BUSINESS
September 4, 2008 | Tom Petruno, Times Staff Writer
Pension funds and other big investors have been warned to scale back their return expectations in the private-equity buyout business. But they still committed $2.75 billion to a new leveraged buyout fund launched by Beverly Hills-based Platinum Equity. That was $1.25 billion more than Platinum CEO Tom Gores' target, he said -- and $2.05 billion more than went into his first such fund, in 2004. The private-equity business isn't what it used to be, but a lot of institutional investors may figure they won't do better elsewhere, given the sorry state of financial markets.
BUSINESS
May 1, 2012
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — P.F. Chang's is being acquired and taken private by a private equity firm in a deal valued at about $1.09 billion. Under the terms of the agreement released Tuesday, New York's Centerbridge Partners LP will buy shares of P.F. Chang's China Bistro Inc. for $51.50 each. The cash offer represents a 40 percent premium over the company's Monday closing stock price. The news sent shares of P.F. Chang's soaring $12.06, or 30 percent, to $51.75 in premarket trading.
BUSINESS
April 26, 2010 | Jerry Hirsch
After debating competing buyout offers, the parent company of the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain said it would be acquired by an affiliate of Apollo Management, spurning an earlier suitor. Apollo's offer is the latest twist for a storied Southern California company that was founded as a Los Angeles hot dog stand in the 1940s by charismatic entrepreneur Carl Karcher. The transaction is significant because it may mark the first in a series of restaurant chain sales, said Randall Hiatt, president of Fessel International Inc., a Costa Mesa-based restaurant industry consulting firm.
BUSINESS
September 6, 2011
WASHINGTON — Carlyle Group is planning to raise $100 million through an initial public offering. The private equity firm is going public even as fears about the global economy have punished stock markets. Many companies canceled their IPOs in August. Private equity firms buy companies and later try to sell them for more money. They often borrow money to fund their purchases. The business slumped during the recession. Other large private equity companies have gone public recently.
BUSINESS
January 9, 2012 | By Jim Puzzanghera
Escalating criticism by political foes of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for his work at Bain Capital is unfairly giving private equity a bad name, an industry trade association said Monday. "There is a lot of misinformation being spread, purely for political purposes and on both sides of the aisle, as it pertains to private equity, said Steve Judge, interim head of the Private Equity Growth Capital Council. "While the business model has evolved over time, the fact of the matter is private equity provides capital and operational expertise to companies that are often underperforming or on the brink of failure.
BUSINESS
June 1, 2011 | By Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times
The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the country's largest public pension fund, has named a new investment executive to run its $49-billion private equity portfolio. Real Desrochers, who spent a decade doing a similar job for the California State Teachers' Retirement System, replaces Leon Shahinian, who resigned in August. He left the agency after being put on administrative leave in the wake of a spreading corruption scandal at CalPERS. Shahinian was mentioned but not named as a defendant in a 2010 lawsuit filed by then-Atty.