The Daily Deal articles from April 2002

The Daily Deal archives from April 2002

Abraxas sheds gas plant, reserves.
April 1, 2002... San Antonio natural gas explorer Abraxas Petroleum Corp. said Thursday its Canadian units, Grey Wolf Exploration Inc. and Canadian Abraxas Petroleum Ltd., agreed to sell their interests in a natural gas processing plant and associated reserves...

Advanced Energy finishes Dressler HF Technik buy.
April 1, 2002... Advanced Energy Industries Inc., a Fort Collins, Colo., maker of components for the manufacture of computer chips and other products, said last week it has completed the acquisition of Dressler HF Technik GmbH for $16.7 million. Based in...

Arryx.
April 1, 2002... Chicago-based Arryx Inc., a provider of laser systems for the drug and biotech industries, has completed a $2.1 million second round of funding. Investors include Draper Fisher Jurvetson Fund VII, Fahnestock Venture Capital Fund and ARCH...

BlueChip.
April 1, 2002... Belfast, Ireland-based BlueChip Technologies Ltd. said Thursday it has closed a [pound]3 million ($4.3 million) round of financing from Irish investors Enterprise Equity, the Viridian Growth Fund and the University Challenge Fund. Founded in...

Bravanta.
April 1, 2002... Online employee incentive company Bravanta Inc. is expected to announce its third round of venture funding today. The San Francisco-based company's $11.4 million financing comes from private investors led by the Sprout Group of New York. Also...

Ceon.
April 1, 2002... Broadband communications services startup Ceon Corp. announced Thursday a $10 million fourth round of funding. The Redwood City, Calif.-based provisioning systems developer received the financing from an investor group including Sutter Hill...

Cerberus acquires Dia debts.
April 1, 2002... New York investment group Cerberus Ltd. will buy debts totaling [yen]140 billion ($1 billion), owed by Japanese construction company Dia Kensetsu Co. Ltd. from the government's Resolution and Collection Corp., according to Japanese media...

Conoco execs to get $27M to stay with Phillips.
April 1, 2002... Houston oil company Conoco Inc. said last week it agreed to pay two executives $27 million to remain after its $15 billion merger with Phillips Petroleum Co. of Bartlesville, Okla. According to a proxy filed with the U.S. Securities and...

GotMarketing.
April 1, 2002... E-mail marketing software developer GotMarketing said Thursday it had received a $6 million round of funding from private investors. Mosaic Venture Partners of Toronto led the round, with additional participation by Celtic House of Kanata,...

HSBC Private Equity led buyout of Crown Cork unit.
April 1, 2002... London's HSBC Private Equity said last week that it led and arranged a [Euro]97 million ($85 million) management buyout of the European pharmaceuticals unit from Philadelphia-based packaging company Crown Cork & Seal Co. HSBC Private Equity and...

I-many grabs Menerva Tech.
April 1, 2002... Portland, Maine, business-to-business software provider I-many Inc. has acquired enterprise software company Menerva Technologies Inc. for $8.5 million in cash and stock plus additional consideration based on future performance. I-many...

PGS, Veritas discussing new merger terms.
April 1, 2002... Norwegian oil services company Petroleum Geo-Services ASA said March 28 it and Veritas DGC Inc. of Houston are discussing possible amendments to their $650 million merger agreement. Veritas' stock was halted on the New York Stock Exchange...

Polymer seeks to void involuntary bankruptcy.
April 1, 2002... Polymer Group Inc. last week filed a motion to dismiss the involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition certain unsecured creditors of the company filed against it. The motion was filed last week with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of...

Quovadx gets Outlaw Technologies.
April 1, 2002... Quovadx Inc., an Englewood, Colo., supplier of business software, said last week that it has acquired its Boulder, Colo., rival Outlaw Technologies for $2.72 million in cash and stock. Privately held Outlaw specializes in software geared to...

Reliance Steel makes two buys.
April 1, 2002... Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. ,a Los Angeles metals service center company, said it agreed to purchase privately held Kansas City, Kan., competitor Central Plains Steel Co. and Denver rival Olympic Metals Inc. for undisclosed sums. CPS, a...

SafeHarbor.
April 1, 2002... Satsop, Wash.-based SafeHarbor Technology Corp. has raised $7.5 million in a fourth round of venture financing. Kirkland, Wash.-based OVP Venture Partners led the funding round. Other investors included Wheatley Partners, Covestco and...

TranSwitch takes over N.J. unit.
April 1, 2002... TranSwitch Corp., a Shelton, Conn., chip maker, said last week it bought New Jersey's Systems On Silicon Inc. in a transaction valued at $2.6 million. SOSi makes similar products for voice and data networks. TranSwitch paid $900,00 in cash and...

