Shamrock Capital, the private equity firm of the Disney family, is set to buy Screenvision from the British broadcaster ITV, the companies announced. ITV will sell its 50 percent share in the cinema advertising firm to Shamrock Capital Growth Fund II for $80 million. ITV will use the funds to pay of its net debt, which it says has decreased by 175 million pounds ($271 million) to 437 million pounds ($733 million) in the six months to June 30, 2010, and has been selling off non-core assets for a number of years.
Private equity firm Apax Partners will sell Endo Pharmaceuticals to Qualitest Pharmaceuticals for around $1.2 billion in cash, the companies announced. Qualitest is a portfolio company of Apax Partners. Endo Pharmaceuticals is a U.S.-based healthcare company that focuses on high-value branded products and specialty generics.
Berkshire Partners has sold Advanced Drainage Systems, of Ohio. ADS produces corrugated HDPE pipe. Berkshire Partners is a Boston PE shop. Financial terms were not announced. It was not disclosed who was the buyer.
Madison Dearborn Partners has bought a majority stake of Fieldglass. Company management, including founder and CEO Jai Shekhawat, will hold a significant stake. The deal is valued at more than $220 million. Fieldglass, of Chicago, provides software that helps companies manage their workforce. Madison Dearborn Partners, also of Chicago, is a buyout shop.
SK Capital’s decision to take a $922 million dividend from Ascend Performance Materials after a little more than a year of ownership is just a matter of tax planning, says Barry Siadat, SK’s co-founder and managing director. The $922 million is three year's worth of dividends pulled forward, Siadat says. Currently, dividends are taxed at 15% but that could change next year. The so-called Bush’s tax cuts are set to expire at the end of 2010. Dividends were taxed as ordinary income before the Bush tax changes were put in place earlier this decade. “Next year, this may even be more,” Siadat says.
CHAMP, an Australian PE firm, is nearing its $1.5 billion Australian (US$1.4 billion) fundraising target for its third fund. So far, the Sydney buyout shop has raised US$847 million (which is A$903 million), for CHAMP Buyout III GP, according to a Sept. 23 SEC filing, which was uncovered by the sleuths at FormDs.com.
3i Group Plc, a British private equity company, is buying Japanese debt management company Mizuho Investment Management for 18.3 million pounds ($28.7 million) from its parent company, Mizuho Corporate Bank.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has bought Visma, a Norwegian software company, for $1.2 billion ($1.88 billion), from private equity firm HgCapital, the companies announced on Sunday. HgCapital retains a 17.7 percent stake in Visma.
This week, Forbes came out with its list of the 400 richest people in America. I quickly glanced at it to see where our PE rock stars had placed. Steve Schwarzman ranked 69th with $4.1 billion. Billionaires Carl Icahn and Ron Perelman, who were both listed under “leveraged buyout,” tied at 24th place with each having fortunes of about $11 billion. Leon Black came in at 110th with $3 billion while Tom Gores was 153rd with $2.4 billion. Wilbur Ross placed 205th with $1.9 billion.
With all the fuss about AngelGate, I read something today that was startling. Ascend Performance Materials is paying a $922 million dividend to owners SK Capital Partners, according our sister Web site, Buyoutsnews.com, (subscribers can see the story here), citing a report from Standard & Poor’s. SK Capital, a middle market PE firm, bought Ascend in April 2009 and injected roughly $50 million equity. Total dividends paid to SK could reach $1.1 billion, which includes dividends already paid out and future ones contingent on certain events, the Sept. 22 report from S&P said.