Reuters: Private Equity: BRIEF-Moody's afrms Lecta's B1 CFR, assigns (P)B1 rtg to new secured nts

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BRIEF-Moody's afrms Lecta's B1 CFR, assigns (P)B1 rtg to new secured nts Apr 30th 2012, 12:40 Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

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Reuters: Private Equity: Lloyds gets approach for Scottish Widows - report

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Lloyds gets approach for Scottish Widows - report Apr 30th 2012, 12:43 LONDON, April 30 | Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:43am EDT LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) - Lloyds Banking Group has received a multi-billion-pound takeover approach for Scottish Widows, its life assurance, pensions and savings business, a newspaper reported on Monday. London's Evening Standard said the approach is from Edmund Truell, the founder of private equity firm Duke Street, who is bringing 500 million pound ($812 million) bid vehicle Tungsten to the stock market. The report said Lloyds, which is 40 percent owned by the UK taxpayer and reports first-quarter results on Tuesday, has received a number of other approaches for Scottish Widows recently. Lloyds refused to comment. Truell could not immediately be reached. Lloyds CEO Antonio Horta-Osorio ruled out a sale of Scottish Widows last year after a strategic review of businesses, despite increasing regulatory demands on both banks and insurers to carry more capital. The Evening Standard said Truell has teamed up with his brother Danny to launch Tungsten and has found cornerstone investors for his bid vehicle.

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Reuters: Private Equity: EU mergers and takeovers (April 30)

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EU mergers and takeovers (April 30) Apr 30th 2012, 11:05 BRUSSELS, April 30 | Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:05am EDT BRUSSELS, April 30 (Reuters) - The following are mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process: APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS -- Infrastructure fund Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) to acquire a stake in the Transitgas pipeline from Belgian gas transport company Fluxys (approved April 27) NEW LISTINGS - Dow Europe Holding, a unit of U.S. company, Dow Chemical Company, to aquire joint control of carbon products company Aksa Karbon which is now solely controlled by Turkish conglomerate Aksa Akrilik (notified April 26/deadline June 7/simplified) -- Spanish oil product company Disa Corporacion Petrolifera to acquire joint control of Shell Aviation Espana S.L. from Shell Espana S.A, which is part of Royal Dutch Shell Plc (notified April 26/deadline June 7) EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES -- Compagnia Italiana di Navigazione to acquire Italian state-owned ferry group Tirrenia (Commission closed the investigation on April 27 after the companies abandoned the transaction) FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE APRIL 30 -- CVC Capital Partners to acquire Nordic construction products and machinery distributor Ahlsell from Cinven and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners (notified March 21/deadline April 30) MAY 4 -- Austrian brickmaker Wienerberger to acquire the remaining 50 percent share in plastic pipe maker Pipelife International from Belgian chemicals group Solvay (notified March 26/deadline May 4/simplified) -- Scholz Austria to acquire joint control of waste management company Asaler Familienholding GmbH (notified March 26/deadline May 4/simplified) MAY 7 -- Dutch retailer Ahold to acquire Dutch non-food online retailer Bol.com from Cyrte Investments and NPM Capital(notified March 27/deadline May 7) MAY 8 -- U.S. cereal company Kellogg Co to acquire Pringles potato chips from U.S. household products maker Procter & Gamble Co (notified March 28/deadline May 8/simplified) -- British packaging company DS Smith to acquire the recyclyed packaging operations of Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA) (notified March 28/deadline May 8) MAY 10 -- Dong Energy and Boston Holdings to set up a wind park joint venture (notified March 29/deadline May 10) -- French power utility EDF to acquire control of Italian utility Edison (notified March 29/deadline May 10) MAY 11 -- Swiss engineering group ABB to acquire U.S. electrical components maker Thomas Betts (notified March 30/deadline May 11/simplified) -- French dairy product group Lactalis to acquire Swedish dairy cooperative Skanemejerier (notified March 30/deadline May 11) May 14 -- Miner Rio Tinto to acquire sole control of miner Richards Bay Minerals (notified April 2/deadline May 14/simplified) -- Irish investment fund ESB NM and oil group BP to acquire joint control of British start-up Heliex Power Ltd (notified April 2/deadline May 14/simplified) -- Swedish group Freudenberg & Co and Swedish car parts company Trelleborg to set up a car parts joint venture (notified April 2/deadline May 14) MAY 16 -- Royal Bank of Canada to acquire British fund services company RBC Dexia Investor Services Ltd (notified April 4/deadline May 16/simplified) MAY 21 -- Finnish group Outokumpu to acquire German group ThyssenKrupp's Inoxum stainless steel unit (notified April 10/deadline May 21) MAY 22 -- German sugar company Suedzucker to acquire a 25 percent stake in British commodities trading company ED&F Man (notified Sept. 19/deadline extended for the third time to May 22 from April 25 after Suedzucker offered more commitments) MAY 25 -- Eastman Chemical Co. to acquire chemicals firm Solutia Inc. (notified April 16/deadline May 25) MAY 29 -- Belgian-based AGC Glass Europe to acquire majority stake in Germany's Interpane International Glas (notified April 17/deadline May 29) JUNE 4 -- German property services provider RGM and builder Alpine Bau to acquire joint control of property developer BIP (notified April 23/deadline June 4/simplified) -- Mexican industrial conglomerate Mexichem to acquire Dutch peer Wavin (notified April 23/deadline June 4) JUNE 5 -- French insurer CNP Assurances Swiss Life France (notified April 24/deadline June 5/simplified) JUNE 6 -- Pratt & Whitney which is a unit of U.S. maker of elevators and air conditioners United Technologies Corp, British company Rolls-Royce plc, Japanese Aero Engines Corp and Germany's MTU Aero Engines GmbH to set up a joint venture called International Aero Engines (notified April 25/deadline June 6/simplified) AUG 9 -- U.S. conglomerate United Technologies Corp to acquire U.S. aircraft components maker Goodrich (notified Feb. 20/deadline extended to Aug. 9 from March 26 after the Commission opens an-depth investigation) AUG 27 -- Telefonica UK and Vodafone UK to set up a joint venture providing mobile commerce services (notified March 6/deadline extended to Aug. 27 from April 13 after the Commnission opens an in-depth investigation) SEPT 6 -- Vivendi's Universal Music Group to buy British record label EMI's recorded music unit from Citigroup Inc (notified Feb. 17/deadline extended for the second time to Sept. 6 from Aug. 8 after the Commission asked for more time) GUIDE TO EU MERGER PROCESS DEADLINES: The European Commission has 25 working days after a deal is filed for a first-stage review. It may extend that by 10 working days to 35 working days, to consider either a company's proposed remedies or an EU member state's request to handle the case. Most mergers win approval but occasionally the Commission opens a detailed second-stage investigation for up to 90 additional working days, which it may extend to 105 working days. SIMPLIFIED: Under the simplified procedure, the Commission announces the clearance of uncontroversial first-stage mergers without giving any reason for its decision. Cases may be reclassified as non-simplified -- that is, ordinary first-stage reviews -- until they are approved. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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Reuters: Private Equity: UPDATE 1-LPL Investment to begin paying dividends in second half

