The Daily Deal articles from April 2003

The Daily Deal archives from April 2003

Agiplan Technosoft close to bankruptcy.
April 1, 2003... German facility management software maker Agiplan Technosoft AG said it can no longer pay its bills and will likely seek protection from creditors. "Although the order book at the start of the year as well as new orders would lead to a...

Close Brothers gets V.Ships Group stake.
April 1, 2003... British midmarket investor Close Brothers Private Equity Ltd. bought a 45% stake in privately held international shipping services and management business V.Ships Group for an investment of about $30 million. The investment will be made through...

Finland sells car inspection agency.
April 1, 2003... Finland's Transport Ministry said Monday that it has agreed to sell Suomen Autokatsastus Oy, its motor vehicle inspection unit, for [Euro]59 million ($64.3 million) to a newly established company in which Finnish buyout specialist MB Funds has...

Kraft Foods gets Eygptian food company.
April 1, 2003... Kraft Foods Inc. said Monday that its international unit has agreed to buy Family Nutrition Co. SAE, an Egyptian maker of biscuits and snack cakes. Terms were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. Family Nutrition,...

Lakeland Bancorp buying CSB Financial.
April 1, 2003... Lakeland Bancorp Inc., the Oak Ridge, N.J., parent of Lakeland Bank, said Monday it is acquiring CSB Financial Corp., the Teaneck, N.J., holding company of Community State Bank, in a transaction valued at about $34 million. The purchase price...

Viisage Technology taking German rival.
April 1, 2003... Littleton, Mass., biometrics company Viisage Technology Inc. reported Monday it has agreed to buy Bochum, Germany-based rival ZN Vision Technologies AG for about $28 million in stock. Viisage is offering roughly 6.3 million in newly issued...

Acesa takes control of parking lot operator.
April 1, 2003... Toll-road giant Autopistas Concesionaria Espanola SA, or Acesa, paid [Euro]134 million ($146 million) to take control of parking company Saba Aparcamientos SA. Acesa made the purchase of 40% of Saba from CaixaHolding, a division of...

Cumulus Media picks up 4 Athens stations.
April 1, 2003... Cumulus Media Inc., the nation's second-largest radio group, announced Tuesday it was buying four stations in Huntsville, Ala., for $22 million in stock from Athens Broadcasting Co. The deal transfers WZYP-FM, WUSX-FM, WVNN-AM and WUMP-AM to...

Guidant buys control of SyneCor LLC.
April 1, 2003... In its third deal in three weeks, Indianapolis medical device maker Guidant Corp. said Tuesday it spent $10 million to buy SyneCor LLC, a small rival that's developing a device to combat blockage of arteries. Guidant has agreed to spend another...

Reliant Resources completes refinancing.
April 1, 2003... Houston power producer Reliant Resources Inc. said late Monday it completed a $6.2 billion financing package that refinances $5.9 billion in bank facilities with new lines maturing in four years and gives it $300 million in additional credit....

Sonicblue now pinning its hopes on auction.
April 1, 2003... Bankrupt Santa Clara, Calif., electronics retailer Sonicblue Inc. reported Tuesday it would sell its assets in a court-run auction after talks with Japan's D&M Holding Inc. fell through. On March 21, Sonicblue and three of its subsidiaries...

United States Steel buys Serbian steel mill.
April 1, 2003... United States Steel Corp. said Tuesday that its Serbian subsidiary, U.S. Steel Balkan, has acquired Sartid Co. and six of its subsidiaries for $23 million. Sartid is a bankrupt producer of steel sheet and tin mill products. The purchases close...

BTI goes bankrupt.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Laura King in Toronto Battery Technologies Inc. said Monday, March 31, it will seek bankruptcy protection from creditors and warned that it could be forced to liquidate in 30 days. The Richmond Hill, Ontario, maker of...

Hayes Lemmerz reorg plan may stall.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Jonathan Berke Hayes Lemmerz Corp. will face a roadblock when it tries to get its reorganization plan confirmed later this month. Certain vulture investors have accumulated a blocking position in Hayes' bank debt, and they...

Venture Holdings files Ch. 11.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Greg Johnson Blaming losses in its European divisions, automotive component maker Venture Holdings Co. LLC has filed for Chapter 11 protection in Detroit. Because the Fraser, Mich.-based company has already had extensive...

Peregrine reorg gives equity to holders.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Shanon D. Murray Peregrine Systems Inc.'s amended reorganization plan may have added a few bells and whistles, but it still hasn't garnered the support of the bankrupt software company's unsecured creditors' committee. San...

