Plywood and lumber maker Boise Cascade said it plans to sell 11.8 million shares for between $16 and $18 each in an initial public offering. The company, which is backed by private equity firm Madison Dearborn, will look to tap investor appetite amid an upturn in the U.S. housing market. It has more than 4,500 customers and expects to earn $39 million to $43 million on revenue of $2.18 to $2.20 billion in 2012, according to a regulatory filing. Boise Cascade, whose products are used in new residential construction and remodeling projects, will have a market valuation of more than $700 million at the top end of the price range. U.S. office supplies chain OfficeMax Inc. has a 20 percent stake in the Boise, Idaho-based company. Madison will continue to own a majority stake Boise Cascade after the IPO.
2 min read · 23 January 2013
Investcorp, one of the Middle East's largest private equity houses, acquired a majority stake in Kansas-based information security firm, FishNet Security Inc., from Lake Capital, it said on Wednesday. The deal comes few days after Investcorp sold CCC Information Services to U.S-headquartered Leonard Green & Partners. The company had last year exited from truck and trailer parts distributor FleetPride to private equity firm TPG for over $1 billion.
1 min read · 23 January 2013
Ribbit Capital, a firm founded by financial services entrepreneur Micky Malka, has closed its inaugural $100 million fund, writes Reuters. Ribbit, which means interest in Hebrew, will specialize in lending, payments, insurance, accounting, tax preparation and personal financial management.
2 min read · 23 January 2013
Video game company Atari SA said it filed for bankruptcy protection in Paris and New York on Monday after it failed to find a successor to main shareholder and sole lender BlueBay as it wrestles with tough market conditions. The U.S. operations plan, in addition, to separate from their French parent to seek independent capital to grow in digital and mobile games, Atari Inc said in a statement. The U.S. businesses plan to sell or restructure all or almost all of their assets in the next three to four months and are seeking $5.25 million in financing from Tenor Capital, Atari Inc added.
2 min read · 22 January 2013
Nine Entertainment's creditors have approved a $3.6 billion recapitalisation scheme that will see US hedge funds take control of the business, paving the way for a possible listing in 2014, writes Reuters. US hedge funds Oaktree Capital and Apollo Global Management will swap debt to take a 95.5 percent stake in the company. The breakdown between the two funds has not been disclosed.
2 min read · 21 January 2013
EQT has pulled the sale of German academic publisher Springer Science+Business Media because it believes it can achieve a better price later in the year, the Financial Times reported, writes Reuters. Sweden's EQT, which teamed up with GIC, the investment vehicle of the government of Singapore, to buy Springer in 2009 was aiming to get up to 4 billion euros ($5.3 billion) for the publisher.
2 min read · 21 January 2013
U.S. venture capitalists invested $6.4 billion in start-up companies in the fourth quarter, continuing a slowdown in spending, according to a report from the National Venture Capital Association and consultancy PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The $6.4 billion was spent across 968 deals. That represents a 13 percent decline in dollar terms over the prior-year period. For the full year, investments fell 10 percent to $26.52 billion. Seed-stage companies -- those at the very earliest stages of development -- saw a slight rise in investments for the quarter, to $119.4 million, but an overall 38 percent drop for the year, to $475.7 million. That is the lowest yearly total since 2003.
2 min read · 18 January 2013
Online company SurveyMonkey said it aims to raise $800 million in a late-stage venture capital financing, one of the largest such deals in the Internet sector that underscores how many Silicon Valley firms are no longer in a rush to go public, Reuters wrote Thursday. SurveyMonkey plans an equity and debt financing that will allow it to cash out early shareholders and investors and that will also bring in Google Inc. as a new shareholder.
3 min read · 18 January 2013
Global cruise line operator Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd priced its initial public offering at $19 a share on Thursday, above its expected range, an underwriter said. The Miami, Florida-based company, backed by private equity firms Apollo Global Management and TPG...
1 min read · 18 January 2013
Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd is not interested in investing in Dell Inc. as part of a consortium led by private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, a source with knowledge of the matter said, Reuters reported Thursday. Buyout firm Silver Lake Partners has tapped Credit Suisse, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays and RBC to finance a potential deal as talks to take Dell private advance, sources have previously said.
2 min read · 17 January 2013
