Author: Reuters News

Reuters – A debt financing of more than 2 billion euros ($2.62 billion) backing the 3.1 billion euro ($4.06 billion) purchase of German metering firm Ista by private equity firm CVC will be a mix of leveraged loans and high-yield bonds, writes Reuters. CVC trumped rival BC Partners to buy a 76 percent stake from co-owner Charterhouse last week in Germany’s largest private equity deal since 2008, writes Reuters.

Reuters – A debt financing of more than 2 billion euros ($2.62 billion) backing the 3.1 billion euro ($4.06 billion) purchase of German metering firm Ista by private equity firm CVC will be a mix of leveraged loans and high-yield bonds, sources said on Friday.

CVC trumped rival BC Partners to buy a 76 percent stake from co-owner Charterhouse on Thursday in Germany’s largest private equity deal since 2008.

The senior debt will be split into loans and senior secured bonds and the junior debt will comprise senior unsecured bonds, the sources said.

The debt financing will have total leverage of around 7.25 times Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA), and senior leverage of around 5.5 times, they added.

CVC contributed around 1 billion euros ($1.31 billion)of equity to the deal, which reduced leverage on the debt to 7.25 times EBITDA, compared to leverage of 7.5 times on BC Partners’ financing.

CVC’s more conservative debt structure and slightly higher equity contribution is designed to ensure that Ista has a flexible capital structure which will allow management to invest in and grow the business, one of the sources said.

Deutsche Bank is in a lead position on the financing package, after providing a staple financing on the loan. Deutsche is expected to be joined by other banks on the financing package, which is still being finalised.

A mandate is expected early next week and the financing package will be launched shortly thereafter. ($1 = 0.7644 euros) (Reporting by Tessa Walsh)

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TPG Capital is putting China’s UniTrust Finance & Leasing Corp up for sale, seeking $800 million, writes Reuters. Morgan Stanley and UBS are handling the deal.

Reuters – U.S. private equity firm TPG Capital is putting China’s UniTrust Finance & Leasing Corp up for sale, seeking $800 million, and has hired Morgan Stanley and UBS to handle the deal, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Bank and non-bank financial institutions from Europe, Japan and Australia are expected to bid for Shanghai-based UniTrust, which provides equipment leasing finance for small and medium-sized companies in the construction, medical, education and technology industries, the sources said.

Suitors are likely to be attracted by the ability to lend to China’s SMEs, which struggle to get loans from China’s big banks. China’s 4.3 million SMEs account for 60 percent of China’s GDP and 75 percent of new jobs created in the country.

TPG acquired a controlling stake in the business as part of a $275 million investment in Japan’s Nissin Leasing in 2008.

A successful exit from UniTrust would boost TPG’s fund raising efforts in Asia. The buyout fund has raised less than $2 billion of its $5 billion target since its launch in late 2011, while rival KKR & Co has raised $6 billion since its launch in January 2012.

UniTrust’s main competitors include KKR-backed Far East Horizon. Far East, which has a market value of $2.2 billion, trades at a 12-month forward price-to-earnings multiple of 7.2, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Morgan Stanley and UBS are expected to kick off a formal sale in the next two weeks.

Sources declined to be identified as the sale process was private. TPG, Morgan Stanley and UBS declined comment. UniTrust did not reply to emails and phone calls seeking comment.

UniTrust earlier this year took out a 3 billion yuan loan ($486 million) from Chinese banks to refinance outstanding debt, according to Basis Point, a Thomson Reuters publication.

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London-based private equity fund Pamplona Capital Management is in talks to buy a majority stake in Turkish hospitals group Medical Park, writes Reuters. U.S. private equity firm Carlyle Group acquired a 40 percent stake in Medical Park in 2009 for an undisclosed amount alongside businessmen Muharrem Usta and Haydar Sancak, who each own 30 percent.

Reuters – London-based private equity fund Pamplona Capital Management is in talks to buy a majority stake in Turkish hospitals group Medical Park, a source close to the matter told Reuters on Monday.

U.S. private equity firm Carlyle Group acquired a 40 percent stake in Medical Park in 2009 for an undisclosed amount alongside businessmen Muharrem Usta and Haydar Sancak, who each own 30 percent. The hospital group’s chairman said in December a planned stake sale may be completed in the first half of 2013. Carlyle declined comment.

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Online gambling company Betfair has rejected a $1.4 billion takeover offer from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners and other investors, writes Reuters. Betfair said it had received a preliminary proposal on Friday from CVC, Richard Koch, Antony Ball and partners offering 880 pence per share in cash or an unlisted securities alternative made up of shares and loan notes in a new entity, writes Reuters.

Reuters – Online gambling company Betfair (BETF.L) on Monday said it had rejected a $1.4 billion takeover offer from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners CVC.UL and other investors.

