Western Europe

LBO France makes 4x return

Qatari Diar fended off two French trade bidders and an unnamed Russian private equity suitor to complete the tertiary buyout of technology systems company Cegelec from LBO France.

Challenger fund discloses management agreement

Challenger will be one of the first ASX-listed infrastructure funds to enhance its public disclosures following a critical report by corporate governance advisor RiskMetrics that urged the exchange to require full disclosure of such agreements.

Lehman Brothers Real Estate not part of Neuberger deal

Lehman's private equity real estate arm is not part of the $2.1bn deal by Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman to acquire the investment bank's prized asset management business, Neuberger Berman. Lehman's private equity funds of funds and secondaries units will be sold.

Dunedin backs Rathbone trust business carve out

The £24m deal carries a £5m vendor loan, suggesting the lower mid-market is not immune from the discrepancies between vendor and buyer’s price expectations.

Lehman Brothers has $15bn of European real estate to sell

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the administrators to Lehman Brothers in the UK, has discovered more than 200 subsidiaries and joint ventures across the region. Investors are lodging their expressions of interest.

Depressed lending markets present opportunities for private equity

$1tr in leveraged loans has been affected by the collapse in investment banking, which has left the sector with far fewer sources of lending than before.

Denham invests $80m in biofuel

The energy-focused spin-out of collapsed hedge fund Sowood Capital will invest up to $80m of equity in Plantation Energy for the construction of a manufacturing facility in Western Australia.

Bank bailout may boost private equity opportunities

While its full impact remains unclear, the US goverment's intent to buy $250bn in bank equity stakes could create lucrative co-invesment opportunities for private equity firms.

Archway joins growing list of PE-backed bankruptcies

Catterton Partners-owned cookie maker Archway & Mother’s is the latest private equity-backed company to file for bankruptcy. Standard & Poor’s estimates that ‘a disproportionate number’ of speculative-grade defaults in the next two years will be private equity-backed companies.

Matrix invests £4.5m in antiques trade 'bible'

The UK manager of venture capital trusts has taken a 'significant minority stake' in the buyout of Metropress, the London- and Chelmsford-based publisher of trade magazine The Antiques Trade Gazette.