During the White House Correspondents Dinner earlier this year, emcee Steven Colbert said of President Bush: “He believes on Wednesday exactly what he believed on Monday, regardless of what happened on Tuesday.” Kind of reminds me of what I keep seeing on the private equity beat. The first example came last month, when Sevin Rosen […]
While the Department of Justice continues its primer course on private equity, some individual shareholders are taking action against perceived abuses. Three people have filed what they hope to be a class-action lawsuit against 13 private equity firms, for allegedly violating federal antitrust laws. The plaintiffs are/were shareholders in such companies as HCA, Harrah’s and […]
I am very interested in knowing your opinion on clothing store LBOs, like the Eddie Bauer one announced yesterday or the Burlington Coat deal by Bain. What is the extraordinary value to be extracted out of these companies which are no clear leader of their segments and concepts. Is it purely a financial play? Or competition for […]
I’m tentatively scheduled to be on CNBC’s Closing Bell at 3:30 this afternoon, to discuss a variety of possible public-to-private buyouts. Expect discussion of such companies as Clear Channel, Tribune and (it’s back) Ford Motor Co. Expect me to say yes, why and no. 4:10pm Update: Ummm…. Not quite the topics you were expecting? Me […]
We have found that a number of our limited partners have created very professional groups to co-invest with us in deals. These groups are so responsive that we can approach them quickly, and have them take significant co-invest pieces of our deals — whereas in the previous years we might have brought in another private […]
Some quick hits before embarking on the return trip from Portland, Ore. to Boston… *** Today’s big LBO deal news is the possibility that Clear Channel could go private for around $18.5 billion. There are lots of angles of this deal worth discussing – high leverage multiples, family management control but not financial control, a […]
I wanted to share with other fellow readers a recent transaction closed by our investor group ($250M+ EV) in the cable & broadband industry in Central America. There has been some intense activity in this sector with other funds managed by Carlyle, Warburg Pincus, Cinven, Fintech that is worth a look. REsults by public cable […]
HCA has set a shareholder meeting date for its proposed going-private buyout: November 16 at the company’s Nashville, Tenn. executive offices. The delay had led to some speculation of leverage troubles, but now it seems that history’s second-largest LBO is close to the finish line.
I spent most of yesterday working on “big new project,” and this morning must do a bit of actual reporting (it seems I get paid to do so). So, in the meantime… Details remain sketchy on the apparent U.S. Department of Justice probe into possible collusion between private equity firms, with most journalists either rehashing […]
The buyouts market is expected to record its third-straight year of record-breaking deal volume, according to Q3 numbers released this week by Buyouts Magazine. The first three quarters of 2006 saw U.S. firms participate in a total of 770 control-stake deals valued at $181 billion in disclosed value (including leverage), compared to $198 billion for […]