The Daily Deal articles from February 2002

The Daily Deal archives from February 2002

BB&T nabs financial advisory firm.
February 1, 2002... Raleigh, N.C.-based BB&T Asset Management on Thursday announced it would acquire Virginia Investment Counselors Inc., a Norfolk, Va., financial advisory firm, for an undisclosed sum. VIC, which manages $1.2 billion in assets, was founded in...

Bankrupt PSINet sells headquarters to university.
February 1, 2002... George Washington University has agreed to buy the headquarters of PSINet Inc. from bankruptcy. The $27.8 million sale, approved Wednesday in bankruptcy court in New York, is expected to close next week. Ashburn, Va.-based PSINet filed for...

Bell Mobility Investments.
February 1, 2002... The Toronto-based venture capital unit of wireless carrier Bell Mobility Inc., Bell Mobility Investments (BMI), plans to make 10 new investments to advance the development of new wireless technologies during 2002, The National Post reported....

BuildLinks.
February 1, 2002... Raleigh, N.C.-based BuildLinks, an online collaboration and communication platform for home builders, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series B funding from Knier and Associates. The company has raised $500,000 total in private placements...

Cabot buys out JV partner.
February 1, 2002... Cabot Corp., the Boston-based chemicals and specialty fluids company, said Thursday it agreed to buy the rest of Japan's Showa Cabot Supermetals KK from its joint venture partner, Japanese chemicals maker Showa Denko KK in a transaction valued...

CapMan Equity VII.
February 1, 2002... Helsinki-based CapMan plc said Thursday it has held the first closing of its seventh equity fund, CapMan Equity VII, at [Euro]166 million ($143 million). The final size of the fund will be determined by July. CapMan said it expects to draw in...

H&R acquires Ottawa office tower.
February 1, 2002... Toronto-based H&R Real Estate Investment Trust said Thursday it agreed to buy Ottawa office tower Place Bell Canada for C$211 million ($133 million) from SITQ Immobilier. Place Bell Canada is a 27-story, 900,000 square-foot building. Its...

Highwave Optical Technologies.
February 1, 2002... France's Highwave Optical Technologies, a supplier of components and equipment for high-speed optical networks, has received a [Euro]32 million ($27.5 million) financing round, following an announcement in November that it plans additional...

HomeTown Bank of Villa Rica is sold.
February 1, 2002... GB&T Bancshares Inc., the Gainesville, Fla., parent of Gainesville Bank & Trust, said Thursday that it will acquire HomeTown Bank of Villa Rica of Villa Rica, Ga. HomeTown shareholders will receive $11.83 and .7886 shares of GB&T stock. GB&T...

Hostopia.
February 1, 2002... Outsourced Web-hosting company Hostopia of Toronto has lassoed $2 million in funding from Telus Ventures, an existing partner and client. The fresh cash will help boost the company's growth initiatives as it aims for positive cash flow in 2002....

ICI sells Synetix unit.
February 1, 2002... British specialty chemical maker Imperial Chemical Industries plc said Thursday it will sell its catalyst business, Synetix, in an effort to pay down debt. An ICI said it has not yet appointed an investment bank to handle the sale. An ICI...

Kmart plans to emerge from bankruptcy in 2003.
February 1, 2002... Discount retailer Kmart Corp. of Troy, Mich., expects to emerge from bankruptcy by July 2003, the company's lawyer, Jack Butler of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom llp, announced at a meeting with creditors Thursday in Chicago. The...

Lion Bioscience completes NetGenics purchase.
February 1, 2002... German biotech company Lion Bioscience AG said Thursday that it has completed its $15.7 million acquisition of NetGenics Inc., a privately held Cleveland drug researcher. Terms of the agreement, announced Jan. 15, call for the 1.11 million...

Monmouth gets $6.7M N.C. building.
February 1, 2002... Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corp. said Thursday that it has acquired a 106,507-square foot-building in Winston-Salem, N.C., for about $6.7 million. The property was purchased from Regional Development of North Carolina and is leased to...

Neurion Pharmaceuticals.
February 1, 2002... Drug company Neurion Pharmaceuticals Inc. has received seed funding from Convergent Ventures, a Los Angeles-based life science venture capital firm. Neurion is focused on discovering small-molecule drugs for the treatment of diseases and...

Octave Software.
February 1, 2002... Los Angeles-based content management software provider Octave Software Inc. has secured $4.4 million in Series C financing. Sigma Partners led the round. Octave makes software that helps to create, manage and deploy electronic assets over the...

