The Daily Deal articles from January 2004

The Daily Deal archives from January 2004

Judge KO's Exide reorg plan.
January 1, 2004... Byline: Greg Johnson Exide Technologies Inc. had hoped to enter the New Year with a confirmed reorganization plan. But on Tuesday, Dec. 30, fuming unsecured creditors persuaded a bankruptcy judge to decide otherwise. The...

CheckMate plans for quick exit.
January 1, 2004... Byline: Greg Johnson Despite facing a criminal probe for possible workers comp fraud, CheckMate Staffing Inc. plans to stay in business, its attorney said Wednesday, Dec. 31. "We plan to file a reorganization plan in a couple of...

Biotech ViaCell withdraws IPO.
January 1, 2004... Byline: Frances A. McMorris Citing a "downturn in market conditions," biotechnology company ViaCell Inc. withdrew its initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing released Wednesday, Dec. 31. Boston-based ViaCell made the...

Ryder completes GCTL purchase.
January 1, 2004... Byline: Greg Johnson Ryder System Inc. on Wednesday, Dec. 31, announced it has completed the purchase of Davenport, Iowa-based General Car and Truck Leasing System Inc. for an undisclosed sum. The Miami truck rental giant is also...

Manulife closes on Atlanta tower.
January 1, 2004... Byline: Greg Johnson Canadian insurer Manulife Financial Corp. has closed its $118 million buy of the 24-story Proscenium office tower in Atlanta from Proscenium LLC, a partnership between Trammell Crow Co. and Real Estate Capital...

ABN Amro nears sale of unit.
January 1, 2004... Byline: Scott Stuart ABN Amro Holding NV said Wednesday, Dec. 31, it had reached a preliminary agreement to sell its U.S.-based securities clearing business to Merrill Lynch & Co. The move, whose terms were not disclosed, is part of the...

Transocean buys share of Deepwater JV.
January 1, 2004... Byline: Scott Stuart Transocean Inc. acquired ConocoPhillips Co.'s share of the Deepwater Drilling LLC joint venture between the two companies Wednesday, Dec. 31. Transocean, based in Houston, paid roughly $83 million, net of cash and...

Valero Energy finishes Link Energy deal.
January 1, 2004... Byline: Greg Johnson Valero Energy Corp. announced Wednesday, Dec. 31, it has completed the purchase of Link Energy LLC's natural gas liquid storage assets. Valero said it picked up Link's NGL facilities in Mont Belvieu and its idled...

Atrium is buying Superior Engineered.
January 1, 2004... Byline: Greg Johnson Dallas window maker Atrium Cos. announced Wednesday, Dec. 31, that it has agreed to acquire Ontario, Calif., competitor Superior Engineered Products Corp. for $52.5 million. Under the terms, Atrium is parting with...

Boyd Bros. agrees to MBO.
January 1, 2004... Byline: Greg Johnson Boyd Bros. Transportation Inc. said on Wednesday, Dec. 31, that it has agreed to a management buyout. The Clayton, Ala., truckload carrier has agreed to sell the shares not already owned by founder Dempsey Boyd,...

El Paso sells petroleum assets.
January 1, 2004... Byline: Greg Johnson Houston natural gas supplier El Paso Corp. announced Wednesday, Dec. 31, it sold some petroleum assets for about $156 million. El Paso said it shed its Coastal Unilube division to an affiliate of Warren Oil Co. for...

Southeastern Adhesives sells more assets.
January 1, 2004... Byline: Greg Johnson Borden Chemical Inc. said Wednesday, Dec. 31, it has acquired some business lines of Southeastern Adhesives Co., a Lenoir, N.C., producer of specialty adhesives, for an undisclosed sum. While Borden declined to...

Franklin closes Jacksonville buy.
January 1, 2004... Byline: Greg Johnson Franklin Bank Corp., the Houston parent of Franklin Bank, said Wednesday, Dec. 31, it has closed its $72.5 million purchase of Jacksonville Bancorp Inc., the Jacksonville, Texas, parent of Jacksonville Savings Bank....

CIT buys HSBC's factoring business.
January 1, 2004... Byline: Lisa Gewirtz CIT Group Inc. announced Wednesday, Dec. 31, that it is buying HSBC Holdings plc's U.S. factoring business. Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, the HSBC unit has net assets of $270 million. Moshe...

