European investors gathered in Berlin for the annual SuperReturn conference are reluctant to toast the return of big-ticket takeovers in 2013, even though U.S. peers have long since popped the champagne corks.
3 min read · 27 February 2013
Private equity investors hoping for outsized profits are facing an awkward truth - investment returns have shrunk and are unlikely to go back to their peak levels, Reuters reported. At private equity's annual global gathering in Berlin this week, investors acknowledged that the asset class looks unlikely to revert to its bumper past payouts, weighed down by modest global economic prospects as well as an influx of funds into the sector creating increased competition for deals.
5 min read · 27 February 2013
Private equity firms KKR & Co, First Reserve Corp and Ares Management are preparing final bids for Utex Industries, a U.S. manufacturer of sealing products and services used for oil and gas drilling, Reuters reported Tuesday. Bids for Utex, which is owned by New York-based private equity firm Rhone Capital, are due this week, the sources said. They said other parties may also bid on the company. Sources have said Utex could bring in bids in the $700 million to $800 million range.
1 min read · 27 February 2013
Human resources software company SilkRoad has selected JPMorgan Chase & Co and Piper Jaffray Cos to lead an initial public offering later this year, writes Reuters. Founded by serial entrepreneur Flip Filipowski in 2003, the company's investors include Azure Capital Partners, Tenaya Capital and Foundation Capital.
1 min read · 27 February 2013
Best Buy Co Inc founder Richard Schulze's effort to take the company private is in trouble after attempts to secure financing faltered while an alternative strategy to line up minority investors may not pan out either, five sources familiar with the matter said.
2 min read · 26 February 2013
Private equity firm Carlyle Group LP is preparing to sell aerospace and defense company Arinc Inc. and hired JPMorgan Chase and Evercore Partners Inc. to advise on the process, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Arinc, which the buyout firm bought from six U.S. airlines in 2007 for an undisclosed sum, is expected to draw interest mostly from larger aerospace industry rivals and may fetch $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion in a sale, Reuters wrote.
2 min read · 26 February 2013
A U.S. Senate panel will likely consider the nomination of former federal prosecutor Mary Jo White to head the Securities and Exchange Commission the week of March 11, Reuters reported on Monday. The Senate Banking Committee has not yet selected an exact date, Reuters wrote. White, a petite 65-year-old with an outsized reputation for prosecuting terrorists and mob bosses as the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, is not expected to face major opposition by senators.
2 min read · 26 February 2013
Belgian natural gas infrastructure company Fluxys has teamed up with private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners to bid for Czech gas transmission system Net4Gas, Belgian business daily De Tijd said. Net4Gas is one of the assets Germany's No. 2 utility RWE is selling as it cuts debt under pressure from ratings agencies.
2 min read · 26 February 2013
Private equity firm Carlyle Group is preparing to sell aerospace and defense company Arinc and has hired JPMorgan Chase and Evercore Partners to advise on the process, writes Reuters. Arinc, which the buyout firm bought from six U.S. airlines in 2007 for an undisclosed sum, is expected to draw interest mostly from larger aerospace industry rivals and may fetch $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion in a sale, writes Reuters.
2 min read · 26 February 2013
Barilla, the world's biggest pasta maker, said on Tuesday it was looking to sell its only remaining German business, bakery chain Lieken AG, as the company increases its focus on pasta and higher-margin food products, Reuters reported. The Italian food group bought Duesseldorf-based Lieken in 2002 as part of its acquisition of another bakery chain, Kamps, which it sold to private equity firm ECM in August 2010. While mergers and acquisitions have ground to a near halt in crisis-hit Italy, Germany is still attracting investors as the euro zone's strongest economy.
2 min read · 25 February 2013
