privatization

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Hot LBO Market Takes Hit
Hot LBO Market
Takes Hit
Jun 8, 2007 9:40 AM CDT

Hot LBO Market Takes Hit

As big-time deals struggle to manage debt, beware the Trojan piggy bank

(Newser) - The red-hot market for LBOs may be hitting a long-awaited rough patch. Several big deals—including Apollo's $1.3 billion Linens 'n Things buy and the multigroup $17.6 billion acquisition of Freescale Semiconductor Holdings—have turned sour, with the companies struggling to generate enough cash to pay down debt...

US Intelligence In Private Hands
US Intelligence In Private Hands
May 31, 2007 8:00 AM CDT

US Intelligence In Private Hands

Billions a year spent on private intel contracts—but where's the money going?

(Newser) - Since 9/11, the US government has been upping spending on private intelligence contractors, doling out cash that is often classified and impossible to trace, Salon reports. 70% of all classified intelligence spending goes into private hands, making waste and corruption serious concerns.

Tishman, Lehman Close REIT Deal
Tishman, Lehman Close REIT Deal
May 29, 2007 11:50 AM CDT

Tishman, Lehman Close REIT Deal

$13.5B offer for apartment giant marks major privatization

(Newser) - In a penthouse-level play, real estate developer Tishman Speyer Properties and investment bank Lehman Brothers will spend $13.5 billion to buy the nation's second-largest apartment owner. The $60.75 per share offer for real estate trust Archstone-Smith, confirmed this morning, will take the company private in a deal worth...

Kerkorian Bets on Bellagio
Kerkorian Bets on Bellagio
May 22, 2007 2:54 PM CDT

Kerkorian Bets on Bellagio

Billionaire who controls MGM Mirage makes bid for its two hottest assetsi

(Newser) - Activist investor Kirk Kerkorian, who holds a controlling interest in MGM Mirage, is making a play to buy two of the casino company's crown jewels. Kerkorian's company, Tracinda Corp., is in talks to acquire MGM's Bellagio Casino and the $7.4 billion CityCenter development, currently under construction. Kerkorian currently owns...

Clear Channel Board Takes Private Equity Bait

(Newser) - After months of stops and starts, Clear Channel's board today gave the green light to a $19.5 billion buyout offer. The communications giant bit after Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, which have been bidding since November, gained the backing of two large shareholders. The successful offer was...

Blackstone Makes $7.8B Deal for Alliance

Private equity continues to pour into financial processing

(Newser) - Blackstone has snapped up credit card services provider Alliance Data for $7.8 billion, joining a surge of private equity into dull but profitable back-office firms. The 30% above-market offer for Alliance, which also runs a data processing unit, is the latest in a wave of takeovers in the financial-processing...

Salon: Public Ownership Fails Newspapers

(Newser) - The looming Murdochization of the Wall Street Journal highlights what people should have realized long ago, writes Gary Weiss: just how disastrous public ownership is to the newspaper business. Every time that investors' bottom lines are matched against journalistic integrity, journalism gets tramped. "The only solution," he says,...

Tenet Earns Big Bucks off War Profiteers

Former CIA chief finds a pot of gold in the center of the storm

(Newser) - Former CIA boss George Tenet has made a killing off companies profiting in Iraq, Salon reports—one fact undisclosed in his recent tell-all screed. Besides a reported $4 mil advance for the book, Tenet used his spook cred to win spots on corporate boards in a national security industry he...

Dolans' Offer Scores With Cablevision

Third time's the charm for founding family buying back the company

(Newser) - The Dolans have finally  struck a deal to take Cablevision private. The $10.6 billion transaction, announced today, ends two years of wrangling with the entertainment conglomerate's board, and is a victory for Charles, the company's 80-year-old founder and his son James, now CEO.

Restaurants Ban Bottled Water
Restaurants Ban Bottled Water
Mar 22, 2007 10:29 AM CDT

Restaurants Ban Bottled Water

(Newser) - Fresh-food pioneer Chez Panisse has joined a growing number of San Francisco–area restaurants in striking bottled water from the menu. The decision to serve local tap water only—flat or carbonated in-house—comes from an effort to cut down on the packaging waste and energy used shipping bottles.

China Embraces Private Property
China Embraces Private Property
Mar 9, 2007 8:57 PM CST

China Embraces Private Property

Bill reassures urban middle class, decried by advocates of the poor

(Newser) - China's burgeoning middle class will be feeling a little more secure next week, when the National People's Congress is expected to pass the country's first property-rights bill. The measure has become a lightening rod for criticism of China’s leadership, with communists using it as evidence that the government is...

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