Net Perceptions rejects Obsidian.
January 1, 2004... Byline: Greg Johnson Minneapolis marketing software maker Net Perceptions Inc. has rejected as inadequate a buyout offer from Indianapolis holding company Obsidian Enterprises Inc. On Dec. 8, 2003, Obsidian offered $11 million in cash or...

Electra makes $358M Belgian buy.
January 1, 2004... Byline: Jonathan Braude in London London buyout house Electra Partners Europe Ltd. has agreed to buy a majority stake in Belgian aluminum frames supplier Aliplast Belgium NV/SA in a deal valuing the company at [Euro]285 million ($358...

Code Hennessy to pay $225M for Gundle.
January 1, 2004... Byline: Greg Johnson and Scott Stuart Chicago private equity firm Code Hennessy & Simmons LLC announced late Wednesday, Dec. 31, that it is buying Gundle/SLT Environmental Inc. for about $225 million. Code Hennessy said it was parting...

Netegrity grabs Israeli startup.
January 1, 2004... Byline: Neal Sandler Netegrity Inc. has acquired Israeli e-provisioning startup Business Layers Inc. for $42.5 million in cash and stock. The acquisition ended months of rumors of a possible buyout of the Ra'anana, Israel-based...

Bridge Medical.
January 1, 2004... Financial services company Comerica Inc. of Detroit said Monday that its technology and life-sciences division has provided Bridge Medical Inc., of Solana Beach, Calif., with a $2.3 million line of credit. Bridge Medical provides software and...

Integrex.
January 1, 2004... Bothell, Wash.-based Integrex Inc., an electronics manufacturing company that provides outsource manufacturing and supply chain services to both medical instrument and technology firms, has raised $8 million in a fourth round that represents a...

MagiQ Technologies.
January 1, 2004... Quantum information processing company MagiQ Technologies Inc. of New York announced Monday it has closed more than $6.9 million in seed funding from angel investors including Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, Wall Street trader and MagiQ...

Monetrics.
January 1, 2004... Beverly, Mass.-based Monetrics Inc. has raised $2.6 million in a second round of equity financing. The capital came from Boston-based investors Egan-Managed Capital and BancBoston Ventures. The developer of risk management technology for...

NewsStand.
January 1, 2004... Austin, Texas-based NewsStand Inc. has added another $8 million in venture capital from Adams Capital Management to its second round of financing. Martin Neath, a general partner of Adams Capital Management will join NewsStand's board. These...

Novacea.
January 1, 2004... South San Francisco-based Novacea Inc. has raised $36 million in a second round, which included new investors New Enterprise Associates and Versant Ventures as well as Domain Associates, ProQuest Investments and Sofinnova Ventures. The new deal...

Sand Video.
January 1, 2004... Andover, Mass.-based Sand Video Inc. has raised $8 million in a round of funding from lead investor Baker Capital with participation from Navigator Technology Ventures and a number of private investors from the CommonAngels of Boston. Founded...

Smart Drugs.
January 1, 2004... Pawcatuck, Conn.-based Smart Drugs Systems Inc., a developer of animal health drug delivery technologies, has closed on a $6 million third round of funding led by Rothschild BioScience Ventures II of Melbourne, Australia. Rothschild was joined...

Venture Economics/National Venture Capital Association.
January 1, 2004... Amid a large overhang of capital, venture capital funds have mostly stayed out of the fund-raising markets, with 33 funds raising only a $1.7 billion in the third quarter of this year, according to the latest survey by Venture Economics and the...

Stargazing.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Richard Morgan Some may be far-fetched and short-lived, others short-fetched and long-lived. But whatever they are, they're here: six predictions for 2004. 1) Roy Disney and Stanley Gold get their man -- Walt Disney Co.'s Michael...

PG&E execs to get $83M.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Cheryl Meyer As Pacific Gas & Electric Co. prepares to emerge from Chapter 11 protection early this year, its parent company, PG&E Corp., will grant more than $83 million in special payments to 17 current and former executives as...

SEC subpoenas NorthWestern units.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Shanon D. Murray The Securities and Exchange Commission's issuance of subpoenas for two of NorthWestern Corp.'s non-bankrupt subsidiaries should not affect the bankrupt utility company, NorthWestern said Jan. 2. The SEC's now...

Goodwill Care seeks to liquidate.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Shanon D. Murray Facing a $6 million wrongful-death lawsuit, Goodwill Care Inc. has filed for Chapter 7 liquidation. In the petition it filed Dec. 26 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Washington, Everett,...

