Facebook's Instagram photo sharing service has been hit with what appears to be the first civil lawsuit to result from changed service terms that prompted howls of protest last week, Reuters reported Monday. In a proposed class action lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court on Friday, a California Instagram user leveled breach of contract and other claims against the company.
2 min read · 26 December 2012
Hedge fund TPG-Axon Capital moved ahead with its effort to oust the board of U.S. oil and gas company SandRidge Energy Inc., saying it would file consent solicitation documents with U.S. regulators on Monday. TPG-Axon, which owns 6.7 percent of SandRidge, said in its third letter to the company's board, dated Dec. 24, that it is giving shareholders a chance to "terminate your reign of value destruction". It first revealed its plan last month.
2 min read · 26 December 2012
Private equity firms Carlyle Group LP and KKR & Co LP have emerged as the lead contenders to take over Reynolds and Reynolds, a software company hoping to sell itself for $5 billion, Reuters reported. Dayton, Ohio-based Reynolds, which provides business management software for auto dealers in North America and Europe, had hired technology-focused investment bank Qatalyst Partners to run a sale, people familiar with the matter told Reuters in October.
2 min read · 26 December 2012
Japan's Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp said it will acquire drug capsule maker Qualicaps Co Ltd from U.S.-based Carlyle Group LP for 55.8 billion yen ($660 million) to beef up its pharmaceutical operations, Reuters reported.
1 min read · 26 December 2012
Private equity group Apax said it has agreed to sell its direct sales company LR Health & Beauty to a private equity consortium of Bregal Capital and Quadriga Capital, Apax said late on Saturday, Reuters reported. No financial details were disclosed. LR Health & Beauty, based in Ahlen, Germany, sells cosmetics, fragrances and nutrition products mainly in Germany, but also in countries including France, Italy and Russia.
1 min read · 24 December 2012
Apax Partners LLP has told its private equity investors it will stop fundraising for its latest buyout fund in March and may not reach its initial 9 billion euro ($11.9 billion) fundraising target, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
2 min read · 21 December 2012
Embattled healthcare technology firm Allscripts named its board member and former chief operating officer of rival Cerner Corp. Paul Black as its CEO, replacing Glen Tullman, and said it ended a review of strategic alternatives, Reuters wrote. The move, effective immediately, raises new questions for the direction of Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc after activist shareholder HealthCor Management installed three of its nominees to the company's board last summer, following a bitter fight with Tullman.
4 min read · 21 December 2012
U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital said it has hired Gaby Abdelnour, former Asia-Pacific CEO at J.P. Morgan, as a senior adviser, Reuters reported. Abdelnour's appointment takes effect from Jan. 1, 2013. Abdelnour, who headed J.P. Morgan's Asia-Pacific operations since July 2006, decided to quit the bank earlier this year.
1 min read · 21 December 2012
Panasonic Corp. said on Friday that it would sell its Sanyo digital and digital movie camera business to Japanese private equity fund Advantage Partners for an undisclosed sum. Panasonic aims to sell 110 billion yen ($1.30 billion) of assets, including buildings and land, by the end of March to boost free cash flow to 200 billion yen for the business year.
1 min read · 21 December 2012
Adobe Systems Inc. has acquired Behance, a privately held service that designers and companies use to display creative works over the Internet, expanding the software maker's Web-based offerings. The maker of Photoshop and Acrobat software said the move, which it announced on Thursday, would accelerate efforts to bring "community" features to its Creative Cloud line of design software, which it introduced last year.
1 min read · 21 December 2012
