(Reuters) – Private equity firm Apollo Global Management is in talks to buy U.S. packaging maker Pactiv Corp (PTV.N) in a leveraged deal, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation. Pactiv has about $1.5 billion in debt and the Apollo deal would be among the largest leveraged buyouts in the past […]
LONDON (Reuters) – Alliance Boots, Britain’s biggest pharmacy chain, posted annual profit of over 1 billion pounds ($1.5 billion) on Monday, becoming only the third UK retailer to pass that milestone. The group, taken private in 2007 in Europe’s biggest leveraged buyout, also said strong growth in own-brand products like No7 cosmetics and in its […]
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Mental health facilities operator Psychiatric Solutions Inc (PSYS.O) is close to a deal to be acquired by Universal Health Services Inc (UHS.N), a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday. Hospital operator Universal Health is expected to pay between $33 and $34 a share, the source said. Psychiatric Solutions closed at […]
First: Yes, that headline is a Britpop reference to U.K. rapper Lady Sovereign. There's a PE connection: Ms. Sovereign is, after all, signed with EMI, a label (barely) still owned by Terra Firma. Just as Ms. Sovereign's label is in a crisis, so too is much of the European continent. We have irate Germans, rioting overworked Greeks, belt-tightening Iberians and the prospect of the French storming away from the dinner table in a huff. Surely this must mean something for private equity. Perhaps the potential for collapse of entire currencies will change the whole game.
(Reuters) – Franchisees of bankrupt Fuddruckers restaurant chain objected to the sale of the company to Tavistock Group, saying they have received no assurance regarding Tavistock’s ability to carry out its obligations as a franchisor. Magic Brands LLC, the parent of the Fuddruckers and Koo Koo Roo restaurant chains, filed for bankruptcy protection in April […]
The pending - and pending, and pending - $15 billion buyout of Fidelity National may restart an old private equity love affair with financial technology companies. Financial technology, or fintech, includes everything from processing companies to stock exchanges. It includes the companies that make all the software that moves the modern financial system. It is one of those sectors that private equity lavished money on this decade, as technology fueled the globalization of finance. Think bank processing deals, like First Data ($29b), Sungard ($11.3b) and Ceridian ($5.3b). These processing and outsourcing companies have the one thing that private equity cannot resist: Regular revenue streams and strong cash flow, even in recessions. Portfolio companies need cash flow to pay off their LBO-incurred debt, and there are few other sectors who can promise that kind of regularity.
National Dentex Corp. (Nasdaq: NADX), an owner and operator of dental laboratories in North America, announced that its go-shop period had ended without a rival offer to an existing $17 per share bid from GeoDigm Corp., a portfolio company of Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe.
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australian hospital operator Healthscope (HSP.AX) said it has received a $1.6 billion takeover approach from a group of buyout firms, which a source said were Carlyle Group and TPG. Healthscope shares soared as much as 21 percent to a two-year high on news of the approach, which marked a return of big […]
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Newbridge Asia, a unit of buyout fund TPG, is selling 160 million shares in China’s Ping An Insurance (2318.HK) (601318.SS) for up to $1.26 billion, according to a term sheet obtained by Reuters on Thursday. Newbridge is selling the shares in a price range of HK$60.52-$61.28 each, which will raise up […]
It's not as if finance is at a loss for mysteries these days: We're having trouble explaining everything from last week's flash crash to the subprime crisis of 2007. But even among the chaotic tentacles of financial mysteries, there is one conundrum that I find particularly vexing: Current pricing of junk bonds and leveraged loans. Leveraged loans have returned 5.25% this year, according to Standard & Poor's LCD loan index. Bloomberg says junk-bond underwriting has quadrupled so far this year compared to the same time in 2009, to $91.8 billion. Since the Freeze of 2008, demand for leveraged loans jumped nearly 70%; the resurgence of big buyout talk shows the willingness of banks to lend to private equity firms. Silver Lake and Warburg Pincus will borrow $2 billion of IDC's $3.4 billion pricetag. Financing is so easy that even the much-maligned dividend recap is back. S&P Leveraged Commentary and Data shows that LBO financing increased by 15 times this year so far compared to the same time in 2009.