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UPDATE 1-LPL Investment to begin paying dividends in second half Apr 30th 2012, 11:22 Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:22am EDT * Expects to pay regular divs of up to $0.12/shr * Declares special dividend of $2/shr * Shareholders Hellman & Friedman, TPG Capital to sell 14.5 mln shares * Q1 adj EPS $0.56 vs est $0.54 April 30 (Reuters) - Private equity-backed LPL Investment Holdings Inc, the top U.S. independent brokerage, declared a special dividend of $2 per share on Monday, and said it would begin regular quarterly payouts in the second half of 2012. Boston-based LPL, which sells technology, clearing and other services to self-employed brokers, said it expected to pay regular quarterly dividends, initially up to 12 cents a share, or 48 cents a share annually, beginning in the second half. Separately, the company said its principal shareholders Hellman & Friedman and TPG Capital would sell 14.5 million shares in a secondary offering. For the first quarter, LPL posted a profit of $41.2 million or 37 cents a share, down from $49.0 million, or 43 cents a share, a year ago, primarily due to charges related to debt refinancing. Excluding certain non-cash charges, the company earned 56 cents a share, topping analysts' estimates of a profit of 54 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue rose about 3 percent to $901.3 million. Analysts had expected revenue of $890.5 million. Advisory assets in LPL's fee-based platforms rose 11.1 percent to $110.8 billion. Total advisory and brokerage assets were up 7.3 percent to $354.1 billion. Shares of the company closed at $38.94 on Friday on Nasdaq. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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Reuters: Private Equity: Indonesia's MNC Skyvision to launch IPO by June