AMR continues talks with unions.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Lou Whiteman in Atlanta Negotiations between AMR Corp. and its unions continued Monday, March 31, as the company scrambled to avoid filing for bankruptcy protection. The Fort Worth-based company, which owns American Airlines,...

Judge denies Wherehouse DIP.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Jonathan Berke Wherehouse Entertainment Inc. was denied $45 million in debtor-in-possession financing by a federal bankruptcy judge Monday, March 31. The DIP loan, from Congress Financial Corp., would have given Wherehouse...

Melnyk bids for Ottawa hockey club.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Laura King in Toronto Canadian billionaire Eugene Melnyk has made a formal bid to buy the bankrupt Ottawa Senators hockey club. In a statement late Monday, March 31, Melnyk said his bid includes the Corel Centre, the Senators'...

CEO Shuffle: week of March 31.
April 1, 2003... Byline: David Ehrlich Allegations of fraud abound in CEO news, as HealthSouth Corp. gives the official pink slip to its former chief executive, Hungary sweeps out the chief executive and board of directors at its national airline and...

Royal & Sun readies Promina IPO.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Brian Cattell in London Britain's Royal & Sun Alliance Group plc on Monday, March 31, unveiled the price range for an initial public offering of its Australian and New Zealand unit on the Sydney Stock Exchange that could raise as...

Cement-maker TPI Polene pulls IPO.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Josey Puliyenthuruthel In a move that places its debt restructuring plans in jeopardy, TPI Polene PCL, a subsidiary of Thailand's largest corporate borrower, withdrew an offer to sell shares Monday after failing to get sufficient...

Japan's chemical giants scrap merger.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Charles Smith in Tokyo Two of Japan's top chemical makers, Sumitomo Chemical Co. and Mitsui Chemicals Inc., on Monday, March 31, called off a long-planned merger plan that would have made them No. 1 in Japan and among the world's...

Sports Authority review no cause for panic; Sports Authority review no cause for panic.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Scott Stuart See today's Arbitrage situations chart. The $240 million merger of Gart Sport Co. and Sports Authority Inc. runs up against its initial deadline with the Federal Trade Commission April 2, and the deal could get a...

South Korean airline sells caterer.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Roger du Mars in Seoul South Korea's No. 2 air carrier, Asiana Airlines, said Monday, March 31, that it will sell a catering business to Deutsche Lufthansa AG and dispose of other noncore assets as it restructures operations. ...

Shareholders OK Malaysian mobile merger.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Shu-Ching Jean Chen Hong Kong Shareholders in Telekom Malaysia Berhad Monday, March 31, gave their unanimous backing to a plan to acquire Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad. Under the deal, Malaysia's largest telecom will pay M$2.75 per...

Vivendi pressured by Malone, Diller.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Samer Iskandar in Paris The gulf between Vivendi Universal SA's French management and its U.S. partners widened after Liberty Media Corp., one of the conglomerate's biggest shareholders, filed a complaint against Vivendi in a...

Court clears way for Gerling reinsurer sale.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Andrew Bulkeley in Berlin Saying Germany's banking and insurance regulator had overstepped its boundaries, a Frankfurt court cleared the way for a sale of Gerling Globale Ruck AG, the reinsurance division of troubled German insurer...

ARC Energy buys Star Oil & Gas.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Laura King in Toronto Calgary, Alberta-based ARC Energy Trust said Monday, March 31, it is buying privately held Star Oil & Gas Ltd. and retiring the company's debt in a deal worth C$710 million ($482.5 million). The...

SSL to sell medical products unit.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Andrew Morse SSL International plc, maker of the Dr. Scholl line of footwear products and Durex condoms, said Monday, March 31, it had hired investment banking firm N.M. Rothschild & Sons to help it sell its medical products unit....

Frontier Oil grabs Holly for $449M.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Claire Poole in Houston Despite continued uncertainty about how the war with Iraq will affect oil prices, Houston refiner Frontier Oil Corp. announced Monday, March 31, it has agreed to acquire Dallas rival Holly Corp. for $449.2...

Mitsui may swap one Brazil miner for other.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Michael Kepp in Rio de Janeiro Brazil's Cia. Vale do Rio Doce, the world's No. 1 iron ore miner, has begun talks to buy out its partner, Japan's Mitsui & Co., in a second Brazilian iron ore miner. The deal could help finance the...