Zarlink sells chip plant to X-Fab.
April 1, 2002... Canadian chipmaker Zarlink Semiconductor Inc. said last week that it would sell its wafer plant in Plymouth, U.K., to Germany's X-Fab Semiconductor Foundries AG for $30 million. Zarlink, based in Ottawa, said it would receive $12 million in...

Dictaphone exits Chapter 11.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Soma Biswas Dictaphone Corp., the Stratford, Conn.-based maker of voice recognition systems and communications recordings systems, has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection independent from its former parent, Lernout &...

Equity firms hold piece of First Avenue Networks.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Terry Brennan Advance Radio Telecom Corp. on April 1 emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy renamed First Avenue Networks and under the control of four private equity firms holding 72.4% of its equity. All told, that stake in...

Equitable called shots on 1515 B'way.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Jonathan Berke Why would a building owner put the property into bankruptcy if it had three bids for it? That's at the center of last week's announcement that an SL Green Realty Corp.-led partnership was going to acquire 1515...

BMK to sell assets to Sun Capital.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Jonathan Berke Bankrupt retail distributor BMK Inc. said April 1 it entered a deal to sell its assets to an affiliate of the private equity firm Sun Capital Partners Inc. for $55 million in cash plus the assumption of certain debt....

Bankrupt Alistia stakeholders, trustee to meet.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Soma Biswas Creditors, investors and the trustee overseeing the bankruptcy of Alistia Inc., an Austin, Texas-based online purveyor of customer lists used by direct marketers, will meet April 4, the company's attorney said April 1....

Adelphia Business gets access to $27M of DIP.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Jonathan Berke A New York judge April 1 allowed bankrupt Adelphia Business Solutions Inc. interim access to $27 million of its projected $135 million debtor-in-possession financing facility. Judge Stuart Bernstein of the U.S....

Icahn's sweetened XO bid might not tip scales.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Kelly Holman While the takeover battle between financier Carl Icahn and Forstmann Little & Co. for troubled XO Communications Inc. remains a bidding war, it appears Icahn's $750 million position in the company is not enough for a...

Covanta goes bankrupt, sells out to KKR.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Claire Poole in Houston Failing to find a buyer to save it from bankruptcy, Fairfield, N.J.-based power plant developer Covanta Energy Corp. threw in the towel April 1, announcing it and 124 affiliates had filed a voluntary petition...

NTL halts interest payments, talks continue.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Peter Lauria in New York Britain's top cable operator NTL Inc. said it withheld interest payments that were due April 1 on three of its high-yield notes at the request of an unofficial bondholder's creditors committee. NTL,...

Murdoch may ride to Kirch rescue.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Richard Morgan Talks about dismembering beleaguered German media giant Kirch Group, scheduled to begin April 2 in Los Angeles, could cast host Rupert Murdoch in the unlikely role of white knight. Granted, the elevated status of...

KDIC to proceed with Woori IPO.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Gina Chon in Seoul The Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. announced April 1 that it plans to sell a 10% stake in May in Woori Finance Holdings Co., a collection of government-rescued domestic financial institutions, through an initial...

Monex says it is considering a merger with rival.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Charles Smith TOKYO -- One of Japan's biggest online brokerages, Monex Inc., is considering a merger with smaller rival DLJdirect SFG Securities Inc. Credit Suisse First Boston owns 50% of DLJdirect SFG, while the Sumitomo...

South Korean ISP upheaval threatens deals.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Gina Chon in Seoul South Korea's second- and third-largest Internet service providers are unsure whether they will continue with their joint bid for high-speed cable network company Powercomm Co. now that merger talks between the...

ABB expected to survive credit downgrades.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Renee Cordes Swiss-Swedish engineering giant ABB is reeling after the drubbings it has suffered in recent months. But with several assets it's preparing for sale and a core business that remains strong, the company is seeking to...

Companies embrace short-form mergers.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Eric Young in San Francisco By last fall, UtiliCorp United Inc. executives had decided it was time to bring their subsidiary, Aquila Inc., back into the fold. UtiliCorp, of Kansas City, Mo., spun out a 20% equity stake of...

Brazilian regulators scrutinize zinc merger.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Mike Kepp RIO DE JANEIRO ? Brazil's antitrust agency Cade will likely impose conditions on a deal, closed last week, in which the Votorantim Group, Brazil's No. 1 zinc producer, agreed to buy its biggest local rival, a Cade...

