposal for the company, valued at $3.6 billion, though the two firms are now negotiating a revised proposal, Reuters reported. San Francisco-based Hellman & Friedman agreed to pay $1.8 billion in cash for Goodman Global in October 2007.
Private equity firm Sun Capital Partners has bought the pork processing business of Canadian company Maple Leaf Foods. Financial terms of the deal were not released. Based in Burlington, Ontario, the pork processing operation is the largest such facility in Ontario. It’s not the first food processing deal for Sun Capital: the firm has previously invested in Kansas-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef and Toronto-based CanGro Foods, among other deals.
Buyout shop Pacific Equity Partners has approached Tasmanian salmon farmer Tassal Group about a takeover bid for the company worth as much as 278 million Australian dollars ($275 million), Reuters reported. The firm would offer about $1.80 to $1.90 per share for Tassal, Reuters said. Pacific Equity Partners is based in Sydney, Australia.
Denver-based private equity firm KRG Capital Partners has acquired Consolidated Equipment Parts and its subsidiaries, collectively known as AllPoints. The firm acquired AllPoints from Chicago-based private equity firm Pfingsten Partners. Financial terms of the deal were not released. AllPoints distributes maintenance, repair and operation parts, supplies and equipment to the foodservice industry. AllPoints is based in Mount Prospect, Illinois.
Minerco Resources, a cleantech energy company based in Latin America, has raised $5 million from Centurion Private Equity, an affiliate of Alpharetta, Ga., based Roswell Capital Partners. The financing is designed to help fund Minerco's construction of a hydro-electric project in Honduras, as well as to fund future potential acquisitions.
China’s Bright Foods Group Co. is close to a $2.5 billion to $3 billion deal to buy vitamin chain GNC Holdings, Reuters reported. Pittsburgh-based GNC Holdings is owned by Ares Management and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board. Ares and the pension plan bought GNC in 2007 from private equity firm Apollo Management in a deal with a total enterprise value of $1.65 billion.