Deals

Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co. (Nasdaq: LEND) has rejected a reduced buyout offer from Lone Star Funds, and will instead pursue litigation against the private equity firm. Lone Star had originally offered $15.10 per share, but cut the offer to $8.50 per share following changes to the mortgage credit market. The revised offer still represented a 36% premium, but Accredited will argue in court that Lone Star must honor the original $15.10 price.

Advanced Communications Technologies Inc. (OTC BB: ADVC), a New York-based provider of reverse logistics for consumer electronics, has acquired Vance Baldwin Electronics, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based OEM parts distributor. The deal was largely financed by a $30 million PIPE infusion from H.I.G. Capital and the issuance of senior and subordinated notes to a syndicate arranged by Sankaty Advisors.

Aetos Capital has agreed to invest up to $50 million in Tian Rui Hotel Corp., franchisor of Wyndham Hotel’s Super 8 brand in China. Tian Rui has opened 49 Super 8 hotels in China, and has signed agreements to develop an additional 67 hotels.

AKQA Inc., a San Francisco-based interactive marketing company, has acquired search marketing company Searchrev. No financial terms were disclosed. General Atlantic bought AKQA earlier this year for between $200 million and $250 million from Francisco Partners.

Alltel Corp. (NYSE: AT) shareholders have approved a $71.50 per share buyout by TPG and GS Capital Partners. The total deal is valued at $27.5 billion, with leveraged financing being provided by Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Barclays and RBS. Alltel is being advised by Merrill Lynch, Stephens Inc. and JP Morgan Securities. Its CEO Scott Ford will remain in place post-buyout.

Altice B2B France is nearing agreement to acquire French metro telecom network provider Completel for €723 million ($985m). Under terms of the agreement, Altice B2B France would first acquire a 21% stake in Completel at €35 to €35.50 per share, and then another 34% at €35.50. Altice B2B France is a joint venture between private equity firm Cinven (49% stake) and European cable company Altice (51%). Cinven’s stake is actually a bit higher than it may look, given that it is Altice’s majority shareholder with a 70% position.

Altus Capital Partners and Dunrath Capital have sponsored a buyout of Gichner Shelter Systems from Dominion Capital, a subsidiary of Dominion Resources Inc. No financial terms were disclosed. Gichner is a Dallastown, Penn.-based maker of tactical shelters, containers and subsystems for the U.S. and European Armed Forces. Company management and select equity co-investors also participated.

Amadeus Capital Partners and Northzone Ventures have acquired a majority stake in EPiServer AB, a Stockholm, Sweden-based provider of Web content management solutions. The deal was valued at $23.5 million. Peter Larsson, who recently built and sold Protect Data to CheckPoint for over $600 million, also invested and will join EPiServer as CEO.

Bain Capital has received FTC approval for its pending acquisition of the Bath and Kitchens products business of American Standard Companies Inc. (NYSE: ASD). The total deal is valued at just under $1.76 billion, with Bank of America and Credit Suisse providing leveraged financing. Lazard is advising ASD on the sale, while Bain is being advised by Lehman Brothers.

BC Partners has not approached listed Dutch chemical company Univar NV about a potential buyout, according to comments made at Univar’s shareholder meeting. A Dutch news agency had reported on such an approach several weeks ago.

The Blackstone Group is one of several firms in talks to acquire a 20% stake in Italian telecom operator Wind SpA. The stake is being offered up by Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris.

Blue Point Capital Partners has sponsored a recapitalization of WDC Exploration & Wells, a Woodland, Calif.–based provider of contract drilling services. Blue Point and company management provided equity, while debt financing was provided by Emporia Capital, Madison Capital, Merrill Lynch Capital and NewStar Financial. No additional terms were disclosed. WDC was advised by Citi Capital Strategies.

Blue Point Capital Partners has recapitalized Dispatch Transportation Inc., a Fontana, Calif.-based transportation and logistics company for the construction and aggregate industries in Southern California. Blue Point and Dispatch management provided equity, while Comerica Bank provided leveraged financing. No terms were disclosed. RSM EquiCo Capital Markets advised Dispatch on the deal.

Boston Ventures has agreed to acquire SJI LLC, a telecom and broadband services provider for residential and commercial customers in southern Louisiana. No financial terms were disclosed. The seller is the Brady family, which has owned SJI since 1945. RBC Daniels advised SJI on the transaction.