Betfair said it had received a preliminary proposal on Friday from CVC, Richard Koch, Antony Ball and partners offering 880 pence per share in cash or an unlisted securities alternative made up of shares and loan notes in a new entity.

Betfair said its board had reviewed the proposal with its advisers and “rejected it on the basis that it fundamentally undervalues the company and its attractive prospects, and is highly conditional”.

Shares in Betfair, which rose 15 percent last week, closed at 805 pence on Friday, valuing the business at around 834 million pounds.

The CVC-led bid values Betfair, which operates an online exchange that allows gamblers to bet against each other, at around 912 million pounds ($1.4 billion).

Since joining the London stock exchange three years ago, Betfair has lost ground to competitors at home and is pulling out of markets where gambling regulations are unclear, which provide almost a quarter of its revenue.

Shares in Betfair have plummeted to well below the 13 pounds the company listed at.

CVC last week said it had held preliminary discussions with Koch, Ball and other partners about making a possible offer for Betfair.

Koch, a co-founder of international strategy consultancy LEK Consulting, holds a 6.5 percent stake in Betfair. Ball is a non-executive director at Luxembourg-listed investment group Brait and is the co-founder of its private equity business.

(Reporting by Rhys Jones; Editing by Paul Sandle)

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PowerbyProxi has raised $5 million from investors including TE Connectivity in Germany to develop applications for wireless power technology, according to VentureBeat, writes Reuters. Existing investor New Zealand venture capital firm Movac also participated in the third round of funding for the company.

Reuters – PowerbyProxi has raised $5 million from investors including TE Connectivity in Germany to develop applications for wireless power technology.

Powering devices without cables has been the stuff of science fiction. But its practical benefits have been longed for, since wireless power can get rid of cables in the same way that Wi-Fi disposes of networking wires. That’s still not possible under the laws of physics, but PowerbyProxi has developed cool chargers that you can use to charge a smartphone or other devices simply by placing it in a box rather than plugging it into a wired charger. The device charges regardless of the position you place it in the box. Such devices have a short range, but they’re often more convenient than today’s methods.

Darmstadt, Germany-based TE, a $13 billion revenue industrial company with 90,000 employees, is taking an equity stake in Auckland, N.Z.-based PowerbyProxi, and existing investor New Zealand venture capital firm Movac also participated in the third round of funding for the company.

The technology for “contactless” wireless power has been gaining momentum in recent years as users tire of chargers and industrial companies find more users for the technology. The company was started in 2007 by Fady Mishriki and Greg Cross, who decided to commercialize technology developed by University of Auckland researchers John Boys and Patrick Hu. The university, which is also an investor, and PowerbyProxi have a total of 122 patents between them on loosely coupled wireless power.

Cross, PowerbyProxi’s executive chairman, said that the investment showed faith in the sector’s growth and the milestones the company has hit. He said PowerbyProxi will use it to expand international sales. TE and PowerbyProxi are making a miniature contactless charging system, the Ariso Contactless Connectivity Platform, for industrial machinery and equipment. TE is selling and marketing this line of “noncontact couplers” with PowerbyProxi’s Proxi-Wave technology.

In industrial applications, wireless charging is helpful because wired charging is can be hard on equipment, as it’s easy for wired devices to be damaged if a cord is pulled abruptly. The company’s dynamic harmonization control system is also designed to reduce overheating that plagues most wireless charging alternatives. Those other solutions often have to dial back the amount of power supplied to the devices. That means that battery charging takes longer. But PowerbyProxi can supply 5 watts of power, the same as a cable, and do so without overheating, the company says. On top of that, it doesn’t cost a lot of money and it allows for free positioning of the device being charged relative to the charger.

TE is making evaluation kits for customers to test the hardware. The companies say the system is 70 percent smaller than currently available wireless power systems. The TE work is one of 50 different projects that PowerbyProxi is working on with customers. To date, PowerbyProxi has raised $10 million.

Ulrich Wallenhorst, the chief technology officer of TE Industrial, said that the investment shows his company is committed to wireless power, and that PowerbyProxi’s technology complements his own company’s offerings. Rivals include Qualcomm and Qi Stanard. PowerbyProxi’s technology is different in that it can be miniaturized to the point where its receiver can fit inside a AA battery, making all sorts of devices wirelessly rechargeable.

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(Reuters) – Private equity owners of Numericable have asked about 10 banks to pitch on a possible stock exchange listing this year that could value the French cable company at around 4 billion euros ($5.3 billion), three people with knowledge of the plan said. Numericable is owned by Cinven, Carlyle Group and Altice Group.

By Sophie Sassard, Reuters

(Reuters) – Private equity owners of Numericable have asked banks to pitch on a possible stock exchange listing this year that could value the French cable company at around 4 billion euros ($5.3 billion), three people with knowledge of the plan said.

