Buyout firms should really avoid messing with nostalgia-shrouded companies. When they do, they run the risk of falling into an unsavory PR battle. At least that’s how things have played out with Brynwood Partners’ investment in Stella D'oro Biscuit Company. The 79-year-old Bronx company’s workers have been on strike ever since Brynwood cut its bakers wages and vacation days ten months ago. Their chant? “No Contract, No Cookies.” According to a story in yesterday’s NY Post, Brynwood is “slowly squeezing the life out of the city jewel by having inexperienced replacement workers produce poor quality cookies as they pursue their profits.”
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – AT&T Inc (T.N) said Friday it will buy the bulk of Alltel Wireless assets being divested by Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) for $2.35 billion, and will sell some Centennial Communications Corp assets to Verizon Wireless for $240 million. Under terms of the deal, AT&T will buy licenses, network assets and 1.5 million […]
Guaranty Bancorp (Nasdaq: GBNK) has agreed to sell $50 million in convertible noncumulative preferred stock to three firms: Castle Creek Capital Partners, Patriot Financial Partners and Relational Investors.
SINGAPORE(Reuters) – Halcyon Investment Corp, a Singapore-based firm, plans to bid for British private equity firm 3i’s stake in oil services firm Franklin Offshore International, sources said on Monday. The bid will be made through its wholly-owned unit Halcyon Energy Corporation, a source briefed on the deal told Reuters. Halcyon Energy owns and operates a […]
DETROIT (Reuters) – A group of Chrysler LLC’s dissident lenders disbanded, representatives said on Friday, removing the last legal hurdle to the automaker’s quest to complete a merger with Italy’s Fiat SpA (FIA.MI) with U.S. government backing. “After a great deal of soul-searching and quite frankly agony, Chrysler’s Non-TARP lenders concluded they just don’t have […]
TOKYO (Reuters) – Shinsei Bank (8303.T) and Aozora Bank (8304.T) have agreed to merge around the middle of next year, the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday, a move that would form Japan’s sixth-largest bank. The banks may make an announcement this month, the paper said. Shares in Shinsei rose 8 percent after the report […]
(Reuters) – Ethanol producer White Energy Inc filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Delaware bankruptcy court on Thursday, citing adverse market conditions, court documents showed. In court filings, the company said that while cost of raw materials to produce ethanol were high, excess supply of ethanol in the market has kept ethanol prices low, […]
LONDON (Reuters) – Debenhams Plc (DEB.L), Britain’s second-biggest department store group, is working on plans to raise up to 500 million pounds ($733 million) in a rights issue in the next few weeks to cut its 927 million pounds debt pile, the Financial Times said. The newspaper said on Saturday that Debenhams was looking to […]
DUBAI (Reuters) – Dubai World is in talks to sell a stake in port operator DP World after it was approached by a regional private equity firm to sell a minority stake, driving its shares higher. “DP World has been informed by its ultimate majority shareholder Dubai World that (it) has received an approach from, […]
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Debt-laden Australian ports operator Asciano Group Ltd (AIO.AX) said on Monday four parties were in talks to bid for the whole group, but warned that any offer might not be pitched above its share price. “It should not be assumed that any of these discussions will result in a transaction or that […]