Phosistor Technologies.
February 1, 2002... Pleasanton, Calif.-based semiconductor component manufacturer Phosistor Technologies Inc. announced Thursday it has received a $1 million investment by meVC Draper Fisher Jurvetson Fund I. With the new money from the San Francisco-based...

Regulators pan Liberty Media's DT cable deal.
February 1, 2002... Germany's competition office, the Bundeskartellamt, said Thursday it has sent a warning letter to Liberty Media Corp. regarding the Engelwood, Colo.-based company's proposed [Euro]5.5 billion ($4.74 billion) purchase of Deutsche Telekom AG's...

Santel Networks.
February 1, 2002... Newark, Calif.-based Santel Networks, a developer of signal enhancement technology for optical communications systems, announced Thursday that it has raised $25 million in its second round of funding. The financing was co-led by Bessemer...

SemBioSys Genetics.
February 1, 2002... Calgary, Alberta-based biotechnology company SemBioSys Genetics Inc. said AVAC Ltd. has invested C$2.4 million ($1.5 million) in the company. The proceeds will be used to fully develop its technology platform to address the production of...

Summit buys in Calgary, Edmonton.
February 1, 2002... Toronto-based Summit REIT said Thursday it has agreed to acquire eight industrial/flex space properties in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, totaling 1.2 million square feet for C$52.7 million ($34.7 million). The deal is expected to close Feb....

Temple-Inland close to getting Gaylord Container.
February 1, 2002... Austin, Texas-based Temple-Inland Inc. said Thursday that a majority of the $675 million in Gaylord Container Corp. notes had been tendered in its takeover offer. Under the conditions of its revised offer from Temple-Inland, holders of senior...

USA Networks sets share price for Expedia deal.
February 1, 2002... USA Networks Inc. has set the measurement price of its stock for the purchase of a controlling interest in Bellevue, Wash., online travel company Expedia Inc. USA said the price of its stock has been fixed at $26.80, assuming the transaction...

Sunbeam to seek DIP loan extension.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Jonathan Berke Sunbeam Corp., the Boca Raton, Fla.-based home-appliance manufacturer, will seek court approval Feb. 4 to extend its $160 million debtor-in-possession loan until April 5 so it could have more time to seek...

Bankrupt Uniforet gets extension.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Laura King Montreal-based Uniforet Inc. said Feb. 1 it has received a 90-day extension for court protection from creditors, giving it more time to reach a deal with six U.S. noteholders who rejected its restructuring plan in...

Judge OKs Derby Cycle's liquidation plan.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Jonathan Berke A Delaware judge late Jan. 31 confirmed a liquidation plan for Derby Cycle Corp. that includes the Kent, Wash.-based bicycle maker selling its U.S. assets for $23 million to Cycle Bid. Judge Roderick McKelvie of...

AMF plan gets confirmed.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Jonathan Berke AMF Bowling Worldwide Inc.'s reorganization plan was confirmed Feb. 1 after the Richmond, Va.-based company's management and its unsecured creditors negotiated a settlement. In addition, AMF said it received...

Bankrput Phar-Mor gets filing extension.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Terry Brennan Bankrupt drug retailer Phar-Mor Inc. was given court approval Feb. 1 in Youngstown, Ohio, for a 180-day extension on its deadline to file its own reorganization plan, according to published reports. ...

Bush proposes post-Enron pension reform.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Shanon D. Murray It was the beleaguered steel industry that brought the role of pension issues in bankruptcies to the forefront, but it was Enron Corp.'s Chapter 11 filing that spurred the White House to act. For several years,...

Warburg would retain big stake in PhyCor.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Soma Biswas Warburg Pincus llc and other holders of PhyCor Inc.'s convertible bonds will get equity in the doctor's office management company equal to the stakes they would have gotten once its pre-negotiated bankruptcy...

Enron mess: What is a subsidiary, anyway?
February 1, 2002... Byline: Matt Miller What constitutes a subsidiary? What defines corporate control? How is that control assessed? These seemingly simple questions lurk at the heart of the Enron Corp. debacle. Growing evidence indicates Enron flaunted...

NextWave wants top court out of license dispute.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Ron Orol WASHINGTON -- Bankrupt NextWave Telecom Inc. on Feb. 1 asked the U.S. Supreme Court to deny a request by the Federal Communications Commission, Verizon Wireless and other telecom companies that the Court decide the...

CoServ files Chapter 11 to stop foreclosure.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Terry Brennan CoServ Electric filed for Chapter 11 on Feb. 1 as one of its lenders moved to foreclose on its assets. National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corp., which provided a debtor-in-possession loan to CoServ's...