Bunker Hill Capital has completed its $11 per share buyout of steakhouse chain Smith & Wollensky. The $94.6 million deal was done in partnership with Nick Valenti and Joachim Splichal, who will run Smith & Wollensky.

Canon Communications LLC of Los Angeles has acquired Engel Publishing Partners from Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. No financial terms were disclosed. Engel is a B2B media company focused on the pharmaceutical market. Canon is controlled by Spectrum Equity Investors.

Castanea Partners has acquired a majority stake in fashion design house Betsey Johnson. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, which was first reported by Women’s Wear Daily. The Sage Group advised Betsey Johnson on the deal.

Clear Channel Communications has scheduled a shareholder meeting for Sept. 25, in order to vote on a proposed $19.5 billion buyout by Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners. The bid was first announced last November, but was sweetened several times after some large shareholders signaled they would oppose earlier offers. The latest offer of $39.20 per share in cash or stock in what would be a privately-owned company has appeased at least some of the big holdouts. Current shareholders could end up with as much as 30% of the new company.

Clinical Research Network, a Vernon Hills, Ill.–based provider of clinical trial services, has raised an undisclosed amount of private equity funding from WHI Capital Partners. CRN was formed in 2003, and works with pharma companies, biotech companies and contract research organizations.

Continental Energy Corp. (OTC BB: CPPXF) has received a $3.25 million PIPE infusion from Macquarie Bank. The deal includes five million common shares at $0.65 per share. It also includes 10 million attached warrants that, when exercised, would be worth an additional $9 million. CEC is an oil and gas exploration company focused exclusively on Indonesia.

Creo Capital Partners has acquired Zero Debt Bottling Corp. (a.k.a. 505 Southwestern), an Albuquerque, N.M.–based seller of all-natural and organic green and red chile sauces, salsas and fajita marinades. No financial terms were disclosed.

Crestview Partners has completed its $637 million buyout of Symbion Inc. (Nasdaq: SMBI), a Nashville, Tenn.-based owner and operator of 57 short-stay surgical facilities. Symbion stockholders will receive $22.35 per share.

DC Capital Partners has agreed to acquire a controlling interest in both ClearComm Technologies LLC and RelComm Technologies LLC. No financial terms were disclosed. ClearComm is a Fruitland, Md.-based maker of filter products for the wireless and telecom markets. RelComm is a Salisbury, Md.-based maker of application-specific RF coaxial relay products for high volume military and commercial communications applications. Both transactions are expected to close in Q4.

Eaton Corp. (NYSE: ETN) has completed the sale of its mirror controls unit to Englefield Capital for $111 million. The unit is part of Eaton’s automotive group, and makes mirror actuators and power-fols actuators for external automotive mirror systems.

Electra Private Equity has refinanced portfolio company Allflex Holdings II Inc., a maker of animal identification tags. The deal will provide Electra with a $78.3 million dividend, while increasing Allflex’s debt from $215 million to $345 million.

The Federal Trade Commission has asked Intel Corp. for more information on its proposed deal with Switzerland’s STMicroelectronics NV. The companies, along with private equity firm Francisco Partners, plan to form a new company that will buy up Intel’s and STMicroelectronics’ NOR flash businesses. Intel said it would respond to the request promptly.

Fiat of Italy is prepared to join India’s Tata Motors in a bid for Ford Motor Co.’s Jaguar and Land Rover brands. Tata is believed to be readying a $1.5 billion bid, with competition to come from One Equity Partners and Ripplewood Holdings.

Focus Brands, a restaurant franchise acquisition platform backed by Roark Capital Partners, has acquired Moe’s Southwest Grill, a fast-casual restaurant chain with 360 locations. No financial terms were disclosed. Focus Brands now has five franchise brands generating over $1 billion in annual system-wide revenue. Moe’s joins sister companies Carvel Ice Cream (acquired in 2001), Cinnabon (2004), Seattle’s Best Coffee International (2004) and Schlotzsky’s (2006).

General Atlantic has acquired a 33 percent stake in Torex Retail Holdings Ltd., a global provider of IT solutions for the retail, hospitality, convenience and petroleum industries. No financial terms were disclosed. Torex also counts Cerberus Capital Management among its shareholders. Much of the Torex management team previously worked with GA and Cerberus while with SSA Global.

GFI Energy Ventures has acquired GoodCents, an Atlanta–based provider of marketing and field services for electric utility energy efficiency and peak load management programs. No financial terms were disclosed.

Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and Madrone Capital Partners have agreed to make a $1 billion equity investment in privately-held hotelier Global Hyatt Corp. The infusion is in exchange for an undisclosed minority stake, with one representative of both Goldman and Madrone to take a Hyatt board seat. Hyatt is controlled by the Pritzker family, while Madrone is affiliated with the Walton family of Wal-Mart fame.

GMT Communications Partners has agreed to acquire UK outdoor advertising business Primesight Ltd. from British media company SMG. The deal is valued at £62 million ($125m), with Hawkpoint Partners advising SMG. Primesight’s products include advertising display panels on major roads and display panels at locations such as cinemas, health clubs and retail outlets. SMG will use proceeds from the sale to pay down debt.

GSO Capital Partners has amended certain terms of its pending buyout of Reddy Ice Holdings (NYSE: FRZ), in order to help secure approval of dissenting shareholders. The $31.25 per share price stays intact, but GSO has halved what had been a $7 million breakup fee, and also agreed to extend its pre-closing marketing period to as late as February 28, 2008. The $1.1 billion deal had originally been expected to close by year-end. Reddy Ice also said that it had contacted 47 potential buyers during its “go-shop” period, but that it was not actively engaged in any alternative discussions. Reddy Ice is a Dallas, Texas-based manufacturer and distributor of packaged ice.

Halyard Capital has formed a new marketing and advertising company called Engauge, via the merging of existing portfolio company Direct Impact (Austin, Texas) with new acquisition Ten United (Dallas, Texas). No financial terms for either acquisition was disclosed. Engauge will be run by Ten United CEO Rick Milenthal, while industry veteran Stan Rapp will serve as chairman.

Hilco Consumer Capital and Crystal Capital have agreed to acquire a variety of golf equipment brands from Huffy Corp. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, which includes brands Tommy Armour, Ram, TearDrop and Zebra.

HM Capital reportedly is in talks to acquire UniTek USA LLC, a Blue Bell, Pa.-based provider of project management and support services to the telecom, satellite and government services markets.

Home Depot Inc. completed the sale of its HD Supply unit for $8.5 billion to a buyout consortium of Bain Capital, Carlyle Group and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. The original sale price had been $10.3 billion, but turbulent credit conditions and a tightening housing market forced new terms. As part of the amended agreement, Home Depot will purchase a 12.5 percent equity interest in HD Supply for $325 million, and will guarantee a $1 billion senior secured loan. Leveraged finance was provided by JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch.

Horizon GmbH, a portfolio company of PPM Capital, has acquired fellow German staffing company Jobs in Time Holding GmbH for an undisclosed amount. Baird advised PPM Capital on the deal.

Imagin Natural Resources LLC has received $200 million in private financing commitments from Natural Gas Partners’ Midstream & Resources Fund and Barclays Capital’s commodities principal investment team. Imagin is a Richmond, Va.-based investment firm focused on mining companies, mining operations, reserve positions and other mining related interests like docks, terminals and transportation. It has a particular focus on coal in North America and Europe, but will diversify in terms of both mineral and geography.

J.C. Flowers has added its name to the list of potential bidders for ailing German state-controlled bank WestLB. German regional banks Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg and BayernLB are also in the running. In August, WestLB announced first-half results with losses of more than €600 million in proprietary trading due to bad bets on the spread between preferred and ordinary shares in some German companies. The bank last month also agreed to sell its shareholding in HSH Nordbank to institutional investors advised by JC Flowers.

Kachi Partners has acquired Genesee Group, a precision metal stamping and fabricating company with operations in Tennessee and Texas. Citibank provided senior financing, but additional terms were not disclosed.

Mattress Firm, a mattress retailer owned by J.W. Childs Associates, has agreed to acquire Mattress Pro, a mattress chain with 35 locations in Texas and Nevada. No financial terms were disclosed.

MBK Partners has agreed to acquire the Japanese business software subsidiary of Livedoor Holdings Co. – named Yayoi Co. — for approximately $612 million.

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) has completed the sale of its Boston Market restaurant chain to Sun Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount. Boston Market, originally called Boston Chicken, was acquired in 2000 for $173.5 million as part of a McDonald’s initiative to diversify its business. Now the chain has 630 restaurants in 28 states. Sun Capital has a portfolio that also includes bakery chain Bruegger’s Enterprises, Garden Fresh salad restaurants and cheese-and-meat retailer Hickory Farms.

