Bain Capital quiet about probe into 3Com acquisition
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Bain Capital, a U.S. equity investment firm, declined to comment Wednesday on news reports that a U.S. government panel reviewing a proposed acquisition of networking vendor 3Com plans to extend its review.Bain would get an 83.5 percent stake in 3Com, and Chinese networking giant Huawei Technologies would get the remaining piece in the $2.2 billion deal. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), part of the U.S. Department of Treasury, is investigating whether the investment by Huawei poses a risk to U.S. national security after Bain voluntarily submitted the deal for review in October.Normally, a CFIUS review runs for 30 days, but the interagency committee can take another 45 days. The Financial Times on Tuesday reported that CFIUS this week would likely take the additional time.A Bain spokesman declined to comment on the news report Wednesday, saying the CFIUS review was a &quot;confidential process.&quot;&quot;Bain Capital is working closely with CFIUS to provide U.S. officials with information about the proposed transaction,&quot; the company said in a statement. &quot;As stated previously, we believe CFIUS will conclude that the company will remain firmly in the control of an American firm, has only a small minority foreign shareholder, and that the deal presents no risks to national security.&quot;Some critics have disagreed. U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, a Michigan Republican, has called on CFIUS to reject the deal. Huawei&#39;s take in 3Com, which markets intrusion detection systems, would &quot;gravely compromise&quot; U.S. national security, he said in a House floor speech in October.The U.S. Department of Defense uses 3Com intrusion detection products, and Chinese hackers have targeted the agency, McCotter said. &quot;Given this and other instances of communist China&#39;s persistent cyber warfare against us, approving this sale would be an abject abdication of CIFUS&#39; duty to protect America&#39;s vital defense technologies from enemy acquisition,&quot; he said.
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A U.S. Department of Treasury committee is reviewing the proposed acquisition of networking vendor 3Com by Bain Capital and Huawei Technologies.
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The U.S. attorney's office in the District is conducting a criminal investigation related to Allied Capital Corp.'s investment in its single largest holding, a New York small-business lender, Allied said yesterday.
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3Com Corp. on Wednesday said it could not come to an agreement with federal authorities reviewing the national security implications of a proposed buyout by a private-equity firm and Chinese telecommunications company.
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Andrew Liveris, chief executive of Dow Chemical Co., declined on Friday to comment on recent rumors Dow is interested in buying BASF AG , while adding the deals that interest him are the ones that fit gaps the company has identified.
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Networking equipment vendor 3Com is counting on low labor costs in China to help the company earn better margins on its products and compete against rivals like Cisco Systems, the company's chief executive officer said Wednesday.
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The real issue users need to keep their eyes on is will these three companies be able to leave well enough alone. How other companies have handled past acquisitions might provide some insight into how these company mergers and their products will fare long term.
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(InfoWorld) - Intuit's move to acquire financial services vendor Digital InsightÂ this week, Â and 3Com Corp.'s deal to buy out Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd's stake in their joint venture are signs that mergers and acquisitions activity continues unabated. The question is what this means for technology generally. M&A activity is being seen as a healthy sign for technology. Mergers and acquisitions, however, can be a sign of consolidation in a mature market sector with slowing demand -- in cases where there are too many suppliers for aging technology. Or it can be a sign of a vital, competitive sector and positive macroeconomic conditions such as a liberal lending environment and a healthy stock market. In terms of transactions, 2006 is expected to yield 3,945 M&A deals, up from 3,455 in 2005 and the highest number ever, according to Eric Gebaide, managing director of Investment Advisors, a New York investment firm. The M&A market is more global than ever, according to Investment Advisors, which calculates that in terms of transactions, U.S. deals will account for 53.9 percent of all M&A activity in 2006, down from 57.9 percent in 2005. In the Internet market, M&A activity is a sign of a vibrant sector. October's announcement that Google Inc. would buy the video-sharing site YouTube Inc. in a $1.65 billion deal underscored competition to jump on exciting trends revolving around how Web sites are adopting technology that allows for user-generated content. Tuesday's announcement that 3Com would pay $882 million to buy out Huawei's stake in Huawei-3Com was met with some trepidation. Shares (COMS) closed Wednesday at $4.02, down $0.47 for the day. Much of the concerns centered around the fear that 3Com will find it tough to hang on to the local Chinese management talent, and that it's hard to analyze whether 3Com is spending too much. Local regulations and the companies' prior agreements allowed financial details to remain undisclosed. Brokerage Bear Stearns downgraded 3Com stock from "outperform" to "peer perform." But other analysts were more upbeat. The joint venture is a high-end manufacturing facility in the bustling technology center of Shenzhen. It connects 3Com with an operation that can make products for the upper end of the enterprise arena at reasonable cost, according to Citigroup. Thursday, 3Com shares started climbing back up. Meanwhile, the financial-services sector has been consolidating, but Intuit's $1.35 billion deal to buy Web financial services outsourcer Digital Insight stirred things up to the benefit of at least some companies in that market. In afternoon trading, Intuit (INTU) slipped by $0.24 to $31.65, but that was to be expected: in the short term the acquisition will have a negative effect on profit. Digital Insight (DGIN), however, jumped $5.17 in afternoon trading to $38.17, and Online Resources rose by $0.53 to $10.66 in afternoon trading. For next year, Intuit expects the deal to add to profits. It is a mistake to paint the M&A scene with too broad a brush. But as the year draws to a close, the deals, taken sector by sector, point toward a general, healthy optimism in technology. Â
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Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.  has not yet reached an agreement to buy Dow Jones & Co. Inc., the company and its controlling Bancroft family said on Friday, countering a media report the two sides had completed their talks.
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U.S. auto parts maker Lear Corp. , which has received a $2.31 billion buyout offer from activist investor Carl Icahn, remained mum on the reasons behind a long trading halt in its shares on Thursday.
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The US Air Force&#39;s chief acquisition official said on Thursday he had been cleared of any wrongdoing after an investigation of his e-mails tied to a stalled $23.
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A deal for Bain Capital Partners and China&#39;s Huawei Technologies to buy 3Com is on hold because the companies were unable to come to agreement with the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) about&#160;security concerns.
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Rupert Murdoch&#39;s News Corp. has not  yet reached a deal to buy Dow Jones & Co. Inc. and discussions  continue, representatives for Dow Jones and its controlling  Bancroft family said on Friday.
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The $23 billion buyout of radio and outdoor advertising giant Clear Channel Communications could get antitrust approval from the Department of Justice as early as Wednesday, according to The Deal.com. The proposed buyout by Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners, which was announced more than a year ago, has already received approval from the Federal [...].
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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Fannie Mae stock fell 3.1 percent in after-hours trading Tuesday after the mortgage giant disclosed that the Securities and Exchange Commission&#39;s investigation into the company&#39;s accounting had escalated into a formal probe.
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Bain Capital would not comment on reports that the U.S. government plans to extend its review of the equity firm's acquisition of 3Com.
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Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.  has not yet reached a deal to buy Dow Jones & Co. Inc.  and discussions continue, representatives for Dow Jones and its controlling Bancroft family said on Friday.