The private-equity industry is awash in record funds.
At the end of 2011, $3 trillion in assets under management were held across the entire industry, the first time the mark has been crossed, according to Preqin, an industry data collector.
The assets under management rose 9% in 2011, says Preqin, which counts unrealized portfolio values and so-called dry-powder the funds have available to invest. Read the rest of this entry »
After six years, Clayton Dubilier & Rice is finally cashing out of Sally Beauty Holdings.
The private equity firm said on Tuesday that it was selling its final holdings in the beauty products retailer, garnering some $1.9 billion in proceeds from its investment.
Clayton Dubilier took control of Sally Beauty from the Alberto Culver Company through a rather unusual transaction. In June 2007, it bought 47.5 percent of the company for $571 million, and spun off the remainder of the equity to Alberto Culver shareholders to create a publicly traded company.
Despite striking the deal during the frothy part of the leveraged buyout boom, Clayton Dubilier did well on its investment. Its total return was 3.4 times its initial investment, for an internal rate of return of 26 percent, according to a person briefed on the matter. Read the rest of this entry »
he Blackstone Group on Thursday reported a 74 percent decline in second-quarter earnings, underscoring some of the challenges confronting the private equityindustry. Read the rest of this entry »
By PAUL ZIOBROCPB -0.67% Campbell Soup Co. CPB -0.64% is getting deeper into the beverage business with an agreement to buy Bolthouse Farms Inc., a maker of high-end juices and other drinks, from Madison Dearborn Partners LLC for about $1.55 billion.The acquisition of Bolthouse, which also makes baby carrots and refrigerated salad dressings, also expands Campbells presence in the packaged fresh-food category, an area of supermarkets and retailers that is experiencing better growth than the center-store area where most packaged foods are sold.Campbell hopes the deal can create a firm base from which to create a broader portfolio of packaged fresh foods, including soup, which it already sells, but in far smaller amounts than its bread-and-butter canned soup. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted
on June 27, 2012, 10:23 am,
by skw2,
under News.
If you asked a random sampling of people with jobs whether they would work for a company owned by a private equity firm during financially difficult times, I’d be shocked if the results were not overwhelmingly against the private equity firm, given the relentless beating private equity has received this year, principally as a result of Mitt Romney’s presidential candidacy and his former affiliation with Bain Capital.
U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital will buy a 50% stake in Jupiter Shop Channel, a television shopping company, for about 100 billion yen ($1.3 billion) in Japan’s largest private equity transaction this year, according to a person with direct knowledge of the firm,Reuters reported. Bain said it would buy Jupiter Shop Channel, a market leader, from trading firm Sumitomo Corp, but it did not disclose the price.
(Reuters) – U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital will buy a 50 percent stake in Jupiter Shop Channel, a television shopping company, for about 100 billion yen ($1.3 billion) in Japan’s largest private equity transaction this year, according to a person with direct knowledge of the firm. Bain said it would buy Jupiter Shop Channel, a market leader, from trading firm Sumitomo Corp, but it did not disclose the price. Bain is seen one of the most active foreign investment firms based in Tokyo. Last year it bought restaurant chain Skylark from an investment arm of Nomura Holdings. Bain also owns the Domino’s Pizza franchise in Japan. Bain Capital has succeeded in buying a business from a Japanese firm at a time private equity firms are having a hard time securing new deals in Japan. Jupiter Shop Channel offers items from jewelry and cosmetics to home appliances and food through an around-the-clock broadcast. Sumitomo said in a separate statement it aims to expand its TV shopping business in China and other Asian emerging markets by tying up with Boston-based Bain.
Posted
on May 24, 2012, 9:05 am,
by skw2,
under Alumni.
Posted on Yale SOM website: May 18, 2012
Wilbur Ross YC ’59, CEO and chairman of WL Ross & Co., used to keep a pillow in his office that read: “I’d much rather back a mediocre idea that’s well-executed than a brilliant idea that’s poorly executed.” Ross, who spoke at Yale SOM on April 10 as part of the Leaders Forum lecture series, stressed to the audience that the idea of high risk/high reward was a gambler’s creed. “The less risk you take,” he said, “the more reward you’re likely to reap.”
Ross spent much of his career as a bankruptcy advisor; since 2000, he has led WL Ross & Co., a private equity company specializing in distressed and bankrupt companies. During his talk, he detailed his purchase of stakes in two distressed European banks: Northern Rock Savings and the Bank of Ireland. He also spoke about moves his firm has made into shipping. “A lot of people are willing to put money into shipping,” he said. “The tricky part is to combine money with good management.” See full video of talk here.
Conventional wisdom among smart technology entrepreneurs says not to hire people with Masters in Business Administration (MBAs) into startups. Aaron Patzer, founder of Mint, expressed the sentiment well when he said: “When valuing a startup, add $500k for every engineer, and subtract $250k for every MBA.” My friend Peter Thiel once warned a young entrepreneur: “Never ever hire an MBA; they will ruin your company.” I chimed in myself with this Quora answer. At Andreessen Horowitz, we believe that once everyone thinks that something is true, that might be a good time to do the opposite. So, with everyone convinced that MBAs are useless, I wonder: Is now the time to hire MBAs? Read the rest of this entry »
WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa., May 21, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Private equity deal volume in the first quarter of 2012 exceeded expectations, GF Data reports. “Most private equity professionals are predicting a flood of deal activity in 2012. The volume of reported deals in the first quarter suggests it’s already starting to happen,” said Andrew T. Greenberg, GF Data’s CEO and co-founder. Read the rest of this entry »
