Private equity group CVC Capital Partners has made an offer for the insurance arm of Royal Bank of Scotland for about 4 billion pounds ($6.5 billion), Reuters reported, citing the Mail on Sunday. RBS Insurance, Britain's number one motor insurer trading under the Direct Line and Churchill Brands, is up for sale to appease European regulators after a taxpayer-funded bailout of RBS during the 2008 crisis left it 83 percent state-owned, Reuters wrote.
2 min read · 31 October 2011
Sterling Partners is paying $46 per share, or $590 million, to buy MOSAID Technologies Inc., the company announced Friday. The offer represents a 45.3% premium to the company’s closing price in August. MOSAID licenses patented intellectual property in the areas of semiconductors and communications, and develops semiconductor memory technology.
4 min read · 28 October 2011
GE Energy Financial Services and German fund KGAL are investing a combined 111.1 million euro ($157 million) into a solar power plant using molten salt energy storage in Badajoz, Spain. The investment is GE Energy Financial Services’ first in a concentrated solar power plant using molten salt storage.
4 min read · 28 October 2011
KPS Capital Partners is paying $180 million to buy American & Efird Inc. from Ruddick Corp. The firm is acquiring American & Efird. Mt. Holly, North Carolina-based American & Efird is a manufacturer and distributor of industrial sewing thread, embroidery thread and technical textiles.
3 min read · 28 October 2011
Opus Bank has raised $100 million in new equity financing led by Opus Bank’s founding Chairman & CEO; funds affiliated with Elliott Management Corp., funds affiliated with Fortress Investment Group; and a fund affiliated with Starwood Capital Group. The money will be used for growth efforts, including acquisitions.
3 min read · 28 October 2011
Platinum Equity has acquired Bluffton, Ind.-based NESCO, a provider of fleet equipment rental, sales and services for the North American electrical transmission and distribution market. The firm bought NESCO from an investor group led by Hammond, Kennedy, Whitney & Co. Terms were not released.
3 min read · 28 October 2011
Aircraft leasing group Avolon has sealed a $300 million equity commitment from the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. Avolon has raised a total of $1.4 billion in equity capital over the past year and a half, from investors including private equity firms Cinven, CVC Capital Partners and Oak Hill Capital Partners.
4 min read · 28 October 2011
The Blackstone Group and Wells Fargo & Co. have teamed up to buy a pool of about $600 million in loans on U.S. commercial property from Allied Irish Banks, Reuters reported Friday. The deal, the most recent in a spate of such sales by Irish banks, allows the two to buy the portfolio of loans backed by hotels, office buildings and retail properties for about 15% to 20% off the face value.
2 min read · 28 October 2011
A consortium led by online shopping mall operator InterPark Corp. has signed a deal to take over Samsung Group procurement arm iMarketKorea Inc. in a deal worth more than 422 billion won ($378.4 million), Reuters reported Friday. On Monday, the InterPark-led consortium beat private equity firms KKR & Co. and MBK Partners when it was picked as preferred bidder for iMarketKorea, set up by Samsung in 2000 to provide goods and maintenance services for business clients, Reuters wrote.
2 min read · 28 October 2011
Google is changing up its daily deals business just as Groupon pitches its IPO to potential investors, Reuters reported Thursday. Google Offers – the fledgling daily deals business – will now distribute daily deals from at least 15 other daily deal sites, including Gilt City, kgbdeals, TIPPR, Plum District and Juice in the City, Reuters wrote. The moves gives Google the ability to expand the number of deals it offers without markedly expanding its sales force. Google tried to buy Groupon, the largest daily deal site, for about $6 billion in 2010, but was rebuffed. Groupon is now pitching an IPO to potential investors at a valuation of roughly $11 billion.
2 min read · 28 October 2011
