The Daily Deal articles from July 2001

The Daily Deal archives from July 2001

Horticulture company wilts into bankruptcy.(Foster and Gallagher Inc.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 2, 2001... Byline: Shanon D. Murray Foster & Gallagher Inc., a direct marketer of horticultural and gift products, and 21 subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection July 2, saying it intends to wind down its business and liquidate its...

Homestar to focus on Southwest US.(American Homestar Corp., reorganization)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2001... Byline: Terry Brennan Bankrupt American Homestar Corp., a maker of pre-fabricated, discount housing squeezed by sagging sales, hopes to emerge from Chapter 11 as a scaled-down, regional company, people involved with the matter said July 2....

Kidan leads SunCruz as lenders fight back.(Adam Kidan, SunCruz Casinos cruise lines, litigation)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2001... Byline: Jonathan Berke The managing member of SunCruz Casinos' board regained the upper hand July 2 in the fight for control of the bankrupt casino cruise ship company, but senior lenders are still seeking to have a trustee appointed to...

Subprime lender Amresco goes bankrupt.(AMRESCO Inc., finance)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2001... Byline: David Weidner Specialty finance company Amresco Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection July 2 with a plan to sell its assets for $309 million to a consortium of lenders, the company said. The filing, made under Chapter 11 of the...

Metricom files for Chapter 11.(Metricom Inc., finance)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2001... Byline: Tyson Freeman and Terry Brennan A credit crunch in the telecom sector and slower-than-expected adoption of its technology prompted wireless telecom service provider Metricom Inc. to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection July 2...

P&G puts Comet on block.(Proctor and Gamble Co., to sell sink cleaner brand)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2001... Byline: Katie Anderson Procter & Gamble Co. said Monday it is exploring a sale of its Comet retail brand in North America as it sheds non-core businesses. The Cincinnati-based consumer product maker said though Comet cleanser is...

IPO Outlook - July 2, 2001.(various; initial public offerings, securities)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 2, 2001... Byline: Nicola Hobday in London Accenture Management and technology consulting giant Accenture Ltd. has added ABN AMRO Rothschild llc to its list of underwriters, bringing the total to 11. The initial public offering of Bermuda-based...

European IPOs paint dismal picture.(initial public offerings, securities)(Brief Article)
July 2, 2001... Byline: Nicola Hobday LONDON -- As if we needed reminding, two reports Monday highlighted the dearth of initial public offering activity in Europe so far this year. Only $19.5 billion was raised through IPOs in the first six months in...

Rabble Babble.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Stacy Mosher The news never rests, and nowhere is it busier than on the Internet bulletin boards. This column excerpts the choicest messages on the latest deals. Postings are selected from several sources, including Yahoo!, Raging...

Dying deal leaves US Airways in limbo.(UAL Corp., US Airways Group Inc., merger dead)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 2, 2001... Byline: Charles Sisk in Washington US Airways Group Inc. is flying into the unknown. The Arlington, Va.-based airline admitted July 2 that its $12.3 billion merger with UAL Corp., the Chicago-based parent of United Airlines, is all but...

Let the buying begin in Hong Kong.(banking industry deregulation, merger forecasts)
July 2, 2001... Byline: Shi-Ching Jean Chen in Hong Kong HONG KONG -- The last vestiges of Hong Kong's commercial banking cartel will be dismantled today, paving the way for the city's largest banks and foreign financial institutions to begin the...

European banks holding their own.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Nicola Hobday in London When U.S. investment banks invaded the shores of Europe about a decade ago, many observers predicted their European rivals, unable to withstand the strength of American firepower, would be swallowed up or...

Contractors, OEM create a smooth union.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Sarah Cohen The shifting global economic landscape is creating deal opportunities for contract electronics manufacturers (CEMs). But where once these companies were more likely to swallow direct competitors, increasingly they are...

Willamette to fight on despite proxy defeat.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Greg Johnson Willamette Industries Inc. said July 2 it would continue to fight a hostile takeover bid by Weyerhaeuser Co., despite losing a bitterly contested board election. In preliminary results provided by IVS Associates...

EU likely to review Montedison bid.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Alan Tillier and Victorya Hong PARIS -- Potentially complicating the ambitions of Fiat SpA and Electricite de France in the Italian utility sector, European Union regulators said Monday they expect the partners' [Euro]5 billion...

Plum Creek ruling likely to have limited benefits.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Jonathan Berke Despite all the hullabaloo after an Internal Revenue Service ruling in June, dealmaking professionals say most non-real estate investment trusts won't spin off their real estate assets into separately traded REITs....

