Private equity firms are reviving plans for a potential 10 billion pound ($15.7 billion) buyout of the UK's biggest mobile operator EE, encouraged by recent deals like Virgin Media and Dell, writes Reuters. Big buyout companies including US-based KKR and Europe's CVC Capital Partners are trying again to persuade banks to help fund a deal they have been unable to get off the ground for the past year, writes Reuters.
3 min read · 11 February 2013
Montagu Private Equity has sold the ghd hair styling brand to Lion Capital, with two sources close to the deal putting the purchase price at nearly 300 million pounds ($475.10 million), writes Reuters. The private equity groups released a joint statement announcing the transaction but did not disclose the terms.
1 min read · 11 February 2013
Apollo Global Management LLC reported a 95 percent rise in quarterly earnings, as strong gains in private equity profits, driven by asset sales, more than compensated for a drop in income in its credit investment business.
3 min read · 08 February 2013
Chinese biotechnology firm 3SBio Inc. said it agreed to be bought by Decade Sunshine Ltd. for about $340 million, Reuters reported. The offer of $15.40 per American Depositary Shares is at a premium of about 12 percent to the ADS's Thursday close of $13.79.
1 min read · 08 February 2013
The global real estate fund of Morgan Stanley is in talks with the Wadhwa Group to invest 9 billion to 10 billion rupees ($168-$186 million) in an office development in India's financial capital of Mumbai, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing plans to invest in jointly developing 1.6 million square feet of office space in Bandra Kurla Complex, a financial district in Mumbai, said two of the sources on condition of anonymity as the deal is not yet final. Mumbai-based Wadhwa Group has already begun construction on the project, ONE BKC, which will consist of two office towers and is due to be completed by 2014.
2 min read · 08 February 2013
The main owners of Danish telecom operator TDC have agreed to sell shares in the company worth about 3.28 billion Danish crowns ($588.67 million) at recent prices, Reuters wrote. NTC Holding - a consortium of investment Apax Partners, the Blackstone Group LP, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Permira Advisers and Providence Equity Partners - will sell 80 million shares, or about 10 percent of TDC's share capital, TDC said in a statement late on Thursday. The former state-owned monopoly operator said it will not receive any of the proceeds of the accelerated offering.
1 min read · 08 February 2013
Michael Dell and his investment firm are ponying up $750 million in cash toward the $24.4 billion purchase of Dell Inc. to help bankroll the largest private equity-backed buyout since the financial crisis, Reuters wrote. The Dell founder and CEO this week struck a deal to take private the company he created out of a college dorm room in 1984, partnering with private equity house Silver Lake and Microsoft Corp. Michael Dell will contribute $500 million of his own cash, and MSDC Management - an affiliate of his investment vehicle, MSD Capital - will contribute another $250 million, according to a company filing on Wednesday.
3 min read · 07 February 2013
Kazakhstan's sovereign wealth fund, Samruk-Kazyna, has acquired a 29 percent stake in Glencore-controlled zinc producer Kazzinc, the fund's deputy head said on Thursday, without disclosing the price, Reuters reported. Glencore, which owns 69.61 percent in Kazzinc, had earlier said it intended to boost its stake in the company to 93 percent for a total of $3.2 billion, including $2.2 billion in cash and $1 billion in equity.
1 min read · 07 February 2013
U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group, along with two other companies, have agreed to buy a business park in south India for 19.5 billion rupees ($367 million), two sources with direct knowledge told Reuters. The deal, which is expected to be concluded within two to three months according to the sources, would be the largest private equity investment by value in India's real estate sector since 2008.
2 min read · 07 February 2013
ICG Group, which buys and builds Internet software and services firms, said Google would acquire its partly owned marketing services unit, Channel Intelligence for $125 million in cash, writes Reuters. Channel Intelligence helps retailers, manufacturers and other advertisers make their products and services easier for consumers to find and buy online and in local stores.
1 min read · 07 February 2013
