Looks like the billion-dollar buyout isn't dead and gone after all..its still around for those willing to pay in the form of cold hard cash. Private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC is scooping up Getty Images Inc. for $2.4 billion in cash. Getty, which sells stock photography and video footage, agreed to be acquires at $34 a share; a 39% premium to Friday's closing price.
Sitting on huge sums of capital, private equity shops are having trouble putting the money to work, as buyers of leveraged debt have disappeared for the markets. With their limited partners getting antzy about the management fees piling up, 2008 may be the year of cash buyouts and not leveraged ones by financial sponsors. - George White
See Getty buyout story from TheDeal.com
See press release
