Acquisitions Monthly articles from May 2003

Acquisitions Monthly archives from May 2003

High-cost hostile bids return; after a peaceful 2002, the UK has seen the culture of confrontation return. This will be good news for defending advisers. (Insight).
May 1, 2003... There was a flurry of hostile bids in the UK in the first quarter of 2003 after two quiescent years. This is good news for advisers since, although there might be neither a deal nor a league table credit, large fees can be generated by advising...

Synopses of the largest global deals in April 2003. (Market intellegence).
May 1, 2003... US: First Data Corp (FDC) definitively agreed to acquire all the outstanding common stock of Concord EFS (CEF), a provider of fund-transferring services, in a stock swap transaction valued at US$6.94bn. FDC offered 0.4 common shares per CEF...

Bank of the year: Rothschild: highly commended: Morgan Stanley/ Citigroup. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... A turbulent and battering year for investment banks it might have been, but Rothschild nonetheless made great strides in 2002 and emerged from the storm looking remarkably well-groomed and well-upholstered. The firm cannot be directly compared...

Private equity firm of the year: Permira: highly commended: EQT. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Permira's timing last year was impeccable. Just as it was to start approaching investors about its new US$3.5bn buyout fund, Homebase became the most spectacular homerun of the season when, undaunted by a failure to achieve an IPO, it was sold...

Crossborder deal of the year: Kingfisher-Castorama Dubois: highly commended: SAB--Miller Brewing. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Cross-border deal of the year was the toughest battle in Europe in 2002. Kingfisher, the UK diversified retail group, made a tender offer to acquire the 45% it did not own in Castorama Dubois Investissments, the French DIY chain, for 76 [euro]...

Corporate broker of the year: UBS: highly commended: Merrill Lynch/Cazenove & Co. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... UBS convincingly demonstrated in 02 that it was the most prolific of corporate brokers in M&A, with a broader and more varied franchise than any other firm. According to an independent management consultancy that has had access to confidential...

Domestic deal of the year: National Grid-Lattice. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... With so many inventive corporate finance solutions in 2002, choosing a single domestic transaction was no easy feat. But one transaction created a British energy company that not only has enough critical mass to deter foreign takeover attempts...

Law firm of the year: Linklaters: highly commended: Ashurst Morris Crisp/Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Linklaters has been named law firm of the year by Acquisitions Monthly. The award was for the firm's overall M&A and corporate work last year and a separate award was presented for legal advice on the Lattice/National Grid merger, which was...

Mid-market adviser of the year: KPMG Corporate Finance: highly commended: PricewaterhouseCoopers Corporate Finance. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... KPMG Corporate Finance was again the most the most prolific dealmaker in Europe in 2002. But that is not the only measure of its success last year. Revenues increased slightly in the year to November 2002 and it took important measures to...

Buyout of the year: Legrand: highly commended: Haarmann & Reimer. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Legrand was the deal that captured all the headlines in 2002. By completing the largest ever European buyout in a tough and erratic market, the equity consortium stretched perceptions of what was achievable, setting the tone for subsequent...

Debt arranger of the year: The Royal Bank of Scotland: highly commended: Barclays Capital. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... It was only a decade ago that RBS poached Leith Robertson from Bank of Scotland to establish an acquisition finance division, but how things have changed in the last 10 years. The bank's leveraged finance division, under the overall control of...

Mezzanine provider of the year: Intermediate Capital Group: highly commended: RBS Mezzanine. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Once again Intermediate Capital Group topped the Acquisitions Monthly mezzanine provider league tables, a remarkable feat considering it is in competition with the US bulge-bracket investment banks, which were supposed to marginalise the...

Buyout fund of the year: Candover: highly commended: PAI. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... In what was regarded as one of the toughest fundraising years since the industry began, Candover managed to double the size of its previous offering as well as finding the time to make important appointments and complete some of the year's...

Mid-market private equity firm of the year: HgCapital: highly commended: ABN AMRO Capital/Graphite Capital. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... HgCapital is mid-market private equity firm of the year after a successful 12 months of doing deals in its chosen sectors. HgCapital once again proved itself one of the main players in the European healthcare scene with the acquisition of...