Cable mogul leads restructuring of UPC.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Brian Cattell in London German regulators may be dangling the sword of Damocles over John Malone's head, but the American cable entrepreneur's appetite for investment in Europe's turbulent market appears to show little sign of...

Investors warm up to Carolina debut.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Heidi Moore A tobacco tracking stock rather than a healthcare issue turned the heads of investors in February's initial public offering market. The Carolina Group, a tracking stock for a tobacco company issued by parent Loews...

Foreign PE funds, local ISPs to bid for Powercomm.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Gina Chon SEOUL -- Two foreign private equity funds and a domestic corporate consortium are expected to submit bids of up to $1 billion for a 30% stake in Powercomm Co., South Korea's second-largest high-speed cable network. ...

Adobe rescues Accelio from hostile bid.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Tyson Freeman and Laura King Adobe Systems Inc. has sealed an agreement to acquire Ottawa electronic forms supplier Accelio Corp. for $72 million in stock, apparently beating out a hostile bid from Open Text Corp. San Jose,...

Pitt-Des Moines selling out to Ironbridge.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Greg Johnson Pitt-Des Moines Inc., the 110-year-old construction and steel fabrication company that built the St. Louis Gateway Arch, is passing into history. The company said Feb. 1 that Ironbridge Holding llc will buy what's...

Micron chief: Hynix door still open.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Gina Chon in Seoul and Olaf de Senerpont Domis in San Francisco Amid ongoing negotiations between global memory chip giants Micron Technologies Inc. and Hynix Semiconductor Inc., German chipmaking rival Infineon Technologies AG CEO...

American Skiing sells Steamboat resort.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Jonathan Berke Though American Skiing Co. finally sold its Steamboat ski resort property in Colorado to a group of Vermont investors for $91.4 million in cash Feb. 1, the Newry, Maine-based company may still be on a slippery slope....

Deutsche Borse buys Clearstream.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Jonathan Braude Amid a scramble by European stock exchanges to forge alliances, Deutsche Borse AG agreed Feb. 1 to gain full control of a major European clearing and settlement house, Clear- stream International. The deal will...

From around the Americas.
February 1, 2002... Amersham Bio makes two buys Amersham Biosciences, the Piscataway, N.J., life sciences division of the U.K.'s Amersham plc, said Friday it has acquired AG Technology Corp. and InnovaSep Technology, two filtration separation companies...

Leon Black charged in Executive Life suit.
February 1, 2002... Byline: David Carey California Attorney General Bill Lockyer last week added financier Leon Black and three others as defendants in a lawsuit involving an alleged conspiracy to illegally acquire the assets of Executive Life Insurance Co....

CapMan snaps Swedestart for $14.6M.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Joshua Jaffe One day after holding the first closing of its seventh equity fund, Finnish private equity investment company CapMan plc said Feb. 1 it has agreed to acquire Swedish early-stage venture capital firm Swedestart...

Prism closes on $429M fourth fund.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Lou Whiteman Prism Venture Partners of Westwood, Mass., has closed on its fourth fund in six years somewhat short of its original goal. The firm, which specializes in early-stage technology and healthcare investments, is...

Lab-on-chip technology brings $6M.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Clifford Carlsen BioProcessors Corp. of Woburn, Mass., has landed $6 million in an initial round of venture capital led by biotech specialist Oxford Bioscience Partners to develop lab-on-a-chip technology for screening compounds as...

Enron mess: What is a subsidiary, anyway? At the heart of Enron: What is a subsidiary?
February 3, 2002... Byline: Matt Miller What constitutes a subsidiary? What defines corporate control? How is that control assessed? These seemingly simple questions lurk at the heart of the Enron Corp. debacle. Growing evidence indicates Enron flaunted...

SAI finds alternative buyers for Fondiaria stake.
February 3, 2002... Byline: Heather O'Brian MILAN -- In the latest twist in the battle for control of Florentine insurer La Fondiaria SpA, Italian insurer Societa Assicuratrice Industriale SpA (SAI) said Saturday that J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Italian...

Acorn Products agrees to restructure.
February 4, 2002... Acorn Products Inc., a Columbus, Ohio, manufacturer of lawn and garden tools has signed a letter of intent to undergo a financial restructuring to strengthen its balance sheet. TCW Special Credits and Oaktree Capital Management llc, which own...

Amersham Bio makes two buys.
February 4, 2002... Amersham Biosciences, the Piscataway, N.J., life sciences division of the U.K.'s Amersham plc, said Friday it has acquired AG Technology Corp. and InnovaSep Technology, two filtration separation companies based near Boston, in a transaction...