Commercial Net buys Captec for $229M.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Jonathan Berke Captec Net Lease Realty Inc. ended its six-month search for a buyer Monday after agreeing for Commercial Net Lease Realty Inc. to buy it in a stock-and-cash swap valued at about $229 million. The deal, which...

FASB clears new pooling, goodwill rules.(Brief Article)
July 2, 2001... Byline: Charles Sisk WASHINGTON -- The Financial Accounting Standards Board has completed its four-year effort to revamp merger accounting rules. The FASB's six members unanimously approved two new accounting standards Friday....

PE firms snag InSight Health for $400M.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Kelly Holman InSight Health Services Corp. of Newport Beach, Calif., has agreed to be bought by J.W. Childs Associates LP of New York and the Halifax Group llc of Washington, D.C., for $18 per share, or about $400 million including...

Viasystems gets $100M from Hicks, Muse.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Kelly Holman Viasystems Group Inc., a St. Louis provider of electronic manufacturing services to technology and wireless telecommunications companies, announced July 2 that its majority shareholder, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst of...

What's Hot: Week of June 25, 2001.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Matthew Wurtzel The last week of the second quarter registered 81 venture capital financing deals totaling $828 million (see table to right and below). The total topped last week's $692.73 million in VC funding and lifted the...

The Rockefeller touch.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Cheryl Meyer Seventy years have passed since Laurence Rockefeller decided to invest some of his family's fortune on the best and brightest in the business world. Laurence, son of John Jr. and brother of Nelson, the former U.S....

Deal Flow -- July 2, 2001.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Ivan Castano COMPUTER HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE 3PARdata Fremont, Calif.-based 3PARdata, an information storage technology provider, secured $100 million in third-round financing led by Amerindo Investment Advisors. The...

Voice over broadband struggles on.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Lou Whiteman The public markets continue to punish telecommunication carriers, their customers and their startup competitors -- even those such as CopperCom Inc. and TollBridge Technologies Inc., which have managed to raise new...

3PARdata cleans up with $100M round.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Clifford Carlsen Storage server startup 3PARdata compressed a planned two rounds of funding into one, cobbling together $100 million from strategic and financial backers to fully fund its server hardware development until -- its...

Akara's broadband technology hauls in $30M.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Clifford Carlsen Ottawa-based optical technology developer Akara raised $30 million in a third round of venture capital for a services platform it is promoting to help broadband providers chew up excess capacity and end users to...

3PARdata.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Fremont, Calif.-based 3PARdata, an information storage technology provider, secured $100 million in third-round financing led by Amerindo Investment Advisors. The company says the cash will carry it to profitability and will be used for product...

ACM Research.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Fremont, Calif.-based ACM Research, a provider of circuit technology for the semiconductor industry, has connected with $5.3 million in second-round financing, including $3 million from Sycamore Ventures of San Francisco. Individual private...

Accenture.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 3, 2001... Management and technology consulting giant Accenture Ltd. has added ABN Amro Rothschild llc to its list of underwriters, bringing the total to 11. The initial public offering of Bermuda-based Accenture is expected to raise as much as $1.7...

Akara.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Ottawa-based Akara, a software and optical equipment maker, picked up $30 million in second-round funding led by VenGrowth. The new money will go to product commercialization, which should come to market by the end of this month....

Alliance Imaging.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Anaheim, Calif.-based Alliance Imaging Inc. refiled its plans for an estimated $150 million IPO. In documents filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Alliance said it expects to offer 9.375 million shares in a price range...

BulkMarkets.com.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Online agricultural commodity marketplace BulkMarkets.com Inc. of Chicago has tapped an undisclosed amount of Series B financing led by Bay City Capital's North American Nutrition and Agribusiness Fund, in conjunction with William Blair New...

Cadence Enterprise.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Facility expense management software company Cadence Enterprise of Cincinnati has rolled up a round of funding led by led by Cinergy Ventures and Insight Capital Partners. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, and Cadence did not say...

CopperCom.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Boca Raton, Fla.-based CopperCom, a company that combines voiceover broadband access with a softswitch system, has secured $65 million in the first close of a new round of financing led by venture capital firms Advent International and...

Crown Media cuts Hallmark deal price to settle suit.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 3, 2001... Cable television operator Crown Media Holdings Inc., based in Greenwood Village, Colo., said Monday that it has agreed in principle to settle a shareholder lawsuit filed against the company earlier this month. The suit alleged Crown's $820...