Mid-market deal of the year: Hammerson-Grantchester Holdings. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... In the mid-markets, one deal impressed the judges more than its competitors. In a year when private equity firms tended to take the spoils, here a corporate firm trumped an earlier management buyout offer. The mid-market deal of the year...

Mid-market law firm of the year: SJ Berwin: highly commended: Travers Smith Braithwaite/Macfarlanes. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... SJ Berwin has won the Acquisitions Monthly award for mid-market law firm of the year 2003 on the strength of its European M&A, private equity and corporate finance activity during 2002. In 2002, SJ Berwin continued to strengthen its leading...

Group A accountancy firm of the year: BDO Stoy Hayward: highly commended: RSM Robson Rhodes. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... BDO Stoy Hayward takes the top slot in the Group A Accountancy category after a successful year in which the firm laid the foundations for solid regional and international growth. At a time when corporate finance players are trying to...

Boutique of the year: Altium Capital: highly commended: Cavendish Corporate Finance. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Altium Capital prospered in its first year as an independent boutique and made its biggest mark yet on the mergers and acquisitions market. It bought itself out of German financial services firm Gold-Zack, the corporate financiers' second...

Asia deal of the year: Wal-Mart--Seiyu. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The deal was the largest cross-border M&A transaction in Japan during 2002 and marked Wal-Mart's much-anticipated entry into the world second largest economy. On March 14 2002, Wal-Mart announced an agreement to purchase a strategic 6.1% stake...

Privatisation adviser of the year: Morgan Stanley. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Navigating turbulent stock markets took tremendous skill in 2002. For meeting the complex demands of governments and investors in 2002 the privatisation adviser of the year is Morgan Stanley. Italy's government last year sold its remaining...

Privatisation deal of the year: Autoroutes du Sud de la France (ASF). (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Autoroutes due Sud de la France (ASF)was a benchmark deal for the French government, allowing it to test investor appetite for the rest of the state-owned motorway sector, where similar flotations look set to come to the market in 2003. It was...

Restructuring adviser of the year: Talbot Hughes McKillop: highly commended: Lazard. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Talbot Hughes McKillop shot to prominence last year in a way that belied its small size. The restructuring boutique, then known as Talbot Hughes, undertook simultaneous mandates that must have tested the juggling skills of both John Talbot and...

Emerging market deal of the year: Novartis-Lek. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Our choice of emerging market deal of the year deal showed the potential for healthcare mergers in Central and Eastern Europe and was an important transaction for Slovenia. The winner is the recommended public offer by Swiss healthcare group...

Financial due diligence adviser of the year: PricewaterhouseCoopers: highly commended: Ernst & Young. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The financial due diligence award this year goes to PricewaterhouseCoopers for its high quality work and broad franchise. Over recent years the transaction services team has developed a much admired deal advisory capability covering the entire...

Environmental due diligence adviser of the year: URS: highly commended: ERM. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Greater awareness of environmental issues, increasingly stringent legislative controls and the threat of third-party litigation have combined to make environmental due diligence an integral part of most M&A transactions. In the last few years,...

Media relations adviser of the year: Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein: highly commended: 3i. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Although many firms saw their fair share of the media spotlight and reputational issues last year, 2002 was a particularly challenging and eventual year for Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. In addition to difficult market conditions, a series of...

Newcomer of the year: Hutton Collins. (2003 awards).
May 1, 2003... Hutton Collins takes the award for newcomer of the year for the immediate impact the firm had on mezzanine financing in Europe. The group was established in March 2002 by Graham Hutton and Matthew Collins, two ex-colleagues at Morgan Grenfell,...

Acquisitions Monthly Awards 2003. (2003 awards).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The Acquisitions Monthly Awards were presented at the 6th Acquisitions Monthly Annual Awards Reception to which 250 senior bankers, brokers, consultants, corporates, investors, lawyers and venture capitalists were invited on the evening of...

Drax creditors battle to avoid write-offs; advisers continue to approach potential buyers. (Restructuring column).
May 1, 2003... The financial creditors of the UK's largest power station are trying to reach an agreement before the end of May on restructuring the plant's 1.2bn [pounds sterling] (US$1.94bn) of debt to avoid administration and write-offs that could run into...

