Kelso Co

Unilab Corp., California's biggest clinical laboratory testing company, agreed Tuesday to be acquired by closely held Kelso & Co. for about $420 million in cash and debt. Kelso, an investment company, will own about 93% of Unilab shares, buying them for $5.85 each in cash, a 20% premium to Monday's closing price of $4.88. Other shareholders will hold the remaining 7%. Fierce competition in the California clinical testing industry during the 1990s forced some companies into bankruptcy.

New York investment firm Kelso & Co. has emerged as the leading bidder for Shell Oil Co.'s Bakersfield refinery, people familiar with the situation said Thursday. Kelso and others have been talking to Shell about buying the facility for several months, and Shell in the last week signed an agreement pledging to negotiate exclusively with the privately owned equity firm, the sources said.

New York merchant banker Kelso & Co. will acquire and merge two independent distributors of metal products--the Lynwood-based Earle M. Jorgensen Co. and the Brea-based Kilsby-Roberts Holdings Inc.--under an agreement announced Tuesday. Kelso, which already owns about 5% of privately held Kilsby-Roberts, will pay $75 million for the remainder of Kilsby-Roberts and $261 million--$41.50 per share--for Jorgensen.

Shell Oil Co. said Monday that it would sell its Bakersfield refinery to one of the largest truck-stop chains in the U.S., giving a surprise reprieve to California motorists. The deal with Ogden, Utah-based Flying J Inc. came weeks before the facility's planned March 31 closure. It could spare supply-strapped California the loss of 2% of its gasoline supply and 6% of its diesel. Terms of the sale to closely held Flying J's refining subsidiary, Big West Oil, weren't disclosed.

Unilab Corp., Tarzana, reported net income for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 of $17.9 million compared to net income of $3.1 million for the same period last year. Net sales rose to $76.2 million compared to $53.2 million. Unilab has entered into a merger agreement, subject to shareholder approval, with Kelso & Co. through its affiliate UC Acquisitions Sub Inc. Unilab provides laboratory testing services throughout California.

The executives were joined in the buyout by Kelso & Co. and other institutional investors. Terms of the leveraged buyout were not disclosed. The North Hollywood-based International House of Pancakes chain was acquired by Svido-Abwicklungsgesellschaft, a Zurich holding company representing several major banks, four years ago, when a past owner could not meet its debts. IHOP franchises and operates 452 International House of Pancakes Restaurants in 36 states, Canada and Japan.

Allegheny International and NL Industries, partners for the last 30 years in the nation's largest integrated producer of titanium, plan to sell 90% of their Timet division of Titanium Metals Corp. of America to Kelso & Co. and top managers of the division. Allegheny and NL will each retain 5% of the firm. Terms of the deal were withheld, but Allegheny said it would use proceeds of the sale to reduce debt.

Gould Inc. said it completed the sale of its medical products unit to an investor group including Kelso & Co., a Newport Beach securities broker. Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but Gould said the medical products group had 1985 sales of $82.6 million. The group now will be called Spectramed Inc. and will include a cardiovascular products division in Oxnard, a cardiopulmonary products division in Dayton, Ohio, and operations in Asia and Europe.