The funds — Cinven, Carlyle Group and Altice Group — have invited about 10 banks to submit proposals in May and they will likely pick three of them to work on a share sale, the sources said.

If the sale goes ahead this would be a further sign of investor interest in European cable operators as they take broadband market share from traditional telecom companies.

Dutch cable group Ziggo (ZIGGO.AS) drew strong demand for its listing last year and Europe’s biggest cable operator Liberty Global (LBTYA.O) in February agreed a deal to buy Britain’s Virgin Media (VMED.O) for $15.8 billion.

Also, a rise in global stock markets has already encouraged a string of companies to go public this year. The amount raised by volume of new listings in Europe is up 49 percent on the same period last year.

The share sale would provide an exit for Numericable’s private equity owner Cinven, while another fund Carlyle and Altice’s owner cable entrepreneur Patrick Drahi might decide to keep their stakes, the people said.

Private equity firms raise money from investors to buy businesses hoping to sell them later at a profit.

Numericable and Altice were not available for comment. Carlyle and Cinven, which each own about 35 percent of the company, declined to comment.

“This is one the options currently on the table,” said one of the sources who asked not to be named because the talks are private.

Another option would be a long-touted merger with French fixed and mobile player SFR, which Numericable’s owners believe would create significant cost savings, the sources said.

“For Carlyle, the best option remains a merger with SFR so they’ll stay on board only if the listing is compatible with an SFR deal,” said one person familiar with the matter.

Last year, Numericable held talks with Vivendi over a tie-up, but they foundered over valuation issues and deal structure.

Vivendi decided at a December board meeting that the timing was wrong to exit SFR because of turmoil in the French telecom market created by a new low-cost mobile player. Vivendi’s largest shareholder Vincent Bollore, who took 5 percent of the company last year and a seat on the board in December, drove that decision, the people said.

Numericable is the only cable operator in France, and it covers roughly one-third of households, offering packages of pay-TV, Internet and fixed calls starting at 24.90 euros a month.

It also has a unit called Completel, which sells high-speed broadband to corporate clients.

Including Completel, Numericable could be worth 4-5 billion euros based on 8 times 2011 core profit of 602 millions euros.

Excluding Completel, Numericable’s sales grew 1.1 percent last year to 874 million euros, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization rose 4.6 percent to 456 million euros.

(Additional reporting by Leila Abboud in Paris and Kylie MacLellan in London; Editing by Alexander Smith, Louise Heavens and Jane Merriman)

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Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has agreed to limit his investment in Dell Inc and in return can team up with other shareholders on a potential bid for the personal computer maker, Dell said on Tuesday.

(Reuters) – Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has agreed to limit his investment in Dell Inc and in return can team up with other shareholders on a potential bid for the personal computer maker, Dell said on Tuesday.

An agreement with activist investor Icahn prevents him from buying shares that would bring his Dell ownership to more than 10 percent or signing deals with other shareholders that would bring their collective ownership to more than 15 percent, Dell said.

Icahn, who owns a $1 billion stake in Dell, is part of a group of shareholders opposed to a proposal by founder Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake to take the company private.

Icahn and private equity company Blackstone have each offered alternative that would keep part of the company public. They have had preliminary talks about working together.

Southeastern Asset Management, the activist investor that owns 8.4 percent of Dell, said earlier this month the computer maker’s evaluation of a $24.4 billion leveraged buyout deal with its founder and buyout firm Silver Lake was flawed.

Southeastern published a letter it sent to Dell’s board of directors asserting the company’s March 29 proxy statement failed to make a compelling case for shareholders to accept the $13.65 per share offer from Michael Dell and Silver Lake. The letter says Dell’s special committee did not properly explore all options.

Dell was regarded as a model of innovation as recently as the early 2000s but has struggled to make up for declining market share of the global PC market.

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U.S. securities regulators on Monday charged a Denver businessman with reaping “substantial” profits using inside information from the former chief executive of Delta Petroleum Corp about an impending investment in the company, Reuters reported. Scott Reiman, founder and president of investment firm Hexagon Inc, agreed to pay nearly $900,000 to settle the civil case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency said. The case against Reiman comes five months after the SEC charged Delta’s former chief executive, Roger Parker, with leaking the news that Beverly Hills-based private investment firm Tracinda Corp had agreed to buy a 35 percent stake in Delta for $684 million.

(Reuters) – U.S. securities regulators on Monday charged a Denver businessman with reaping “substantial” profits using inside information from the former chief executive of Delta Petroleum Corp about an impending investment in the company.

Scott Reiman, founder and president of investment firm Hexagon Inc, agreed to pay nearly $900,000 to settle the civil case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency said.

