Shares in the British publishing group fell almost 9pc afte it confirmed it was “in discussions” with Springer’s private equity owners Cinven and Candover and has been given access to due diligence material to enable it to table a bid. The talks have been running for the past three weeks. It is understood that Informa is planning to bid about €400m (£360m), which values the whole of Springer at roughly the same price that German company tried to sell a 49pc stake in April.

Informa said it expected a tie-up to “generate significant synergy benefits from rationalisation of the combined cost base plus improved marketing and operating efficiencies”. Informa, which has net debts of almost £1bn, would probably need to launch a further rights issue in order to fund any deal. Informa raised £242m in a cash call last May. The approach by Informa turns the tables on Springer, which launched a takeover bid for the British publisher in 2006.

Last year Informa rejected a £1.9bn takeover bid from a private equity consortium of Providence, Carlyle and Blackstone. A group of private equity companies, including Apax, are still exploring the possibility of acquiring up to 49pc of Springer. Shares in Informa closed down 26p to 286p.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/6645306/Informa-weighs-up-360m-bid-for-German-publisher-Springer.html

Den vanligtvis så försiktiga Handelsbanken lider av sin hybris inom riskkapital. Tidigare i år skrev jag om konkursen i Plastal, där Handelsbanken var inblandad. Nu verkar det snart hända igen. Om man läser vad Dagens Nyheter skriver, är det bara en tidsfråga innan Handelsbanken får en ny käftsmäll.

Handelsbanken och Nordea har lånat ut ca två miljarder kr till sängtillverkaren Hilding Anders.

Det var i december 2006 som det brittiska riskkapital(PE) bolaget Candover köpte Hilding Anders för 9,2 miljarder kr. Candover är ett PE bolag som har anor sedan 1980 talets början. I slutet av 2008 och början av 2009 började det gå utför med deras investeringar. Ferretti som tillverkar lyxbåtar fick problem och behövde ta in nytt kapital i början av 2009. Candover valde att inte ställa upp och lät sin investering förfalla.

Detta kan nu hända Hilding Anders som är mycket hårt belånat med en nettoskuld på ca 9 miljader kr och aktieägarlån på några miljarder till. Prognosen för 2009 lär enligt DN inte vara vidare ljus. Jag tror nog att en dyr lyxsäng för 50 000 kr eller mer, kan man spara in på i dessa tider. Tuffa tider väntar Hilding Anders med andra ord.

Handelsbanken låter nog sina små kunder ta smällen i form av högre avgifter och högre räntor på bolån.

Pan-European buyout house Candover is suspending investing from the fund it raised in 2008 for the next six months in order to “explore options for it’s future”. At this point, it’s options seem most likely to be either a competitor buying out the firm, or to simply wind-down Candover altogether with a skeleton staff selling off the portfolio companies. If it were to end, it would be a fizzle of an finale to a firm that was founded back in 1980 and listed on the exchange in 1984. 

To say Candover has had a tough go of things since the start of the financial crisis would be a horrendous simplification of the situation. Cracks began to show after the company failed to make good on its €1 billion commitment to the €3 billion 2008 fund. It’s already written down the value of its portfolio by more than one-third (from £483.6 million in December 2007 to £310 million), and six of the firm’s 22 investments have been written down to zero. 

Speaking of the 2008 fund, the only investment it’s made so far is the £1.6 billion acquisition of oil services company Expro International in April 2008 (have to point out that this deal was made jointly with Candover’s 2005 fund). From here on out, LPs will pay management fees based only on the Expro investment rather than the full value of the fund’s commitments.

On a positive note (sort of), Candover’s share price rose 17% on announcement of the six-month hiatus.

The unquote” Q4 2008 Private Equity Barometer sponsored by Candover is out, and as expected, the news is not much different than the unquote”/Bridgepoint report on 2008 European buyout market.  

Total value of European private equity-backed transactions in the final quarter of 2008 dropped to €8 billion, a 59% decline from Q3.  It is also the lowest quarterly value since Q2 1997.