Morgan Grenfell Old Boys reunite; Guy Dawson and John Short are set to join new boutique Tricorn. (Institutions).
May 1, 2003... The new boutique Tricorn is beginning to look like a Morgan Grenfell Old Boys Club and could become a serious force in the market. Guy Dawson and John Short are now set to join the firm, which is being set up by former Gleacher & Co partners...

France is the new Germany; Duke Street Capital announces formal opening in Paris. (Institutions).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The announcement of a new office opening in Paris by Duke Street Capital follows something of a trend amongst private equity groups, which are deserting Germany in favour of Paris. Duke Street set up a German operation last year under Ervin...

Whose merger regime is best? The EU and US merger regimes are closing on substance. However, there are still likely to be differences in the procedure on individual cases. (Legal and Regulatory).
May 1, 2003... At first sight, and especially when looking over he Potomac, the answer is simple. The US has the oldest, most developed merger system. Its regime surpasses both the EU system both on the substance and the procedure. On the substance it has...

Making sure cartels pay out; in the US, it is a lot easier than in Europe to ensure that firms who price-fix, bid-rig or market share pay out. (Legal and Regulatory).
May 1, 2003... The US Department of Justice (DOJ) may bust a cartel, providing a lot of evidence to make the case. Even if the Department of Justice is not on the cartel's tail, US rules of discovery, contingency fees and treble damages, backed up by the wide...

Tensions in structured finance: unlike its US counterpart, the European leveraged finance market has been marked by relative stability in terms of participants, pricing and leverage levels. Ben Harding investigates recent changes that are set to threaten this stability. (Acquisition Finance).
May 1, 2003... The two markets are structurally, different: in the US, there is far greater capital markets involvement, it is more institutional, loans are rated as a matter of course, refinancing midstream is far more common and the levels of protection are...

Leveraged financing alternatives: the range of alternatives to traditional senior, mezzanine and high-yield debt is growing, driven by private equity houses' demand for cheaper financing, Securitisation, sale and leaseback and vendor loans have all increased in the past year. (Acquisition Finance).(related article: Asset-based financing)
May 1, 2003... The most recent development in alternative LBO financing has been in sale and leaseback transactions. Suitable only for property-intensive companies, this involves leveraging the asset value as well as the underlying cashflow through an...

Gala. (M&A capital markets round-up: a review of capital markets activity in the month of April providing details and pricing of deals.).(Gala Group's buyout)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Banks have signed into the 615m [pounds sterling] senior debt facilities for the 805m [pounds sterling] tertiary buyout of Gala Group through mandated lead arrangers CSFB and Merrill Lynch. Lead arrangers with a final hold of 27m [pounds...

Little Chef/Travelodge. (M&A capital markets round-up: a review of capital markets activity in the month of April providing details and pricing of deals.).(buyout by Permira)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... RBS signed banks into the 209m [pounds sterling] senior term loan that partly finances Permira's buyout of Little Chef and Travelodge. Final allocations are Bank of Scotland and HVB on 50m [pounds sterling], RBS on 49m [pounds sterling], SG and...

SigmaKalon. (M&A capital markets round-up: a review of capital markets activity in the month of April providing details and pricing of deals.).(buyout backed by Bain Capital Inc. )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... General syndication of the 779m [euro] leveraged debt backing Bain Capital's buyout of SigmaKalon is expected to close shortly, through mandated lead arrangers CSFB and SG. After a highly successful senior phase during which ABN AMRO, Bank...

Viterra Energy Services. (M&A capital markets round-up: a review of capital markets activity in the month of April providing details and pricing of deals.).(to be acquired by CVC Capital Partners)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... CVC Capital Partners has signed an agreement to acquire Viterra Energy Services from Viterra AG, the real estate arm of E.ON, in a deal valued at 845m [euro]. CIBC and Goldman Sachs have been mandated to arrange the debt to support the buyout....

Fraikin. (M&A capital markets round-up: a review of capital markets activity in the month of April providing details and pricing of deals.).(buyout from Iveco)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Mandated lead arrangers CAI and CIC will refinance the 430m [euro] bridge loan to the 805m [euro] Eurazeo-led buyout of truck rental group Fraikin from Fiat subsidiary Iveco with a securitisation programme. The mandated duo have provided a...