Norvestor has acquired Nordic travel companies Seat24 Travel AB and SRG Online AB, and merged them into a single entity called European Travel Interactive AB. No financial terms were disclosed.

Ply Gem Industries Inc., a Kearney, Mo.-based maker of residential construction and renovation products, has agreed to acquire CertainTeed Corp.’s vinyl window and patio door business. The deal will be financed via a combination of cash on hand and borrowings against Ply Gem’s $75 million revolving credit facilities. It is expected to close later this quarter. Ply Gem is a portfolio company of Caxton-Iseman Capital.

Quest Specialty Chemicals Inc., a chemical acquisition platform of Huron Capital Partners, has purchased the assets of Zolatone Automotive, a Los Angeles-based maker of acrylic sealers and other coatings for the automotive, industrial and marine markets. No financial terms were disclosed.

Senior Solution, a provider of software for the Brazilian financial services market, has acquired rival Intellectual Capital. No financial terms were disclosed. Senior Solutions shareholders include Stratus VC and the Brazilian National Development Bank.

Skyservice Airlines Inc. of Canada has agreed to sell a majority interest in its charter airlines business to Gilbralt Capital. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, which is expected to close in early fall.

Southern Water has received several buyout bids expected to be in the range of £4 billion, according to The Sunday Telegraph. One group includes Goldman Sachs, General Electric, Babcock & Brown and RREEF. Another is led by Morgan Stanley’s infrastructure fund, while both Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan also are reported to have submitted bids. Deutsche Bank is running the process for Southern Water, which provides water to more than one million homes in southeastern England. It was acquired for £2 billion in 2003 by RBS and Veolia, but Veolia sold its stake to RBS last year.

Sun Capital Partners has completed its $337 million take-private buyout of Friendly Ice Cream Corp. Friendly stockholders received $15.50 per share. The company was advised by Goldman Sachs.

SunGard has completed its acquisition of VeriCenter Inc., a Houston, Texas-based provider of managed services, application hosting and IT infrastructure outsourcing. No financial terms were disclosed. SunGard was acquired in 2005 by seven private equity firms, while VeriCenter had raised around $23.5 million in VC funding from BMC Software, Broadband Venture Partners, Intel Capital and Pharos Capital Group.

Topps Co. (Nasdaq: TOPP) has postponed a stockholder vote on a proposed $9.75 per share buyout offer from Madison Dearborn Partners and Michael Eisner’s investment vehicle. The vote was originally scheduled for this Thursday, but will now take place on September 19. Topps said that the change will allow shareholders to reevaluate their options, after rival Upper Deck Co. last week withdrew a $10.75 per share tender offer.

TPG reportedly is in talks to acquire a 60% stake in Russian supermarket and clothes retailer Sedmoi Kontinent (Seventh Continent), from its billionaire owners Vladimir Gruzdev and Alexander Zanadvorov. The deal could be worth around $700 million.

Tricor Pacific Capital has acquired CPI Card Group, a Littleton, Colo.–based manufacturer of financial payment cards and other laminated card products and services. No pricing terms were disclosed for the deal, which was done in partnership with company management. Jefferies Finance provided senior notes, while McKenna Gale Capital provided subordinated notes. Houlihan Lokey advised CPI Cards Group on the deal, which closed in June.

Yard House USA Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based casual dining chain with 16 units, has received an amount of private equity funding from TSG Consumer Partners. Wells Fargo and Emporia Capital provided debt financing. Yard House was advised by Piper Jaffray, while TSG was advised by Eureka Capital.

Zayo Bandwidth, a Louisville, Colo.–based regional provider of fiber-based network services, has secured access to $225 million in private equity funding. Backers include Columbia Capital, M/C Venture Partners, Oak Investment Partners, Battery Ventures and Centennial Ventures. Zayo is run by former ICG Communications and Level 3 Communications executives Dan Caruso and John Scarano, and recently acquired two companies: PPL Telcom, a 4,600 fiber-route-mile network serving areas throughout the Northeast, and Memphis Networx, a 200 fiber-route-mile network serving the greater Memphis area. It also today announced agreements to acquire both Indiana Fiber Works of Indianapolis and Onvoy Inc. of Minneapolis. Combined, the four companies represent $125 million of annual revenue and 8,400 route miles of fiber.