Ari Nathanson is leaving Buyouts Magazine at week’s end, which causes all sorts of “going-away party” problems, as he doesn’t drink. But at least he’s going out with a strong portfolio, like a new story (sub req.) about how private equity firms own half of all U.S. companies that have defaulted on their debt in […]
Thomson Financial has compiled a wide array of market data for August, but there is a unifying theme: The month was slow. Very, very slow. Here is the Capital Markets Snapshot: Here is the M&A Snapshot, which includes breakout data for financial sponsor-backed transactions. Here are some of the lowlights, for those to lazy to download: […]
Oaktree Capital Management has decided to help loosen some of the “hung bridges” that are currently strangling Wall Street. Sources tell me that the Los Angeles-based firm is raising between $3 billion and $5 billion for a new fund that will buy up LBO-related debt that banks have been unable to place. It is being […]
We now have a second take-private buyout whose price was reduced due to credit market woes. Actually, it seems to have been the first one. More than a month before Home Depot Supply became a business page soap opera, Platinum Equity cut its offer for metal processor Ryerson Inc. (NYSE: RYI) from $37.50 per share to […]
Email of the Day comes from Dale: “Dan, you’ve been reliably bearish over the past two years, insisting that the credit markets would eventually stop providing such cheap debt to private equity firms. Then once it finally happens, you begin talking ‘bull’ about how the market will survive, deals will get done, etc. I’ve concluded […]
I have issued exactly one piece of investment advice since the credit crunch began six weeks ago: Buy stock in publicly-traded companies that have already agreed to go private. One or two might sour, but the overall “index” will generate positive returns. If you did so, I accept thanks in the form of story leads and/or […]
Fundless equity sponsors are the ultimate gamblers in the private equity universe. Sourcing and vetting deals without any committed capital, lining up financial sponsors on a deal-by-deal basis, and paying out of pocket for office space and due diligence, they roll the dice with each transaction. “We have to make it work. Fundless sponsors live […]
Today’s top news is that a tentative agreement has been reached by the feuding Hatfields, McCoys, Dimons, Fulds, Langones and every other party involved in the Home Depot Supply sale. The original $10.3 billion price-tag has been knocked to $8.5 billion, with Home Depot expected to retain a 12.5% position. Three quick reactions: 1. The […]
[Monday update] It looks like negotiations on the Home Depot Supply sale will drag into the weekend, as the three-headed monster continues to bicker with itself. One head is Home Depot, which was the first to blink by entertaining the notion of a $1.2 billion price reduction. It seems that its entertainment is serious enough to be deemed an upper-crust dinner […]
I was on CNBC this morning to discuss how hedge funds are forming side vehicles to invest in public companies that already have agreed to go private. As I’ve been saying for over a month – almost all of these deals will get done, so such a strategy is smart (although would have been smarter […]