Dublin thwarts ESB offer for Polish power group.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... The Irish government has blocked state-owned electricity company ESB from bidding for Poland's G-8 electricity distribution group. ESB announced in November it planned to bid for the group and was one of six companies that got through to the...

Ensera.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Workflow software maker Ensera Inc. has secured an undisclosed amount of new equity financing, the company announced Monday. The Series C round was led by Wand Partners, High Ridge Capital and CMGI @Ventures and closed May 21. Redwood Shores,...

European DigitalInfrastructure Fund I.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... European venture capital firm Digital Networks said Monday it has completed the first closing of its European Digital Infrastructure Fund I at [Euro]47.5 million ($40 million). Investors in the fund included Citigroup Venture Capital, LGT...

Fantine Europe 1.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... The Fantine Group has completed its first round of fund raising. The Tel Aviv-based firm, which specializes in developing markets for technology firms in Europe, raised $25 million for the Fantine Europe 1 fund and intends to raise another $25...

FineGround Networks.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Campbell, Calif.-based FineGround Networks Inc., a provider of software that accelerates content delivery, has raised $16.3 million in a second round of venture financing led by Worldview Technology Partners, in addition to its original venture...

IBM completes $1B acquisition of Informix units.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Armonk, N.Y.-based computer giant IBM Corp. Monday completed a $1 billion acquisition of the database assets of Informix Corp., a database management technology provider based in Westborough, Mass. The deal, announced April 24, doubles IBM's...

Interactive Investor gets bid.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... London Internet financial news service Interactive Investor International plc said Monday that Sydney-based AMP Ltd. has offered to buy the company. The offer was made in cash at a small premium to Interactive Investor's cash reserves, which...

Kashya.(completes seed round of financing)(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Herzliya, Israel-based Kashya Ltd. has completed a seed round of financing, raising $3 million at a valuation of $10 million. The investors in the round were Jerusalem Global Ventures and U.S.-based Battery Ventures. Founded earlier this year,...

Menire.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Helsinki-based venture capital firm Menire Oyj announced Monday that its portfolio company, Bosnext AB, has signed an agreement to acquire Endero Sverige AB, a corporate information management technology company, for Fmk3 million ($428,000)....

Network Performance.(gets Series A funding)(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based Network Performance Services Inc., a provider of network monitoring and performance analysis services, has wrapped up $1.5 million in Series A funding from Lycos Ventures of Pittsburgh. The fresh cash will finance...

Playboy buys three adult movie channels.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Chicago-based adult media company Playboy Enterprises Inc. announced Monday its intent to exercise an option to obtain pay television channels The Hot Network and The Hot Zone from Califa Entertainment Group Inc. Playboy also said it would buy...

Quaker extends All Sport sale deadline.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Purchase, N.Y.,-based PepsiCo Inc. gets to hang on to All Sport a bit longer. Quaker Oats Co. said Monday that it has extended by 30 days the deadline for selling the sports drink as a condition of their $13.8 billion merger. The companies said...

Redwood Partners International.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... New York-based executive search firm Redwood Partners has agreed to merge with inVentures, a London-based investment firm, the companies announced. Terms were not disclosed. Redwood Partners International, as the combined entity will be called,...

ReefEdge.(secures second round financing)(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Fort Lee, N.J.-based ReefEdge Inc., a wireless networking software company, has secured $15 million in its second round of financing. The funding round was led by RRE Ventures and included Allegra Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners and...

Revlon to sell Colorama brand.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... New York cosmetic giant Revlon Inc. said Monday it is selling its Colorama brand of cosmetics and hair products to the L'Oreal Group, as well as Revlon's manufacturing facility in Sao Paulo, for $55 million. "This sale of a non-core asset is...

TA3.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... British investment fund Millennium Electronics Ltd. is expected to invest $3 million in Slovak broadcast news agency TA3. The investment, to be made over the next three years, is expected to cover start-up costs as well as the operating losses...

Textron Auto sells Kautex unit.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Johnson Electric Holdings Ltd., a Hong Kong electric motor maker, announced Monday that it paid $12.5 million for the manufacturing assets of Textron Automotive Co.'s Kautex Textron division. Johnson Electric said workers at Kautex's...

UpShot.(wins equity investment from ABN AMRO)(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Mountain View, Calif.-based UpShot Corp., a Web-based sales force automation company, has received a $17 million equity investment from ABN Amro Private Equity, Advanced Technology Ventures, Alloy Ventures, New England Partners and several...

