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’Sleeping with private equity
There’s been considerable gnashing of teeth over the downfall of the venerable American bed maker, Simmons. Having helped people sleep better for more than 135 years, the company answered to five different private equity masters before tumbling into insolvency under its most recent owner,
AIG’s aircraft unit draws bids
International Lease Finance Corp has drawn closer to separating from AIG, its troubled parent, with three groups submitting bids to acquire the aircraft lessor for less than $5bn. The groups include a consortium led by Thomas H.
Clear Channel shareholders OK buyout
Shareholders in Clear Channel Communications on Thursday approved a $17.9bn takeover by private equity funds Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, ending a 20-month effort to take the radio and billboard operator private,
Banks on defensive over Clear Channel
US banks will be less willing to finance leveraged buy-outs in light of the revised deal struck by Bain Capital and Thomas H Lee to buy Clear Channel Communications, bankers and private equity executives said Wednesday.
Cut-price deal looms for Clear Channel
Clear Channel Communications, the radio station and outdoor advertising company, confirmed on Monday it was in talks with the banks financing its LBO as speculation grew that an agreement on a lower-priced takeover by buy-out groups Thomas H Lee and Bain was in sight.
Clear Channel case gets murkier
Banks sued by Clear Channel and its private equity partners, Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee, over the collapse of a $19bn buy-out are pushing to move the case out of the Texas courts for fear of a hostile reception in the media company’s home state.
Talks stall in Clear Channel buy-out
Clear Channel’s proposed $19bn buy-out was on increasingly shaky ground Tuesday as private equity firms and banks remained at loggerheads over terms of the deal’s financing. Neither side had been in contact for the past few days,
Clear Channel buy-out doubts grow
The $19.5bn leveraged buy-out of Clear Channel Communications, the US radio and outdoor advertising group, could be the next victim of the storm in the deal world. Scepticism that Thomas H. Lee and Bain Capital will go through with their purchase on the original terms has been fed by the falling share prices of comparable companies.
Warner abandons hopes for EMI
Warner Music on Tuesday said it would not mount a bid for rival EMI, again dashing hopes for a merger between the two groups and clearing a path for an EMI purchase by UK private equity firm Terra Firma.
Activist investors strike again at Ceridian
William Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management, the largest shareholder of Ceridian Corp, is gearing up for another corporate battle, according to the Wall Street Journal. Mr Ackman is expected to say he opposes the $5.3bn sale of the US human-resources and transaction-outsourcing company and that he has hired bankers to find a higher bidder for the company,
Ceridian in $5.3bn buy-out
Ceridian, the US payments and processing company that has been fighting activist investors, on Wednesday struck a deal to sell itself for $5.3bn to a consortium including Thomas H Lee Partners, the US private equity group,
Buy-out groups circle Cadbury drinks arm
Blackstone, KKR and Lion Capital are understood to have formed a consortium and instructed advisers to prepare a fully financed offer ahead of a proposed separation of Cadbury’s drinks and confectionery divisions this year,
Clear Channel to sell 56 TV stations
Providence Equity Partners, the US buy-out group, agreed on Friday to buy 56 television stations from Clear Channel Communications for $1.2bn, taking advantage of the radio station group’s efforts to streamline its business ahead of a sale.
Private equity blinks first in Clear Channel bid
Clear Channel Communications, the largest US radio station chain, on Wednesday accepted a higher bid from a consortium of buy-out firms in a move that some say could salvage the largest private equity takeover in the media industry from collapse.
Clear Channel saga highlights tension between hedge funds, buy-out firms
Activist hedge fund managers, who like to shake up public companies, and private equity firms, which often relieve the pressure by taking those same businesses private, are increasingly clashing over the issue of valuation of deals.
Clear Channel $26bn bid in doubt
Bain Capital and Thomas H Lee Partners could see their $26bn acquisition of Clear Channel Communications unravel this week, barring last-minute moves to salvage the deal. The two private equity groups agreed to acquire the largest chain of US radio stations last November for $37.60 per share.
Canada’s Cott Corp mulls Cadbury bid
Cott Corp, a Canadian maker of private-label drinks for such retailers as Wal-Mart, is talking with private equity firms about joining its operations with Cadbury Schweppes’ beverage arm, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Private equity hovers over Home Depot unit
Three teams of private equity firms have formed to consider bids for Home Depot’s wholesale supply business, which could fetch about $11bn in a sale seen as crucial to the company’s refocusing on its core retail business.
Private equity bosses rest uneasy
PE players might seem happy to blithely go where others fear to tread, reports DealBook, but there are some eventualities that strike fear into the hearts of even the most hardened buyout veteran.
During a panel discussion at the Super Return conference in Frankfurt,
Buyout groups are forecast to raise $500bn
The global private equity industry is forecast to raise $500bn in 2007, about $70bn more than last year’s record, according to Private Equity Intelligence (Prequin). The group’s forecast underlines private equity’s continuing surge,