The Daily Deal articles from November 2002, page 3

The Daily Deal archives from November 2002

NCFE files for bankruptcy.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Terry Brennan Struggling National Century Financial Enterprises Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection in Columbus, Ohio, on Monday, Nov. 18, after FBI agents raided its headquarters and seized records over the weekend. NCFE,...

Wachner settles Warnaco severance fight.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Soma Biswas Warnaco Group Inc., the bankrupt maker of Calvin Klein underwear and jeans, disclosed in a Nov. 18 filing that it has reached a settlement over a $25 million disputed severance payment to Linda Wachner, its former...

Court approves bankruptcy sale to Smith & Nephew.
November 19, 2002... Byline: David Shabelman Advanced Tissue Sciences Inc. received bankruptcy court approval Thursday, Nov. 14, on the sale of a skin-replacement joint venture to its partner, Smith & Nephew plc, for $10 million plus the assumption of debt....

Asia Global Crossing sold to Netcom group.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Shu-Ching Jean Chen in Hong Kong China Netcom Communication Group Corp. said Monday, Nov. 18, it will lead a group in the acquisition of Bermuda-based undersea cable operator Asia Global Crossing Ltd., a deal that could top $270...

WorldCom gets extension for reorg plan.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Chris Nolter A Manhattan bankruptcy judge on Friday, Nov. 15, approved WorldCom Inc.'s request for another five months to prepare its reorganization plan and get clearance from creditors. Judge Arthur Gonzalez gave the...

Lenders may be wary of UAL.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Lou Whiteman UAL Corp. is unlikely to find lenders willing to extend the $2 billion in debtor-in-possession financing the company says it will need should it have to file for bankruptcy later this year. The Elk Grove...

Exabyte to stay in business 'forever' -- CEO.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Sarah Cohen Exabyte Corp. said Monday, Nov. 18, it does not expect to seek bankruptcy protection despite several warnings in Securities and Exchange Commission filings that the tape drive maker has "substantial doubt about...

Morgan Stanley to help Iusacell restructure.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Chris Nolter Mexican wireless provider Grupo Iusacell SA de CV said Monday, Nov. 18, that it has hired Morgan Stanley to advise it on debt restructuring alternatives as it makes a push for high-end customers. The company said...

IPO Outlook -- Nov. 19, 2002.
November 19, 2002... Euroline ATHENS -- Greek closed-end investment fund Euroline is set to go public from Nov. 18 to 22. This will make it the 24th fund to list on the Athens bourse's main market, Euroline said Nov. 18. The price range for the initial...

Will investors feast on Cosi?
November 19, 2002... Byline: Padraic Cassidy A pair of initial public offerings are on tap for U.S. equity markets this week, with prospects of raising a total of $85 million. Impac Medical Systems Inc. is expected to price its $35 million deal late...

Gemstar TV Guide under cloud.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Jaret Seiberg in Washington Gemstar TV Guide International Inc., facing allegations from the U.S. Justice Department that Gemstar International Group Ltd. and TV Guide International Inc. illegally coordinated operations before...

UK's Peel to buy Clydeport.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Nicola Hobday in London Real estate company Peel Holdings plc agreed Monday, Nov. 18, to buy port operator Clydeport plc for pound sterling184.4 million ($291.4 million) in cash to diversify its business. Subtract pound...

360networks acquires Group Telecom.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Laura King in Toronto Less than one week after emerging from bankruptcy protection, Canadian long-haul network builder 360networks Corp. said Monday, Nov. 18, it is buying insolvent phone and Internet carrier GT Group Telecom...

Babcock Borsig to sell U.S. unit.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Jonathan Braude in London and Kelly Holman Bankrupt German engineering company Babcock Borsig AG said Monday, Nov. 18, it has agreed to sell its U.S. subsidiary, a manufacturer of power-plant equipment, to New York-based private...

Malone thwarted again in Europe.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Richard Morgan John Malone's Liberty Media Corp. encountered another setback on its European cable march with the undoing of a [Euro]750 million ($756 million) deal to acquire Dutch cable operator N.V. Casema. The deal,...

Interchange Financial to buy Bridge View Bancorp.
November 19, 2002... Byline: David Weidner Interchange Financial Services Corp. agreed late Monday, Nov. 18, to buy Bridge View Bancorp for $87.3 million in stock. The deal for Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based Bridge View comes at a 24% premium to the...