Archibald Candy to sell stores.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Terry Brennan Archibald Candy Corp. is hoping someone has a sweet tooth for its U.S. retail stores as it faces an uncertain future just 13 months after emerging from bankruptcy. Chicago-based Archibald is seeking a buyer for...

Creditors target Cone Mills panel.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Terry Brennan Creditors of Cone Mills Corp. want a bankruptcy court to dissolve the company's equity committee because the denim maker's shareholders are going to be wiped out. The creditors believe that the committee will...

Congoleum DIP from Congress Fin'l.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Soma Biswas Congoleum Corp., which filed for Chapter 11 to deal with its asbestos liabilities, expects to get a debtor-in-possession loan from Congress Financial Corp. The New York investment firm already has a $30 million loan...

Royal Olympic faces liquidation.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Greg Johnson Bankrupt Royal Olympic Cruise Lines Inc. faces liquidation unless it can persuade a group of European banks to allow its two ships to sail again. The Liberian-flag cruise line is fighting the banks, led by...

On-Line Services down for count.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Paul Burton North Liberty, Iowa-based On-Line Services LLC has filed for Chapter 7 liquidation and will sell its assets. The Internet service provider, which does business as Internet Navigator, completed a Chapter 11 restructuring...

Lump-sum game.
January 5, 2004... Byline: edited by John E. Morris "I wouldn't say it will kill the business, but lack of transparency is a potential threat," says Les Gabb, finance partner at Advent Venture Partners LLP. He and other European VCs and private equity...

A new wavelength.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Danny Fortson in Barcelona For more than half a century, Spain's Grupo Planeta was content to be the leading book publisher in the Spanish-speaking world. But over the past few years, the family-owned company has transformed itself...

Texas angel.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Claire Poole Mike Maples will long be remembered for a quote he gave The New Yorker in 1994 about his boss at the time, Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates: "Bill is just smarter than everyone else." Maples, 61, is no dummy...

Zen and the art of M&A maintenance.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Olaf de Senerpont Domis At first glance, Dan Scheinman couldn't have picked a worse time to take the reins of M&A at Cisco Systems Inc. In August 2001, Scheinman, now 40, had signed on for the job at a time when San Jose,...

Ever the contrarian.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Joshua Jaffe Veteran venture capitalist Dick Kramlich started in the business alongside VC legend Arthur Rock, the man credited with coining the term "venture capital" back in 1968. But Kramlich, 67, evidently never forgot the...

Seeds of the sale.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Dennis Fitzgerald A pair of time-tested advisory relationships came into play in the agreed-upon $2.9 billion acquisition of Dial Corp. by Henkel KGaA, announced Dec. 14. Seeds of the sale were sown back in 2000, when Herb Baum...

Deal sense.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Matt Miller We've just seen our fifth holiday season here at The Deal. Half a decade equates to an investment's lifetime. We've ricocheted from frenzied spending, funny-money stock swaps and outlandish IPOs to record-breaking...

Editor's letter.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Robert Teitelman We're back. A little gassy, a little poorer, staring up at the commanding heights of 2004. The clock ticks. We clear the desk and chant the resolutions. Saddam has been bagged, but we're alert to a climate of dire...

Shinsei to become commercial bank.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Charles Smith in Tokyo Japanese financial regulators have authorized Shinsei Bank to offer commercial financial services beginning in April. The move will free Shinsei, the foreign-owned successor to defunct Long Term Credit...

Executives tell all.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Frances A. McMorris More than a year after the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, some progress has been made. In particular, companies seeking to go public are increasingly transparent about the compensation packages of...

IPO Outlook: Jan. 5, 2004.
January 5, 2004... Kinetic Concepts Wound care technology maker Kinetic Concepts Inc. said Dec. 31 it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering in a deal that could raise up to $460 million. In the S-1...

Will IPOs stay hot in 2004?
January 5, 2004... Byline: Frances A. McMorris Despite a rocky start, the initial public offerings market had a strong finish in 2003 and could be poised for further recovery in this new year. Among the biggest deals expected in 2004 are the highly...

No exit?
January 5, 2004... Byline: Allen D. Hahn and Neil C. Kelly During the late 1990s, private equity investing experienced extraordinary growth in response to the extreme valuation increases in the public markets. Fueled by excessive demand for perceived "high...

