TV station operator Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. said it will buy Fisher Communications Inc. for about $373 million to expand its operations in western United States, Reuters reported. The offer values Fisher at $41 per share, a premium of 5 percent to the stock's Wednesday closing price. It is 44 percent above the stock's closing on Jan. 9, a day before Fisher, under pressure from billionaire investor Mario Gabelli, said it was exploring strategic alternatives, including a sale.
2 min read · 11 April 2013
Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk is pushing to change Texas law to allow his electric car company to sell directly to consumers, and he took his fight to the state Capitol on Wednesday. Texas law prevents Tesla from selling its cars directly to the public - as it does in other states - because it does not have a relationship with a franchised dealer. In Texas, new vehicles are generally required to be sold through dealers.
3 min read · 11 April 2013
Protective Life Corp. agreed to buy a portfolio of old policies from French insurer AXA SA's U.S. business for $1.1 billion, with the aim of squeezing more value out of them. Birmingham, Alabama-based Protective Life said the deal with Axa's Mony Life Insurance Company should produce a steady income stream and increase earnings per share. Most of the policies are life insurance written before 2004.
2 min read · 11 April 2013
A private equity consortium bid $65 per share, or $11.1 billion, for Life Technologies Corp., but fell short of a rival offer from Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Reuters reported Wednesday. Thermo Fisher's bid for the genetic testing equipment maker came in at the high-end of the $65-$70 per share range that it had been considering, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The exact amount Thermo bid could not be obtained. Blackstone Group LP, Carlyle Group LP and KKR & Co LP, which are part of the buyout consortium, declined to comment. Singapore's state investor, Temasek Holdings, which is also part of the consortium, could not be reached for comment.
1 min read · 11 April 2013
Carlyle Group is looking at a number of banks in east and west Africa for a potential investment, its Africa co-head said on Wednesday, as the U.S. private equity firm focuses on the continent's growing consumer market, Reuters reports.
2 min read · 11 April 2013
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc made a binding offer for Life Technologies Corp on Tuesday as private equity firms raced to finalize a consortium to take the genetic testing equipment maker private, several people familiar with the matter said.
3 min read · 10 April 2013
Demand for H1-B visas is so strong that the annual cap of 65,000 was hit last week. VCs and tech executives want to see the quota boosted to 300,000, but some U.S. tech workers and academics say the tech talent shortage is exaggerated -- and the H1-B program serves mainly as a source of cheap labor.
5 min read · 10 April 2013
Carlyle Group has acquired a Shanghai office building, Central Plaza, for $267 million from Singapore-listed real estate fund Forterra Trust, Forterra said on Wednesday. Private equity buyers are increasing their focus on commercial real estate in China, with Blackstone Group L.P. buying the 50,000-square-metre Huamin Imperial office tower and 5-star hotel complex valued at around $1.1 billion. Carlyle, a U.S.-based private equity firm with $170 billion in assets under management, acquired the building at a discount of around 8 percent to its value at the end of 2012.
1 min read · 10 April 2013
Private equity firm Advent International has opened its first office in China to take advantage of investment opportunities in the country, Reuters wrote. Advent, founded in 1984, previously operated in China through an affiliate. It does not currently have direct investments in China, but some of the companies it backs, such as Spanish explosives maker MAXAM, have operations there. The decision to open a Shanghai office follows a review of the Boston-based firm's operations, which led to the closure of offices in Milan and Istanbul last month, an Advent spokeswoman said. Advent already has an office in India.
2 min read · 10 April 2013
Abu Dhabi-based private equity firm Gulf Capital said on Wednesday that its portfolio company, Techno Group Investment Holdings, bought a 75-percent stake in a Turkish provider of outsourced diagnostic imaging services, Reuters reported. Techno Group bought the stake in Turkish firm Dogu Tip, Gulf Capital said, without revealing the financial details of the acquisition.
1 min read · 10 April 2013