Fisher Scientific announces 2 acquisitions.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Andrew Morse Fisher Scientific International Inc., a provider of scientific equipment to laboratories and hospitals, said after the market close on Monday, Nov. 18, it was spending $55 million to buy two small overseas firms...

Snow Brand continues to slim down.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Charles Smith in Tokyo Troubled Japanese dairy products company Snow Brand Milk Products Co. said Monday, Nov. 18, it has agreed to sell a 12.9% stake in food wholesaling affiliate Snow Brand Access Co. to five Japanese companies...

European fund managers in play.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Nicola Hobday in London A number of European fund management companies could be set for a change in ownership, as sliding stock markets spur consolidation in the industry. U.K. stockbroker Teather & Greenwood Holdings plc is...

Colaninno in real estate deal.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Heather O'Brian in Milan In a deal that marks the return of Roberto Colaninno, a consortium led by the former chairman and CEO of Telecom Italia SpA has agreed to buy the telecom company's 45% stake in the quoted-property group...

DealEstate -- Nov. 18, 2002.
November 19, 2002... Byline: compiled by Gerald C. Magpily Nov. 18, 2002 Kmart seeks OK to sell MI property Kmart Corp. has asked the bankruptcy court handling its Chapter 11 case for approval to sell its property in Troy, Mich., for $7.3 million....

Shamrock, Saban hang up on Bezeq.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Neal Sandler in Tel Aviv A consortium comprising Shamrock Holdings and billionaire businessman Haim Saban has become the latest group to walk away from the Israeli government's troubled auction of its 50.1% stake in Bezeq...

Nordic telecom deal wrapping up.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Brian Cattell in London Swedish telecom Telia AB has all but completed its groundbreaking takeover of Finnish counterpart Sonera Oyj, leaving analysts wondering how long it will be before the merged company makes its first...

Roche to take UK biotech stake.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Andrew Bulkeley in Berlin Swiss pharmaceutical maker Roche AG said Monday, Nov. 18, it would pay pound sterling4.15 million ($6.6 million) for a 10% stake in London-based Antisoma plc and up to $500 million to gain access to the...

German city in brouhaha over Interbrew.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Andrew Bulkeley in Berlin The German city of Hanover has said it would sue to prevent Brussels-based Interbrew SA, the world's third-largest brewer, from acquiring regional German brewer Gilde Brauerei AG, in which it holds about...

Polish buyout firm clinches key exit.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Patricia Koza in Warsaw Central Europe's largest private equity company, Enterprise Investors, said Monday, Nov. 18, it exited an investment through a placement with institutional investors for the first time. The development has...

JLL Partners closes 4th fund.
November 19, 2002... Byline: David Carey Concluding a laborious fund-raising effort in an inhospitable market, JLL Partners said Monday, Nov. 18, it had clinched $750 million in commitments for JLL Partners Fund IV LP. The 14-year-old New York private...

Blackstone close to buying TRW unit.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Kelly Holman and Josh Kosman in New York and Lou Whiteman in Atlanta The Blackstone Group, a New York buyout firm, is expected to acquire the Troy, Mich.-based auto parts business of TRW Inc. from Northrop Grumman Corp. in a deal...

Buffett hungry for Burger King?
November 19, 2002... Byline: Josh Kosman Value investor Warren Buffett may be hungry for a Value Meal. Two sources close to the situation said Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is interested in buying the Burger King fast-food chain in what would be...

CSFB fund to invest $750M in TXU.
November 19, 2002... Byline: David Carey Dallas-based electric utility TXU Corp. said Monday, Nov. 18, that DLJ Merchant Banking Partners III LP, a private equity fund managed by Credit Suisse First Boston, agreed to invest $750 million in TXU's energy...

iPin sews up $8M.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Tyson Freeman Venture investors in telecom and wireless startups might be considered contrarians given the sorry state of the industries. But one startup and its investors believe the depressed market has opened up some...

B2B sees life in Accruent's funding round.
November 19, 2002... Byline: Clifford Carlsen Accruent Inc. took advantage of its position in one of the few business-to-business software sectors still attracting strong venture backing to double outside equity investment in a $10 million second round ...

Bankruptcy bill passes House.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Shanon D. Murray in Washington Despite the early-morning vote by the House on Friday to pass the bankruptcy bill without a controversial abortion provision, the Senate's top Democrat said his body will not consider the measure...