Cendant builds on timeshares.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Greg Johnson Cendant Corp. is serious about leisure time. The New York parent of Avis and Days Inn announced April 1 that it is adding to its timeshare empire with a $968 million acquisition of Trendwest Resorts Inc. ...

McAfee investors await higher offer.
April 1, 2002... Byline: David Shabelman SAN FRANCISCO ? Price action in shares of McAfee.com Corp. suggests shareholders continue to hold out for a higher offer from Network Associates Inc. as the parent company attempts to buy out the anti-virus...

HP boots dissident Hewlett off board.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Olaf de Senerpont Domis in San Francisco Despite a long, acrimonious proxy fight, Hewlett-Packard Co. was set to renominate Walter Hewlett to its corporate board. Then came the last straw: the dissident director's March 28 lawsuit...

ING delays S. Korean bank deal until rule changes.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Gina Chon in Seoul SEOUL ? Kookmin Bank, South Korea's largest lender, and strategic shareholder ING Group NV will postpone a decision on whether the Netherlands-based investor will raise its 4% stake in Kookmin until South Korea...

Private Equity Auction Block - April 2, 2002.
April 1, 2002... Byline: George White Full M&A Auction Block listsings ? NEW ON THE BLOCK Wicks Business Information llc, owner of financial database and newsletters owned by private equity firm Wicks Group of Cos. llc Banker: Jordan,...

First Atlantic holds cookie sale.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Josh Kosman Now you can buy Otis Spunkmeyer cookies at your favorite convenience store ? or at auction. New York private equity firm First Atlantic Capital Ltd. is selling cookie company Otis Spunkmeyer Inc. and is nearing...

Golden Gate gets $23M.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Clifford Carlsen Hybrid venture capital and buyout firm Summit Partners has put $23 million into Golden Gate Software to turn the profitable 7-year-old infrastructure company into a sharper competitor in the market for data...

Dealflow ??April 1, 2002.
April 1, 2002... Byline: complied by George White COMPUTER HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE BlueChip Belfast, Ireland-based BlueChip Technologies Ltd. said Thursday it has closed a ?3 million ($4.3 million) round of financing from Irish investors Enterprise...

Another $3.7M sustains instant messenger IMlogic.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Vyvyan Tenorio Boston startup IMlogic Inc., which provides software for instant messaging, scored $3.75 million in a hard-earned Series A financing on the back of a licensing agreement with Microsoft Corp. Francis deSouza, CEO...

Old-fashioned drug development nets $55M.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Clifford Carlsen In a biotechnology industry increasingly preoccupied with the latest in gene manipulation, information technology and close corporate alliances, Carlsbad, Calif.-based CancerVax Inc. raised one of the largest...

New TH Lee Putnam chief plans hires.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Katherine Goncharoff Former American Express chief Harvey Golub, who has agreed to become chairman of TH Lee Putnam Ventures, said April 1 one of his first moves will be to beef up the staff of its $1.1 billion fund. Private...

Military supplier Quantum raises $20M.
April 1, 2002... Byline: Vyvyan Tenorio Quantum 3D Inc., a maker of visual computing systems for the military, recovered from bad timing in raising capital in 2000 to emerge with $20 million in a late-stage, insider-led financing to be announced today. ...

AmericanWest Bancorp takes Latah.
April 2, 2002... Spokane financial company AmericanWest Bancorp said Monday it would acquire Latah, Wash.-based commercial bank Latah Bancorp in a transaction valued at $17.55 million. AWB said it would pay $13.49 million in cash and offer 0.5192 shares of its...

Bankrupt BMK sold to Sun Capital.
April 2, 2002... Bankrupt retail distributor BMK Inc. said Monday it entered a deal to sell its assets to an affiliate of the Boca Raton, Fla.-based private equity firm Sun Capital Partners Inc. for $55 million in cash plus the assumption of certain debt. City...

ChainCast Networks.
April 2, 2002... San Jose, Calif.-based ChainCast Networks, a developer of streaming media software, said Monday it has secured $4 million in its Series C round of financing. Funding will be used to launch new services and software products for enterprise...

Dictaphone emerges from bankruptcy, free of L&H.
April 2, 2002... Dictaphone Corp., a Stratford, Conn.-based maker of voice recognition systems and communications recordings systems, has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy independent of its former parent, Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV. The U.S....

DigitalBees.
April 2, 2002... Systems monitoring software developer DigitalBees of San Jose, Calif., said Monday it had raised $6.6 million in its second round of venture funding. The round was led by Cardinal Venture Capital of Menlo Park, Calif., and included returning...