The case against Reiman comes five months after the SEC charged Delta’s former chief executive, Roger Parker, with leaking the news that Beverly Hills-based private investment firm Tracinda Corp had agreed to buy a 35 percent stake in Delta for $684 million.

In October, the SEC also charged Parker’s friend, insurance executive Michael Van Gilder, with trading based on tips he received from Parker.

Van Gilder is also facing a parallel criminal case. He has pleaded not guilty to five counts of insider trading.

Attorneys for Parker and Van Gilder were not immediately available for comment on Monday evening.

As part of his settlement, Reiman neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing. He will be barred from the securities industry and from acting as an officer or a director of a publicly traded company for a minimum of five years.

“It takes time and money to fight the government, and that detracts from the other goals that Scott wanted to accomplish,” said his lawyer, Cliff Stricklin. “He decided to use his energy in a positive way instead of getting involved in a lengthy battle.”

He agreed to pay $398,000 in disgorgement, $93,567 in interest and $398,000 in penalties.

According to the SEC, Reiman bought Delta stock or option contracts on three occasions in late 2007, each time shortly after speaking with Parker.

In November, the Van Gilder Insurance Corp announced that Van Gilder was taking an “indefinite leave of absence.” He also stepped down as CEO of the company.

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Investment firm Vintage Capital Group LLC offered to buy Anaren Inc for $23 per share in a deal that values the telecommunication components maker at about $300 million. The offer represents a premium of 17 percent to Anaren’s Monday close of $19.61 on the Nasdaq. Anaren shares rose 10 percent in extended trading. Vintage Capital holds 12.8 percent in East Syracuse, New York-based Anaren.

(Reuters) – Investment firm Vintage Capital Group LLC offered to buy Anaren Inc for $23 per share in a deal that values the telecommunication components maker at about $300 million.

The offer represents a premium of 17 percent to Anaren’s Monday close of $19.61 on the Nasdaq. Anaren shares rose 10 percent in extended trading.

Vintage Capital holds 12.8 percent in East Syracuse, New York-based Anaren.

Private equity firm Discovery Equity Partners, which holds a 5.9 percent stake in Anaren, urged the company’s board last week to solicit offers from “certain parties”.

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Texas power company Energy Future Holdings, formerly known as TXU Corp, has proposed a prepackaged bankruptcy that would restructure $32 billion of debt, but no deal has been reached, writes Reuters. The company is trying to restructure more than $30 billion in debt it was saddled with after the buyout by a consortium including KKR & Co, TPG Capital Management and Goldman Sachs Group Inc‘s private equity arm, writes Reuters.

Reuters – Texas power company Energy Future Holdings, formerly known as TXU Corp, has proposed a prepackaged bankruptcy that would restructure $32 billion of debt, but no deal has been reached, the company said on Monday.

Energy Future, taken private in 2007 in the largest-ever leveraged buyout, said in a U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission filing that it has proposed a restructuring deal to creditors that would exchange secured creditors’ claims for a combination of equity and new debt.

“The principals of the companies and the creditors are currently not engaged in ongoing negotiations,” Energy Future said.

It noted, however, that creditors have conveyed they would consider the restructuring if it increased distributions and better compensated them for the risk of taking on equity.

Energy Future is trying to restructure more than $30 billion in debt it was saddled with after the buyout by a consortium including KKR & Co, TPG Capital Management and Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s private equity arm. The $45 billion TXU buyout, which loaded the company with debt, is viewed as one of the most spectacular failures of the last decade’s buyout boom.

The company has a large and complex capital structure, and industry experts have speculated about which entities may be headed for bankruptcy and which could be spared.

Most of Energy Future’s debt sits on the unregulated side, at Texas Competitive Electric Holdings (TCEH), the holding company for its unregulated retail business, TXU Energy, and its unregulated merchant power unit, Luminant.

The company has ringfenced Oncor, its regulated power delivery business, in hopes of keeping it solvent, and the restructuring proposal revealed on Monday would not have included that unit or the holding company that owns its equity.

The proposed restructuring would have allowed TCEH creditors to trade in their senior claims for a combination of equity at the Energy Future parent and a share of $5 billion in cash or new TCEH debt. Under the company’s proposed restructuring, TCEH would pick up $3 billion of new loans and another $5 billion of long-term debt.

The company’s private equity backers proposed a restructuring in which the buyout firms and other equity holders would retain 15 percent of the equity in the reorganized company and creditors would end up with the remaining 85 percent, according to the filing.

The private equity firms also suggested that they could provide additional capital to Energy Future in exchange for a larger share of the company, the filing said.

But according to Monday’s SEC filing, creditors told Energy Future that they believe the company needs to address debt structure issues at its parent as well as at the holding company for ringfenced Oncor.

