U.S. asset manager BlackRock has a stake of just over 5 percent of French bank Societe Generale, French market regulator AMF said on Friday, Reuters reported. The disclosure was made after BlackRock's holding - acquired on and off the market - rose above the 5 percent threshold at which such disclosures are mandatory.
1 min read · 25 January 2013
Struggling Chinese sportswear brand Li Ning Co Ltd, which is backed private equity fund TPG Capital, said on Friday it plans to raise up to HK$1.87 billion ($241 million) through the sale of convertible securities, as it seeks to revive its brand in an industry plagued with bloated inventories, Reuters reported. Shares in the company slid as much as 16 percent, before they trimmed losses to close 14.7 percent down, their biggest drop since July 2011, as investors feared the fundraising, part of which would be used to buy back outdated stock, signalled that Li Ning still had a way to go to bring down inventories.
4 min read · 25 January 2013
Japan's Aeon Co Ltd and a unit of Thailand's Central Group are eyeing a bid for PT Matahari Department Store, a CVC-owned retail group in Indonesia for which the private equity firm is seeking as much as $3.5 billion, Reuters reported. Reuters reported last October that CVC had hired banks to help sell the 80 percent stake it bought in PT Matahari in 2010 for $790 million. CVC had then teamed up with local Indonesian investment vehicle Matahari Putra Prima TBK (MPP) to buy a combined 98 percent stake in Matahari, in what is still the nation's biggest ever private equity buyout.
2 min read · 25 January 2013
A potential bid by private equity firm Silver Lake and its partners to take Dell Inc private is unlikely to be topped by other investors, people familiar with the matter said.
4 min read · 25 January 2013
Amazon.com Inc said on Thursday that it acquired speech-recognition company Ivona Software, a sign the world's largest Internet retailer may be looking to develop more services similar to Apple Inc's Siri voice-based search product.
2 min read · 24 January 2013
Private equity company KKR & Co LP said on Wednesday it acquired a 24.9 percent stake in Nephila Capital Ltd, an investment management firm that focuses on natural catastrophe and weather risk, Reuters reported. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. KKR obtained shares from Nephila's management as well as from hedge fund manager Man Group Plc, which retained an 18.75 percent stake in the firm.
1 min read · 24 January 2013
The publisher of Britain's Guardian and Observer newspapers has ended talks on selling its stake in Trader Media Group because the price offered fell short of expectations, the Financial Times said on Thursday. Trader Media Group, which owns the Auto Trader classified cars sales website and magazine, is a joint venture between Guardian Media Group and private venture company Apax, and its profits help offset operating losses at GMG's newspapers.
1 min read · 24 January 2013
Private equity firm Electra has hired bank Rothschild to explore a sale or a refinancing of electronic animal identification company Allflex, which is worth about $1 billion, Reuters reported.
1 min read · 24 January 2013
Starwood Property Trust Inc. and investment firm Starwood Capital Group said they would buy LNR Property LLC for $1.05 billion in cash to expand the trust's real estate servicing and financing business, Reuters reported. Diversified real estate investment firm LNR Property is owned by hedge funds Cerberus Capital Management, Oaktree Capital Management, commercial lender iStar Financial Inc and Vornado Realty Trust.
1 min read · 24 January 2013
South Africa's Ethos Private Equity has raised $800 million for a new fund that will look for opportunities in the continent's biggest economy and its fast-growing neighbors in one of the largest amounts secured by an Africa-focused fund. Ethos, one of South Africa's top private equity firms, said it had beaten an initial target of $750 million, underscoring foreign investors' desire to gain exposure to sub-Saharan Africa through its most developed economy, Reuters wrote.
3 min read · 23 January 2013
