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Private Equity
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May 23, 2013
Full Speed Ahead For Bankrupt PE-Owned Ohio Printers
A bankruptcy judge in Delaware on Thursday approved the first-day requests of Ohio-based sister commercial printing companies D.B. Hess and The Press of Ohio, both owned by private equity firm Wellspring Capital Management LLC, including up to $20 million in financing to help the firms sell off their assets.
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May 23, 2013
Starboard Seizes Control At Tessera With Last-Minute Deal
Starboard Value LP took control of Tessera Technologies Inc. through a last-minute agreement Thursday that headed off a shareholder vote and ended a two-year effort by the hedge fund to reshape the company.
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May 23, 2013
SEC Files $1.7M Insider Trading Suit Against Cushing Broker
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday launched an insider trading suit against a Cushing MLP Asset Management LP private equity trader in Texas federal court, alleging he used confidential client information in 400 energy securities trades that earned him $1.7 million in illegal profits.
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May 23, 2013
Deals Sizzle, BBQs To Follow For Busy Deal Makers
Deal makers really don't want to spend Memorial Day weekend in the office. A flurry of transactions have made this one of the year's busiest weeks in mergers and acquisitions, with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Latham & Watkins LLP among those that freed up grilling time.
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May 23, 2013
China Natural Gas Demands Toss Of Involuntary Ch. 11
China Natural Gas Inc. on Wednesday urged a New York bankruptcy judge to throw out the involuntary Chapter 11 proceedings commenced by a hedge fund owned by one of its directors, saying the filing was part of the directors' effort to gain control of the company.
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May 23, 2013
Blackstone Teams With Prologis On $960M Industrial Deal
The Blackstone Group LP and Prologis Inc. are teaming up to make a $960 million purchase of a massive U.S. industrial portfolio from a venture led by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., sources confirmed to Law360 on Thursday.
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May 23, 2013
Black Diamond Co-Founder Wins $6M Carried Interest Appeal
A Black Diamond Capital Management LLC co-founder can collect the final $6 million portion of the $17.5M in carried interest he earned there before he left to start another private equity firm, Z Capital Partners LLC, a New York appeals court ruled Thursday.
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May 23, 2013
Carlyle-Backed GDC Technology Files For $75M US IPO
Private equity-backed GDC Technology Ltd. filed for a $75 million initial public offering on Tuesday, less than two years after a consortium led by Carlyle Group LP acquired the fast-growing Chinese digital cinema server provider.
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May 23, 2013
Bankrupt REIT Gets $50M In Deal With BlackRock, Lenders
A New York bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved a settlement that BlackRock Inc.'s bankrupt real estate investment trust Anthracite Capital Inc. reached with BlackRock and two banks, allowing Anthracite to bring in $50 million and begin winding down the estate.
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May 23, 2013
KKR's Del Monte Dips Toe In M&A Pool With Pet Food Deal
Del Monte Corp. said Thursday it will acquire Natural Balance Pet Foods Inc., expanding its long list of pet brands and wading into M&A waters for the first time since a heavily litigated $5.3 billion buyout by KKR & Co. LP in 2011.
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May 23, 2013
Apax To Buy Rue21 For $1.1B As Apparel Buyouts Roll
Apax Partners LLP on Thursday announced a $1.1 billion buyout of teen clothing chain Rue21 Inc., hoping to sidestep potential conflicts and spin a large insider stake into the latest private equity deal in the apparel sector.
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May 23, 2013
Deals Rumor Mill: Yankee Candle, THL Partners, Volvo
Madison Dearborn is scrapping plans to unload Yankee Candle Co. after prospective private equity buyers refused to make multibillion-dollar offers for the company, while Volvo is considering a spinoff of its North American heavy truck unit that could yield as much as $1.5 billion.
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May 22, 2013
Midway Though Proxy Season, Staggered Boards Falling Hard
Halfway through the 2013 proxy season, the staggered board — either a shield for self-serving directors or a pillar of good stewardship, depending on whom you ask — is continuing its swift march toward extinction.
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May 22, 2013
PE-Owned Ohio Printers Seek Ch. 11 As Buyer Looms
Two Ohio-based sister commercial printing companies, both owned by private equity firm Wellspring Capital Management LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday with a prepacked plan in hand and rival company Bang Printing of Ohio at the ready with a $19 million stalking horse bid.
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May 22, 2013
Financial Services Co. Funneled Millions To Execs' Kin: Suit
A venture capital firm filed a securities fraud lawsuit Monday in New York federal court against The Cash Store Financial Services Inc. claiming that CSFS overstated its assets by $44 million and belatedly disclosed that it improperly funneled millions of dollars to its executives' relatives.
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May 22, 2013
KIT Digital's $25M Ch. 11 Deal Delayed By Equity Group
A New York bankruptcy judge on Wednesday said he was inclined to approve three private equity firms’ commitment to put $25 million toward KIT Digital Inc.’s reorganization, but held off on the ruling because of a last-minute announcement that an equity committee is being formed.
