NEW YORK (Reuters) - Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. has won approval from lenders to extend the maturity date on a $5.5 billion real estate loan, giving it until 2015 to pay off the debt, the company said on Monday.
Harrah’s, the world’s largest operator of casinos, will also have the ability to buy back the commercial mortgage-backed securities loan at a steep discount, helping it reduce debt, the casino company said in a statement.
“These revised terms for the CMBS loans represent the culmination of nearly two years of transformative activities that have allowed us to improve our balance sheet substantially,” reducing debt by more than $4 billion, Gary Loveman, the chairman and chief executive, said.
“We now have even greater financial flexibility as we have extended all of our maturities until 2015 and beyond,” he said.
As a part of the agreement, Harrah’s will purchase about $124 million face value of CMBS loans for $37 million.
Harrah’s has been grappling with a weak economy and heavy debt taken on after its $31 billion buyout by private equity firms Apollo Global Management LP and TPG Capital in 2008 $31 billion.
Harrah’s began purchasing discounted CMBS loans in the fourth quarter last year, buying back about $950 million of loans for about $237 million. Under the new amendments to the CMBS loans, lenders will receive an additional $48 million for loans previously sold, Harrah’s said. (Reporting by Dena Aubin; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
A Geeky Night at the Oscars, Obama's Mission to Mars originally appeared on Switched on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Okay, so Avatar was a big blue dud at the Oscars last night. But that still doesn't change the fact that the 3-D spectacle has made more money than some small countries. And with Alice In Wonderland raking in over $100 million in its opening weekend, the U.S. movie audience has shown it's willing to embrace 3-D. That's why Panasonic has teamed up with Best Buy to push its new line of 3-D TVs.
Panasonic has some hefty competition in the 3-D TV market from the likes of Samsung, Sony and LG, so it's made a deal with Best Buy to set up demonstration areas to show off their products in the retail giant's stores. According to reports, the initial launch will be in 300 Best Buys, increasing to 1,000 stores by year's end.
Panasonic hopes to sell approximately 500,000 3-D TVs in the U.S. in 2010. They are expected to price their 50" 3-D unit at around $2,500, which is more than double the current cost of their same size 2-D screen.
What do you think about 3-D? Is it the future of home theater? How much would you be willing to spend on a 3-D TV?
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Egyptian private equity firm Citadel Capital said on Monday it is setting up a new $150 million co-investment fund for Africa, focusing particularly on the east of the continent.
The main investors in the fund will be PROPARCO, a French development financial institution, the Dutch development bank FMO, along with the African Development Bank (AfDB) and potentially a fourth financier, which Citadel Capital would not disclose.
“(It is) our first ever fund, a co-investment fund. We are looking at closing for it by the end of the second quarter,” Citadel’s Karim Sadek, a managing director, told Reuters in an interview.
“They will be co-investing two-to-one for every dollar they have invested equity to. They are looking at a number of deals; waste management, the agrisector, transport.”
Citadel Capital, which manages $8.3 billion in investments, has said it is looking to expand its investments in Middle Eastern and East African countries, especially those with big domestic markets in commodities, such as Algeria, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya.
Citadel Capital, which has created 17 companies to invest in the Middle East and East Africa, said in October it had set up at least two new funds for investment in these regions.
The Africa-centric fund is expected to take the lion’s share of the $500 million total Citadel Capital is targeting for the two new funds.
(Editing by Greg Mahlich)
LONDON/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany’s biggest cable television firm Kabel Deutschland on Monday published a prospectus for its 700 million euros ($958 million) initial public offering, making a trade sale very unlikely.
A series of failed IPOs in the last three months have lowered expectations of strong investor demand for public equity sales.
Private equity players have speculated, even after KDG announced its IPO plan on Feb. 23, that the deal could turn into a last-minute trade sale with the planned flotation acting as a smokescreen.
When German peer Unitymedia was sold to Liberty Global (LBTYA.O) in November the company’s planned IPO had not yet reached the stage of a published prospectus.
KDG has now announced, via a prospectus, that existing shareholders including private equity firm Providence aim to raise 700 million euros by offering up to 45 million secondary shares. A further 6.75 million shares would be offered in a potential overallotment offering - otherwise known as a “greenshoe option”.
