Luxury fashion retailer Neiman Marcus Group Ltd LLC said it was exploring strategic alternatives, including changes to its capital structure or a sale of the company, as it seeks relief from its swelling debt pile of US$6.4 billion, Reuters reported. Hudson's Bay Co, owner of the Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue retail chains, is in exploratory talks about acquiring the company, sources said. U.S. private equity firm Ares Management LP and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board had acquired Dallas-based Neiman Marcus for US$6 billion in 2013.
3 min read · 14 March 2017
TechStyle Fashion Group, owner of the Fabletics sportswear line that features celebrity actress Kate Hudson, is exploring a sale that could value it at more than $1.5 billion, including debt, sources told Reuters.
2 min read · 14 March 2017
Acquisition company Harmony Merger Corp (HRMNU.O) and privately held liquefied natural gas developer NextDecade LLC said on Monday that they would merge in an all-stock deal valued at about $1 billion.
1 min read · 14 March 2017
A consortium of Canadian and Kuwaiti investors has agreed to buy a minority stake in Britain's Thames Water from funds managed by Macquarie, ending the Australian group's 11-year investment in Britain's largest water firm, Reuters reported.
2 min read · 14 March 2017
Sealed Air Corp (SEE.N) is in exclusive talks to sell its cleaning and chemicals systems division, Diversey Care, to private equity firm Bain Capital LLC for between $3 billion and $4 billion, sources told Reuters.
2 min read · 14 March 2017
Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings Inc and a subsidiary of German media company Bertelsmann SE & Co KGaA have backed Berlin-based solarisBank AG, a fully licensed startup bank that enables businesses to offer digital financial services to their customers, solarisBank executives said on Monday.
2 min read · 14 March 2017
A consortium of Canadian and Kuwaiti investors has agreed to buy a minority stake in Thames Water from funds managed by Macquarie, ending the Australian group's 11-year investment in Britain's largest water company, Reuters reported. Borealis Infrastructure, infrastructure investment manager for OMERS, and the infrastructure investing arm of the Kuwait Investment Authority are buying a 26 percent stake in Kemble Water Holdings, the holding company of Thames Water. No financial details were disclosed. Thames Water serves 15 million customers across London, the Thames Valley and surrounding areas. It supplies 2.6 billion liters of drinking water per day.
2 min read · 14 March 2017
Billionaire investor William Ackman walked away from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc on Monday with a loss of more than US$3 billion as he sold his entire stake in the struggling drug company after trying to rescue it for some 18 months, Reuters reported. The abrupt and unexpected move by the powerful activist investor sent Valeant shares tumbling almost 10 percent in after-hours trading. They have lost 95 percent of their value since mid-2015. Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management became one of Valeant's biggest investors in 2015 when it sunk some US$3.2 billion into the company. At its peak the Valeant stake was worth roughly US$4 billion.
3 min read · 14 March 2017
Elliott Management's private equity division was among the firms that provided financing to Vista Equity Partners for its $4.8 billion purchase of Canada's DH Corp, sources told Reuters. Evergreen Coast Capital Corp, the private equity group within Elliott that the U.S. hedge fund has expanded in the last year, offered around US$400 million in preferred equity for the deal, the sources said, in the group's first successful deal financing since launching last year.
2 min read · 14 March 2017
Investment firms Spectrum Equity and Cressey & Co have agreed to acquire a majority stake in Verisys Corporation, a U.S. provider of data and software that help healthcare providers with regulatory compliance, Reuters reported.
1 min read · 14 March 2017