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May 22, 2013
Deals Rumor Mill: Carlyle, Saks, Sony
Carlyle is hoping to raise $2 billion more for Japan-focused investments that will cement its place as a private equity leader in the country, while Sony has opened itself to negotiations with an activist hedge fund that insists the sputtering company should consider an IPO.
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May 22, 2013
Archer Inks $244M Deal To Sell Unit To Clearlake
Oslo, Norway-based oil services company Archer LT announced Wednesday that it is selling one of its North American divisions to an affiliate of Los Angeles private equity firm Clearlake Capital Group LP for $244 million, an all-cash deal set to help payoff some of the company's debt.
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May 21, 2013
Feds Oppose Settlement Behind $320M LifeCare Sale
The U.S. government asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge Tuesday to reject a deal underpinning the $320 million sale of private equity-owned LifeCare Holdings Inc., saying the proposed settlement is impermissible because it would pay the hospital group's unsecured creditors ahead of federal tax claims.
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May 21, 2013
NetSpend Investors Can’t Block $1.4B Sale Over PE Favoritism
A Delaware Chancery judge on Tuesday denied a bid by NetSpend Corp. shareholders to block the prepaid debit card provider’s planned $1.4 billion sale for allegedly favoring two private equity shareholders, ruling the investors hadn’t shown they could scuttle the deal at trial.
Expert Analysis
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Rise Of The Machines — Predictive Coding Goes Mainstream
The pros of using predictive coding far outweigh the cons. Given the heavy pressure on law firms and in-house counsel to reduce discovery costs, as well as the Justice Department's recent stance on the subject, it appears predictive coding will continue to emerge from the obscure world of legal technology to the mainstream of legal practice, say Michael Moscato and Myles Bartley of Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP.
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PE Investors Should Consider Behavioral Health
As demand for behavioral health services increases, and those individuals with need have insurance that will pay for it, the growth potential for behavioral health services is significant. Private equity investors are well-poised for jumping into this market to bring new business models and innovation to the industry, say attorneys with McGuireWoods LLP.
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Tracking Emerging Growth Cos. Under The JOBS Act
Title I of the JOBS Act significantly reformed the IPO process for emerging growth companies. Although it remains to be seen how and when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will implement other provisions of the JOBS Act, we believe that the IPO on-ramp reforms will continue to take on greater importance as they enter their second year, say attorneys with Latham & Watkins LLP.
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The Who, What And Why Of Public-Private Partnerships
Public-private partnerships have been used in a wide range of sectors to provide public services, from power plants and railroads to hospitals and sanitation plants. Yet there are a variety of potential contractual arrangements and the financing of a PPP can be complex, say Maryam Khosharay and Herbert Glaser of Haynes and Boone LLP.
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5 Reasons For Optimism In The Venture Capital Community
Not every company can be the next Facebook. But thankfully, for many startups, generating one billion users is not the end goal, nor should it be. Enter “narrowcasting” — one of a few reasons to be optimistic about venture capital, despite the first quarter of 2013 being the slowest for fundraising since 2002, says David Kaufman of Thompson Coburn LLP.
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Spotlight On Affiliated Lender Provisions And Debt Buybacks
Over the last few years, provisions in credit agreements permitting the borrower’s equity sponsor and other affiliates to purchase term loans made thereunder and allowing the borrower to “repurchase” such term loans on a non-pro rata basis have become common. But many of the provisions governing such purchases do not adequately protect the non-affiliated lenders’ interests in a bankruptcy of the borrower, say Robert Finley and Ram Burshtine of King & Spalding LLP.
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A Model For Facing Meritless Derivative Suits In Pa.
The decision by the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas in In re H.J. Heinz Co. Derivative and Class Action Litigation represents a faithful application of the American Law Institute’s Principles of Corporate Governance, which were formally adopted by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the landmark decision Cuker v. Mikalauskas, say attorneys with Dechert LLP.
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How Crowdfunding Could Impact Film Financing
The “Veronica Mars” Kickstarter campaign has created a paradigm shift in film financing with successful crowdfunding. While crowdfunding is still a largely untouched topic by the courts, it needs to be red-flagged as an area that is ripe for litigation, says John Stephens of Sedgwick LLP.
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A Significant Impact On Private Investment Funds
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., recently reintroduced the Inclusive Prosperity Act of 2013, a financial transaction tax that, according to its supporters, would provide the federal government between $150 billion and $340 billion of revenue per year. The bill is, essentially, a sales tax on large Wall Street banks — however, its provisions seem to impact hedge funds and private equity funds, says David Sussman of Duane Morris LLP.
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SEC Tees Up Private Equity Enforcement Issues
Recent remarks by Bruce Karpati, chief of the Asset Management Unit of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as recent enforcement cases by the SEC, demonstrate an increased focus on the private equity sector — in particular, on aggressive fundraising disclosures, conflicts of interest and “zombie funds,” among other things, say Scott Naidech and Garrett Lynam of Chadbourne & Parke LLP.