Arena football franchise on block.
February 4, 2002... The owners of the Arena Football League's expansion team in Philadelphia want to sell their fledgling club. The owners, who include former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback and current ESPN commentator Ron Jaworski and former league commissioner...

Asia Pulp and Paper's restructuring plan rejected.
February 4, 2002... Debt-laden Indonesian paper company Asia Pulp and Paper Co. Ltd. presented a draft restructuring plan Friday that an umbrella group of dissatisfied creditors roundly rejected, according to published reports. APP, which called a debt standstill...

CT Holdings taking American Natural Technology.
February 4, 2002... CT Holdings Inc. a Dallas security software maker, announced Friday that it has agreed to acquire American Natural Technology Sciences for a combination of stock and a future interest in royalties. ANTS develops products in the agricultural and...

CoServ Electric goes under.
February 4, 2002... Corinth, Texas, gas and electric utility CoServ Electric said Friday it filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition after negotiations failed with its lender, National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corp. The filing, at the U.S....

First Republic gets Froley, Revy.
February 4, 2002... San Francisco's First Republic Bank said Friday that it elected to buy the remaining 82% of Los Angeles investment firm Froley, Revy Investment Co. that it did not own for about $17 million in cash and stock. First Republic had bought 18% of...

Hydro One.
February 4, 2002... The Ontario government has chosen two Canadian firms and one U.S. investment bank from among 15 contenders as joint lead underwriters on the expected Hydro One equity IPO, Canada's biggest privatization ever. Ontario SuperBuild Corp., the...

MKS takes control of Emerson Electronic.
February 4, 2002... Semiconductor equipment maker MKS Instruments Inc. said Friday it has completed its $288 million acquisition of Emerson Electronic Inc.'s power conversion division. The deal, announced Oct. 31, creates a company with $490 million of combined...

Mack-Cali sells NY property.
February 4, 2002... Cranford, N.J., real estate investment trust Mack-Cali Realty Corp. said Friday it has sold the last remaining multi-family residential property it owns to Archstone-Smith Trust of Englewood, Colo., for $18.1 million. The high-rise property, at...

May Department Stores building bridal chain.
February 4, 2002... Fulfilling its wish to become the largest wedding store chain in the U.S., May Department Stores Co. has acquired assets of upscale bridal retailer Priscilla of Boston for an undisclosed cash amount. In December, the St. Louis-based retail...

Paradyn Group is sold to DWCI.
February 4, 2002... Direct Wireless Communications Inc., an Austin, Texas, wireless telecom, said Friday it has agreed to acquire Paradyn Group Inc., a privately held Marina Del Rey, Calif., long distance telephone wholesaler, for $900,000 in stock. Under the...

Roxio completes $35.4M buy of MGI Software.
February 4, 2002... Digital media software developer Roxio Inc. of Milpitas, Calif. reported Friday that it has completed its $35.4 million purchase of MGI Software Corp. of Richmond Hill, Ontario. Terms call for shareholders of MGI to receive 0.0505 shares of...

Lawmakers urged to overhaul auditing rules.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Jaret Seiberg in Washington Warning that future Enron-like debacles are inevitable without reform, a coalition of more than 250 pension funds urged regulators and Congress to radically revamp the auditing profession, financial...

Saunder Karp-backed retailer files for Ch. 11.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Greg Johnson The sputtering economy has claimed another retail chain. Pennsylvania Fashions Inc., a Warrendale, Pa., clothing retailer owned by Greenwich, Conn., private equity firm Saunder Karp & Megrue, has filed for Chapter 11...

Global Crossing bankruptcy has worldwide effect.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Josey Puliyenthuruthel in Bangalore and Leon Lazaroff in New York While U.S. shareholders fail to see the benefits of a rescue package for bankrupt broadband provider Global Crossing Ltd. engineered by two Asian companies, the...

Pennsylvania Fashions goes under.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Greg Johnson The sputtering economy has claimed another retail chain. Pennsylvania Fashions Inc., a Warrendale, Pa., clothing retailer owned by Greenwich, Conn., private equity firm Saunder Karp & Megrue, has filed for Chapter 11...

Sun Capital to buy bankrupt Questron.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Kelly Holman Questron Technology Inc. said Feb. 4 that Sun Capital Partners has agreed to buy its assets as part of the company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in Delaware's U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Under terms of the bankruptcy...

