Stories related to: private equity

The bearish market hasn't stopped angels from acting like bulls, Portfolio reports. Angel investors, those who fund start-ups and small companies, are profiting from Wall Street's woes: Reduced private equity funding has made angels the go-to source for capital, improving their bargaining position and giving them more chances to invest. More »

A Las Vegas comeback could be in the cards for Michael Jackson if a private equity firm has its way, the Wall Street Journal reports. A firm that owns the Las Vegas Hilton and a big stake in a casino company bought $23 million of Jackson's debt last month and is now in talks with the singer about an Elvis- or Celine-style residency on the Strip. More »

Billionaire Carl Icahn, fresh off his successful battle to reshuffle Motorola’s board, may launch a proxy fight for control of Yahoo after buying some 50 million shares of Yahoo since Microsoft’s failed takeover bid, reports the Wall Street Journal . The deadline for board nominations is Thursday. Icahn may be looking to use his leverage to push Yahoo back toward Microsoft, the Journal notes. More »

The two private-equity firms set to buy Clear Channel sued the group of banks they had engaged to fund the deal, the Wall Street Journal reports. Joined by Clear Channel, Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners accused the consortium—including Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, and Wachovia—of breaching contract by attempting to back out of the deal amid the tanking credit market. More »

Carlyle Capital announced overnight that it is defaulting on $16.6 billion in debt, and its creditors are likely to take possession of its remaining assets. The latest casualty of the credit catastrophe is a major embarrassment for Carlyle Group, the private equity firm whose executives own 15% of the fund, reports the Wall Street Journal . Carlyle's fall demonstrates how the world's biggest banks are now playing hardball with their best clients. More »

The Carlyle Group is holding emergency talks with lenders to try to save its drowning Carlyle Capital division, the Washington Post reports. Creditors have decided that Carlyle’s portfolio of traditionally safe mortgage-backed securities holdings isn’t good enough in the current market, and they're demanding $400 million more in collateral. Some have declared Carlyle Capital in default and may have sold $5 billion in assets. More »

The continued struggles of Chrysler and GMAC—two of Cerberus Capital Management’s largest and most recognized purchases—have observers wondering if the private equity darling has lost its Midas touch, reports Reuters. S&P has downgraded GMAC’s credit rating, Chrysler's January sales slipped 12% even as the company set about cutting models and dealerships in an effort to return to profitability. More »

Asian stocks slumped today after reports in the Financial Times that a struggling arm of private equity heavyweight Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. missed a second payment on billions of dollars of commercial debt just 6 months after two of its founders poured $270 million into the company. Investors cashed out as fears of a global credit meltdown flared, reports the Wall Street Journal.  More »

Beleaguered student loan provider Sallie Mae yesterday dropped its $900 million lawsuit against the onetime suitors who bailed on a $25.3 billion buyout after the credit crunch caused would-be investors to walk away, reports the Washington Post . By agreeing not to seek the penalty from investment firm JC Flowers and several partners, Sallie Mae secured $31 billion in financing. More »

Brothers Alexander, Marc and Oliver Samwer, founders of ring tone company Jamba, have just joined Microsoft and Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka Shing as major investors in US based social networking company Facebook. Though the Samwers' haven't disclosed the exact size of their investment, they told Der Spiegel  it was "significant," but smaller than Microsoft's $240 million. More »

The $1.8 billion sale of mortgage and auto-leasing company PHH to General Electric and  the Blackstone Group is off the table, after Blackstone was snubbed by banks it had lined up for its share of financing, Bloomberg reports. The deal is the latest private-equity buyout felled by the subprime contagion. More »

With a credit rating bordering on junk-bond status, embattled student loan provider Sallie Mae plans a public stock offering to raise $2.5 billion, reports the Wall Street Journal . The company will use $2 billion to buy back its own stock futures, which have lost value recently following a failed attempt to take the company private. More »

The House passed a sweeping tax-reform bill yesterday—shifting some $78 billion in taxes from middle-class families to the super-rich—that is expected to get little traction in the Senate and has already drawn the promise of a presidential veto. The bill would exempt middle-income families from the Alternative Minimum Tax and offset the cost by closing loopholes that benefit private equity and hedge fund managers. More »

Rep. Charles Rangel, the Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has proposed a revised corporate tax structure that could lower corporate income taxes from 35% to between 30% and 31%. It would be offset by doing away with tax breaks for manufacturing in the US. The bill is unlikely to move forward this year, but the Wall Street Journal sees it as influencing debate as momentum gathers for a tax overhaul under the next president. More »

With Chrysler deep in talks on a new contact with the UAW—the clock is ticking on a strike deadline tomorrow morning—sources tell the Detroit Free Press that cuts to non-union employees are in the works. Loss of about 1,600 salaried and contract jobs is expected, on top of the 14,000 layoffs over the next 3 years announced as part of a restructuring in February. More »

College student lender Sallie Mae is suing a group of private equity firms and banks that are backing out of a $25-billion buyout deal. The group—J.C. Flowers & Company, Friedman Fleischer & Lowe, JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America—had set a deadline of today for negotiating new terms, or they'll walk away from the deal, despite a $900-million breakup fee, reports the New York Times . More »

Sallie Mae doesn’t look like such a bargain at $25 billion anymore, and J.C. Flowers & Co. is trying to renegotiate—or escape—its deal to acquire the student lender, citing the credit market implosion and legislation to reform student loan practices. It’s the kind of deal once considered unbreakable, the Wall Street Journal says, but private equity is in disarray. More »

Caring for grandma has become big business for private firms that are buying nursing homes and making them profit generators. But to do it, they’ve severely cut staff—sometimes below legal levels, the New York Times found. “Chains have made a lot of money by cutting nurses,” said one analyst, “but it’s at the cost of human lives.” More »

Rogue Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu’s troubles are deepening today, as federal officials are expected to charge the twice-on-the-lam financier with running a $60 million pyramid scheme and breaking campaign-finance laws. Hsu faces accusations that he falsely told investors their money was going into a clothing operation; some of was allegedly routed to political candidates, the Wall Street Journal reports. More »

Kolhberg Kravis Roberts is pushing forward with some of the biggest deals in US history, but the iconic buyout firm finds itself under unprecedented scrutiny. Analysts say the huge deals KKR has pending will be a test of the struggling credit markets, the Washington Post reports: If they don't go through, the age of private equity may be over. More »