Q4 was merely the cherry on top of a very sour cake that was 2008 as final year figures for the total private equity market in Europe showed a remarkable drop in value, with 2008’s total of  €87 billion representing a near 59% decline against the record total of €198 billion in deals seen in ‘07. 

The barometer shows that buyout values in the quarter fell further, by 61%, which also happens to be how far European buyout values plummeted for the full year to a grand total of €73 billion.

Here’s the barometer to read:

• Q4 2008 unquote” European Private Equity Barometer (Sponsored by Candover) – January 22nd, 2008

For Erwan: French IT service provider Atos Origin has rejected a €1.6B takeover approach by Candover for its Atos Worldwide unit, which specialises in electronic payment systems.

Since the offered was received, Centaurus Capital has halved its stake in Atos and now controls a combined 16.71% interest along with fellow hedge fund Pardus. Meanwhile PAI Partners has upped its stake to 22.61% and has become the company’s largest individual shareholder. PAI was the founding shareholder of Atos when the company was created through the merger of Axime and Sligos, with the investor holding 100% of the company until its listing. The private equity firm also oversaw Atos’ merger with Origin in October 2000.

Flere internasjonale investeringsselskaper som har spesialisert seg på drift og utvikling av fornøyelsesselskaper, vurderere nå om de skal legge inn et bud på det amerikanske selskapet Busch Entertainment Corp.

Selskapet eier i dag en rekke temaparker i USA, blant annet SeaWorld og Busch Gardens i Virginia og Florida.

Prislappen skal ligge på 24 milliarder kroner. Britiske Candover, som er notert på London-børsen vurderer sterkt å legge inn et bud. Selskapet har plassert alle sine investeringer i fornøyelsesparker, badeland og marineland gjennom det spanske selskapet Parques Reundios. Slik eier de også Tusenfryd utenfor Oslo og Sommarland i Bø.

Men, Candover er ikke alene om å ønske seg den amerikanske fornøyelseskjempen. Også Merlin Entertainment Group, Disney og Dubai World har vist interesse. Disney er størst på verdensbasis med 116 millioner besøkende til sine parker i fjor. Merlin er nummer to med 32 millioner gjester. Dette takket være en rekke oppkjøp de siste årene. Parques Reunidos er nummer sju på verdensrankingen. De kunne bokføre 12 millioner gjester i 2007, viser tall fra bransjeorganisasjonen TEA.

De som vinner et bud på Busch Entertainment vil øke sine besøkstall med rundt 22 millioner gjester årlig.

Il 40 per cento del leader mondiale in Fitness e Wellness e’ andato a Candover come si può approfondire su Private Equity Online.  Il 90% del fatturato di 385 milioni euro e’ stato realizzato all’estero attraverso molteplici canali di distribuzione Home, Hotel, Spa di cui interessanti quelle per Forze Armate, Real Estate e per la Riabilitazione. La Partnership Technogym Candover mira ad un maggior sviluppo nei mercati Emergenti.

Halliburton has walked away from last minute take-over talks with Expro, leaving Umbrellastream, a private equity group led by Candover and Goldman Sachs, to proceed with an offer of £1.81bn.  Oil Energy Money covered Halliburton’s initial offer but believes a take-over by Umbrellastream is best for all all involved.

Halliburton was willing to pay £16.25, valuing the firm at £1.82bn, ten pence higher than Umbrellastream’s £16.15 offer, for the oil sea research firm.  But their offer came with conditions-Expro would have to delay meetings with Umbrellastream and open the take-over to an auction process.  Expro’s directors decided the deal, this year’s largest British leveraged buy out, was not worth the risk and rebuffed Halliburton.  This has angered Expro shareholders, one of whom said: “Expro directors have a legal duty to sell the company at the highest price. This duty has clearly not been fulfilled.”