They said they would not accept the proposed prepackaged bankruptcy unless, among other things, it achieved “a sustainable debt capital structure” for the parent company and Oncor’s holding company “without reliance on TCEH’s cash flows.”

Some of Energy Future’s largest creditors include Apollo Global Management, Oaktree Capital Management, Centerbridge Partners, Fidelity Investments and Franklin Resources, according to a source close to the matter.

Energy Future is not necessarily up against the clock. Although it has about $270 million in interest payments due on May 1, it can easily afford to make them. It has around $2.7 billion in liquidity – plenty for it to survive on, at least until a $3.85 billion bank loan matures in October 2014, a U.S. regulatory filing from January shows.

The TXU takeover was built on hopes that natural gas prices would stay high. Instead, they dropped sharply and are still down 45 percent from February 2007 levels.

Energy Future Holdings is the largest power generator in Texas. Its merchant power unit, Luminant, owns more than 15,000 megawatts of nuclear, coal and gas-fired power plants.

KKR and TPG declined to comment on the matter. Goldman Sachs could not be immediately reached for comment.

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Struggling Chinese solar panel maker Suntech Power Holdings could offload its solar power generation assets in Italy, writes Reuters. The former green tech poster child, with a New York Stock Exchange listing and a market value of $16 billion at its peak, last month defaulted on $541 million of its dollar-denominated bonds and said its biggest subsidiary was bankrupt, writes Reuters.

Reuters – Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd could offload its solar power generation assets in Italy, a company spokesman said on Tuesday, as the struggling Chinese solar panel maker scrambles to trim debts of more than $2 billion.

The former green tech poster child, with a New York Stock Exchange listing and a market value of $16 billion at its peak, last month defaulted on $541 million of its dollar-denominated bonds and said its biggest subsidiary was bankrupt.

A source with direct knowledge of Suntech’s search for a cash infusion said last week it might consider selling its 88.15 percent stake in Global Solar Fund Sicar (GSF Sicar), a Luxembourg-based fund specialising in the development of solar power projects mainly in Italy.

“We intend to operate GSF for the time being and will consider all options to maximize the value for our stakeholders,” a Suntech spokesman said in emailed reply to Reuters.

Asked how it planned to use the proceeds of a sale and whether it had received any interest in the assets, he said Suntech would update investors “in the coming months”.

It is the first time Suntech has publicly acknowledged it could sell the GSF Sicar stake since its announcement last month that its biggest subsidiary, Wuxi Suntech, was bankrupt and would undergo a government-led restructuring.

By some estimates, the fund carries an enterprise value of up to $800 million, including more than $600 million in loans from China Development Bank, analysts say.

Suntech, one of the world’s largest solar panel manufacturers by capacity, is seeking to sell some assets and bring in a strategic investor to repay debt and revitalise the company, the source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters last week.

Even if Suntech disposes of the stake in GSF Sicar, proceeds would not nearly be enough to repay creditors, analysts say.

Creditors would still have to accept a debt restructuring in which they might undertake a loss, convert some debt into equity stakes in Suntech or extend the maturities of parts of their debts.

Shares is Suntech, which peaked at $90 on the New York Stock Exchange in 2008, fell to 58 cents on Monday.

DISTRESSED ASSET

Analysts say the recent settlement of a dispute between Suntech and its former partner in the fund, GSF Capital, may have paved the way for a sale, which in theory could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in cash.

Suntech said in November that it had contributed 156 million euros to the fund. Suntech’s founder and former chairman Shi Zhengrong, who holds the remaining 11.85 percent, had contributed 19 million euros.

But any potential buyer would seek to drive a hard bargain given that Suntech is under pressure to sell.

Suntech was struggling with a net debt-to-equity of around 200 percent and total debts of about $2.2 billion at the end of March 2002.

That included loans from the International Finance Corp (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank, and Chinese lenders including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China , Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China .

“I put a big question mark on whether Suntech can sell off its stake in GSF soon,” said Glenn Gu, a China-based analyst for business information provider IHS. “It will not be a surprise if the stake in GSF is sold at a big discount at the end of the day.”

Suntech said last month it had settled a dispute with GSF Capital Pte Ltd, which sold its 10 percent stake in GSF Sicar to Suntech and a company owned by Shi as part of the settlement.

GSF Sicar owns 142-megawatt solar projects in Italy, 141 MW of which are now connected to the grid — including 118-MW capacity that has obtained Italy’s feed-in tariffs, the Suntech spokesman said.

Feed-in tariffs are government-subsidised power prices as incentives for clean energy development. The euro zone debt crisis has led to the world’s biggest solar power producers such as Germany and Italy slashing subsidies for renewable power, triggering a plunge in solar panel prices in the last two years.

