Troubled Australian surfwear firm Billabong International Ltd said on Tuesday it is still in talks with two takeover suitors and requested a trading halt in its shares ahead of a possible announcement this week.
2 min read · 02 April 2013
Paul Allen, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft Corp, is opening an office in Silicon Valley to make new investments in emerging technology and internet companies.
2 min read · 02 April 2013
Homebuilder Taylor Morrison Home Corp. priced its initial public offering of 23.8 million Class A shares between $20-$22 per share as it looks to cash in on investor interest in the recovering U.S. housing market. At the mid-point of the expected range, the company is looking to raise about $500 million. Scottsdale, Arizona-based Taylor Morrison is backed by Oaktree Capital Management, TPG Global and JH Investments Inc. Credit Suisse and Citigroup are lead underwriters to the offering.
1 min read · 01 April 2013
Toys R Us Inc. withdrew its proposed initial public offering on Friday, ending months of uncertainty as the world's largest dedicated toy retailer also issued a quarterly report card showing disappointing results for the crucial holiday season. Toys R Us determined not to pursue the IPO due to unfavorable market conditions and executive leadership transition, Toys R Us spokeswoman Kathleen Waugh told Reuters. KKR & Co LP, Bain Capital and Vornado Realty Trust took Toys R Us private in 2005, in a $6.6 billion deal.
2 min read · 01 April 2013
Dell Inc. warned on Friday that it would be dangerous to take on a lot of debt and remain a public company given its worsening profit outlook, in a sign that it views proposals from Blackstone Group LP and billionaire investor Carl Icahn as fraught with risk, Reuters wrote. The No. 3 maker of personal computers published a 274-page preliminary proxy statement to inform Dell shareholders of how a $24.4 billion buyout proposal from founder and Chief Executive Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners was put together, and why it is the best of all the alternatives the company's board had explored. Icahn has proposed paying $15 per share for 58 percent of Dell, while Blackstone has indicated it can pay more than $14.25 per share -- both deals involve saddling the company with a lot of debt and keeping it on public markets. Silver Lake's $13.65 per share all-cash offer would see Dell go private.
5 min read · 01 April 2013
U.S. prosecutors on Friday charged Michael Steinberg, a veteran portfolio manager at Steven A. Cohen's hedge fund, with insider trading in two technology stocks, the most senior SAC Capital Advisors' employee to be indicted in the government's long-running probe. FBI agents arrested Steinberg at his Park Avenue home in New York City at around 6 a.m. EDT, Reuters reported. Steinberg, wearing a blue sweater, pleaded "not guilty" to charges of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities when he appeared at a late morning arraignment. The five-count indictment charges Steinberg, 40, with using inside information to trade shares of computer maker Dell Inc and chipmaker Nvidia Corp in 2008 and 2009 that generated about $1.4 million in illegal profits for Cohen's $15 billion hedge fund.
5 min read · 01 April 2013
Private equity firm KKR has entered into exclusive talks to buy a majority of French fashion brands Maje, Sandro and Claudie Pierlot, Reuters reported. The acquisition of the brands, partially owned by LVMH Chief Executive Bernard Arnault, would give them an enterprise value of 650 million euros.
2 min read · 01 April 2013
Hybrid automaker Fisker Automotive has hired law firm Kirkland & Ellis to advise it on a possible bankruptcy filing, a source said on Thursday, while executives continue their search for a strategic investor. The company, founded in 2007, has raised more than $1 billion in venture capital, including $103.67 million last September 2012 from Advanced Equities Inc., Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and New Enterprise Associates.
3 min read · 29 March 2013
Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management wants to provide financing to small investment firms that are buying foreclosed homes as part of a long-term bullish bet on the housing recovery, according to four sources familiar with the situation.
3 min read · 28 March 2013
Bain Capital LLC, Carlyle Group LP and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP are among the private equity firms competing for Carestream Health Inc, a medical imaging systems provider that its owner Onex Corp. hopes to sell for as much as $3.5 billion, sources tell Reuters.
2 min read · 28 March 2013