Danske Traelast. (M&A capital markets round-up: a review of capital markets activity in the month of April providing details and pricing of deals.).(takeover bid by CVC Europe)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... ABN AMRO has won the mandate to arrange the debt supporting CVC Europe's 545m [euro] recommended cash offer for building materials retailer and distributor Danske Traelast. CVC Europe is offering DKr177 per share, a premium of 39% to Danske...

TeleMedia. (M&A capital markets round-up: a review of capital markets activity in the month of April providing details and pricing of deals.).(leveraged buyout financing launched)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Dutch telephone directory publisher TeleMedia's 335m [euro] LBO financing has been launched to general syndication, through mandated lead arranger ABN AMRO. This follows a senior phase during which ING and Bank of Scotland joined as...

PizzaExpress. (M&A capital markets round-up: a review of capital markets activity in the month of April providing details and pricing of deals.).(gets cash offer from GondolaExpress)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... GondolaExpress, the acquisition company created and backed by TDR Capital and Capricorn Ventures International (CVI), has reached agreement with the management of PizzaExpress to make a 277.8m [pounds sterling] recommended cash offer for the...

Fitness First. (M&A capital markets round-up: a review of capital markets activity in the month of April providing details and pricing of deals.).(sold to a private equity house)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... UK-based Fitness First has become the latest health club operator to sell to a private equity house, having agreed to a 175p per share offer from Cinven. The bid values the company's share capital at 204m [pounds sterling], a 46% premium to the...

QinetiQ. (M&A capital markets round-up: a review of capital markets activity in the month of April providing details and pricing of deals.).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The 460m [pounds sterling] senior debt facility supporting Carlyle Group's LBO of a 33.8% stake in the UK has been government-owned defence research group QinetiQ has been launched into general syndication, through mandated lead arrangers...

Esmalglass. (M&A capital markets round-up: a review of capital markets activity in the month of April providing details and pricing of deals.).(buyout)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Syndication of the 125m [euro] senior debt supporting the 3i-backed MBO of Esmalglass, the Spanish ceramic glazing company, is expected to close oversubscribed, rough mandated lead arrangers BNP Paribas. Senior lead managers are invited to...

OASE Wuebker. (M&A capital markets round-up: a review of capital markets activity in the month of April providing details and pricing of deals.)(buyout )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Bank of Scotland is close to completing the circa 65m [euro] financing supporting Electra Partners Europe's 120m [euro] MBO of family-owned OASE Wuebker as a four-bank club. The buyout took place last December. Ahead of the targeted...

Edinburgh Woolen Mill. (M&A capital markets round-up: a review of capital markets activity in the month of April providing details and pricing of deals.).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Syndication of the 64.5m [pounds sterling] leveraged financing backing the 67.5m [pounds sterling] secondary buyout of Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM) is making slow but steady progress, through MLA Bank of Scotland. The arranger says three...

Undervalued but cash-rich: as consolidation in the biotech arena once again comes sharply into focus, there is a new twist to the saga as several high-profile names begin trading at less than cash value.
May 1, 2003... Two deals in the biotech arena reflect the contradictory nature of this troubled industry. The plight of Oxford GlycoScience (OGS) highlights the new dilemma facing the biotech sector. Namely that many of its companies have long...

Murdoch seals US$6.6bn DirecTV deal; news corporation last month paid US$6.6bn to take control of Hughes electronics--and, in particular, its DirecTV division--after an epic bid battle that has dragged on for three years. (TMT sector report).
May 1, 2003... News Corp's previous bid for Hughes was trumped in 2001 by a US$30bn offer from EchoStar Communications, a rival satellite broadcaster. But the deal became bogged down with regulatory problems--competition authorities said the merger would...

Norway's DnB finds the momentum. (FIG sector report).(Den Norske Bank acquires Gjensidige NOR ASA)(statistical data included)
May 1, 2003... Few financial institutions deals are being announced in Europe nowadays but in Scandinavia there are still some dynamics that are overcoming difficult market conditions. Norway's DnB, for example, looked on course at the time of writing to...

