NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – Providence Equity Partners is among the bidders for corporate investigations firm Kroll, along with BC Partners Ltd and Apax, as private equity deals heat up again, sources familiar with the matter said. Kroll, put up for sale by the No. 2 global insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Cos Inc (MMC.N), attracted […]
As usual, we have a week’s worth of ratings actions on the debt of LBO-backed companies from ratings agencies Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s. This week there were two upgrades and a downgrade. Company: Harrah’s
Sponsor: Apollo Management and TPG
Action: S&P raised its corporate credit and issue-level ratings on the company and its operating subsidiary by one notch. S&P raised the corporate credit rating to 'B-' from 'CCC+'.
Highlight: "The ratings upgrade reflects our assessment that several actions taken by management over the past several quarters have positioned the company with sufficient capacity to weather the current downturn in the gaming sector," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Ben Bubeck.
Three Rivers Operating Co., an Austin, Texas-based upstream oil and gas company, has raised an undisclosed amount of private equity funding from the Riverstone/Carlyle Energy and Power Funds. Three Rivers also announced that it would purchase certain assets of Chesapeake Energy in the Permian Basin of West Texas and Southeast New Mexico.
Lone Star Funds has received shareholder approval to acquire hotel owner and operator Lodgian Inc. (NYSE: LGN) for approximately $270 million (including assumed debt). Under terms of the agreement, Lodgian stockholders would receive $2.50 per share.
Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe has agreed to acquire a majority stake in GlobalCollect, an Amsterdam-based provider of local e-payment solutions for international customer not-present channels. The seller is General Atlantic. No financial terms were disclosed.
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Private equity company Permira, owner of Hugo Boss, on Thursday dismissed market talk about a possible ownership change at the German fashion house. Boss shares had risen as much as 6.5 percent as traders cited talk that the Marzotto family, co-owners with Permira of a company that holds 55 percent of Hugo […]
Silver Lake Partners has acquired a 60% stake in payment processing company Mercury Payment Systems, for an undisclosed amount.
TAIPEI (Reuters) – A problem over an indirect state shareholding that is stalling Carlyle Group’s $1 billion deal for a stake in mobile phone firm Taiwan Mobile (3045.TW) must be sorted out by the parties involved, a Taiwan regulator said on Wednesday. Carlyle’s plan to exchange its stake in Taiwan cable TV company Kbro for […]
FRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) – U.S specialty chemicals maker Lubrizol (LZ.N) has joined other potential bidders in talks to buy German additives group Cognis, a source close to the matter told Reuters. The Financial Times paper had earlier reported that Lubrizol had approached Cognis for talks about a takeover that could value the target at around 3 […]
TA Associates has acquired a minority stake in Aurora Networks, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based developer of advanced optical transport systems for broadband networks. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, in which TA bought shares from existing aurora details. Specific sellers were not identified, but aurora has raised over $60 million from firms like Sprout Group, Battery Ventures, ComVentures and Castile Ventures.