A media-focused buyout pro, on the quality of deal flow:
We’re passing on junk – total junk. Bubble era flights of digital fancy now deflated and offered for scrap that they’re not worth.
The strategy of loan-to-own is becoming increasingly popular as more buyout pros look to the bankruptcy courts for a source of deal flow at a discount. But few are prepared to deal with the intricacies of intercreditor situations that will unavoidably arise in the process. Take the sticky situation at artificial sweetener maker Merisant Worldwide. […]
FRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) – The private equity firms Candover (CDI.L) and Cinven [CINV.UL], the owners of German academic publisher Springer Science and Business Media, are considering a full sale of the company, Chief Executive Derk Hannk said on Wednesday. “For a while we were considered underleveraged, now we are considered overleveraged … a straight sale is […]
Glencoe Capital has acquired Novo 1, Waukesha, Wisc.-based provider of inbound and outbound customer interaction solutions. No financial terms were disclosed. Glencoe did the deal out of its Michigan Opportunities Fund, and said that it would create more than 300 new jobs in the State of Michigan.
Milestone Partners has agreed to purchase Mariner Finance LLC, the consumer finance arm of First Mariner Bancorp (Nasdaq: FMAR). The deal is valued at approximately $10.5 million, and is expected to close by December 15.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Major bondholders of Energy Future Holdings have hired a law firm to help build support to rebuff a massive debt exchange by the company, sources close to the matter said on Tuesday. Richard Hahn, an attorney with Debevoise and Plimpton LLP in New York, confirmed that his firm has been retained […]
HONG KONG (Reuters) – An investor consortium led by U.S. buyout giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co announced on Wednesday that it poured a combined $160 million into a Chinese financial leasing firm to help it expand business. Besides KKR, other investors in the consortium include the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), the city-state’s […]
Aquiline Capital Partners completed its acquisition of Conning & Co., a Hartford, Conn.-based provider of services and solutions to the insurance market, from Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd. No financial terms were disclosed. Conning has approximately $70 billion of general account assets under management and $100 billion of total assets under contract.
Berkshire Partners has made a private equity investment in Grocery Outlet Inc., a Berkeley, Calif.-based discount grocer with over 135 stores in the Western U.S. No financial terms were disclosed.
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The German government completed the nationalisation of stricken lender Hypo Real Estate (HRXG.DE) on Tuesday, setting the stage for a prolonged legal battle with minority shareholders, including J.C. Flowers. A Munich court approved the squeeze-out of minority shareholders, Hypo Real Estate said on Tuesday, which allowed for the German government’s rescue fund […]