Creating a Russian oil champion: just two months after BP ploughed US$6.75bn into a joint venture that will become the country's third largest oil company, two Russian companies unveiled an even bigger deal. (Utilities sector report).(statistical data included)(YUKOS Oil Co. and Sibneft merge into YukosSibneft)
May 1, 2003... The merger of Yukos and Sibneft, respectively the second and fifth ranked Russian oil companies announced on April 22 will create an entity of global scale by any measure. The combined group will have oil and gas reserves of 19.4bn...

Plan to refloat Northumbrian Water: the sale of Northumbrian Water took a further twist when it emerged that a short-listed bidder was planning to seek a stock exchange listing for the company. (Utilities sector report).
May 1, 2003... The offer is from a group of investment funds, which are being advised by Deutsche Bank, the Ecofin investment management and advisory group, and the stockbroking firm Collins Stewart. A source at Deutsche confirmed that if the group's bid...

Moving in the mid-markets (US$300m-US$30m).
May 1, 2003... Overview Support services take top slot this month with Spanish construction company Ferrovial Servicios agreeing to acquire Amey the UK support services company for US$337.2m. In the UK construction arena Wilson Bowden acquired Henry Boot...

French M&A stays in business; medium-sized deals are keeping the business services sector busy in France, although some of the major players are in 'digestion mode'. (Sector watch).
May 1, 2003... The business services sector is so highly diversified that it can be hard to generalise about its position on the world's M&A stage. However, in France, commentators agree, the general rule is that it is growing--and that means deal potential....

Media deals recovery in the mid-market; big-ticket sales are being watched closely by bankers and private equity firms as they may provide a catalyst for sales of other, smaller publishing assets. (Sector watch).
May 1, 2003... As German media giant Bertelsmann comes close to selling its science and trade publishing division, Bertelsmann Springer, to private equity firms Cinven and Candover for a sum expected to be in excess of 1bn [euro] (US$1.15bn), the mid-market...

Smaller FIG acquisitions on the cards in Italy: Italy's fragmented banking market offers many medium-sized opportunities for foreign buyers despite regulatory obstacles. (Sector watch).
May 1, 2003... In Italy is that there are a number of medium-sized banks that are listed and potentially targets for acquisition. These include Antonveneta, BNL and the recently restructured Capitalia. Recently, Dutch bank ABN AMRO raised its stake in...

A noble position in a challenging market: April saw Noble & Company advise private house builder Gladesdale on the 95M [pounds sterling] take-private of house builder Bett. In a difficult market, the bank feels it has several factors acting in its favour. (Profile).
May 1, 2003... In the present climate Noble & Company feels it has two primary strengths--its integrated product offering and the fact that it is 90% owned by its employees. Noble & Company (also known as Nobles) is one of three subsidiaries within the Noble...

Amey stays in one piece; Spanish group steps in to provide highly satisfactory solution for UK support services group. (Mid-market deal of the month).
May 1, 2003... Grupo Ferrovial's 81m [pounds sterling](118m [euro]) acquisition of UK support services company Amey achieved the latter's first objective of staying in one piece. Some analysts say Amey is fortunate to have found such a buyer. Both the...

Deals flow across the Tyne; the store wars battle for Safeway has brought to national attention the supermarket phenomenon of WM Morrison, a firm born and bred in the North-East of England. (UK regional focus).
May 1, 2003... Like the catchphrase of his group--more for less--Sir Ken Morrison's 2.9bn [pounds sterling] (US$.67bn) bid for rival Safeway has engineered a situation from which Wm Morrison will benefit, whatever the outcome. If his attempt to turn his...

Behind the buyouts.(Overview)
May 1, 2003... Overview As Acquisitions Monthly goes to press 3i and Veronis Suhler Stevenson, the US media merchant bank, have announced that they have bought up another swathe of the continent's yellow pages books in a move that takes their combined...

Going private: M&A activity boosted by public-to-privates. (Private equity column).(mergers and acquisitions )
May 1, 2003... Spring seems to have got the sap flowing in the corporate world. With the sun out and the war over, there is renewed confidence in the city. M&A activity, which on the Continent has been boosted in recent months by corporate restructuring,...