KDG shares will begin trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on Mar. 19. (Reporting by Daisy Ku; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
Reuters - Four in five adults believe access to the Internet is a fundamental right -- with those feelings particularly strong in South Korea and China -- and half believe it should never be regulated, according to a global survey.
The figure is the third lowest annual amount raised in the past decade, it said.
“Foreign institutional investors — who before the crisis had been the lead source of capital invested in Israeli funds — have suffered serious losses due to the credit crunch,” said IVC Chief Executive Officer Koby Simana.
“These losses have reduced capital available for investments. The decrease in capital raised by Israeli venture capital funds reflects a global trend,” Simana added.
About $1.2 billion in capital is currently available for investment by Israel VC funds, of which $400 million is intended for first investments in high-tech companies, with the remainder reserved for follow-on funding.
IVC projected Israeli VC funds would raise $500 million in 2010 for investment in high-tech firms in the next few years.
Israeli private equity funds that partly invest in technology funds are not included in this survey.
Capital raising peaked at $2.9 billion in 2000. (Reporting by Joseph Nasr; Editing by David Holmes)
TOKYO (Reuters) - Private equity firm Olympus Capital Holdings Asia said it has named David Shen, now in charge of its Japan business, to a newly created position as head of its Asian operations.
Shen, who will move to Hong Kong around July, will continue to lead the firm’s business in Japan, where it is planning to expand, Shen told Reuters on Monday.
“This decision is designed to allow us to take a more focused approach to leverage our regional platform,” Shen said.
Hong Kong-based Olympus Capital will focus on the environment, food, agriculture and natural resource sectors in greater Asia, while the firm has country-specific strategies that fit each market, he said.
In Japan, Olympus is pursuing transactions involving medium-sized companies looking to expand abroad as well as business owners having trouble finding successors once they retire, he said.
Since 1997, Olympus Capital has invested about $1.3 billion in about 30 portfolio companies across Asia, with a focus on China, India, Japan and South Korea.
Olympus Capital in 2008 sold its entire stake in Japanese agrichemical company Arysta LifeScience Corp to Permira [PERM.UL] for more than $2 billion after boosting the company’s value. (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Chris Gallagher)
Infogroup had hired investment bank Evercore in December 2008 to evaluate its options, the Journal said.
An auction had drawn bids from various private equity firms, including buyout shop Carlyle Group and information company Dun & Bradstreet, according to the paper.
Infogroup spokeswoman Lisa Olson declined to comment to Reuters.
Shares of Infogroup closed at $8.16 Friday. The deal would not carry any premium on Infogroup shares and would be a bit below the current market capitalization of $469 million, the paper said.
On Friday, Investment fund ABRY Partners offered to buy broadband services provider RCN Corp (RCNI.O) for about $536 million, in another indication of private equity firms’ renewed interest in deal making.
CCMP Capital could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters. (Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Hans Peters)
So, there was an election in Iraq today. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became a 9/11 truther. And Al Qaeda's spokesman, Azzam the American, may have been captured! Here's all the stuff you missed while ogling the red carpet.
Reuters - Four in five adults believe access to the Internet is a fundamental right -- with those feelings particularly strong in South Korea and China -- and half believe it should never be regulated, according to a global survey.
Oh, that Mahmoud Ahmadenijad! The provocative, disbelieving Iranian leader is back in the news for some remarks he made to the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, calling the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center a "complicated intelligence scenario and act."
He also said, "The September 11 incident was a big fabrication as a pretext for the campaign against terrorism and a prelude for staging an invasion against Afghanistan." According to Reuters, "He did not elaborate." Ahmadejnijad has repeatedly brought up the attacks, once saying, they were "a result of mismanaging and inhumane managing of the world by the U.S."
When Ahmadenijad visited NYC in 2007, his request to visit Ground Zero was turned down. He later told an audience at Columbia University, "I wanted to speak with the press, the September 11 tragic event was a huge event. It led to a lot of other events after that. After 9/11, Afghanistan was occupied and then Iraq was occupied."