BC Partners pursues Six Continents.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Jonathan Braude London private equity house BC Partners Ltd. hit back Monday, March 31, after its pound sterling2.8 billion ($4.4 billion) bid for the pubs arm of British leisure group Six Continents plc was rejected. In a...

Cravey Green to buy AHL Services.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Kelly Holman AHL Services Inc. said Monday, March 31, that it has agreed to be acquired by an investor group led by Atlanta private equity firm Cravey, Green & Wahlen in a leveraged buyout valued at $100 million, including assumed...

Minority shareholder bids for Mercator.
April 1, 2003... Byline: David Shabelman in San Francisco Investment firm Strategic Software Holdings, which in mid-March announced plans to launch a proxy challenge against Mercator Software Inc., is now proposing to buy the company. SSH offered...

Drug developer Acadia collects $25M.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Paul Bonanos In its 10 years of existence, medical research firm Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. has migrated from Vermont to San Diego, changed its name and aborted an initial public offering. Now, the company hopes $25 million in new...

Weisel healthcare fund raises $120M.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Vyvyan Tenorio Defying fund-raising trends, Thomas Weisel Partners has marked a $120 million first close on a healthcare venture fund with a $75 million investment from Japanese pharmaceutical company Sankyo Co. Ltd., a source...

For Silverback, a boost by VCs.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Clifford Carlsen Silverback Systems Inc. has convinced investors of a rising demand for sophisticated storage products for small computer networks, landing $15 million in an inside-led third round. Stamford, Conn.-based U.S....

Private Capital People: April 1, 2003.
April 1, 2003... Byline: compiled by George White www.TheDeal.com

Anadigics snaps up RF Solutions assets.
April 2, 2003... Warren, N.J., wireless chipmaker Anadigics Inc. announced Wednesday it has acquired two product lines from Atlanta rival RF Solutions Inc. for up to $8.95 million in cash and stock. Anadigics is making an initial payment of $2.8 million in cash...

Anglo-Suisse hires UBS Warburg for deals.
April 2, 2003... Houston oil explorer Anglo-Suisse Inc. said Wednesday it hired UBS Warburg to advise it on securing capital to acquire oil and gas producing properties on the Gulf of Mexico shelf. Spokeswoman Debbie Fiorito said the privately held company is...

Echelon Corp. buying Metering Tech assets.
April 2, 2003... Echelon Corp., a San Jose, Calif., developer of electrical products, said Wednesday it agreed to acquire certain assets from privately held Scotts Valley, Calif., electrical meter maker Metering Technology Corp. for $11 million in cash. The...

Emap acquires Excelsior Publications.
April 2, 2003... U.K. publisher Emap plc said Wednesday it agreed to acquire Excelsior Publications SA in a [Euro]90 million ($98.2 million) cash deal that makes it France's second largest publisher. Excelsior, owned by the Dupuy family, produces fashion,...

FileNet takes over rival Shana Corp.
April 2, 2003... Costa Mesa, Calif., enterprise software supplier FileNet Corp. said Wednesday it has acquired Shana Corp., a provider of electronic forms software, for $8.5 million. FileNet and Edmonton, Alberta-based Shana have worked in a partnership over...

KV Pharmaceutical buys Altana products.
April 2, 2003... St. Louis drug maker KV Pharmaceutical Co. announced Wednesday it has come to terms with the U.S. subsidiary of Germany's Altana Pharma AG to acquire its Chromagen and StrongStart prenatal product lines for about $27 million. KV said it's...

Kerry Group buys U.S. two food suppliers.
April 2, 2003... Irish food and dairy company Kerry Group plc on Wednesday acquired two U.S. suppliers of food ingredients businesses for $67 million. Kerry Group snapped up Guernsey Bel Inc., a Chicago maker of dessert ingredients, and Pacific Seasonings,...

PRI Group mulls $245M Brit Insurance bid.
April 2, 2003... Lloyd's of London underwriter PRI Group plc said Wednesday it's considering a pound sterling156 million ($246 million) bid from Brit Insurance Holdings plc. PRI said its advisers would pursue talks with Brit and as well as other parties. Last...

CardSystems.
April 2, 2003... Chantilly, Va.-based electronic payment processor CardSystems has secured $23.6 million in a private placement led by new investor Camden Partners with participation from existing investors Equity Dynamics Inc., Principal Financial Group and...

Delphi Properties.
April 2, 2003... Real estate investment trust, Delphi Properties Inc., a unit of automotive parts company Delphi Corp., filed Monday for a $300 million initial public offering. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company plans...

