U.S. antitrust regulators are looking into the consent decree that allows Macquarie Group Ltd's private equity business to buy the Advantage rental car brand from Hertz Global Holdings Inc, writes Reuters. At the time of approving Hertz's $2.56 billion bid for Dollar Thrifty Automotive, the Federal Trade Commission - concerned about the number of major rental car chains shrinking to three from four - demanded that Hertz sell locations, recreating a fourth competitor after Dollar Thrifty was absorbed.
2 min read · 08 April 2013
US buyout firm KKR has hired Deutsche Bank's Diane Raposio as a director to work in its client coverage and capital markets teams in Australia, writes Reuters. The hire comes as private equity firms around Asia are expanding their debt product teams to fill a gap left by retreating European banks.
1 min read · 08 April 2013
A popular U.S. visa program for skilled workers has hit its quota just days into the application period, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service said. The H-1B program has not reached its base cap of 65,000 so quickly since early 2008, before the economic crisis hit.
2 min read · 06 April 2013
Fisker Automotive, the struggling, government-backed hybrid sports car maker, terminated most of its rank-and-file employees on Friday, in a last-ditch effort to conserve cash and stave off a potential bankruptcy filing, sources said.
3 min read · 05 April 2013
Bain Capital LLC, Advent International Corp, CVC Capital Partners Ltd, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice LLC and Ares Management LLC are all in the hunt for Yankee Candle, the portfolio company of Madison Dearborn Partners LLC.
2 min read · 05 April 2013
Zynga Inc has named John Doerr, a general partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, to its board, the online gaming company said Friday.
1 min read · 05 April 2013
Taminco Corp, the chemical maker owned by Apollo Global Management, said it would sell about 15.8 million shares for $18 to $20 each in an initial public offering. At the midpoint of the range, the IPO would raise about $300 million. The company said it intends to use the proceeds of the offering to repay debt. U.S. private equity firm Apollo bought Taminco for about 1.1 billion euros ($1.41 billion) from CVC Capital Partners at the end of 2011.
1 min read · 05 April 2013
Private equity group Cerberus is mulling listing its German retail property holdings as a real estate investment trust , in a move that could help it avoid paying corporate tax, Reuters wrote. Alternatively, the U.S.-based investor could list the buildings, which are valued at roughly 2 billion euros ($2.6 billion), as a normal real estate company, two people familiar with the transaction said on Thursday. International investors are flocking to the German property market as yields on safe assets such as German bonds vanish and as property is considered the next low-risk asset class.
2 min read · 05 April 2013
High-end grocery store chain Fairway Market priced its initial public offering of 13.7 million Class A shares at $10 to $12 per share as it looked to raise as much as $164 million, Reuters reported. The company, which traces its origins to a fruit and vegetable stand in New York City in the 1930s, operates in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. At the high end of the price range, the company will be valued at about $495 million. The company, majority-owned by private equity firm Sterling Investment Partners, said in August that it had confidentially filed for an IPO.
2 min read · 05 April 2013
Blackstone Group will visit Dell Inc's headquarters on Monday to begin an in-depth analysis of the company, sources said, a strong sign the buyout firm is proceeding with an offer that could upset founder Michael Dell's $24.4 billion buyout bid, Reuters reported. Blackstone and billionaire investor Carl Icahn separately made preliminary proposals in late March that, if finalized, could be superior to the offer on the table from Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners LP. The outcome of the auction would determine the future of Dell as well as Chief Executive Michael Dell, who founded the company in a dorm room in 1984 and turned it into the world's No.3 personal computer maker.
4 min read · 05 April 2013