Judge grants DIP extension to Sunbeam.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Jonathan Berke Sunbeam Corp., a Boca Raton, Fla.-based manufacturer, received court approval Feb. 4 to extend its $160 million debtor-in-possession loan until April 5 so it could have more time to seek confirmation of its Chapter...

Lay leaves lawmakers looking for answers.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Shanon D. Murray Former Enron Corp. CEO Kenneth Lay's refusal to appear before a Senate Commerce Committee on Feb. 4 will make it difficult for lawmakers to determine if it was Lay's "paternal ignorance or sly acquiescence" that...

Bagel retailer's liquidation goes in circles.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Terry Brennan The food fight continues as the joint administrator in the Einstein/Noah Bagel Corp. bankruptcy presents a joint liquidation plan to a Phoenix judge in the hopes that he will prevent, well, a bagel cramdown. ...

Judge OKs plan to sell Fruit of the Loom.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Soma Biswas Lawyers attending a Feb. 4 hearing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware said Judge Peter Walsh likely will approve the plan to sell bankrupt underwear company Fruit of the Loom Inc. to Berkshire Hathaway Inc....

Sun Healthcare to wait on Medicare settlement.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Terry Brennan A Delaware judge Feb. 4 continued a hearing on the confirmation of bankrupt Sun Healthcare Group Inc.'s reorganization plan to give the company more time to get federal government approval of a key settlement on...

Brobeck cuts staff, focuses on litigation.
February 4, 2002... Byline: David Marcus Layoffs continue to pound Silicon Valley law firms as Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison llp shaved an additional 54 associates and 85 support staffers from its payroll Feb. 1. Coming less than two months after another...

Mirant may have to sell more assets.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Claire Poole in Houston Atlanta power generator Mirant Corp. already plans to sell about $1.6 billion worth of assets to tidy up its books, but industry observers say that figure might not be enough to maintain its liquidity and...

Williams would sell Midwest oil assets.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Leon Lazaroff Williams Cos. said Feb. 4 it would sell its extensive Midwest oil-products pipeline if exposure to its former telecommunications subsidiary, Williams Communications Group Inc., jeopardizes its investment-grade credit...

Enterasys shelves software spinoff.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Sarah Cohen Enterasys Networks Inc. is postponing the spinoff of its networking management software arm, Aprisma Management Technologies Inc., pending a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation. In a conference call,...

Tyco Capital to sever ties with parent.
February 4, 2002... Byline: David Weidner Tyco Capital, the financing arm of Tyco International Ltd., took several steps toward severing its ties with its beleaguered parent under a plan announced Feb. 4. The financial services arm of the industrial...

IPO Pick of the Week: PayPal Inc.
February 4, 2002... Byline: David Menlow There is nothing worse for me than being forced to write about a stock for IPO Pick of the Week that might be a winner only because it's the only IPO slated to price for the week. But this time is different. I have a...

PayPal hopes IPO is pay dirt.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Heidi Moore A fit of nostalgia is sure to hit investors this week with the initial public offering of PayPal Inc., an online payment service. That's because PayPal is everything the past two years have not seen: a hot, young...

Hynix soft-pedals talk of Infineon deal.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Gina Chon SEOUL -- Officials at Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and its creditors said Feb. 4 that talks with Micron Technology Inc. remain a priority after local media reported that Infineon Technologies AG had topped the U.S....

Novartis to sell food brands.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Jonathan Braude Swiss pharmaceuticals group Novartis AG has called in Credit Suisse First Boston to sell its health and functional food business as part of a reorganization of its consumer health division, the company said Feb. 4....

American Skiing could give suitor a good run.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Jonathan Berke Interest in skiing in the U.S. could get a jolt Feb. 1 with the start of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. American Skiing Co. could be hoping that carries over to skiing resorts. The Newry, Maine-based...

From around the Americas.
February 4, 2002... Byline: compiled by Greg Johnson Texas Pacific in talks on air caterer Swissair Group said Monday that Texas Pacific Group has entered into an exclusivity agreement and signed a memorandum of understanding with the company to acquire...

Battle for auction house pits Berge, Barclays.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Alan Tillier in Paris The sale of one of France's great auction houses, Drouot Holding SA, has pitted Pierre Berge, the flamboyant millionaire chief of the soon-to-close Yves Saint Laurent fashion house, against a less flamboyant...

Tyco revelations open debate on materiality.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Kevin DeGeeter The public debate on accounting standards and financial disclosure lurched into even-more arcane territory Feb. 4 as investors reacted to information about more than 700 small deals closed by acquisitive conglomerate...