Northface University.
April 2, 2003... Salt Lake City-based Northface University agreed on a term sheet for $13 million in second round venture capital set to close in May. Great Hill Partners of Boston led the round and will provide the bulk of the new capital, which will...

United Platform Technologies.
April 2, 2003... Beijing-based United Platform Technologies Inc., a telecom startup providing communications equipment to the domestic market, has had a final close on its $58 million Series A round. The company's primary backer and incubator, Walden...

Air Canada goes south up north.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Laura King in Toronto While the largest airline in the U.S. narrowly averted bankruptcy earlier in the week, Canada's biggest wasn't so lucky. Air Canada filed Tuesday, April 1, for protection from creditors after failing to...

HomeGold spins into Ch. 11.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Greg Johnson Beset by its own money troubles, mortgage lender HomeGold Financial Inc. has filed for bankruptcy. The Columbia, S.C.-based financial services firm blamed its inability to repay a loan to its Carolina Investors...

Fleming files for Chapter 11.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Jonathan Berke Having lost its biggest customer and facing an accounting investigation, food distributor Fleming filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in Wilmington, listing assets of $4.2...

U.S. Steel buys Serbian mill.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Greg Johnson United States Steel Corp. said Tuesday, April 1, that its Serbian subsidiary, U.S. Steel Balkan, has acquired Sartid Co. and six of its subsidiaries for $23 million. Sartid is a bankrupt producer of steel sheet...

Sonicblue pins hopes on auction.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Cheryl Meyer Bankrupt electronics maker Sonicblue Inc. said Tuesday, April 1, it would try to sell its assets in a court-run auction, after talks with Japan's D&M Holding Inc. fell through. On March 21, Santa Clara,...

Unsecureds seek to sue MFN lenders.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Chris Nolter The unsecured creditors committee of Metromedia Fiber Networks Inc. has asked a bankruptcy judge for clearance to proceed with litigation against some of the telecom's senior secured lenders. Filings by the...

Charter's bad news looks good.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Peter Lauria Charter Communications Inc. on Tuesday, April 1, reported a nearly $2 billion loss for last year's fourth quarter, said it would not meet the deadline to file its 10-K and, because of that, could not borrow funds under...

Allegiance Telecom faces 'going concern' warning.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Chris Nolter Allegiance Telecom Inc.'s 2002 annual report warned that a recent audit by KPMG LLP expressed "substantial doubt about [its] ability to continue as a going concern." Unless the Dallas-based telecom can satisfy...

SingPost adds bonds to IPO.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Shu-Ching Jean Chen in Hong Kong Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. said its postal unit will raise S$300 million ($169.4 million) through a 10-year bond issue, the day after the mail subsidiary filed a preliminary prospectus for its...

Underwriting fees dry up.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Shu-Ching Jean Chen in Hong Kong and Frances A. McMorris in New York The dismal initial public offerings market in the United States has clobbered underwriting fees in the first quarter of this year. According to figures from...

First Data said to eye purchase.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Donna Block First Data Corp., a money transfer company and the parent of Western Union, is in advanced talks to buy a rival, Concord EFS Inc., for more than $7 billion in stock, published reports said Tuesday, April 1. Citing...

Holly's court claim keeps spread negative; Holly's court claim keeps spread negative.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Scott Stuart See today's Arbitrage situations chart. The $440 million merger of Holly Corp. and Frontier Oil Corp. is trading at a negative spread because some risk arbitrageurs are betting on a payout from Holly's contract...

FTC questions Tenet's Louisiana purchase.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Jaret Seiberg In an ominous sign for Tenet Healthcare Corp.'s proposed $170 million acquisition of Slidell Memorial Hospital in Louisiana, the Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday, April 1, that the deal raises "serious...

AMD, Fujitsu to merge chip production.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Charles Smith in Tokyo A joint venture to merge the flash memory production of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Fujitsu Ltd. by September will become the world's second-largest producer, the Japanese company said Tuesday, April 1....

Hatmaker buys Daewoo plant.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Roger du Mars in Seoul South Korea's largest hatmaker, Young An Hat Co., said Tuesday, April 1, it will buy Daewoo Motor Co.'s bus plant for W148.3 billion ($118 million) as part of its ongoing strategy of diversification through...

Airport operator BAA sells retail units.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Nicola Hobday in London British airports operator BAA plc said Tuesday, April 1, it has sold most of its remaining retail interests in its BAA McArthurglen joint venture to Mayfair LP, almost completing its exit from noncore...