The real thing?
January 5, 2004... Byline: Jack P. Jackson and Nubiaa K. Shabaka Should a bank that receives securities through a bankruptcy plan of reorganization be considered an underwriter under Section 2(11) of the Securities Act of 1933, thereby excluding it from the...

Brasil Telecom's enemy within.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Chris Nolter In the coming weeks, Brasil Telecom Participacoes SA expects Brazilian regulators to decide whether the local phone carrier has met the requirements to apply for wireless and long distance licenses . Wireless and...

FTC protects post-merger powers.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Jaret Seiberg in Washington The Federal Trade Commission moved Friday, Jan. 2, to protect its so-called consummated merger enforcement program. In a unanimous decision, the FTC approved a consent order that bars Chicago Bridge...

Russia to probe privatization deals.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Nick Watson The Russian government has stepped up its assault on the wealth of the country's tycoons that could put a damper on foreign acquisitions in the fuel and energy sectors. The country's main financial auditor, the...

Annaly buys fixed-income affiliate.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Peter Moreira Mortgage-backed securities manager Annaly Mortgage Management Inc. agreed Jan. 2 to buy its affiliated asset manager Fixed Income Discount Advisory Co. for as much as $90 million in stock to simplify its shareholding...

BCE Emergis unloads U.S. Health.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Laura King in Toronto Canada's BCE Emergis Inc. said Friday it is selling its U.S. health division to MultiPlan Inc. for $213 million as it focuses on its core e-commerce businesses and restructures. BCE Emergis, of which...

Deals of the Week: Jan. 2, 2004.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Matthew Wurtzel During what is usually one of the sleepiest weeks for dealmaking, two transactions valued at more than $1 billion -- both involving buyout firms -- grabbed the headlines shortly before the New Year. The largest...

Big Three bail out of Covisint.
January 5, 2004... Byline: David Shabelman Online automotive parts exchange Covisint LLC, once projected to broker sales of $240 billion annually with an estimated $5 billion in revenue, has been sold by its major automaker owners to FreeMarkets Inc. for an...

Data confirm M&A recovery.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Matt Miller Global mergers and acquisitions inched up 2% to $1.39 trillion last year, thanks to a fourth-quarter resurgence, according to data culled by research firm Dealogic. Still, investment banking fees in 2003 continued...

Movers & shakers: Week of Jan. 5, 2004.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Dennis Fitzgerald and Heidi Moore Across the Rio Grande Carlyle Group has added another superstar to its galaxy of politically connected advisers. The Washington-based LBO and venture capital firm in December recruited...

Voyage of the Dawntreader.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Heidi Moore Bob Lessin doesn't have to work. At the age of 48, the former Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney banker has sufficient achievements -- not to mention money -- to retire comfortably. Yet since October 2002 he has toiled as...

Trader at the top.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Heidi Moore All eyes have been on Goldman, Sachs & Co. vice chairman Lloyd Blankfein ever since John Thornton, the firm's 49-year-old co-president and most likely successor to CEO Hank Paulson, made a surprise announcement in March...

Movers & shakers: Jan. 5, 2004.
January 5, 2004... Byline: compiled by Lisa Camerlengo Blaylock-Abacus Asset Management Inc. has hired Deborah George as managing director of marketing and client service. George, who has held senior positions at HSBC Asset Management (Americas) Inc.,...

Technology 2004.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Ed Paisley Angel investors, venture capitalists and corporate acquirers cultivated a healthy symbiosis during the boom times of the late 1990s, but since the market crash of 2000 and the prolonged tech spending downturn, relations...

View from the City: Rising tides.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Robert Walzer If the British mergers and acquisition business was a body of water, it would have spent the last year squeezed between Dover and Calais on the English Channel, buffeted by fierce cross currents. This year will likely...

Europe enacts merger-vet reforms.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Renee Cordes in Brussels Just before the holidays, European Union member states handed Competition Commissioner Mario Monti an early Christmas present: unanimous approval of a reform plan to the EU's 13-year-old merger regulation....

Central Europe comes of age.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Danny Fortson in Budapest The news late last year that MOL Rt of Hungary and PKN Orlen SA of Poland were entering merger talks signaled much more than the possible union of two of Central Europe's top oil companies. Both MOL...

Parmalat probes delay asset sales.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Heather O?Brian in Milan and Soma Biswas in New York Just before Christmas, beleaguered Italian dairy conglomerate Parmalat Finanziaria SpA had hoped to stave off bankruptcy with the sale of key assets in the Americas and Australia....