World Kitchen reorg plan OK'd.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Soma Biswas World Kitchen Inc. got its reorganization plan approved Friday, clearing the way for the maker of Pyrex, Corning and Correlle cookware to emerge from Chapter 11. The approval of World Kitchen's disclosure...

WorldCom praised for Capellas hire.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Chris Nolter WorldCom Inc. answered a lingering question about its future Friday, Nov. 15, naming former Hewlett-Packard Co. president Michael D. Capellas its new chairman and chief executive. At a news conference following...

Healthcare's bankruptcy domino effect.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Terry Brennan Stung by changes in Medicare disbursements, many healthcare providers plunged into bankruptcy two years ago. Now, as many of those debtors start to exit Chapter 11, another bankruptcy epidemic threatens the industry...

Icahn wins control of XO.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Jonathan Berke After months of rancorous talks, Carl Icahn is finally taking control of XO Communications Inc. The move comes after Judge Arthur Gonzalez in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on...

Judge blocks Med Diversified.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Terry Brennan Med Diversified Inc. will have to get by with the cash it has on hand. A federal judge has thwarted the healthcare provider's attempt to sell future receivables to GE Capital Corp. to bypass the mounting...

Napster rocks on with Roxio.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Cheryl Meyer in Los Angeles The music may start playing again for bankrupt Napster Inc. Roxio Inc., a Santa Clara, Calif., digital media software company, said Friday it will buy the online music company's remaining assets...

Oakwood files for Ch. 11.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Terry Brennan Prefabricated homebuilder Oakwood Homes Corp. made a prepackaged bankruptcy filing in Wilmington, Del., after forging an agreement with creditors that would give holders of the company's unsecured debt 90% to 100%...

SpectraSite Holdings is bankrupt.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Greg Johnson As promised, SpectraSite Holdings Inc. has gone the Chapter 11 route. The Cary, N.C., wireless communication tower operator said Friday, Nov. 15, it's filed a prepackaged bankruptcy protection petition in U.S....

Shaw's wins Ames stores.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Greg Johnson Shaw's Supermarkets Inc. will pay $75.5 million to take over 18 locations once leased by Ames Department Stores Inc. Shaw's, a West Bridgewater, Mass., food store chain, won an auction for the properties Friday,...

Korea telecoms to swap cross holdings.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Roger du Mars in Seoul South Korea biggest mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. and the country’s largest fixed-line carrier, KT Corp., agreed on Thursday, Nov. 14 to eliminate their cross shareholdings by Jan. 15. KT will...

Hershey Trust cleans house.
November 16, 2002... Byline: David Marcus In the battle over the sale of Hershey Foods Corp., the penalty for dissent from community opposition to the deal has turned out to be dismissal. Hershey Trust Co., which controls 77% of the chocolate manufacturer's...

DrKW bankers seek escape hatch.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Heidi Moore Looking for an early exit, several senior bankers at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein's North American investment bank have renegotiated the retention contracts they signed after Allianz AG bought Dresdner AG and...

Elektrim clears restructuring hurdle.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Patricia Koza in Warsaw Poland's troubled telecom and energy conglomerate Elektrim SA said Friday, Nov. 15, that its bondholders have agreed to a debt restructuring agreement expected to help the company avoid bankruptcy. ...

Constar IPO disappoints.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Padraic Cassidy Shares in the initial public offering of plastics packager Constar International Inc. ended down Friday, Nov. 15, after several delays and changes in pricing for the deal. The IPO shares priced and opened on...

November M&A Calendar.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Gerald Magpily www.TheDeal.com

How Household became an HSBC name.
November 16, 2002... Byline: David Weidner HSBC Holdings plc's $14 billion buyout of Chicago-based Household International Inc. can be traced to a most unlikely forum for merger talks: a nasty court battle. Seeds for the deal, announced Nov. 14, were...

Interbrew strikes again in Germany.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Peter Moreira The world's third-largest brewer, Interbrew SA, appears close to securing yet another acquisition in Germany, this time Brauergilde Hannover AG of Lower Saxony, for which Interbrew has offered as much as [Euro]575...