ValueClick to buy Mediaplex.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... ValueClick Inc., a Westlake Village, Calif., online advertiser, said Monday it would acquire San Francisco digital messaging company Mediaplex Inc. in a deal valued at about $47.68 million in stock. Under the terms, ValueClick would issue 14.9...

Viaken.(biotech firm receives venture funding)(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Gaithersburg, Md., biotechnology software and services provider Viaken Systems Inc. received $13 million of venture capital funding last week from new investors Sterling Venture Partners, a Baltimore venture capital firm that led the second...

Voxtron.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Saint-Nicholas, Belgium-based telecommunications hardware provider Voxtron has secured [Euro]5.5 million ($4.7 million) in funding from three European investors, AFP-Extel News Ltd. reported. GIMV, FLV Fund and banking giant ABN Amro NV...

Zia Laser.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Zia Laser Inc., an Albuquerque, N.M., developer of quantum dot semiconductor lasers for the telecom industry, has received $6 million in seed round funding from Prism Venture Partners and RWI Group. The company will use the capital hire...

iPhrase Technologies.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Software maker iPhrase Technologies Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., has secured $25 million in second-round financing. Reed Elsevier Ventures led the funding, with support from new investors TD Capital Technology Ventures and RSA Ventures, as well as...

Dot-bombs afflicting other Internet sectors.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Byline: Danny Fortson SAN FRANCISCO -- According to the latest report from San Francisco, Calif. -- based Webmergers on the state of the Internet industry, 53 Internet companies called it quits in June. Since January, 555 Internet...

AMF files for bankruptcy.(AMF Bowling Worldwide)(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Byline: David Carey AMF Bowling Worldwide and its U.S. subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors Tuesday, after the Richmond, Va.-based bowling alley consolidator hammered out a bankruptcy reorganization plan with senior...

L&H reaches deal to sell Mendez unit.(Lernout and Hauspie Speech Products N.V.)(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Byline: Tyson Freeman Embattled and financially strapped speech technology company Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV has reached an agreement to sell its Mendez translation unit to Lionbridge Technologies Inc. for $27 million in cash....

Swiss Miss.(Swissair Group)(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Byline: Jonathan Braude BERLIN -- Swissair Group said it was "surprised and dismayed" that the Belgian government had rejected its [Euro]305 million ($262.3 million) "final" offer to share the cost of saving the struggling national...

Swissair's $259M bid for Sabena rebuffed.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Byline: Jonathan Braude BERLIN -- Swissair Group warned Tuesday that the Belgian government's rejection of its [Euro]305 million ($259 million) "final" offer to help save the struggling national carrier Sabena could spell the end of the...

First Union's tax-shelter questioned.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Byline: David Weidner First Union Corp. on Tuesday called allegations that it used a questionable tax shelter a "desperate" effort by SunTrust Banks Inc. to sway shareholders in the waning days before the banks square off at an annual...

French oil groups in $2.8B deal.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Byline: Alan Tillier PARIS -- Two French oil services companies said Tuesday will combine in a [Euro]3.3 billion ($2.8 billion) deal. Technip SA, the country's leading oil-services group, said it was making a friendly cash-and-share...

EC blocks GE-Honeywell deal.(European Commission, General Electric Co.)(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Byline: Victorya Hong STRASBOURG, France -- The deal's undone. The remaining shreds of General Electric Co.'s $41 billion acquisition of Honeywell International Inc. were unraveled Tuesday after the European Commission formally moved...

Gotham Partners bids for First Union REIT.(real estate investment trusts)(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Byline: Jonathan Berke New York hedge fund Gotham Partners on Tuesday made another offer to restructure First Union Equity and Mortgage Investments. Gotham would liquidate First Union's remaining portfolio of malls and then incorporate...

Citigroup, Banco Mercantil confirm talks.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Byline: Ivan Castano U.S. financial services colossus Citigroup Inc. is on the brink of acquiring ailing Brazilian bank Banco Mercantil de Sao Paulo SA, for between $320 to $420 million, analysts said Tuesday. "Newspapers in Sao Paulo...

Deal Traveler.
July 3, 2001... Byline: Erica Schlesigner South America Esmas.com, a web portal owned by Mexican media giant Grupo Televisa, will form a "strategic alliance" with America Online Latin America, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc. According to Corporate...

Parthenon to buy medical unit for $6M.(Parthenon Capital)(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Byline: Kelly Holman MedicaLogic/Medscape Inc. of Hillsboro, Ore., announced Tuesday that it agreed to sell its Nashville subsidiary, Total eMed Inc., to Boston private equity firm Parthenon Capital for $6 million in cash. Parthenon is...

