Just a short update on Abry Partners' auction for portfolio company Executive Health Resources: peHUB has learned that the sale of Executive Health has narrowed to strategics, with the financial sponsors having dropped out. One of the remaining bidders is Ingenix, which is owned by United Health Group. Ingenix, a health information technology and services company, recently agreed to buy Picis, which provides health information services for high acuity areas of hospitals like the ER, OR and intensive care units.
Moody's is out today with a new report on Harrah’s, the casino giant taken private two years ago for $27 billion. And its conclusions are not good for Harrah’s owners Apollo Management and TPG Capital. Instead, Moody’s virtually compares the pair — only identified as “management” — to degenerate gamblers. The company has enormous debts, but rarely takes the opportunity to pay them down. Instead, it keeps spending on new initiatives, hoping that the payouts will constitute salvation.
After a surprisingly sluggish 2009, secondary dealmaking is on the rise. The latest deal comes from Bank of America, which reportedly is selling $1.2 billion of commitments made to various Warburg Pincus funds. Around half of it will go to Lexington Partners and China Investment Corp. This comes just a couple of months after BoA sold a $1.9 billion portfolio of PE fund interests to the secondary arm of AXA Private Equity. Earlier this month, Citigroup agreed to sell $900 million of PE interests to Lexington Partners, while RBS reportedly is close to selling a $500 million portfolio to Alpinvest.
(Reuters) – Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP offered to buy out BlueLinx Holdings Inc (BXC.N) by acquiring shares it does not already own, valuing the distributor of building products at $111.1 million. Cerberus, whose affiliate already owns 55.39 percent of BlueLinx as of May 7, said it would buy the remaining shares for […]
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Private equity firm TPG Capital [TPG.UL] is investing $300 million in natural gas company Copano Energy (CPNO.O), which it will use to fund shale gas production developments, Copano said on Wednesday. TPG is making the investment through a purchase of convertible preferred equity priced at $29.05 per unit, convertible into common […]
(Reuters) – Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP (BX.N) is close to finalizing a deal to purchase real estate loans with a face value of around 100 billion yen ($1.14 billion) owned by Morgan Stanley’s (MS.N) Japanese operations, the Nikkei business daily reported. This would mark Blackstone’s first investment in Japan and could help breathe […]
LONDON (Reuters) – British satellite broadcaster BSkyB (BSY.L) has agreed to sell its business-to-business telecoms unit Easynet for 100 million pounds ($153 million) to LDC, a British private-equity firm backing Easynet’s management. BSkyB said it would retain the British network assets that it acquired as part of its 2005 Easynet acquisition to service its residential […]
Sara Lee's proposed sale of its bread business will generate some interest from strategics and private equity firms, but don't expect a hot bake-off. Downers Grove, Ill.-based Sara Lee, which seems to be always selling something, has hired Bank of America to advise on options for its food and bakery unit for around $1 billion, according to Crain's Chicago Business. Pepperidge Farms, which is owned by Cambpell Soup Co., has showed interest in the unit, Crain's says. Other potential bidders include Grupo Bimbo S.A. de C.V. and Flowers Foods Inc. Canada's George Weston, which owns Loblaw Co. Ltd. and Weston Foods, also could make a bid, one banker said. As for private equity names, there is Hostess Brands (fka Interstate Bakeries), which is 50% owned by Ripplewood Holdings.
LONDON (Reuters) – Private equity firms Blackstone Group LP (BX.N) and PAI Partners are considering selling Britain’s United Biscuits for more than 2 billion pounds ($3.06 billion), a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The duo have spoken to banks but have yet to pick advisers for a possible sale, which would probably […]
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Shares of Sara Lee Corp (SLE.N) rose more than 2 percent on Tuesday after reports that the company was shopping its bread business. A Sara Lee spokesman declined to comment on the reports on Crain’s Chicago Business and the Chicago Tribune websites. Crain’s reported in a story dated Monday that Hostess Brands […]