On the cheap: Swallowing the pill.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Gerald C. Magpily This week, "On the Cheap" takes a look at companies that recently have adopted or amended shareholder rights plans, known as poison pills. PracticeWorks Inc. is known as something of a hunter, building its...

Schemaventotto bids for Autostrade.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Heather O'Brian in Milan The road to Rome, headquarters of highway operator Autostrade SpA, is likely to be long and winding for Schemaventotto SpA. That Benetton family-led consortium is trying to tighten its control over...

CoorsTek investor wants richer bid.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Olaf de Senerpont Domis in San Francisco CoorsTek Inc.'s biggest investor wants the chip equipment company to hold out for a better bid than the $246 million offer made last week by a group of Coors family members and trusts. ...

Ag Services sells majority stake.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Kelly Holman Less than a month after hiring an adviser to explore options, Ag Services of America Inc. is selling a controlling stake to New York private equity firm American Securities Capital Partners LP. American...

Class actions stymie United Industrial deal.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Ron Orol in Washington Asbestos litigation is hampering United Industrial Corp.'s efforts to sell the company. In its quarterly report, the New York-based maker of unmanned vehicles for defense and training systems said...

CSFB to shed Pershing.
November 16, 2002... Byline: David Weidner Credit Suisse First Boston is in talks to sell its securities clearing arm, Pershing, to Boston-based FMR Corp., the parent of Fidelity Investments, for about $2 billion, several sources said Friday. Dealmakers...

Taubman girds to block Simon.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Jonathan Berke Taubman Centers Inc. said Friday, Nov. 15, that several shareholders have joined the founding family's fight to stave off a hostile $1.45 billion buyout offer from Simon Property Group. In addition, the...

Vivendi to shrink borrowing facility.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Renee Cordes Seeking to bolster its financial independence as it tries to gain control of French telecom operator Cegetel, Vivendi Universal SA said Friday, Nov. 15, that it plans to reduce its next short-term borrowing facility...

Fortunes & Follies.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Robert Teitelman and Yvette Kantrow Harvey Pitt may be history, William Webster a non-starter, but Eliot Spitzer continues his crusade the one way he knows how: through the media. There was, of course, his ringing denunciation of...

Oei circles over NatSteel.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Shu-Ching Jean Chen in Hong Kong The chance that Asian corporate raider Oei Hong Leong will soon make a general offer of at least $420 million for Singapore steelmaker NatSteel Ltd. increased markedly last week after he appointed...

Friedman reaches for REIT.
November 16, 2002... Byline: David Weidner Four years after launching the real estate investment trust, FBR Asset Investment Corp., Friedman Billings Ramsey said Nov. 15 it will buy back the 90% of the company it didn't own for close to $780 million. ...

MobilCom close to rescue pact.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Andrew Bulkeley in Berlin The creditors of mobile phone operator MobilCom and its partner France Telecom SA expect to conclude a restructuring of the struggling German cellular reseller soon now that the German government and...

Buyers stalk storage switch makers.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Sarah Cohen A miniboom is afoot among storage-switch makers. Buyers involved in recent deals range from telecom networking companies such as Cisco Systems Inc. to server makers such as Sun Microsystems Inc. to storage...

Fisher unit could fetch $1B.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Peter Lauria Big names in television and radio are expected to line up at the auction for Fisher Communication Inc.'s broadcast properties that could bring in about $1 billion. The low-profile, Seattle-based owner of 12...

British Energy confirms talks on nuclear stake.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Laura King in Toronto A new cap on retail energy prices in Ontario may short-circuit a sale by British Energy plc of its Bruce Power nuclear plant. Canada's Globe and Mail, citing unnamed industry sources, reported Friday,...

Gaymar auction draws healthy interest.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Kelly Holman The trademarked slogan of Gaymar Industries Inc. -- "Where quality care meets the bottom line" -- couldn't be more appropriate in describing the red-hot auction for the Cortec Group-owned medical device manufacturer....

3i, Veronis to buy KPN directories.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Peter Moreira and Jonathan Braude A consortium led by British private equity investor 3i Group plc and U.S. private equity group Veronis Suhler Stevenson agreed Friday, Nov. 15, to buy TeleMedia Nederland BV, the directory unit of...

Werner back on the block.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Josh Kosman For the second time in less than a year, buyout firm Investcorp is seeking a buyer for Werner Co., which it bills as the world's biggest maker of ladders, sources close to the situation said. This time, the...

