Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
Sara Lee Corp. has rejected a takeover offer valued between $18.70 and $20 a share from a private equity group led by Apollo Global Management LP, a source familiar with the situation said Wednesday.
Sara Lee has been weighing splitting up the company into separate meat and beverage units, or accepting a takeover offer. Sara Lee’s board was scheduled to meet Wednesday and Thursday to weigh its options, a source previously told Reuters. Get the full story »
Brazilian beef processor JBS has made a verbal buyout offer for Sara Lee Corp. and is expected to submit a written proposal in the coming day, two sources familiar with the situation said.
JBS made its verbal overture on Monday evening, the sources said. The terms of the offer were not immediately available. Get the full story »
An Illinois judge has dealt a setback to Motorola in a legal dispute with Chinese company Huawei Technologies over Motorola’s planned sale of its networks business.
Huawei sued Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, claiming that the sale of the networks business to Nokia Siemens Networks would represent a misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of contract between Motorola and Huawei. Get the full story »
Borders Group Inc. has agreed to sell its Day by Day Calendar Co. business to Texas company Calendar Holdings LLC, the Detroit News reported online Monday, citing the Michigan-based book retailer.
Terms weren’t disclosed.
Borders has been negotiating with lenders and publishers to restructure debt and vendor payments. This month, the retailer said it planned to eliminate more than 300 jobs this year.
A group of private investors is buying the Atlanta-based Hooters of America Inc. and its restaurant chain.
A deal announced Monday will give a consortium of private investors including Charlotte, N.C.-based Chanticleer Holdings Inc. ownership of nearly half of all domestic Hooters restaurants and more than one-third of those worldwide. The sales price was not disclosed. Get the full story »
Though the company moved its headquarters to 222 N. LaSalle St. in 2009, this iconic structure is still known as the Smurfit-Stone Building. (Tribune/Lane Christiansen)
Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., whose local roots trace back to 1926, will leave Chicago behind as a headquarters now that the company has announced plans to be acquired by RockTenn Co. in a $3.5 billion cash and stock deal.
While specific plans for each of Smurfit-Stone’s Chicago-area plants are unclear, those facilities that remain are likely to receive additional technology investment, RockTenn executives indicated Monday. However, Smurfit-Stone’s dual headquarters concept in downtown Chicago and Creve Coeur, Mo., will end and the combined company will be based in RockTenn’s Norcross, Ga., hometown. Get the full story »
Crain’s Chicago Business | Shares in Sara Lee hit a 52-week high Friday on talk that the food company could be sold soon.
NovaMed Inc., a Chicago-based operator of ambulatory surgery centers, said Friday that it has agreed to be acquired for $214 million by a Florida company called Surgery Center Holdings Inc.
Surgery Center, based in Tampa, is an affiliate of a Miami-based private equity firm, HIG Capital. The price includes assumption of $105 million in debt. Get the full story »
Bucyrus International said shareholders approved a proposed $7.6 billion takeover offer from Caterpillar Inc., Reuters reported Friday on its Web site.
Almost 74 percent of holders of total outstanding shares of Bucyrus common stock voted Thursday to approve the deal, Bucyrus said.
Bucyrus, a manufacturer of mining equipment, said both companies expect the deal to be completed by mid-year.
A group of companies led by Brazilian beef processor JBS has arranged a financing package to bid for all or parts of Sara Lee Corp. , a source with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters Thursday.
The group won commitments from international banks for loans and could tap equity markets to complete the funding package, said the source, who declined to be cited by name. Get the full story »
Chicago-based investment firm William Blair & Co. said it plans to acquire certain assets of Guidance Capital LLC, a hedge fund management firm, in a deal expected to be completed this quarter.
Terms weren’t disclosed. Get the full story »
Chicago-based private equity firm Adams Street Partners has led an $8.6 million equity funding round for Five9 Inc., a Pleasanton, Calif.-based maker of cloud-computing software for call centers. Get the full story »
Lake Forest-based IDEX Corp., which makes the “Jaws of Life” rescue device, announced its second acquisition of the month Thursday when it said it will spend $32 million to buy Advanced Thin Films LLC, a maker of optical components and coatings based in Boulder, Colo. Get the full story »
Wendy’s/Arby’s Group Inc. plans to slice away the Arby’s sandwich chain by putting it up for sale, people familiar with the matter said.
The move represents a concession by activist investor Nelson Peltz that Arby’s, known for its roast beef sandwiches, is having trouble competing in an industry where the only viable ways to grow are to steal market share from rivals or expand overseas-two things Wendy’s is better positioned than Arby’s to accomplish. Get the full story »