There are no signs of recovery in demand for solar panels this year, according to top executives at several Chinese solar panel makers interviewed by Reuters this week. Chinese solar panel makers are also bracing for a decision to be made by the European Union in June on whether to slap anti-dumping duties on their products.

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Japan’s Panasonic Corp has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch to sell a part of its healthcare unit in a deal that could raise as much as $1 billion writes Reuters. Merrill Lynch will begin providing information on the sale to potential bidders by May, including private equity funds Bain Capital and Carlyle Group, writes Reuters.

Reuters – Japan’s Panasonic Corp has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch to sell a part of its healthcare unit in a deal that could raise as much as $1 billion for the sprawling electronics conglomerate, two financial sources familiar with the deal said.

Merrill Lynch will begin providing information on the sale to potential bidders by May, including private equity funds Bain Capital and Carlyle Group, the sources said on condition they were not identified.

Panasonic’s president, Kazuhiro Tsuga last month said he would seek a partner “with medical knowledge and skills and capital for future growth” to invest in the healthcare unit as part of a wider company revamp to bolster profitability and shift Panasonic away from consumer electronics to supplying components and devices to other companies.

He did not say how big of a stake in the healthcare unit he planned to sell. Before the announcement analysts had expected Panasonic to announce the outright sale of the business, which makes blood-sugar monitoring devices and medical chart systems.

To maintain its cashflow, Panasonic is selling assets, including last month a Tokyo office tower for around $500 million. Tsuga last month also announced the sale of a majority stake in a logistics subsidiary to Nippon Express Co, Japan’s largest transportation company.

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(Reuters) – Brazilian private equity funds are pushing ahead with a plan to win investment commitments from insurers and pension funds that are seeking higher returns on over 1.1 trillion reais (about $550 billion) of money under management.

ABVCAP, as the group representing private equity funds is known, is engaging insurance and pension fund industry regulator Susep in talks to ease caps on investments other than fixed-income securities, said Clovis Meurer, ABVCAP’s president.

Talks with money managers are also underway, he said, adding that the goal is to get pension funds and insurance companies to
funnel up to 15 percent of their investment pool into equities and other alternative investments. A small portion of that could go to private equity and venture capital investments, he added.

“You could have a little over 100 billion reais flowing into equities and, as a result, being spilt over to private equity and venture capital,” Meurer said at a news conference at ABVCAP’s annual summit in Sao Paulo. “This could be a win-win situation for the market.”

The move underpins the growing importance of private equity funds as a source for business in Latin America’s largest economy. Buyout firms have fueled mergers and acquisitions and advisory activity in the past two years, and have responded to this year’s only two initial public offerings.

Traditional investors like pension funds are also struggling to attain minimal return thresholds as interest rates fell to record lows. ABVCAP’s Meurer also expects the drive to lure insurance and pension fund money to help bolster the 80 billion reais in the stock of capital committed by the private equity industry.

According to Luiz Eugenio Figueiredo, a board member for ABVCAP, capital committed by buyout firms rose from 63 billion reais in 2011.

Exits, or the way funds profit on their investments by selling companies to other investors, almost doubled to 6 billion reais last year from 3.6 billion reais in 2011.

(One real is equal to $0.4999, according to Yahoo’s currency converter.)

By Guillermo Parra-Bernal, Reuters

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Wealth management company National Financial Partners said it agreed to be bought by private equity investment firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC for about $1.3 billion, including debt, Reuters reported. Madison Dearborn will pay $25.35 for each National Financial share, a premium of about 8 percent to the stock’s Friday close. National Financial shares were up about 6 percent before the bell on Monday.

(Reuters) – Wealth management company National Financial Partners said it agreed to be bought by private equity investment firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC for about $1.3 billion, including debt.

Madison Dearborn will pay $25.35 for each National Financial share, a premium of about 8 percent to the stock’s Friday close.

National Financial shares were up about 6 percent before the bell on Monday.

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U.S. cable firm Liberty Global won unconditional EU regulatory approval on Monday for its $15.8 billion takeover of Virgin Media, a deal that pits the group against Rupert Murdoch’s British satellite TV operation BSkyB, Reuters reported. The European Commission said it did not have any competition concerns regarding the takeover, confirming a Reuters report last week.

(Reuters) – U.S. cable firm Liberty Global won unconditional EU regulatory approval on Monday for its $15.8 billion takeover of Virgin Media, a deal that pits the group against Rupert Murdoch’s British satellite TV operation BSkyB.

The European Commission said it did not have any competition concerns regarding the takeover, confirming a Reuters report last week.

The EU antitrust authority said this was because the companies operated cable networks in different EU countries and because of the merged group’s limited market position in wholesale TV channels in Britain and Ireland.

