Hyland Software, which is backed by Thoma Bravo, has bought Computer Systems Co., which provides business and clinical healthcare software and document conversion services. Financial terms were not announced. Both Hyland and CSC are based in Cleveland. Hyland, a software vendor, is the developer of OnBase, a suite of document and process management services. Thoma Bravo, with offices in San FrancisCo and Chicago, invests in mid-market technology and services companies.
(Reuters) – Boston-based private equity firm Bain Capital is set to kick off the sales process for French chemical company Novacap shortly, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. According to the company’s website, Novacap has annual sales of around 500 million euros. The business includes soda ash and bicarbonate minerals, phenol and […]
Private equity firms 3i and TCR, along with management led by Olivier Delrieu, will buy Trescal, a European company involved in weights and calibrations, from Astorg Partners, a French private equity firm. 3i and TCR will take a minority stake. Trescal has, since 2007, made eight acquisitions across five countries and grown its turnover from EUR 70 million to EUR 110 million ($91 million to $144 million).
Endesa, the Spanish division of the Italian energy company Enel, is in talks with Goldman Sachs about selling 80 percent of its Spanish gas grid for around 800 million euro ($1.07 billion), according to a report in a Spanish newspaper. Funds sponsored by Macquarie and AXA Private Equity also submitted offers for the grid.
Private equity firm Blackstone said that a $10 billion leveraged buyout could happen soon, such has been the recovery in the debt markets. Blackstone is sitting on roughly $15 billion which it can invest in the private equity business and expects to raise significantly more in the future.
U.S. billing firm CSG Systems will buy Intec Telecom Systems, a British-based rival, for 236.7 million pounds ($370.9 million), in a deal supported by private equity firm General Atlantic, which has an almost 12 percent stake in Intec. RBS Hoare Govett advised Intec and Greenhill advised CSG Systems on the deal.
David Colla has left Oaktree Capital Management. Colla left the Los Angeles PE firm recently to join the Canada Pension Plan, a source says. Colla, who is Canadian, “went back home,” the person says. Colla was a senior vice president in Oaktree’s mezzanine funds unit. He has also worked at JP Morgan and BMO Capital Markets.
Blackstone's first investor day has ended and everyone has left to have cocktails. Here are some interesting tidbits: No one asked about management succession but Stephen Schwarzman, at the end of the last session, talked about it anyway. The Blackstone CEO addressed fears that if one person left it would have a catastrophic effect on the buyout shop. Schwarzman singled out Tony James, Blackstone’s president, who was seated next to him and is his named successor. James is a “remarkable investor, and manager, and he inspires enormous loyalty. He does a great job and a is great recruiter. We are very fortunate at the firm,” Schwarzman says. However, the Blackstone CEO also noted that there are lots of people at the firm who are very talented and have run other organizations. “In that area…we are in very good shape in that regard,” he said.
We now have the next public restaurant deal. Benihana, which just settled a proxy fight, has hired Jefferies & Co. to sell the company. But don't expect any big PE firms, like KKR or Apollo Management, to be interested. This is a smaller play geared more to middle-market buyout shops. Miami-based Benihana is pretty small. In August, the company reported that first quarter revenue increased by 5% to $100.8 million for the time period ended July 18. Income from operations stood at $2.5 million while net income was $1.3 million for the time period. The company’s market cap is currently $108.2 million.
North Castle Partners has invested in Ibex Outdoor Clothing Holdings, which makes and distributes wool and wool-based technical apparel and accessories. The company is based in White River Junction, VT. CMS Co., a Philadelphia financial services boutique, also invested. Financial terms were not announced. North Castle is a Greenwich, Conn. PE shop.