Filed under: Deals, Private equity, Recession

Private equity investors are using current financial market constraints on liquidity to negotiate favorable deals, as private equity general partners have watched the values of their portfolios fall profoundly. Efforts to attract additional investment haven’t been easy, as potential limited partners are reluctant to make long commitments in an uncertain marketplace. This has given limited partners a stronger position from which to negotiate both fees and terms and conditions.

Limited partners are getting a leg up on the private equity funds in which they invest, signaling a change from the historical trend in which funds could push for aggressive compensation based on the returns they provide. In a poll conducted by Preqin, 43% of investors noted a power shift from fund to limited partner, with only 2% seeing a shift toward the general partner.

Continue reading Limited partners putting pressure on private equity funds to cut fees

Limited partners putting pressure on private equity funds to cut fees originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Deals, Competitive strategy, Altria Group (MO)

Tobacco titan Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) is snapping up the South African operations of Swedish Match for a cool 1.75 billion rand, or roughly $224.7 million. The acquisition is part of PM’s broader strategy to gain a foothold in the smokeless tobacco arena. Currently, Swedish Match South Africa is the market leader in the South African pipe tobacco and snuff categories.

“This financially attractive acquisition represents an excellent strategic fit for our business in South Africa,” said Jean-Claude Kunz, PM’s president of Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa. “We firmly believe that merging the two businesses will provide us with the talent, infrastructure, and expertise to further build and grow our portfolio of strong brands in this important market.”

Continue reading Philip Morris shells out $224.7 million for Swedish Match unit

Philip Morris shells out $224.7 million for Swedish Match unit originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Deals, Private equity, Technology

The venture capital (VC) industry demonstrated its commitment to the clean technology space in the second quarter of 2009, pumping $1.2 billion into the sector, according to a report by GTM Research. VC investments in cleantech are up 43.5% from the first quarter of the year, when $836 was put into play in the cleantech space.

The number of transactions increased, as well. In the first quarter, 59 deals were finished, and deal-flow surged 44% to 85 in the quarter just completed. Average deal size remained fairly consistent: $14.2 million for the first quarter and $14.1 for the second.

Continue reading VC for cleantech surges to $1.2bn in Q2

VC for cleantech surges to $1.2bn in Q2 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Deals, Competitive strategy

Dan Duncan, who is a billionaire, understands the importance of patience (especially in creating lots of wealth). An example of this is his latest deal; that’s, his company, Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE: EPD), has been pursuing Teppco Partners LP (NYSE: TPP) since March. At that time, Duncan offered about $2.8 billion for the company. And yes, according to the senior management at Teppco, it was too low.

Well, after some wrangling, there is now a deal. Of course, the price tag is higher — at $3.3 billion (it’s a stock-for-stock swap).

Continue reading Energy billionaire strikes again with Enterprise-Teppco deal

Energy billionaire strikes again with Enterprise-Teppco deal originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Deals

Are we seeing the return of “merger Monday”? Well, today there’s a large deal: Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby Inc. and Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: WW) have concurred to a $3.5 billion merger (the equity will be split 50-50). The new entity will be called Towers Watson & Co.

These companies are major operators in the benefits-consulting space, which has been under pressure during the recession. So, why not strengthen things with a tie-up?

Continue reading Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt tie the knot

Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt tie the knot originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Deals, Rumors, Microsoft (MSFT), Morgan Stanley (MS)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has engaged investment bank Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to help it unload digital bureau Razorfish. Publicis (OTC: PGPEF) is looking for targets in the on the internet ad space and could be a possible bidder.

Razorfish has been valued at $600 million to $700 million, based on a top line of approximately $400 million for its last fiscal year and peer margins of 12% to 13%. The company boasts 2,000 employees and clients that include Audi, Nike (NYSE: NKE) and Kraft (NYSE: KFT). Microsoft bought the company as part of a $6 billion deal to acquire aQuantive. At the time, Razorfish was known as Avenue A Razorfish, as the result of a merger sealed in the wasteland known as the “dotcom bust.”

Continue reading Microsoft to unload Razorfish, Publicis looking?

Microsoft to unload Razorfish, Publicis looking? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Deals, Industry

Republic Airways Holding Inc (NASDAQ: RJET) is going shopping. Only a day after making an offer for ailing Frontier Airlines (Other OTC: FRNTQ), it has made a bid to nab Midwest Airlines from private equity firm TPG Capital. The offer consists of $6 million in cash and a note for another $25 million. If the private equity house takes the deal, Republic will get 100% of Midwest’s equity and TPG’s secured note of $31 million.

The $25 million in debt is convertible to RJET stock at $10 a share, which gives TPG a bit more upside from the transaction. The seller would also have the right to nominate a member of the buyer’s board of directors.

Of course, Republic’s CEO, Bryan Bedford, is upbeat about the prospect of buying Midwest Airways, saying it will “enhance the strategic positioning” of his company. Like the proposed acquisition of Frontier, Midwest would continue to operate under its own name, though the target’s Boeing 717s would be replaced with Embraer 190s.

Republic shopping for another airline originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Major movement, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Deals, Good news, China, Options, Technical Analysis

Sina (NASDAQ: SINA - option chain) shares are rising today after the company was upgraded by Deutsche Bank from Sell to Hold with a price target of $31. This action comes even though Deutsche thinks that Sina’s deal for Focus Media Holdings (NASDAQ: FMCN) is getting more prone to fall through. If you think that the stock won’t fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on SINA.

SINA opened this morning at $30.22. So far today the stock has hit a low of $30.09 and a high of $32.60. As of 11:35, SINA is trading at $32.42 up $2.42 (8.1%). The chart for SINA looks bullish.

Continue reading Sina (SINA) upgraded even as FMCN deal falters

Sina (SINA) upgraded even as FMCN deal falters originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Deals, Rumors, Apple Inc (AAPL)

While Twitter’s founders are struggling to figure out exactly how to cash in on their creation, others might have found a way.

Lolplaying, a gaming company, seems to have found a new way to make some cash with their new role-playing game called 140Mafia (a reference to how many characters you use to tweet). The company is trying to harness Twitter’s ability to make money by teaming with Super Rewards, which is a “virtual currency” service that makes a great deal of cash from various forms of on the web recreation.

Continue reading Super Rewards wants to make an offer Twitter can’t refuse (but has)

Super Rewards wants to make an offer Twitter can’t refuse (but has) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Deals, Rumors, Nortel Networks (NT), Technology

Rumor has it that Nortel Networks (OTC: NRTLQ) will sell its enterprise division in the near future.

This would be part of a broader plan to break the company apart instead of trying to restructure its way out of bankruptcy. The company is planning to sell its CDMA and LTE wireless businesses to Nokia (NYSE: NOK) for $650 million — the first unit sale since the January bankruptcy filing.

Continue reading Nortel could be dumping enterprise division

Nortel could be dumping enterprise division originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Share This

Share This