All Saints on the verge of buyout deal April 26, 2011 FASHION chain All Saints was on the verge of being sold to US private equity house Goode Partners last night, despite an audacious eleventh hour bid by British venture capital veteran Jon Moulton, the chief executive of the firm told City A.M. “I think the deal is imminent,” said Stephen Craig. “Goode will be a [...]
Oddbins sells 37 stricken stores to Whittall’s April 26, 2011 ODDBINS administrator Deloitte has sold 37 of the 85 stricken stores to Whittall’s. The wine retailer was forced into administration earlier this month after its creditors, including HM Revenue & Customs, refused to accept lower repayment terms. Whittall’s, which is a subsidiary of multi-millionaire Raj Chatha’s European Food Brokers, said yesterday the deal means investment [...]
Acquisition spree rolls on at Pearson April 26, 2011 Pearson yesterday announced the latest in a string of acquisitions of fast growing educational firms. The publisher said it will buy US educational technology firm Schoolnet for $230m (£140m). The acquisition is part of Pearson’s core growth strategy following the sale of its 61 per cent stake in Interactive Data Corporation (IDC) in May 2010. [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: IS THE ACQUISITION OF SCHOOLNET A GOOD MOVE? April 26, 2011 PAUL RICHARDS | NUMIS This acquisition is entirely consistent with Pearson’s strategy. Since selling IDC it said it would re-invest the proceeds into growing areas of education. This buy fits with this. Pearson has proven itself to be the world’s best education company and this only reinforces that. ALEX DEGROOTE | PANMURE Schoolnet is a [...]
SDL sees first-quarter profit in line April 26, 2011 Translation software firm SDL said yesterday its performance for the first-quarter of 2011 was in line with management expectations for both revenue and operating profit. The group, which provides patent translation software services for Ford, Canon and Dell, said demand conditions overall remain strong. “Whilst we continue to see varying demand conditions in different industry [...]
Venture pays $350m for Bigpoint April 26, 2011 British venture firms Summit Partners and TA Associates are to buy a majority stake in German online gaming firm Bigpoint for $350m (£212), in the hope of tapping into strong demand for free games on the internet. Bigpoint, employing more than 700 and offering games such as Seafight and underwater adventure Deepolis, said it has [...]
DreamWorks sees revenues fall April 26, 2011 DreamWorks Animation SKG reported lower first-quarter profit yesterday hobbled by a lack of major releases. In the first-quarter, DreamWorks earned $8.8m (£5.3m), or 10 cents per share, compared with $21.7m, or 24 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue fell 33 per cent to $108m.
Sony starts fightback against Apple with launch of tablets April 26, 2011 SONY yesterday launched its first tablet computers, with the Japanese firm desperate to recapture the initiative from Apple’s all conquering iPad. The devices have a wider significance for Sony, which has slipped from its pedestal as the world’s most popular electronics manufacturer to be widely seen as an also-ran, chasing the tail of rivals such [...]
Micro Focus surges after mystery bid April 26, 2011 Micro Focus International saw its shares surge more than 10 per cent yesterday after it confirmed it has received a preliminary approach for the company. The potential bidder was not named but Micro Focus has often been seen as a target for a private equity buyer, or for US firms IBM, Oracle or Microsoft. Another [...]
BP’s Russian partner offers hope of a deal April 26, 2011 OIL giant BP yesterday responded positively to suggestions that it might be able to negotiate its way out of an impasse in Russia with its partners TNK. According to an interview with the BBC, one of the AAR oligarchs involved in the TNK joint venture with BP said yesterday that a sale of TNK’s 50 [...]