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Indonesia's MNC Skyvision to launch IPO by June Apr 30th 2012, 09:38 JAKARTA, April 30 | Mon Apr 30, 2012 5:38am EDT JAKARTA, April 30 (Reuters) - PT MNC Skyvision, Indonesia's largest pay-TV provider, plans to launch an initial public offering by June this year as it aims to tap investor demand for consumer stocks in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, the CEO of its parent company said on Monday. Hary Tanoesoedibjo, CEO of PT Global Mediacom, said that several strategic investors have shown interest in participating in the IPO, including U.S private equity firm Saban Capital. He declined to give an amount the firm was looking to raise. Sources told Reuters in March that MNC Skyvision planned to raise $300-$400 million via an IPO in June after scrapping the plan last year. MNC Skyvision is Indonesia's market leader in satellite pay-TV with a 78 percent market share from its two brands Indovision and Top TV. (Reporting by Fathiya Dahrul; Editing by Neil Chatterjee)

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Reuters: Private Equity: UPDATE 1-Nokia in talks to sell luxury Vertu unit-source

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UPDATE 1-Nokia in talks to sell luxury Vertu unit-source Apr 30th 2012, 10:06 Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:06am EDT LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) - Cellphone maker Nokia is in talks to sell its UK luxury subsidiary Vertu, which hand makes some of the world's most expensive mobile phones, a source familiar with the company's strategy said on Monday. Earlier the Financial Times reported that talks with private equity group Permira were at an advanced stage on a possible sale which would raise about 200 million euros ($265 million). Vertu's cellphones can feature crystal displays and sapphire keys, costing more than 200,000 pounds ($320,000) due to the precious metal components. Nokia, which had its credit rating cut to "junk" status by Standard & Poor's last week, first signalled its intention to sell Vertu in December, and recently said it plans to dispose of "non-core assets". Nokia, once the world's dominant mobile phone provider, d eclined to comment, while Vertu and Permira were not available for comment. The FT report, published on its website on Sunday, cited people familiar with the talks as s aying Goldman Sachs was advising on the possible sale, but said the outcome was not yet certain. EQT, the Northern European private equity group, has also been in talks about buying the company, although those close to the process, cited by the FT, say that these are not progressing at this stage. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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Reuters: Private Equity: UPDATE 1-Terra Firma agrees 825 mln stg Four Seasons deal

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UPDATE 1-Terra Firma agrees 825 mln stg Four Seasons deal Apr 30th 2012, 09:54 Mon Apr 30, 2012 5:54am EDT * Deal will repay all existing Four Seasons debt * New debt package arranged by Goldman Sachs, Barclays * Four Seasons is Britain's largest care homes operator By Simon Meads LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) - Private equity group Terra Firma is to buy Britain's biggest care home operator Four Seasons Health Care in a deal worth 825 million pounds ($1.34 billion), hoping to benefit from the long-term growth market in care for the elderly. The deal will mark a reprieve for Four Seasons, some 40 percent owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, which has been looking to refinance some 780 million pounds of debt before a September repayment deadline. The deal is expected to close on or before July 16, at which point all Four Seasons' liabilities will be repaid in full. Terra Firma, the private equity group founded by Guy Hands, is backing its deal with a new, smaller debt package, being arranged by Goldman Sachs and Barclays. Four Seasons is the largest independent health care provider in a 15 billion pound British market, operating 445 care homes, and 61 specialist care centres. Private equity's activities in the health care sector have come under intense scrutiny since the collapse of Southern Cross, a listed group that had been previously owned by Blackstone. But unlike Southern Cross, which collapsed because of its inability to meet a crippling rental bill on a largely leased estate of homes, Four Seasons owns around 60 percent of its homes limiting its exposure to rental costs, Terra Firma said. Not only did Four Seasons take over the mantle of Britain's largest care home group from Southern Cross, it acquired some 140 of its failed rival's homes. Despite the public and political controversy in the sector, the requirement for elderly and specialist care provision is forecast to grow annually by 3.1 percent over the next 10 years driven by the needs of a growing elderly population, Terra Firma said. Most of this need will be met by the independent sector offering services that complement the National Health Service. Four Seasons was advised by Rothschild, Gleacher Shacklock and Deutsche Bank. Terra Firma was advised by Barclays and Goldman Sachs. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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