El Paso closes $525M worth of oil and gas sales.
April 2, 2002... Houston energy company El Paso Corp. said Monday it closed $525 million worth of oil and gas property sales to various buyers in the first quarter. The assets include 527 billion cubic feet of natural gas proved reserves in East and South...

International Paper sells N.H. property for $32.7M.
April 2, 2002... Stanford, Conn.-based International Paper Co. said Monday it sold 171,500 acres in New Hampshire to the Trust for Public Land for $32.7 million. The trust, based in Concord, N.H., said Monday it immediately sold 25,000 acres to the Nature...

McMoRan sells sulfur assets.
April 2, 2002... New Orleans energy company McMoRan Exploration Co. said Monday that its Freeport-McMoRan Sulphur llc unit has agreed to sell its transportation, marketing and terminaling assets to Gulf Sulphur Services Ltd. llp, a joint venture between IMC...

National Golf merging with rival.
April 2, 2002... National Golf Properties Inc. said Monday it entered a merger with its primary tenant American Golf Corp. in an all-stock deal. Terms call for each National Golf share to be exchanged for one share of a new corporation. American Golf...

Northfield hires REI Canada.
April 2, 2002... Toronto-based Northfield Inc. said Monday it has retained REI Capital Canada Ltd. as its financial adviser on the takeover of REB Gaming Inc. Under the deal announced Jan. 11, Northfield will exchange 33% of its shares for REB Gaming....

Nyfix succeeds in getting Javelin Technologies.
April 2, 2002... Nyfix Inc., a Stamford, Conn.-based supplier of electronic trading systems, announced Monday that it has completed its $55 million acquisition of New York rival Javelin Technologies Inc. Nyfix parted with about $11 million in cash and about $44...

Pelago Networks.
April 2, 2002... Marlborough, Mass.-based Pelago Networks, a provider of a voice and Internet-protocol-enabled technology for wire line and mobile carriers, has secured $32 million in new Series B equity and debt financing. Advent International, a new investor...

Quest Diagnostics finishes $500M buy of AML.
April 2, 2002... Quest Diagnostics Inc., a Teterboro, N.J.-based medical testing company, said Monday it has closed on its $500 million purchase of Chantilly, Va.-based rival American Medical Laboratories Inc. AML was sold by Chicago private equity firm GTCR...

RadioFrame.
April 2, 2002... Wireless infrastructure company RadioFrame Networks Inc., of Redmond, Wash., has secured $15 million in a third round of funding. Ericsson Venture Partners led the round with an $8 million investment. Other investors included venture firm...

Saqqara Systems.
April 2, 2002... San Jose, Calif.-based Saqqara Systems Inc. has received an additional $5 million from its existing group of investors including Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, Edgewater Funds and Vision Capital. The...

Sleep Solutions.
April 2, 2002... Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sleep Solutions Inc., a technology and service provider for at-home testing and evaluation of sleep-disordered breathing, said Monday it has secured about $7 million in additional financing. Investors included MedVenture...

Team Health gets Spectrum Health.
April 2, 2002... Team Health Inc., a Knoxville, Tenn., provider of hospital physician services, announced Monday it has agreed to acquire St. Louis rival Spectrum Healthcare Resources Inc. Team Health declined to divulge a purchase price, but said the deal is...

Wedge Net acquires Sequiam Inc.
April 2, 2002... Wedge Net Experts Inc., a Knoxville, Tenn.-based development-stage Internet consulting company, said Monday it acquired Orlando, Fla., business software supplier Sequiam Inc. for $23 million in stock. Wedge Net is offering 20 million of its...

Williams closes sale of Wyoming properties.
April 2, 2002... Tulsa, Okla., energy company Williams Cos. said Monday it closed the sale of oil and gas properties in the Wind River basin of central Wyoming to an undisclosed buyer for $73 million. Williams picked up the properties as part of its acquisition...

Can Icahn convince bondholders of XO's value?
April 2, 2002... Byline: Jonathan Berke Margaret Patel cashed in her investment in XO Communications Inc. when the getting was good -- in 1999. "At first, the idea of a competitive local exchange carrier was exciting," said Patel, a portfolio manager...

Polymer, bondholder group talking again.
April 2, 2002... Byline: Terry Brennan A dissident bondholder group that filed an involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy against Polymer Group Inc. agreed April 2 to suspend its petition and reopen talks on an out-of-court restructuring in return for a greater...

Gray grabs 22 stations out of Chapter 11.
April 2, 2002... Byline: Richard Morgan Gray Communications Systems Inc. detailed plans April 2 to take the 22 television stations owned by Benedek Broadcasting Corp. out of bankruptcy and to establish them as a wholly owned subsidiary in a cash deal...

