Mergermarket is reporting that TPG and GS Capital Partners have expressed interest in acquiring Sprint Nextel’s iDEN network. It’s estimated worth is between $5 billion and $6 billion, the M&A news service said. According to Thomson Reuters data, it’d be the second largest US private equity deal announced this year. (The largest is Lone Star Funds’ $6.7 billion deal for Merrill Lynch’s CDO mortgage assets.) Coming from TPG’s position of winning the Worst Deal in PE History last week, I’m hopeful the firm has changed its mind. Particularly after the story quotes an analyst calling iDEN’s technology “antiquated” and also fully integrated with Sprint’s billing and back office operations. Some background: iDEN is a wireless network Sprint got when it acquired Nextel in 2005. TPG and GS do make sense as bidders considering they own Alltel. Lastly, one of the firms (or are they working together? It’s not clear…) is partnering with former Nextel CEO Tim Donahue, the report states. That all seems to bode well, but I’m doubtful TPG LPs would want to get behind another big gamble.
LONDON (Reuters) – Struggling British kitchens and bathroom retailer MFI said on Sunday it had agreed a management buyout for the business, saving it from collapse. Privately run MFI, which is owned by Merchant Equity Partners (MEP), has been hit hard by an economic downturn that has knocked demand for home improvement products particularly hard. […]
Hanover-based Nord Holding Unternehmensbeteiligungsgesellschaft has acquired a 70% stake a majority stake in Bremen-based Igel Technology, an IT services business. The deal was structured as a management buyout and sees previous majority shareholder, the Melchers Group, and the managing partner of the company retain a 30% shareholding. The value of the deal was not disclosed. […]
HELSINKI (Reuters) – Nokia is in advanced talks to sell its security appliances business to a financial investor, while it would halt its corporate software development, it said on Monday. The measures will affect around 700 staff in total, with almost 500 working for the “profitable” security appliances unit. Niklas Savander, head of Nokia’s services […]
Bayside Capital, an affiliate of H.I.G. Capital, has acquired Akrion Inc., an Allentown, Penn.–based provider of surface preparation systems to the semiconductor and solar industries. No financial terms were disclosed.
Monomoy Capital Partners has acquired L&P Plastics LLC from Leggett & Platt Inc. (NYSE: LEG), for an undisclosed amount. L&P Plastics makes custom plastic components for the power tool, medical device, furniture and automotive industries. It has more than 400 employees and four facilities. Lazard Middle Market advised Leggett & Platt on the sale.
NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – Private equity firms surveying the wreckage of America’s financial system have a crucial question — when will credit return? The worsening financial crisis has hampered large buyouts for well over a year. For the year-to-date, global buyout activity plummeted 74 percent from a year ago to a four-year low of $180 […]
LONDON (Reuters) – American International Group (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the stricken U.S. insurance group, has agreed to sell part of its minority interest in London’s City Airport to its joint-venture partner, Britain’s Sunday Telegraph reported. AIG will sell a 25 percent stake in the airport, the fastest-growing in Britain, for about 250 […]
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Texas-based private equity firm TPG’S $1.35 billion investment in Washington Mutual Inc (WM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) was spread across three of its private equity funds, according to a letter it sent to its investors. Thursday’s drastic move by the government to close and sell the banking assets of savings […]
3i Group has agreed to invest between $183 million and $229 million for a minority stake in Krishnapatnam Port Co., a port developer in South India, LBO Wire reported.