Apax in lead for buyout of Claire's: report
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Private equity firm Apax is believed to be the front-runner to acquire jewelry and accessories retailer Claire's Stores Inc.  in a $3 billion deal, Britain's Sunday Telegraph said.
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Advanced Medical Optics Inc.   plans to make a takeover bid for Bausch & Lomb Inc.   in a move to wrest the eye-care company away from its  existing pact to be acquired by a private equity firm,  according to a report on Thursday by cable news channel CNBC.
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Allied Capital Corp.  last month completed one of the biggest buyouts in its history, taking control of the maker of Anacin and Sucrets in a deal Allied officials say is a prime example of where they want to take the old-line Washington business finance company.
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Shares in takeover target National Foods have pushed further ahead on the Australian Stock Exchange. Yesterday, they surged more than 5 per cent higher to $6.25, after Philippine food and drink giant San Miguel
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HSBC Holdings, Europeâs biggest bank, agreed to buy a 51 percent stake in Korea Exchange Bank for $6.3 billion as it attempts to bolster its presence in the fast-growing Asian market. The purchase of the stake from the United States private equity group Lone Star Funds would allow Lone Star, based in Dallas, to exit a controversial investment. HSBC, based in London, said that it did not intend to make an offer for the remainder of the Korean bankâs shares and that the bank would remain listed on the Korea Exchange. The acquisition would catapult HSBC past its foreign rivals Standard Chartered and Citigroup. Both have bested HSBC in the past in purchasing local banks during the post-Asian crisis turmoil. A local court in South Korea has been investigating allegations that Lone Star manipulated the stock price of the Korean bankâs credit card unit in 2003 so that the bank could take it over at a lower price.
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HSBC Holdings Plc has contacted Lone Star about buying Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) from the U.S. private equity fund, the UK's Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday.
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U.S. buyout fund Lone Star is close to  terminating its $7.3 billion deal to sell Korea Exchange Bank  (KEB) to Kookmin Bank (060000.KS) because of a prosecutors'  investigation, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
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(InfoWorld) - Merger and acquisition news from companies as diverse as Yahoo, Cognos, and MetroPCS Communications heated up IT investor interest this week, shoring up confidence in the sector even as credit-market concerns continued to buffet the stock exchanges. After wireless carrier MetroPCS proposed a merger valued at about $5.5 billion with rival Leap Wireless, its share price Tuesday spiked $1.36 to close at $28.65. Brokerage Jefferies & Co. Wednesday then upgraded its rating on the stock from "hold" to "buy," sparking another uptick in the company's share price. Though the merged company would have about 6.2 million customers, a far cry from the 50 million-plus subscriber base that market leaders like AT&T and Verizon have, the combined company would be the fifth largest in the U.S., with a national footprint. Meanwhile, investor faith in the beneficial effects of mergers was underscored by share-price increases in all the major acquiring companies this week. Often, the acquiring company stock takes a hit because acquisition costs are usually expected to dilute earnings for a while. Business performance software vendor Cognos Wednesday said it agreed toÂ pay $339 million for Applix, a developer of performance analysis software. The company has an aggressive plan to integrate Applix's products by early next year. Company shares jumped by $0.18 to close at $41.08 Wednesday, rising further on Thursday as brokerage JPMorgan raised its rating on the shares, saying that underlying demand for the Cognos' software and services is strong. JPMorgan also said that gross margins on product sales at Cognos should also benefit from the Applix acquisition. Yahoo meanwhile continues to pursue its strategy of scooping up companies in the online advertising market, WednesdayÂ announcing a $300 million purchase of BlueLithium. BlueLithium's banner advertising network should help expand Yahoo's ad reach. The news sparked shares to rise by $0.13 to close at $24.10. Also this week, IP-based communications technology company Telanetix announced it would buy VOIP company AccessLine Communications for up to $34.9 million in cash and stock, and OracleÂ continued its buying spree.Â Oracle snapped up Netsure Telecom, a provider of network intelligence and network data integrity software, andÂ Bridgestream, a maker of software that helps companies map employee responsibilities, for undisclosed amounts. The M&A news mirrors data on venture capital funding, which in the first half of the year hit its highest point since 2001, with IT taking a big share. Now, the latest MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), based on Thomson Financial data, shows that a growing percentage of those funds are coming not from pure venture-capital firms, but from operating companies such as manufacturers and IT vendors. A lion's share of this corporate VC funding is also going to IT businesses. For example, corporate VC funding amounted to $1.3 billion in 390 deals in the first half of 2007, representing 21.4 percent of all VC deals -- the highest percentage of corporate venture deals and dollars since 2001, according to the report. The biggest slice of the investment pie -- 20 percent -- was taken by software companies. Intel was the biggest corporate investor, plunking down $112.3 million in 42 deals. "Corporate venture capital deals are a good measure of confidence in IT," said Claudia Fan Munce, the Chairman of NVCA's Corporate Venture Board and managing director of IBM's Venture Capital Group. While pure venture capital companies need to make investments just to stay in business, operating companies like IT vendors don't have that particular sort of pressure, she noted. Corporate VC funding and M&A "allow companies to tap into innovative new technologies and business models," she said. Â
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Macquarie Bank Ltd.  and private equity firm Texas Pacific Group  are leading a plan to buy out Qantas Airways Ltd. , Australia's top airline said on Wednesday, sending its shares up 21 percent.
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Retailer Woolworths sees its shares rise more than 20% after private equity group Apax says it is considering a takeover bid.
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APN News and Media, the Australian media group, reported a 7 per cent rise in annual profits yesterday, as expected, and reaffirmed its support for a A$2.8bn ([pound]1.1bn) takeover bid from a consortium led by Independent News and Media, publisher of The Independent.
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Former Goldman Sachs banker E. Scott Mead is said to be joining the British private equity firm Apax Partners.
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Media firm Chrysalis says it is reviewing the future of its radio operations, which may lead to their sale or demerger.
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Privately-owned British fashion retailer New Look may be sold for 2 billion pounds ($3.91 billion) after private-equity firms Apax and Permira received at least three bid approaches for the firm, The Sunday Times said.
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Pearson Plc, owner of the Financial Times, agreed to sell its 79 percent stake in Spanish publisher Recoletos Grupo de Comunicacion SA as part of a management buyout that values the company at 941 million euros ($1.2 billion).
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Media & professional: Chrysalis to sell radio division to investment firm chaired by former ITV chief executive.
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PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. will pay $502 million to buy all outstanding shares of common stock of American Medical Security. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Cypress-based PacifiCare will pay $32.