Fairchild Dornier files for bankruptcy.
April 2, 2002... Byline: Jonathan Braude in Berlin German regional aircraft builder Fairchild Dornier applied for protection from its creditors April 2, and a court-appointed interim insolvency administrator has begun seeking bridge financing and a new...

Andersen defections from KPMG plan increase.
April 2, 2002... Byline: Nicola Hobday in London and Mike Elkin in Madrid The more Andersen Worldwide insisted its non-U.S. operations would merge as a group with KPMG International the more unrealistic the plan seemed to become. A brace of new...

Calpers wants Aetna to change governance measures.
April 2, 2002... Byline: Ron Orol in Washington The nation's largest pension fund is urging Aetna Inc. to revamp key corporate governance provisions. "We are most concerned about a provision at Aetna where shareholders cannot vote on deciding whether...

CSFB cuts 300 banking jobs.
April 2, 2002... Byline: Heidi Moore and David Weidner Credit Suisse First Boston's John Mack has wielded his knife again. CSFB said April 2 it is cutting 300 investment banking jobs worldwide, including up to 50 managing directors. The cuts represent...

Aussie airport fund MAp makes lackluster debut.
April 2, 2002... Byline: Giles Parkinson SYDNEY ? The first aviation investment to be offered to the Australian public since Sept. 11, Macquarie Airports, made an uninspiring debut April 2 when the airport investment fund managed by investment bank...

Shell buys Enterprise Oil for $6.2B.
April 2, 2002... Byline: Nicola Hobday LONDON -- Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell Group said Tuesday it agreed to buy Enterprise Oil plc for [pound]4.3 billion ($6.2 billion) in cash and assumed debt, ending Enterprise's struggle to remain independent. The...

USA Networks acquires TV Travel Group.
April 2, 2002... Byline: Peter Lauria Ever see a commercial for an exotic island getaway and wish your TV remote could take you there? Barry Diller's USA Networks Inc., plans to make such escapist fantasies a reality. Sort of. Extending the reach of...

Deal Traveler.
April 2, 2002... Byline: Erica Schlesinger North America Canada's Masonite International Corp., a manufacturer of doors and other building products, has sold its Towanda, Pa.-based subsidiary Craftmaster Manufacturing Inc. to meet regulatory concerns....

Conseco sells insurance unit.
April 2, 2002... Byline: David Weidner Moving to erase a cash shortfall, Conseco Inc. has agreed to sell its variable insurance subsidiary to Protective Life Corp., the companies said April 2. Though a price wasn't disclosed, Birmingham, Ala.-based...

Kroll grabs Ontrack for $140M in stock.
April 2, 2002... Byline: David Shabelman SAN FRANCISCO ? Ontrack Data International Inc. has stepped to the altar before, only for the marriage to collapse at the last moment. But things are expected to be different for the data recovery software maker the...

Sempra unit makes third Enron asset buy.
April 2, 2002... Byline: Claire Poole Sempra Energy Trading, the wholesale trading unit of San Diego utility Sempra Energy, said late April 2 it agreed to buy Henry Bath Ltd., a provider of warehousing services for non-ferrous metals in Europe and Asia,...

South Korea to resume sale of power plants.
April 2, 2002... Byline: Gina Chon SEOUL ? Thousands of workers at the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. ended their five-week strike April 2, clearing the way for the government to advance the privatization of the company's five power plants. The...

Two bids arrive for Railtrack assets.
April 2, 2002... Byline: Laura Board LONDON -- Britain's Railtrack Group plc, the parent of the rail network put into administration last year by the government, said April 2 it had received two offers for assets that could bring relief to shareholders....

Soci?te G?n?rale buys Boursorama.
April 2, 2002... Byline: Joshua Jaffe Two months after British Internet bank Egg plc snapped up a French rival, Soci?t? G?n?rale is moving to expand its Internet unit, and there are indications it's not the only French lender interested in buying online...

Mexico's Cablevision plans acquisitions.
April 2, 2002... Byline: Daniel J. McCosh MEXICO CITY ? Empresas Cablevision SA de CV, Mexico's largest cable TV operator, plans to enter an acquisition phase following this week's secondary offer for 49% of the company, according to its prospectus. ...

Natexis bids for Coface.
April 2, 2002... Byline: Alan Tillier PARIS ? French financial company Natexis Banques Populaires SA has offered as much as ?635 million ($558 million) for full ownership of Coface SA, France's No. 1 export credit insurer. Natexis already owns 18.7% of...