A group of private equity firms, including the Carlyle Group, struck a deal on Sunday to buy financial advisory and investment banking firm Duff & Phelps Corp. for about $665.5 million. Duff & Phelps said the firms will pay $15.55 a share to stockholders. The other buyers in the consortium are Stone Point Capital, Pictet & Cie and Edmond de Rothschild Group. The buyers are offering a premium of 19.2 percent for the company, which closed at $13.05 a share on Friday.
2 min read · 31 December 2012
One of hedge fund billionaire Steven A. Cohen's largest outside investors, private equity firm Blackstone Group LP, appears inclined to keep its money with his SAC Capital Advisors, even as the U.S. government scrutinizes the fund in its ongoing insider trading probe, Reuters reported. Three sources said the asset management arm of Blackstone , which has $550 million invested with SAC Capital, is in no rush to redeem money from the Stamford, Connecticut-based hedge fund. Blackstone has had at least three discussions with the $14 billion hedge fund's executives about the insider trading investigation and talked to its own investors, which include state pension funds, endowments and wealthy individuals.
5 min read · 28 December 2012
Private equity firm American Securities said on Thursday it sold a U.S. media production company to peer Crestview Partners, in one of the clearest examples yet of a firm rushing to close a deal before the end of the year to avoid a potentially larger tax bill. NEP Broadcasting LLC, a Pittsburgh-based provider of trucks used as mobile production units for television networks such as ABC, Fox and ESPN, was sold to Crestview for roughly $800 million, two sources familiar with the situation said.
3 min read · 27 December 2012
SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, controlled by Blackstone Group LP, on Thursday filed with the U.S. regulators to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering of its common shares. The company, which is best known perhaps for its performing killer whale Shamu, named Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Securities as the lead underwriters for the offering.
2 min read · 27 December 2012
Private equity funds quadrupled their investment in India's primary healthcare, betting the sick and ailing will stop seeing family doctors in often cramped and dingy quarters and check into modern chains sprouting up across Asia's No.3 economy, Reuters wrote. Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Warburg Pincus, Sequoia Capital and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. are among investors that pumped $520 million into India's basic healthcare industry this year, compared with $137 million in 2011, according to Thomson Reuters data. Some analysts predict investment will surpass $1 billion in 2013.
4 min read · 27 December 2012
Steinway Musical Instruments Inc., the famous manufacturer of pianos, saxophones and trumpets, said on Wednesday it had decided not to sell itself following a 17-month-long exploration of strategic alternatives, Reuters reported. An American icon synonymous with handmade grand pianos, Steinway has struggled to keep its production margins competitive amid stagnant sales, and has seen its shares plunge 10 percent year-to-date. Still, its third-quarter earnings last month offered signs that cost-cutting was paying off. In a statement on Wednesday, Steinway said it had received several non-binding indications of interest in buying the company, following talks with other companies in the sector as well as private equity, yet these did not offer more value than its own strategic plan.
3 min read · 27 December 2012
Thomas Joyce, whose position as chairman and chief executive of Knight Capital Group was on the line as the company negotiated a takeover earlier this month, will be paid $7.5 million to ensure he remains with the stock-trading company, according to a regulatory filing. The payment will be made to Joyce when Knight is acquired by Getco Holding Co., a high-frequency trading firm that beat out a competitor to acquire Knight for about $1.4 billion.
2 min read · 27 December 2012
Chemicals company Clariant AG has agreed to sell three units to U.S. private equity firm SK Capital for 502 million Swiss francs ($550 million) in a boost to plans to move away from low-margin cyclical businesses. Clariant had put its textile chemicals, paper speciality chemicals and emulsions units up for sale earlier this year to reduce its exposure to areas of the market vulnerable to swings in the global economy.
2 min read · 27 December 2012
Craig Mundie, one of two Microsoft Corp. executives who took over Bill Gates' role at the company, has relinquished control of Microsoft's large research organization and is to retire from the company in 2014. Mundie is taking on a new role as a senior adviser to Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, according to a memo circulated internally earlier this month but only made public on Monday.
2 min read · 26 December 2012
An outage at one of Amazon's web service centers hit users of Netflix Inc.'s streaming video service on Christmas Eve and was not fully resolved until Christmas Day, Reuters wrote Tuesday. The outage impacted Netflix subscribers across Canada, Latin America and the United States, and affected various devices that enable users to stream movies and television shows from home, Netflix spokesman Joris Evers said. Such devices range from gaming consoles like the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 to Blu-ray DVD players.
2 min read · 26 December 2012