Italian lawyers are hungry for more; Allen & Overy's Milan-based banking lawyers discuss the growing buyout and leveraged finance markets. (Behind the buyouts).
May 1, 2003... Italy's leveraged buyout market has sprung back into life again over the last 18 months after a torpid 2001. Among the lawyers, Allen & Overy's Milan office has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of this revival. Giancarlo Castorini, a...

Buyout house gets in early with PPR to secure deal. (Behind the buyouts).(Electra acquires Rexel Ltd., a subsidiary of restructuring parent, Pinault-Printemps-Redoute)
May 1, 2003... Electra has achieved that holy grail in private equity, acquiring a growing business from a restructuring parent without running the auction gamut. Rexel, a subsidiary of the troubled French giant Pinault Printemps Redoute, has disposed of...

CVC wins Viterra Energy Services: Goldman Sachs is clearly benefiting from E. ON's disposal of non-core operations to focus on energy activities. (Behind the buyouts).(CVC Capital Partners acquires Viterra Energy Services AG)
May 1, 2003... CVC Capital Partners has signed an agreement to acquire Viterra Energy Services from Viterra, the real estate arm of E.ON, in a deal that values the business at 845m [euro] (US$975m). CVC is understood to have fought off tough competition...

Luke Johnson trumped over PizzaExpress; the bidding battle for the UK restaurant chain intensified last month as GondolaExpress tabled a rival and recommended offer. (Behind the buyouts).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... GondolaExpress, the company created by TDR Capital and Capricorn Ventures International (CVI), has reached agreement with the management of PizzaExpress to make a 277.8m [pounds sterling] (US$435m) recommended cash offer for the company. ...

Barclays Private Equity buys NCC; acquisition of software security firm rounds off month for Barclays. (Behind the buyouts).(NCC Group)
May 1, 2003... Barclays Private Equity has backed the 44m [euro] management buyout of the NCC Group. The deal represents the second buyout in three years for the company, which was previously part of the National Computing Centre. NCC specialises in supplying...

3i realises stake in Everest; management buyout at double glazing company provides exit for 3i. (Behind the buyouts).(3I Group PLC)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Everest, the firm that gained notoriety in the 1980s with its, 'Fit the best fit Everest' slogan has been acquired by its management in a deal worth 58m [pounds sterling]. The management team, led by executive chairman Roy Eddy has...

Royal London Private Equity. (Funds).(funding for limited partnership)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Royal London Private Equity, the PE arm of Royal London Asset Management, the 2.13bn [pounds sterling] fund manager, has secured 64m [pounds sterling] for its first closing on its debut limited partnership. Formed in October 2001, RLPE began...

Graphite announces final closing on 375m [pounds sterling]. (Funds).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Graphite Capital, one of the UK's most established mid-market practitioners, has announced a first and final closing on fund six at 375m [pounds sterling]. Graphite will continue to focus on UK companies capitalised at under 100m [pounds...

Duke Street closes Duchess II. (Funds).(Duke Street Capital Debt Management Ltd.)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Duke Street Capital Debt Management has closed its second collateralised debt obligation (CDO) fund, at 550m [pounds sterling]. This is the largest European CDO fund to close this year and brings the firm's CDO funds under management to 1.55bn...

Schroders launches SPEFOF II. (Funds).(Schroder Private Equity Fund of Funds II )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Schroders has announced plans for its second innovative quoted fund of funds vehicle. In common with last year's 243m [euro] fund, the vehicle will be listed on the Dublin Stock Exchange and will adopt a multi-tier share approach to appeal to...

M&A deal data.(Illustration)
May 1, 2003... Benelux Target Bidder Getronics Human Resources ABP (NE) Solutions BV (NE) - Payroll processing services - Venture capital firm Sales ($): n/a Net Profits Sales ($): n/a ...

Monthly sector analysis: this sector analysis includes acquisitions and buyouts announced during April, UK public offers completed between these dates are included, whereas new and pending offers are excluded. The transactions are classified according to the US Sic Code identifying the industry sector in which the target company is principally engaged. (Minority stakes, Monthly sector analysis).
May 1, 2003... Seller - activity Bidder - activity 01: AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, AND FISHING 0182: Food crops grown under cover Sylvan Inc (US) - Produce Investor Group (US) - Investor mushrooms, fruits ...