Word just came that KKR has agreed to acquire credit card processing company First Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC) for approximately $29 billion. It would be the fifth-largest leveraged buyout in history, supplanting Harrah’s. See press release here: FirstData.pdf Under terms of the agreement, First Data shareholders would receive $34 per share, which is around a […]
Calera Capital and TPG today completed their $630 million buyout of Direct General Corp., a Nashville, Tenn.-based provider of insurance products via a network of retail storefronts. As part of the deal, former Cendant executive Dan Tarantin will take over as Direct General’s new CEO. So we’ve got 5 Questions for Dan, including how he […]
Organized labor is making itself heard in private equity quarters today. First, the United Auto Workers have rejected a new wage offer from Delphi Corp., General Motors and the private equity firms seeking to take Delphi out of bankruptcy. A UAW executive called the latest proposal “insulting,” and vows to strike if Delphi makes good on […]
Private equity has been the hot business story on Q1, with everything from Forbes cover stories to Newsweek columns to an upcoming feature on female PE pros in the inaugural issue of Conde Nast Portfolio. I’ve even covered it from time to time (i.e., Mondays through Fridays). But here’s a dirty little secret: Private equity […]
TA Associates today announced that it has acquired a minority stake in K2 Advisors, a $5.5 billion hedge fund-of-funds manager. So we’ve got 5 Questions for Roger Kafker, a TA managing director who will sit on the K2 board: 1. Could this deal be a precursor to TA Associates launching its own hedge fund products? Kafker: […]
Update: Shareholder lawsuits are commonplace in public-to-private buyouts, as someone is always convinced that they’re getting short shrift. But I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a buyout firm sue its acquisition target for choosing the other guy. But that’s what happened yesterday in Texas, when Apollo Management sued EGL Inc. (Nasdaq: EAGL) and its chairman […]
The Blackstone Group has filed for a $4 billion IPO. It did not disclose the number of shares or a propsective price range. Download the filing here: Blackstone.pdf I’m still skimming through the document, but one thing jumped out first: The complete absence of Goldman Sachs. The original CNBC report last week said that Blackstone […]
PwC today released a study (download here) that found a majority of private equity pros expect the percentage of portfolio company dividend recaps to grow in the coming year, with most of that activity occurring in the middle-markets. Here’s one highlight (or lowlight, depending on your perspective): “94% of respondents consider dividend recaps an important part […]
A kind of disturbing story today related to the pending $19 billion buyout of Clear Channel by Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners. As we’ve previously discussed, the deal is being opposed by a number of major CC shareholders, who claim that the $37.60 per share pricetag is too low. One such shareholder is […]
Last November, Bessemer Venture Partners and Insight Venture Partners agreed to acquire enterprise software company Netsmart Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: NTST) for $115 million. It looked like a typical public-to-private buyout – save for the semi-oddity of venture capital firms doing the buying. No big deal. But certain Netsmart shareholders believed that the $16.50 per share […]