TotalFinaElf, Shell to swap assets.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Samer Iskandar in Paris Oil giant TotalFinaElf, France's largest company by market cap, and Anglo-Dutch rival Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Europe's biggest oil company, on Tuesday, April 1, announced a plan to swap 243 service...

Airborne defends DHL merger.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Jaret Seiberg in Washington Critics are blasting Deutsche Post Worldnet AG's $1 billion acquisition of Airborne Inc., charging the deal would violate a federal law barring foreigners from owning domestic airlines. The two...

Carlyle hovers over FiatAvio.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Heather O'Brian in Milan The head of Italian state-controlled defense and aerospace company Finmeccanica SpA said Tuesday, April 1, the company is close to making a joint bid with Washington, D.C.-based buyout firm The Carlyle Group...

HSR Early Terms: April 1, 2003.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Jaret Seiberg The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday, April 1 that the antitrust agencies do not have objections to a deal involving The Riverside Company and ExpoExchange LLC. Also receiving an early termination notice under...

Hutchison presses for fiber deal.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Ron Orol in Washington Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. is taking a new tack to quell national security concerns regarding its proposed acquisition of bankrupt Global Crossing Ltd. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., a...

Xcel in $109M restructuring.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Brian Cattell in London and Kelly Holman in New York San Diego-based specialty pharmaceutical company Xcel Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Tuesday, April 1, it raised $26 million from an investor group led by private equity firm Ferrer...

Israeli VC funds got less cash.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Neal Sandler in Tel Aviv For the first time, Israeli venture capital funds last year returned more money to investors then they raised, according to a report. The report, which the IVC Research Center, an Israeli venture...

Chinese networker draws big-name backers.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Vyvyan Tenorio Investors unveiled details Tuesday, April 1, of the landmark $58 million Series A financing of Chinese telecom equipment startup United Platform Technologies Inc. The funding is one of the largest venture rounds for...

Northface U. collects $13M.
April 2, 2003... Byline: Clifford Carlsen A for-profit education startup, Northface University, has graduated to a second round of venture financing. Salt Lake City-based Northface said Tuesday, April 1, it has landed $13 million for development of a...

Atrium gets Danvid Window for $5.5M.
April 3, 2003... Dallas window and patio door maker Atrium Cos. announced Thursday that it has acquired Carrollton, Texas, rival Danvid Window Co. out of bankruptcy for about $5.5 million. Atrium said its buy of Danvid, a subsidiary of American Architectural...

BankAtlantic sheds property division.
April 3, 2003... BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc. said Thursday it intends to spin off its real estate unit, Levitt Corp., into a separate, publicly traded company. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based BankAtlantic hopes to get an Internal Revenue Service ruling allowing for a...

CMGI sells uBid to Takumi Interactive.
April 3, 2003... CMGI Inc.'s selloff of most all of its operating co mpanies continued Thursday with the sale of its business-to-consumer auction site uBid to Takumi Interactive Inc. Terms were not disclosed. Takumi is a majority-owned company of Petters Group...

India's Indo Rama acquires N.C.'s Tiepet.
April 3, 2003... In a foray aimed at increasing exports to North America, Indian petrochemicals maker Indo Rama Synthetics (India) Ltd. and a Thai affiliate have bought the assets of Tiepet Inc., a North Carolina maker of artificial resins, for $42 million. The...

KBF Pollution picking up Vulcan Waste.
April 3, 2003... Paterson, N.J., waste recovery and recycler KBF Pollution Management Inc. said Thursday it has acquired Vulcan Waste Systems Inc., a maker of industrial and hazmat processing equipment, in a deal that valued Vulcan Waste at $7.16 million. KBF...

Kraft Foods selling European rice business.
April 3, 2003... Kraft Foods Inc. agreed Thursday to sell its rice businesses in Germany, Austria and Denmark to Ebro Puleva SA, a Spanish supplier of sugar, dairy and rice products, for an undisclosed sum. The deal requires approval from German regulatory...

On Command gets bid from Liberty Media.
April 3, 2003... On Command Corp., a provider of in-room entertainment technology to the lodging and cruise ship industries, has received a buyout offer from majority owner Liberty Media Corp. for $6.4 million in Liberty Media stock. Englewood, Colo.-based...

Wyndham denies a cash crunch.
April 3, 2003... Wyndham International Inc. said Thursday that recent defaults on two leases had nothing to do with its liquidity situation. Hospitality Properties Trust said Wednesday that Wyndham defaulted on two leases on 27 properties worth $3.6 million a...