Flowers Foods Inc on Friday said it has agreed to buy Wonder and other well-known bread brands from Hostess Brands Inc for $390 million, as part of the latter company's bankruptcy reorganization.
2 min read · 14 January 2013
Penson Worldwide, once a securities clearing broker that has since divested most of its operations, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, writes Reuters. Last year the company sold its futures division to Knight Capital Group and its broker-deal subsidiary to Apex Clearing.
1 min read · 14 January 2013
Italy's Moleskine has taken a step closer to listing its shares on the Milan stock market, a move that would make the notebook maker the third Italian luxury brand to go public in less than two years. In a statement on Friday, the maker of thread-bound jotters modelled on originals used by Vincent Van Gogh and Ernest Hemingway said Italian market regulator Consob had approved the first of a series of documents needed for an IPO. Moleskine, which has already received the go ahead from the Italian stock exchange for an initial public offering, is controlled by private equity fund Syntegra Capital.
2 min read · 11 January 2013
British newspaper group Trinity Mirror said on Friday it had been approached by a group of investors interested in its Sunday People tabloid. Earlier on Friday, the Financial Times reported that a consortium headed by former Fleet Street editor Sue Douglas and backed by private equity firm Phoenix Ventures had proposed buying a majority stake in the title for 10 million pounds. They want to rename the newspaper The News of the People, with the aim of attracting former readers of the now defunct News of The World, the FT said.
1 min read · 11 January 2013
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has asked crowdfunding websites to voluntarily register with it as a first step towards regulating a fast-growing industry that helps small businesses secure funding. FINRA, Wall Street's industry-funded watchdog, said it was working with the Securities and Exchange Commission to draft rules that would govern crowdfunding. In the meantime, FINRA has asked the websites to register with it and provide details that would help it draft the rules.
2 min read · 11 January 2013
U.S. buyout firm JC Flowers & Co. is selling 40 percent of its stake in Brazilian investment bank giant BTG Pactual Group, according to analysts at Bradesco BBI, a day after the stock suffered its steepest fall in eight months. Units of BTG Pactual fell 4.3 percent to 31.50 reais on Thursday after the announcement of a planned block sale by an unnamed investor, which priced the stock at a 10 percent discount to Wednesday's close.
2 min read · 11 January 2013
Private equity firms including Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings and KKR & Co. are separately in advanced talks to buy Warburg Pincus LLC's majority stake in Indian tyre maker Alliance Tire Group for about $400 million, Reuters reported. Other interested bidders include U.S. private equity firms Advent International and TPG Capital, said the sources, all of whom declined to be named as the details of a possible deal are not yet public.
2 min read · 11 January 2013
Legg Mason Inc has been approached in recent months by some of its senior managers and private equity firms with plans to take the struggling asset manager private, but the board has decided...
5 min read · 10 January 2013
US grocer Supervalu Inc. will sell five of its retail grocery chains to group led by Cerberus Capital Management. The company is selling its Albertsons, Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's and Star Market chains and related Osco and Sav-on in-store pharmacies. The transaction will be valued at $3.3 billion. The investor group also includes real estate firms Kimco Realty Corp., Klaff Realty LP, Lubert-Adler Partners and Scottenstein Real Estate Group.
2 min read · 10 January 2013
The second largest U.S. pension fund on Wednesday decided to sell off its investments in manufacturers of firearms that are banned in California, like the assault rifle used in the Newtown, Connecticut, school massacre, Reuters reported.
3 min read · 10 January 2013