To understand why Expro would prefer a lower offer, the buy-out process must be understood.  On Monday and Wednesday, Expro is scheduled to hold scheme of arrangement meetings in court for the Umbrellastream offer.  A scheme of arrangement is a faster take-over strucure which reduces tax payments for both firms.  Halliburton pulled their offer because Expro refused to cancel these meetings, but if the meetings are delayed for 14 days or more, Halliburton has said it may renew its offer.  If the meetings proceed and the Umbrellastream take-over is approved, Halliburton will not have the chance to re-bid.

Halliburon is clearly fighting a war of contrition.  By promising a higher offer and then walking away, it has piqued the interests of Expro shareholders, many of whom are already speaking to their lawyers about delaying the scheme of arrangement meetings.  This delay could annoy Umbrellastream enough for them to pull their offer, which many analysts already consider over-priced.  If Umbrellastream walk away, Expro is left with no formal offers and Halliburton can move in for a take-over on their terms.

Expro shareholders delaying the deal certainly seems short sighted.  While Halliburton, as an oil services firm, may create more synergies in a horizontal merger with Expro than Umbrellastream, a private equity firm, investors should keep in mind that Halliburton has not made a formal offer after over three months of due dilligence.   Their offer of £1.82 is only 1% higher than Umbrellastream’s and does not compensate the risks and delays inherent starting the take-over process from scratch. 

Expro shares closed £16.77 on Friday as investors expected Umbrellastream to sweeten the deal or Halliburton to launch a new attack.  A big risk, says Oil Energy Money, Expro shareholders should forget the ‘what-ifs’ and focus on closing a take-over that has already stretched on too long. 

The world’s second largest energy services group, Halliburton, has announced it may bid for deep sea research firm Expro despite Expro’s agreed takeover by the private equity arms of Goldman Sachs, Candover Partners and Alpinvest.

The private equity firms, joined under a specially created investment vehicle named Umbrellastream, announced a £14.25 per share bid, valuing Expro at £1.8bn.  The board accepted this offer but did not state a deadline for competitive bids.  This gives Halliburton several weeks to carry out due diligence and Expro’s shares have shot up to £15.10 amid hopes of a rival bid.

Expro has pioneered a technology allowing oil wells to be fixed from ships instead of oil rigs, which are expensive to lease and take a long time to travel.   With the increasing interest in deep sea exploration paying off for Petrobras and others, Expro’s services will be in high demand.  Peter Hitchens, an analyst with Seymour Pierce, said: “…you’ve got huge potential with Expro’s rigless technology. They are the market leader and private equity is realising how much cash these guys are going to produce.”

Oil rich countries like Saudi Arabia usually hire firms like Shell or BP to explore in exchange for production sharing agreements (PSA’s).  These PSA’s allocate a huge share of any discoveries to the oil company.  To stop this loss, countries are now dealing directly with firms like Halliburton, who will test for oil and leave the state in charge of any discoveries, which they can then offer to Shell or BP at much higher prices.  Halliburton is thus expanding horizontally to provide as many services as the large oil firms, but with much better agreements.

Mergers 101 states Halliburton would gain more from the merger because it operates in the same industry and can create synergies by sharing resources.  It should thus bid higher than the private equity firms in the hope that expansion will help outperform competing firms like Schlumberger, the world’s largest energy services group.

British private equity firm Candover has significant experience in oil and gas services, having bought and sold stakes in Vetco International and Wellstream.  Its previous offer for Expro was rejected for being too low, and the new higher offer suggests Umbrellastream is seriously interested in buying the firm.

A buyout of Expro looks almost certain, and with the open timeframe other firms like PE Group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts or oil services providers Weatherford of the US and Technip of France may yet express interest.  Oil Energy Money will keep you updated, but please write in with your comments and any tips at

Oil energy money @ gmail .com

Related Articles:

A Reuters piece analysing the near £1bn financing required for Umbrellastream’s bid

Seeking Alpha’s sneak peek at Halliburton’s earnings report due Monday the 28th.  Long story short: Halliburton is doing very well.