Warburg Pincus related stories
All articles and analysis
LP corner, week of March 9, 2009News briefs about state LPs Indiana and Connecticut and LA Fire
- Warburg takes bite out of Premier
Bisto owner sells 10% stake
- It's Cost Cutting Time at Pension Funds
Is this a sign of things to come in LP-Land? The State of Indiana has proposed legislation that will merge the administrative functions and advisory boards of Indiana State Teachers Retirement Fund and Indiana Public Employees Retirement Fund. To be clear, they're not merging the funds (so don't be deceived by this Associated Press article http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-in-statepensions,0,7320717.story ). It's a smart move considering the funds have both posted sizable losses this year. It will save $8.9 million in one-time administrative costs and $1.2 million in annual savings. The funds themselves will stay separate, but with one executive director and a single investment board. Right now Terren B. Magid is the executive director of PERF and Steve Russo is the executive director of TRS.
- peHUB Wire: Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Random Ramblings
- peHUB Wire: Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Random Ramblings
- Weekly Downgrade Wrap-up
As usual, I have a week and a day’s worth of Moody’s and S&P downgrades on PE-backed companies. This week, there were nine new ones, including two backed by Warburg Pincus and two from Bain Capital. (Apologies for the delay as I was out Friday and Monday) Company: Rafaella Apparel Group Sponsor: Cerberus Capital Management Downgrade: S&P announced a corporate credit rating downgraded from 'CCC' from 'B-'.The outlook is negative. Highlights: “We estimate that leverage may increase to over the 11.5x area (assuming debt levels do not increase significantly from current levels) if revenues decline by about 13% for fiscal 2009 from fiscal 2008 levels and EBITDA margins remain in the low single digits, which may reduce Rafaella's net income covenant cushion.”
- peHUB First Read
* Bill Gurley fisks Tom Friedman's proposal http://abovethecrowd.com/2009/02/18/just-say-no-to-a-vc-bailout-a-green-government-venture-fund-is-a-flawed-idea/ for a government-backed "venture capital bank." Gurley is a venture capitalist with Benchmark Capital, and is right on the money with his analysis. My only (tiny) criticism is that Gurley should acknowledge that certain VC-backed cleantech companies are having a tough time getting later-stage capital, because they had expected to project finance market to be open. But that still doesn't negate Gurley's thesis, since some private firms (Blackstone, CMEA, C Change) are now rushing in to fill that void. * Andrew Leonard with some thoughtful comments http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2009/02/19/mortgage_bad_behavior/index.html on the mortgage bailout proposal. This would be as opposed to Rick Santelli's overhyped rant, in which he actually said that Chicago Merc Exchange traders represent a "cross-section of America." Hey Rick, you need to get out more. * Pete Lattman writes http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2009/02/19/warburgs-mbia-rallying-cry-remember-the-mellon/ that Warburg Pincus may be having (good) Mellon flashbacks, vis-a-vis MBIA's plan to split itself in two. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point even lower http://www.reuters.com/article/usMktRpt/idUSLK49602620090220 European shares hit six-year low http://www.reuters.com/article/eurMktRpt/idUSLK28101720090220 in early trading, London drops http://www.reuters.com/article/londonMktRpt/idUSLK45665420090220 Japan's Topix index hits quarter-century low http://www.reuters.com/article/tokyoMktRpt/idUST24882620090220 and Hong Kong also falls http://www.reuters.com/article/hongkongMktRpt/idUSSP44578320090220 * Chris Flowers says he was "shocked" http://blogs.reuters.com/reuters-dealzone/2009/02/19/merrill-losses-shocked-flowers/ by Merrill Lynch's losses, even though he had been advising BoA on the purchase.
- Week in deals, Feb. 16, 2009
Summary of tech companies and other businesses that raised financing in North America in the past week