Private Equity

CVC’s German perfume float may fail the smell test

15 Jan 2024

The buyout fund wants to list beauty retailer Douglas in Frankfurt, valuing its equity at roughly 7 bln euros. It’s time for CVC to offload an asset it’s held since 2015. But high debt and slower online sales than peers are reasons for investors to turn up their noses.

BlackRock deal buys Larry Fink optionality on exit

12 Jan 2024

The asset manager’s $13 bln purchase of infrastructure firm GIP is a smart bet on private markets. Fink’s relationships give the tie-up an edge and history with GIP’s founder smooths integration. It’s transformational enough that Fink could retire, if only he were less ambitious.

Narrow exits will fatten fattest buyout fat cats

10 Jan 2024

Some private equity shops may be forced to start accepting discounted valuations on a record $2.8 trln of unsold investments. Others like KKR and EQT are best positioned to hold out. This disparity should help 25 firms, with 22% of the industry’s firepower, pad their dominance.

Peer pressure is new activist tool for Japan Inc

10 Jan 2024

The Tokyo Stock Exchange is set to name all the companies which responded to its push for better capital efficiency and returns. The bourse is betting transparency will shame the rest into action. Success could pull investors and M&A bankers alike to the $6 trln market.

Blackstone partly cracks new private equity code

9 Jan 2024

Buyouts have been a drag on big asset managers whose investors now prize steadier income. The firm led by Steve Schwarzman wants to square the circle by raising capital with no expiry date from rich individuals. A risky outcome is that it perversely incentivizes a spending spree.

Harvard ouster is a win for activists, not activism

5 Jan 2024

Corporate cage rattler Bill Ackman won his bid to oust President Claudine Gay from the elite US university. The process was different from activism at companies, where boards rather than CEOs are the natural target. Corporate change is laborious; investors should be glad of it.

Kim Kardashian will be kicked off Instagram

22 Dec 2023

The influencer is worth $1.7 bln, which could climb with her shapewear brand’s IPO. That’s value that doesn’t flow to the owners of platforms sustaining content creators’ fame, like Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg. The best way for them to pull some back: suspend her privileges.

Wintershall saga reaches logical $11 bln endgame

21 Dec 2023

After flirting with a listing and rival suitors, the BASF-owned German oil group is to merge with $3 bln Harbour Energy. The UK-listed buyer gets a relatively cheap way to bulk up in gas assets. The sellers get to stick around for the ride, courtesy of some funky financing.

US defense minnows will storm the barricades

20 Dec 2023

Even as conflict in Ukraine leads American arms makers to boost production, the political mood is turning against giants like Lockheed Martin. With half the $415 bln handed to American defense contractors not receiving a competitive bid, newcomers will make battlefield gains.

Chinese equities are ready for long march upwards

14 Dec 2023

Share prices and valuations in the world’s second-largest economy are near 2016 lows. Foreigners have retreated but any recovery will depend on Beijing and domestic buyers. Patient investors willing to stomach geopolitical tensions and other risks could earn big rewards.

General Atlantic laces IPO shoes with hook nearby

12 Dec 2023

A tech stock recovery coupled with consumer IPO successes bode well for a listing of the growth equity investor. But valuations could recoil as fast as they rose. While General Atlantic knows the value of pouncing quickly, TPG’s path to an IPO shows waiting has merit, too.

Muddy Waters sticks a pin in Blackstone’s rump

8 Dec 2023

The short-seller says a mortgage fund run by Steve Schwarzman’s firm is doomed by struggling office properties. The reality may be more nuanced. But Muddy Waters is challenging a fundamental Blackstone selling-point: its ability to outrun the market, in real estate or elsewhere.

Capital Calls: KKR’s green bargain

7 Dec 2023

Concise views on global finance: The buyout group is offering 1.4 bln pounds for battery and smart metering company SMS. It’s a cheap price. Yet the high rates that have pummelled the stock may soon ease.

Private equity double-dips are a tasty faux pas

4 Dec 2023

Cinven is buying testing firm Synlab for $2.5 bln, some 44% below the price it listed it at in 2021. Buying companies that you previously owned on the cheap looks appealing at a time when high rates are stifling buyouts. But it may make investors more wary of future floats.

Private-asset binge exposes insurance to new risks

30 Nov 2023

US insurers hoovered up private loans from buyout firms last year in a profitable game of pass-the-parcel. Their hoard of alternative assets has swelled 65% in five years, and regulators are struggling to keep up. The March banking panic shows what can happen when firewalls fail.

Capital Calls: Ferrovial/Heathrow

29 Nov 2023

Concise views on global finance: The Spanish infrastructure giant has offloaded its final 25% stake to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and private equity group Ardian for 2.4 bln pounds, but a chunky premium means the new owners should hope for a smoother ride.

Adevinta $13 bln bid puts minorities in a corner

22 Nov 2023

Permira and Blackstone are seeking to take the Norwegian classifieds group private. The offer price isn’t overly generous but the chance of activist investors stalling the deal is low. With top shareholders already supporting the bid, minority investors don’t have alternatives.

Carlyle’s next takeover target should be itself

16 Nov 2023

Boss Harvey Schwartz lacks the small-investor firehose or balance-sheet heft of listed rivals that public investors crave. A muddled handover by the firm’s founders slowed progress. They could help now by joining with outside capital to buy the private equity giant out.

More US-China take-privates could get feisty

14 Nov 2023

A bidding war has erupted for $1.4 bln Nasdaq-listed industrial automation solutions firm Hollysys. One would-be buyer even staged a dawn raid. If a deal succeeds, minority owners of undervalued peers could push for more value, too, as Chinese companies bid farewell to the US.

Private equity superstores overstock the shelves

8 Nov 2023

Blackstone and Apollo say diversification into credit, real estate and beyond makes them better investors. They have been outraised and often outperformed, however, by more focused buyout shops like CD&R. It will take consistently higher returns to justify the conglomerate model.