This week's issue features our annual look at
Private Equity Deals of the Year. Coming about one year after the credit crisis took hold, this year's collection, spearheaded by Vyvyan Tenorio, is an eclectic bunch; we call the compilation "Odds and Ends." We begin by highlighting a few blockbuster exceptions to the period's general bleakness, including
Alltel Corp.'s $27.5 billion LBO and its successful flip to Verizon Wireless months later. There's also
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s sale of ConvaTec, notable for the airtight sale agreement behind it, and two precredit crunch buyouts,
United Rentals Inc. and
Clear Channel Communications Inc.'s television unit, which were both casualties of more loosely negotiated deals. Also included are
Buffets Inc. and
Linens 'n Things Inc., which perhaps presage the fate of many PE-backed businesses caught in a liquidity crisis. And in another harbinger of sorts, we look at TPG Capital's risky bailout of
Washington Mutual Inc., a deal that proves that PE investors are finding opportunities wherever they can.
Continue reading below
Elsewhere in the issue, Terry Brennan looks at the family feud behind copper miner
Asarco LLC, which believes it is in bankruptcy because of its parent, Grupo Mexico SAB de CV. David Marcus deconstructs the innovative defense that French construction company Eiffage SA used to
fend off its hostile Spanish suitor, Sacyr Vallehermoso SA. It essentially involved accusing Sacyr's shareholders of acting improperly in concert -- a claim that U.S. companies are loath to make. From Washington, Donna Block and Bill McConnell report on how the
success of the IntercontinentalExchange has provoked the ire of lawmakers wondering why energy prices have hit record highs. And for those still hungry for news of Bear Stearns Cos., check out Amy Wu's Movers & shakers feature,
Bear Stearns: Where are they now? Consider it a roadmap to the firm's growing diaspora. -
Yvette Kantrow
