An outright buyout of Yahoo by private equity firms, the latest fodder from the M&A rumor mill, would test the debt financing market's appetite for a "mega-deal." The institutional loan market, once the piggybank for buyout barons, may only be able to provide $3 billion to $5 billion toward nabbing the $20 billion internet company, according to sources polled by Thomson Reuters LPC. Yahoo's board has yet to put out the for sale sign, but behind closed doors, board members are reportedly interested in a deal. And private equity firms have been circling. Two, Blackstone Group and Bain Capital, are even mulling a $25 billion bid to take all of Yahoo private, Reuters reported last week. A $25 billion buyout would be by multiples the largest LBO since the financial crisis. Though private equity transactions have perked up since 2010, the LBO world has yet to see a "mega-deal," one whose purchase price exceeds $10 billion. The biggest so far have been this year's $7.2 billion buyout of Samson by KKR & Co. followed by the $6.3 billion LBO of Kinetic Concepts by Apax Partners, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the ...
4 min read · 07 December 2011
1 min read · 06 December 2011
(Reuters) - Facebook has hired the co-founders of Gowalla, one of the pioneering companies that developed the concept of "checking in" at real-world locations with mobile phones. Facebook, which has its own location features built in to its online social network, will not acquire Gowalla's technology. And Gowalla's service will be shut down at the end of January. "In talking with the Gowalla team, we realized that we share many of the same goals: building great products that reach millions of people, making a big impact quickly, and creating new ways for people to connect and share what's going on in their lives," Facebook said in an emailed statement on Monday.
2 min read · 05 December 2011
3 min read · 05 December 2011
(Reuters) - A rogue surgeon injects stem cells from a fetus into a sick man's brain. The cells morph and form body parts. When the man dies, the pathologist finds cartilage, skin and bone clumped in his brain. The scene is not from a horror movie; it happened to Max Truex, a former Olympic runner who suffered from Parkinson's disease. The case sent a chill through the scientific community when it came to light 15 years ago and typifies some of the hurdles researchers have faced while trying to bring stem cell therapies to the market. Now, it appears, their efforts are closer than ever to paying off. Dozens of adult stem cell treatments are moving through clinical trials and showing early success, raising hopes that some could reach the market within five years. "It will only take a few successes to really change the ...
7 min read · 04 December 2011
3 min read · 03 December 2011
2 min read · 03 December 2011
(Reuters) - Two senators introduced legislation on Thursday that would reduce the costs of going public for small and medium-sized companies by exempting them from certain regulatory requirements. Democrat Charles Schumer and Republican Pat Toomey said the exemptions would end either after five years, when the company reached annual revenues of a $1 billion, or had acquired $700 million in publicly traded shares.
2 min read · 02 December 2011
1 min read · 02 December 2011
1 min read · 30 November 2011