Intel backs Aussie software startup.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Byline: Joshua Jaffe Silicon Valley-based Intel Corp.'s Intel64 Fund said Tuesday it has invested an undisclosed amount of cash into Aurema Pty Ltd., a Sydney-based enterprise software vendor specializing in technologies targeted at...

Bioinformatics startup raises [pound]31.25M.(Brief Article)
July 3, 2001... Byline: Joshua Jaffe London-based Inpharmatica Ltd. said Tuesday it has closed a [pound]31.25 million ($44.1 million) second round of financing led by Dresdner Kleinwort Capital and arranged by Credit Suisse First Boston. New investors in...

Campari IPO raises 394M euros.(Brief Article)
July 4, 2001... Byline: Nicola Hobday LONDON -- The shaky market for new issues has left a number of companies hoping to float with a bitter aftertaste. However, Italian spirits maker Campari SpA, which makes the bitter red drink of the same name,...

L&H sells Mendez for a song.(Lernout and Hauspie Speech Products N.V.; Mendez S.A.; Lionbridge Technologies Inc.)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2001... Byline: Tyson Freeman SEATTLE -- Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV's agreement Tuesday to sell its Mendez SA translation unit to Lionbridge Technologies Inc. for $27 million in cash looks like a fire-sale. The sale of Mendez, which...

Arch Wireless pitches debt-equity exchange deal.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2001... Byline: Leon Lazaroff Paging provider Arch Wireless Inc. is preparing to commence its $600 million debt-for-equity exchange next week. Arch, advised by Bear, Stearns & Co., is trying to marshal support from its bondholders for the...

Fried, Frank frets over post-Pitt vacuum.(Harvey Pitt, President Bush's choice to head the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2001... Byline: Alison Frankel Lawyers at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson all say they are thrilled for partner Harvey Pitt, President Bush's choice to head the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Undoubtedly they are happy to...

Sam Wyly presses attack on Computer Associates.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2001... Byline: Cheryl Meyer LOS ANGELES -- The sticks-and-stones fight between Sam Wyly and Computer Associates International Inc. heated up July 5 when the Dallas billionaire, in a letter to CA shareholders, condemned the company's management...

Webvan hopes to raise $30M from latest auction.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2001... Byline: Danny Fortson SAN FRANCISCO -- Anyone looking for 260 diesel delivery trucks and four-and-a-half miles of conveyer belt should place their bids with Webvan Group Inc. The faltering online grocery delivery service said July 5 it...

Merrill to unload L.A. money-management unit.(Merrill Lynch and Company Inc.)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2001... Byline: Tyson Freeman SEATTLE -- Merrill Lynch & Co. is selling its Los Angeles money-management unit to an undisclosed group of departing executives, according to newswire reports. The selling price was not disclosed either. The New...

Credit Agricole IPO could raise $5 billion.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2001... Byline: Alan Tillier in Paris and Nicola Hobday in London PARIS -- France's largest retail bank, Groupe Credit Agricole, said July 5 it is ready to sell 30% of its stock by year's end in an initial public offering that will likely value the...

Euronext IPO prices at bottom of range.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2001... Byline: Nicola Hobday in London LONDON -- The ambitions of stock exchange operator Euronext NV to spearhead consolidation in Europe squeezed ahead July 5 as the company managed to push through with its initial public offering, though at the...

Rough start for Canada's IPOs in 2001.(Brief Article)
July 5, 2001... Byline: Laura King TORONTO -- Volatile stock markets and dramatic dips in certain sectors last year contributed to a 65% plunge in the value of Canada's initial public offerings to C$1.5 billion ($992.7 million) in the first six months of...

Nipaku Kamipulp may match $670M bid for Cenibra.(Nipaku Kamipulp Shigen Kaihatsu Kaisha)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2001... Byline: Charles Smith TOKYO -- Japanese pulp-and-paper companies and trading houses expect to decide shortly on whether to match an [yen]80 billion ($642.7 million) offer for full ownership of Celulose Nipo-Brasileira SA, or Cenibra, one...

Montedison takeover brawl spills over.(Fiat S.p.A.)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2001... Byline: Laura Board The battle between Fiat SpA and Mediobanca SpA over comestibles and energy conglomerate Montedison SpA spilled over into fellow conglomerate HdP SpA, after the two rivals took opposite sides on an HdP shareholders'...