The companies valued the deal at $15.8 billion on February 6, the day it was announced.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Rex Merrifield)

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Swiss company Alpiq has asked for improved offers for two Czech power plants after bids were well below its expectations, Czech newspaper Hospodarske Noviny reported on Monday. The newspaper cited a partner in one bidding group, Petr Paukner, as saying that bids for the two plants together came in well below 400 million euros ($523.90 million).

(Reuters) – Swiss company Alpiq has asked for improved offers for two Czech power plants after bids were well below its expectations, Czech newspaper Hospodarske Noviny reported on Monday.

The newspaper cited a partner in one bidding group, Petr Paukner, as saying that bids for the two plants together came in well below 400 million euros ($523.90 million).

Paukner is owner of Czech energy trader Carbounion Bohemia, which is bidding for the Alpiq plants with two other companies. He was not available to comment.

Alpiq declined to comment on the newspaper’s report. Hospodarske Noviny said three bidders remained and had to submit improved offers by Wednesday.

The three bidders are the PURS group, consisting of Czech companies Carbounion, E-Invest and Sokolovska Uhelna; Czech energy holding EPH; and investment group Carpaterra Capital Partners.

EPH declined to comment on the report, while Carpaterra could not be reached.

Alpiq’s two Czech plants up for sale have electricity capacity of 529 MW and heating capacity of 1,072 MW.

($1 = 0.7635 euros) (Reporting by Jason Hovet and Jan Korselt; editing by Keiron Henderson)

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A private equity fund sponsored by French luxury brand LVMH Group has snapped up just under half of Australia’s R.M. Williams in deal aimed at helping the bushwear firm expand further overseas, Reuters wrote. The sale of the 49.9 percent holding was valued at around A$52 million ($55 million), said a source close to the deal who was not authorised to speak on the record. Singapore-based L Capital Asia, which is also backed by Groupe Arnault, the holding company of LVMH chairman and chief executive Bernard Arnault, and Malaysia’s YTL Corp, specialises in developing distinctive but affordable brands in the Asia-Pacific region.

(Reuters) – A private equity fund sponsored by French luxury brand LVMH Group has snapped up just under half of Australia’s R.M. Williams in deal aimed at helping the bushwear firm expand further overseas.

The sale of the 49.9 percent holding was valued at around A$52 million ($55 million), said a source close to the deal who was not authorised to speak on the record.

Singapore-based L Capital Asia, which is also backed by Groupe Arnault, the holding company of LVMH chairman and chief executive Bernard Arnault, and Malaysia’s YTL Corp, specialises in developing distinctive but affordable brands in the Asia-Pacific region.

Last year it took a 50 percent stake in upmarket Australian food store Jones the Grocer.

Ken Cowley, chairman and owner of R.M. Williams, which is known for its elastic-sided boots, will retain the majority holding. He said L Capital had committed to retaining Australian manufacturing for the firm’s products.

The 81-year-old Australian company has more than 50 stores around the world. The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-May and new board members announced at that time.

($1 = 0.9522 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Jane Wardell; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

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U.S. private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC has bought a minority stake in Indian engineering equipment maker Avtec Ltd, but the terms of the transaction were not disclosed, Reuters reported. The investment will provide an exit to British investor Actis and will be utilised to fund future growth of the company, Avtec said in a statement. In 2005, Actis invested $17.8 million to buy a 30 percent stake in the company, promoted by diversified C.K. Birla Group.

(Reuters) – U.S. private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC has bought a minority stake in Indian engineering equipment maker Avtec Ltd, but the terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The investment will provide an exit to British investor Actis and will be utilised to fund future growth of the company, Avtec said in a statement.

In 2005, Actis invested $17.8 million to buy a 30 percent stake in the company, promoted by diversified C.K. Birla Group.

Last week, Warburg Pincus sold its controlling stake in India’s Alliance Tire Group to KKR & Co. LP. .

Ernst & Young advised Avtec and Actis in the transaction, the statement said. (Reporting by Indulal PM; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)

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Thermo Fisher Scientific is nearing a deal to buy genetic testing equipment maker Life Technologies for close to $13 billion, writes Reuters. Life Technologies’ board chose Thermo Fisher over Sigma-Aldrich Corp, a maker of chemicals for research laboratories, and a private equity consortium consisting of Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, KKR and Temasek Holdings, writes Reuters.

Reuters – Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc is nearing a deal to buy genetic testing equipment maker Life Technologies Corp for close to $13 billion, according to four people familiar with the matter, in what would be one of the year’s biggest corporate takeovers.

The acquisition would catapult Thermo Fisher into the hot field of genetic sequencing, where researchers, drugmakers and doctors are uncovering the genetic factors underpinning diseases to better tailor treatments to the patients.

Life Technologies’ board met on Saturday to review three takeover offers. It chose Thermo Fisher over Sigma-Aldrich Corp , a maker of chemicals for research laboratories, and a private equity consortium consisting of Blackstone Group LP , Carlyle Group LP, KKR & Co LP and Temasek Holdings, the sources said on Sunday.