Mall rats.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Jonathan Berke The battle for Rodamco North America NV started in an Amsterdam courtroom in the autumn of 2001. But it was an acquire-and-split deal engineered by Rouse Co., Simon Property Group Inc. and Westfield America Trust...

Candover may sell exhibition halls.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Jonathan Braude in London London private equity firms Candover Investments plc and Legal & General Ventures Ltd. are moving to sell Earls Court and Olympia Ltd., or ECO, which owns and operates two giant exhibition halls of the...

DLJ makes Argentine buy.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Leslie Moore Mira in Buenos Aires and Kelly Holman in New York DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, the New York private equity unit of Credit Suisse First Boston, is acquiring control of the privately held Argentine paper packaging...

AmCap pours $68M into syrups.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Kelly Holman Bethesda, Md.'s American Capital Strategies Ltd. said Jan. 2 it has agreed to invest $68 million for a controlling stake in syrup and packaged foods maker Specialty Brands of America Inc. American Capital, a...

Cut and run.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Jaret Seiberg First Data Corp.'s decision to settle its merger fight with the Department of Justice on the eve of trial has many antitrust experts wondering why it folded before a single witness took the stand. The company's move...

Enron-around.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Douglas McCollam The wheels of justice, so the saying goes, grind slowly but finely. A recent example of that came in December when, almost two years after Enron Corp. collapsed in a wave of financial scandals, bankruptcy judge...

Rules? What rules?
January 5, 2004... Byline: Chris Nolter The basic regulatory test for Internet telephony is simple: Is it a telecommunications service or an information service? The range of companies such a test would affect, however, is huge. On one end of the...

What's Hot: 2003.
January 5, 2004... Byline: George White Startups continued to suffer in 2003 as total venture capital dealflow fell to $14.2 billion for the year, down 30% from the $20.7 billion raised in 2002. Unlike the prior year, 2003 lacked huge fundings to push...

Masthead marks first closing.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Katherine Goncharoff Masthead Venture Partners of Cambridge, Mass., has survived the treacherous VC fundraising waters and successfully steered its way to a $160 million first closing of its inaugural venture capital fund. The...

Informed risk.
January 5, 2004... Byline: David S. Beckwith The investment management profession is changing in significant, and largely welcome, ways. Some of this change is being led by forward-thinkers within the profession, but the clientele is probably the more...

Redback emerges from bankruptcy.
January 6, 2004... Byline: Olaf de Senerpont Domis in San Francisco Redback Networks Inc. started the New Year on a hopeful note, announcing Monday, Jan. 5, that it has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and drawn $30 million in funding from Technology...

Parmalat hires Weil Gotshal.
January 6, 2004... Byline: Soma Biswas and Jonathan Berke Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP on Monday, Jan. 5, said that Parmalat SpA, the bankrupt Italian food giant at the center of a global financial scandal, has retained the law firm to counsel it on its...

Hawaiian Air ex-chief blasts trustee's suit.
January 6, 2004... Byline: Greg Johnson The former president of Hawaiian Airlines on Monday, Jan. 5, fired back at allegations that he gouged the Honolulu-based carrier and helped land it in bankruptcy through his business practices. The charges against...

LG Card misses debt payment.
January 6, 2004... Byline: Roger du Mars in Seoul LG Card Co. Ltd.'s creditors urged the government Monday, Jan. 5, to assume more of LG's debt as the ailing credit card company's predicament worsened after missing a deadline to pay W500 billion ($419...

CEO Shuffle: Jan. 5, 2004.
January 6, 2004... Byline: David Ehrlich South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. reorganized its operations in North America, while bankrupt Rohn Industries Inc. lost two top executives. Michael Ahn was named Monday to head LG Electronics USA Inc. from its...

K-Sea sets IPO price range.
January 6, 2004... Byline: Peter Moreira and Frances McMorris Staten Island, N.Y.-based K-Sea Transportation Partners LLP on Monday, Jan. 5, set the price range of its previously announced initial public offering of 3.5 million units at $21.50 to $23.50 per...

EC to scrutinize Italian decree.
January 6, 2004... Byline: Lisa Clifford in London and Renee Cordes in Brussels Parmalat Finanziaria SpA began meetings Monday, Jan. 5, to seek new lines of bank credit as the European Commission said it will shortly examine whether a new Italian bankruptcy...