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Bloomberg via San Francisco Chronicle | Bway Holding Co., the paint-container and aerosol-can maker being acquired by Chicago-based Madison Dearborn Partners LLC, is marketing debt as high-risk, high-yield debt prices rebound after plunging last week.
Get the full story: sfgate.com.
Dow Jones Newswires-Wall Street Journal | A bankruptcy judge on
Friday approved as mall owner General Growth Properties Inc.’s
preferred option for exiting bankruptcy a $6.5 billion recapitalization
offer from Brookfield Asset Management Inc., causing rival suitor Simon
Property Group Inc. to declare it will no longer participate in the
bidding.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper approved the Brookfield offer as
the “stalking horse” bid in General Growth’s ongoing effort to conclude
its bankruptcy, establishing the Brookfield offer as the one others
must top to be declared the final winner later this year.
Dow Jones Newswires | CF Industries Holdings Inc. swung to a
first-quarter loss on charges related to its recent acquisition of
rival fertilizer maker Terra as CF said revenue fell.
The company has suffered from weak demand since the economic downturn.
But CF saw demand slowly come back in the fourth quarter as stronger
buying interest returned and prices rose sequentially. The company on
Friday expressed optimism about the spring planting season, as U.S.
corn acreage planting increased.
Chicago-based mall giant General Growth owns properties like Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston, right. On Thursday, General Growth’s rival Simon Property Group raised its bid to acquire General Growth. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, file)
Dow Jones Newswires-Wall Street Journal | Mall giant Simon
Property Group Inc. late Thursday raised its bid to acquire General Growth Properties Inc. in a “last and final” effort to sway its rival from going forward with a competing offer to finance its exit from bankruptcy.
In a proposal now valued at $33.5 billion, Simon offered $6.5 billion, or $20 per share, for General Growth’s equity. Simon also would pay $7 billion to eliminate General Growth’s unsecured debt and would assume roughly $20 billion of mortgages on General Growth’s malls. The revised bid improves on Simon’s buyout offer on Sunday of $5.8 billion, or
$18.25 per share.
| By Jon Hilkevitch | A leading congressional force on aviation issues came out Thursday against the proposed merger between United Airlines and Continental Airlines.
U.S. Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said the proposed $3 billion merger announced this week would accelerate the consolidation of the airline industry and lead to higher fares, downgraded service and fewer choices for travelers. |
See also • Oberstar’s letter objecting to the merger.
|
From Street Insider | Elgin-based Middleby Corp. said it has reached a deal to acquire the PerfectFry Co., an Alberta, Canada manufacturer of ventless countertop frying units for the commercial foodservice industry.
Get the full story: streetinsider.com
From Reuters | Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group has offered to buy all of bankrupt mall operator General Growth Properties for $18.25 per share, even as its bid to purchase a minority stake in its rival was rejected, sources familiar with the situation said on Monday.
Get the full story: reuters.com.
Continental Airlines CEO Jeffery Smisek, left, and United Airlines CEO Glenn Tilton. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
By Wailin Wong | Gossip, a birthday phone call and a renewed relationship with an old flame: The story of how United Airlines and Continental Airlines got together is a romance for the ages. And like any good tale, this one has a cast-off lover, in the form of US Airways.
“What happened here is very simple,” Continental President and Chief Executive Jeff Smisek told analysts and reporters on a Monday conference call. “I found out through the news media that Glenn [Tilton, CEO of United] was looking at a potential other combination. I recognized that United is the best possible partner for Continental…I didn’t want him to marry the ugly girl. I wanted him to marry the pretty one, and I’m much prettier.”
Associated Press | The private equity firm that owns Dave &
Buster’s is selling the restaurant and arcade chain to another firm in
a deal worth $570 million. The deal was announced Monday by seller
Wellspring Capital Management, new owner Oak Hill Capital Partners and
the restaurant chain.
The new paint job planned for United Airlines planes after the merger. (United handout)
By Julie Johnsson | United Airlines and Continental Airlines announced early Monday morning
that they are combining operations to form the world’s largest airline
in a $3 billion merger.
The deal is the culmination of a lengthy search by United CEO Glenn
Tilton for a partner that would bolster his carrier’s global network
and that would promote consolidation in a badly fragmented industry
plagued by chronic losses. Continental CEO Jeff Smisek will be named CEO of the new carrier, while
Tilton will move to its board as non-executive chairman for a two-year
term.
The new airline, to be named United, will retain its world headquarters
at 77 W. Wacker Drive in Chicago, where United currently employs about
700 people.
Dow Jones Newswire-Wall Street Journal | Shopping-mall owner
General Growth Properties Inc. has decided its preferred option for
exiting bankruptcy is a revised proposal led by Brookfield Asset
Management Inc. rather than a competing offer from rival mall giant
Simon Property Group Inc., a person familiar with the matter said. But
the situation is fluid and a few details remain to be ironed out Monday
before the deal can be finalized, a separate person familiar with the
talks said late Sunday.
The decision by General Growth’s board is the latest twist — but
perhaps not the final one — in months of competition between the
Brookfield group and Simon over which suitor would get the nod to
finance General Growth’s bankruptcy exit in exchange for much of the
company’s stock. General Growth, which owns 204 U.S. malls, sought
bankruptcy protection in April 2009 to restructure its $27 billion of
debt and intends to emerge later this year.
By Julie Johnsson | United and Continental Airlines are expected to announce Monday that
they are combining operations to create the world’s largest airline,
the culmination of more than a decade’s effort by Chicago-based United
to strike a megamerger that would transform the U.S. airline industry.
The transaction, which must still be approved by both airlines’ boards,
would be structured as a merger of equals, with neither side paying a
premium for the other’s stock, according to sources close to the talks.
The new airline, to be called United and based in Chicago, sources
said, would bring together two carriers whose hubs and routes
complement each other, giving management a shot at running a more
profitable business in an industry plagued by overcapacity.
By Becky Yerak and Julie Wernau | TransUnion, the Chicago-based credit reporting agency controlled by the
Pritzker family, is getting a new majority owner.
Chicago-based private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC
announced Thursday it will acquire a 51 percent stake in TransUnion, one
of three major credit bureaus that collect data on the borrowing and
bill-paying habits of consumers.
Tribune staff report | BMO Capital Markets, the investment and corporate banking arm of BMO Financial Group, has announced five hires for its M&A, financial sponsors, healthcare and industrials groups.
Among the hires, Mike Jones joins the M&A Group in Chicago, where he will work in the food and consumer sector. Jones comes from Wachovia Securities, where he most recently headed consumer and retail M&A.
Dow Jones Newswires | Simon Property Group Inc. has agreed to amend its offer to recapitalize General Growth Properties Inc., including lowering its voting rights to below 20 percent, Reuters news agency reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed source.
Simon told General Growth’s board last week it would be a passive shareholder that is willing to help, Reuters reported the source as saying on its Web site.