The final price being negotiated is in the region of $75 per share, valuing Life Technologies at close to $13 billion, one of the sources added. A deal could come as soon as Monday, though negotiations could yet fall apart as terms are being finalized.

Life Technologies, Thermo Fisher, Sigma-Aldrich and the private equity consortium did not respond to requests for comment.

Analysts have previously said the combination of Waltham, Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher and Carlsbad, California-based Life Technologies would create an unparalleled life sciences company and put Thermo on the road to $20 billion in revenues.

Life Technologies would be Thermo Fisher’s biggest acquisition since the $12.8 billion merger in 2006 of Thermo Electron and Fisher Scientific International that created the world’s largest maker of scientific equipment and laboratory instruments.

A deal at $75 per share would represent a premium of 36 percent on Life Technologies’ closing share price on Jan. 17, the day before it announced it had mandated Deutsche Bank AG and Moelis & Co to assist in a strategic review.

The stock closed at $68 on the Nasdaq on Friday, up 39 percent so far this year on speculation about a possible deal. The S&P 500 Index is up just 11.4 percent in the same period.

PERSONALIZED MEDICINE

Life Technologies, which has a market value of $11.6 billion and debt of about $2.4 billion, explored a sale after previous attempts by Chief Executive Gregory Lucier to boost the value of the company’s shares and capture more market share from rival Illumina Inc proved unsuccessful.

Illumina had already demonstrated the appeal of gene-sequencing companies that help analyze a person’s genetic blueprint to develop personalized medical treatment. Drugmaker Roche Holding AG had made a $6.8 billion hostile offer for Illumina last year but walked away when the company demanded a higher price.

Life Technologies had also attracted interest from Roche and industrial and healthcareconglomerate Danaher Corp, sources previously told Reuters. Yet in the end it was only Thermo Fisher and Sigma-Aldrich that saw enough synergies to pursue a merger.

Thermo Fisher’s products range from the most basic scientific equipment, such as test tubes, to advanced mass spectrometry equipment used to determine the chemical structure of molecules. It also sells chemicals, agents and antibodies used in the manufacturing and research of biotech medicine, and has enhanced its portfolio of environmental safety products for testing air and water quality and food safety in recent years.

The Life Technologies deal would boost Thermo Fisher’s presence in scientific research, genetic analysis and applied sciences. Thermo Fisher has been quite acquisitive in recent years, buying Phadia for $3.5 billion in 2011 and Dionex for $2.1 billion in 2010.

Life Technologies had sought a higher price from bidders after receiving committed offers last Tuesday, the people familiar with the matter said. They asked not to be identified because the matter is not yet public.

The private equity consortium also raised its offer on Friday from $65 to about $67 per share, short of Thermo Fisher’s bid, one of the people said.

The price and structure of the offer from Sigma-Aldrich, which has a $9.2 billion market value and has been working with Morgan Stanley on the offer, could not be determined. Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

At 15.2 times projected 12-month earnings, Life Technologies already trades at a premium to its peer group, which averages 13.9 times projected 12-month earnings, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Life Technologies is also the product of the combination of two companies – Invitrogen, a maker of cultures used in the manufacture of biotech medicines, and the genetic testing company Applied Biosystems.

Paulson & Co, a top Life Technologies shareholder which has a stake in the company of more than 8 percent, would be supportive of a deal at $75 per share as it stands to make a profit of about $400 million, according to two people familiar with the hedge fund manager. Paulson declined to comment.

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A private equity fund sponsored by French luxury brand LVMH Group has snapped up just under half of Australia’s R.M. Williams, writes Reuters. The sale of the 49.9 percent holding was valued at around A$52 million ($55 million), writes Reuters.

Reuters – A private equity fund sponsored by French luxury brand LVMH Group has snapped up just under half of Australia’s R.M. Williams in deal aimed at helping the bushwear firm expand further overseas.

The sale of the 49.9 percent holding was valued at around A$52 million ($55 million), said a source close to the deal who was not authorised to speak on the record.

Singapore-based L Capital Asia, which is also backed by Groupe Arnault, the holding company of LVMH chairman and chief executive Bernard Arnault, and Malaysia’s YTL Corp, specialises in developing distinctive but affordable brands in the Asia-Pacific region.

Last year it took a 50 percent stake in upmarket Australian food store Jones the Grocer.

Ken Cowley, chairman and owner of R.M. Williams, which is known for its elastic-sided boots, will retain the majority holding. He said L Capital had committed to retaining Australian manufacturing for the firm’s products.

The 81-year-old Australian company has more than 50 stores around the world. The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-May and new board members announced at that time.

($1 = 0.9522 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Jane Wardell; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

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