Steve Gelsi
Caesars Entertainment Corp is heading toward a pre-negotiated Chapter 11 bankruptcy expected in mid-January after the debt laden Casino operator missed a $225 million interest payment last month, according to a source and public filings.
Wasserstein & Co LP’s purchase of 100-employee mass market cosmetics maker Paris Presents Inc marks the first of up to three platform acquisitions expected in 2015 as the New York and Los Angeles firm maintains a healthy pace of deal-making after a stretch on the fundraising trail, according to a source.
Lone Star Funds beat its $1 billion target by about $340 million for its inaugural Lone Star Residential Mortgage Fund I, a private equity pool that will invest in loans originated by its portfolio company, Caliber Home Loans, according to regulatory filings and a source.
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services cut its view on four classes of debt carried by Samson Resources Corp, a fossil fuel producer backed by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, NGP Energy and Crestview Partners that’s selling assets to improve liquidity during a time of multi-year lows in commodity prices.
Morgan Stanley investment banker Bill Sanders said he expects a robust deal making environment in 2015 with nearly “all options open” for sponsors, but larger take-private deals may remain limited.
As regulatory and LP pressure builds on private equity firms in the post Dodd-Frank era, GPs should anticipate using at least 5 percent of their revenue for compliance, said Todd Cipperman, founding principal of Cipperman Compliance Services.
U.S. sponsored deal-making volume picked up in 2014, a year of middle-market dominance in M&A.
Cyprium Partners has raised $460 million for Cyprium Investors IV LP, a private equity pool launched after the firm spun off from KeyCorp, the firm has confirmed.
Britax Group, a maker of car seats and other baby products, absorbed a debt downgrade from Moody’s Investors Service on competitive pressure and costly research and development efforts, which have boosted the company’s debt-to-EBITDA multiple to more than 11x.
Alaska Permanent Fund plans to commit up to $1.05 billion to the overall strategy of Neuberger Berman’s Dyal Capital III, which in turn is raising up to $5 billion to invest in private equity firms.