Split decision in CalPERS case.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Vyvyan Tenorio In a potential setback to the California Public Employees' Retirement System, a San Francisco Superior Court has issued a preliminary ruling that information regarding the pension fund's private equity and venture...

What's Hot -- Nov. 15, 2002.
November 16, 2002... Byline: George White As the tempature drops, so does dealflow. Venture capital activity fell in the week ending Nov. 15 to $182.82 million from the previous week's $265.2 million -- a hefty 31% decline. The primary culprit was a...

(**EMBARGOED UNTIL SUNDAY PM/MONDAY AM**) (111802DA_VCmax) Max-Viz raises $7.8M.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Clifford Carlsen Aircraft navigation toolmaker Max-Viz Inc. has raised $7.8 million in a second round of venture financing that will help it fulfill major contracts it has landed with two of the biggest manufacturers of business...

Web traffic cop Sockeye raises $12M round.
November 16, 2002... Byline: Katherine Goncharoff A recent outage on the Internet service network of Worldcom Inc., which seriously snarled Internet traffic for nine hours and brought many business operations to a halt, helped Sockeye Networks Inc. of...

DigiLens.
November 15, 2002... Optical component maker DigiLens Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., a maker of electro-optic components for communications, imaging and display applications, has raised $4 million in a first closing of its current private equity financing. Return...

Infinera.
November 15, 2002... Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Infinera received an equity investment for an undisclosed amount from Agilent Ventures, the VC arm of Agilent Technologies Inc. Investors in the company's previous rounds include Accel Partners; Applied Materials...

WorldWinner.
November 15, 2002... Online game operator WorldWinner of Los Angeles has raised $9.2 million in a third round of venture financing led by Benchmark Capital of Menlo Park, Calif. Also participating were previous investors Zero Stage Capital, HarbourVest Partners...

360networks fiber sold for a song.
November 15, 2002... Byline: Laura King in Toronto Canadian fiber-optic network builder 360networks Corp., which emerged from bankruptcy protection in Canada and the United States this week, is selling its trans-Atlantic cable to a Vancouver, Wash.-based...

LifePoint wins Logan General.
November 15, 2002... Byline: Greg Johnson LifePoint Hospitals Inc. scored an upset at an auction late Wednesday to win bankrupt Logan General Hospital of Logan, W. Va. LifePoint, the Brentwood, Tenn., operator of 23 hospitals, offered $87.5 million for...

UAL negotiating $2B DIP.
November 15, 2002... Byline: Lou Whiteman United Airlines parent UAL Corp. confirmed Thursday, Nov. 14, that it is in discussions with lenders about securing up to $2 billion in debtor-in-possession financing in case it is forced into bankruptcy. ...

Former Napster CEO objects to sale.
November 15, 2002... Byline: David Shabelman The pending sale of Napster Inc.' s assets is drawing fire from John Fanning, co-founder and former CEO of the online music Web site, who in court papers claims he owns the Napster.net domain name and Napster...

NII set to emerge from bankruptcy.
November 15, 2002... Byline: Terry Brennan Wireless provider NII Holdings Inc. has emerged from its pre-negotiated Chapter 11 in a case marked by a Delaware judge's startling challenge to a common bankruptcy practice. Judge Mary Walrath of U.S....

Turner returning to TBS?
November 15, 2002... Byline: Richard Morgan AOL Time Warner Inc. certainly upheld its reputation for living large when it wooed Jamie Kellner to run its Turner Broadcasting System Inc. After all, the recruitment effort 20 months ago included a valuation in...

China Telecom sinks in NYSE debut.
November 15, 2002... Byline: Padraic Cassidy The initial public offering Thursday from China Telecom Corp., slashed in half earlier this month to drum up investor interest, traded lower in its debut on the New York Stock Exchange, a victim of a lackluster...

Japanese steelmakers to trade stakes.
November 15, 2002... Byline: Charles Smith in Tokyo Three leading Japanese steel companies Thursday said they would acquire minority capital stakes in each other and would work to cut costs through production sharing and joint procurement. But the three,...

Anaren may bid again for Celeritek.
November 15, 2002... Byline: David Shabelman in San Francisco Anaren Microwave Inc. has been lying low since Celeritek Inc. in September rejected its $100 million buyout offer. But analysts expect Anaren to make another run at the wireless component maker....