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Oil rush for private equity
The shale gas and fracking boom in America’s oil industry is attracting ever more private equity money, with funds signing three times the value of energy deals in 2011 compared to 2010, the WSJ reports.
SEC scrutinising private equity
The SEC has begun a broad examination of the private equity industry, says NYT DealBook, citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The regulator’s enforcement unit sent a letter late last year to several private equity funds as part of what it called an “informal inquiry” into the industry,
Buy-out group eyes Ducati disposal
Ducati is set to change hands this year after its private equity owner said it aimed to make three times its initial investment by selling or listing the producer of top-end Italian motorcycles. Investindustrial,
Junk bond market revives LBOs
The big leveraged buy-out groups of the credit boom have gained renewed access to funds as the junk bond market has rallied and buyers have flocked to the highest-yielding assets, says the FT. Energy Future Holdings,
Caesars IPO prices casino chain at $1.13bn
Caesars Entertainment, the casino chain carrying more than $22bn in debt, completed an initial public offering that gives the company a market value of $1.13bn, Bloomberg reports. Las Vegas-based Caesars,
Carlyle to focus on Turkey and Saudi Arabia
Carlyle Group has installed a leadership pairing at its Middle East and north African arm as the private equity group reframes its investment strategy, focusing on the region’s main growth markets in Turkey and the Gulf,
US public pension funds move into private equity
Large US public pension plans are pouring more money into private equity funds, the WSJ reports. Big public employee pensions had about $220bn invested in private equity in September, or 11 per cent of their assets,
Blackstone raises $6bn for new property fund
Blackstone Group has secured more than $6bn in pledged capital for a new property fund, largely comprised of distressed assets, the FT reports, citing a person familiar with the matter. The New York-based private equity group has been one of the world’s most aggressive buyers of commercial property,
AMR hopefuls seek British Airways support
Some potential suitors for American Airlines are looking for support, or perhaps an investment, from British Airways, the WSJ says, citing people familiar with the matter. Private-equity firm TPG Capital,
Private equity fees called into question
Private equity has proved better at enriching its own managers than producing investment profits for US pension funds over the past decade, according to a study prepared for the FT by academics at Yale and Maastricht University. From 2001 to 2010,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Thursday,
- Einhorn vs the eurozone foghorns.
- Try as he might, Felix Salmon will never be Davos Deville. OK?
- Horrible pawnbroking story du jour.
- Why the Asian growth miracle might go way way back.
Romney tax fight puts pressure on private equity
Mitt Romney has said that his income tax rate is ”probably closer to 15 percent than anything,” a rate below that of most Americans and suggesting that much of the Republican presidential nomination candidate’s income comes from capital gains,
Yang quits Yahoo
Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo, has resigned from its board of directors, opening the way to a deal to sell the company’s lucrative stake in China’s Alibaba or to find private equity investment, Reuters reports.
Cinven to buy CPA Global for £950m
UK buy-out group Cinven has agreed to purchase CPA Global, one of the world’s largest patent management groups for £950m, the FT reports, citing people close to the deal. ICG, which provides companies with debt and equity funding, asked advisers HSBC and DC Advisory Partners to start the sales process for CPA Global in December,
France Télécom in talks to sell Orange Austria stake
France Télécom is in advanced talks to sell its 35 per cent stake in Orange Austria to Hutchison Whampoa, the WSJ reports, citing people familiar with the matter who said the deal could be finalised in the coming weeks,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Monday,
- Bank of America has a “Chief Image Officer.”
- Why the Fed’s real error was in 2008, not 2006.
- S&P’s downgrades — the “convergence play” dies, again.
- Was S&P downgrading the euro itself?
- Bankers vs private equity:
Vultures circle GHG as restructuring looms
Distressed debt investors are circling General Healthcare Group, the FT says, in expectation that the UK’s largest private hospital operator by revenue will be forced to restructure its heavily indebted financial set-up.
Rivals said to be looking at American Airlines bid
Potential buyers are circling American Airlines, weighing bids for its parent company that could place the carrier in the hands of a rival or a private-equity firm, says the WSJ, citing people familiar with the matter. Delta Air Lines, US Airways and TPG Capital separately are reportedly studying bids for AMR,
Blackstone set to raise $16bn for fund
Blackstone Group is set to finish raising just over $16bn for its latest buyout fund by mid-January, a process began four years ago that was delayed by the onset of the financial crisis. The amount involved makes it the sixth biggest private equity fund ever raised,
Demand for US leveraged loans set to take off
Private equity groups and financiers are expecting a strong start for the US leveraged loan market in 2012 as a light pipeline for new issues creates an opportunity to refinance portfolio companies and pay dividends to sponsors,
SVG to announce new strategy
SVG Capital is set to announce a fresh strategy on Tuesday that will see the listed private equity fund redistribute £170m ($264m) to shareholders and diversify its holdings beyond Permira, the FT reports. The listed fund is expected to tell investors that it plans to buy back roughly the same amount of money as it raised in a rights issue in early 2009,
RBS offloads £1.4bn in property loans to Blackstone
RBS and Blackstone are set to complete a deal in which the bank will hand over control of £1.4bn of distressed property loans to the US private equity group, reports the FT, citing people involved. The move to offload the loans into a Blackstone-managed fund was likely to be completed Monday night.
Thomas H Lee closing in on GSK assets
Thomas H. Lee is in the lead to buy assets from GlaxoSmithKline and may announce a deal as soon as this week, says Bloomberg, citing two people with knowledge of the matter. THL is close to entering exclusive talks with Glaxo,
Curse of the zombie private equity
Over half of North American investors in private equity are trapped in funds where unsuccessful managers cling on to under-performing investments in order to continue collecting fees, the FT reports. If a fund is loss-making and managers have no realistic chance of achieving a “hurdle rate”
CVC faces $2bn loss from failed deal refinancing
CVC has failed to seal a deal to “amend and extend” $2.7bn of senior debt of an Australian TV company it bought in 2006, Reuters reports. The failure to refinance Nine Entertainment may leave CVC with a $2bn loss on its buyout,
Private equity struggles amid eurozone crisis
The volume of European private equity deals has dropped to its lowest level since the height of the financial crisis two years ago as buy-out groups struggle to finance deals amid the eurozone debt crisis,
Boomtime buyouts face further distress
Large leveraged buy-outs struck at the height of the credit boom face more distress after underperforming the wider market in terms of ratings, default rates and revenue growth, according to a report from Moody’s.
Blackstone, Bain and Alibaba planning full Yahoo bid
Blackstone and Bain Capital are preparing a bid for all of Yahoo, together with Asian partner Alibaba, that could value the company at more than $20 per share, Reuters says, citing a source familiar with the matter.
Silver Lake bids $16.60 a share for Yahoo stake
A group of investors led by private- equity firm Silver Lake has offered to buy a minority stake in Yahoo for about $16.60 a share, reports Bloomberg, citing people with knowledge of the matter. That would value Yahoo at about $20.6bn,