In brief exits

Mezzanine Management, the independent mezzanine and private equity provider, sold Waterbury Companies to Wind Point, a Chicago-based private equity fund. Waterbury, a US-based manufacturer and marketer of hygiene and pest control products, was sold at a multiple of over 8x 2004 Ebitda. Mezzanine Management has generated exits of US$100m in the last three months. This relates to the refinancing of TDF, the French transmission towers business, and the partial refinancing of Integrated Dental Holdings, one of the largest UK dental chains. Mezzanine Management backed the buyout of Waterbury in August 1998 from Carpenter Technology. The initial capitalisation at the time of the buyout represented a multiple of less than 6x forecast Ebitda.

• The €250m rights issue for Buhrmann completed successfully last week, with take-up of more than 95%. The deal will part finance the buy-back of Preference C shares as part of a package including a high-yield bond to purchase shares held by Apollo and Bain. Take-up of the offer was 95.41%. Sole bookrunner Deutsche Bank placed the rump of 1.8m shares at €7.50, a 4.3% discount to the previous close of €7.84. The rights issue was completed on the basis of two new shares for every seven held at €6.37. The company had initially intended to issue 42m new shares at €5.82 rather than the final 39m shares at a higher price.
• HgCapital has appointed advisers with a view to selling Castlebeck, the UK psychiatric hospital operator, for around £100m. NM Rothschild is looking at options for the business, which also include a refinancing or a flotation. Hg bought into Castlebeck in 2002 and the nursing home business has been consolidating ever since. Blackstone acquired NHP Healthcare last year, adding to a previous acquisition in the sector, Southern Cross Healthcare. Trade buyer Barchester also expanded with the purchase of Westminster Healthcare. Castlebeck is the UK’s largest private provider of residential healthcare for adults with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. It operates 10 independent hospitals and homes based in the North-East of England and Scotland
• PanAmSat, the US satellite company that was acquired in August 2004 by KKR, Carlyle Group and Providence Equity for US$4bn, made a disappointing return to the public markets. Despite the outcome, the shareholders are poised to recoup a three-times return on investment. Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch placed 50m shares, a 40.8% stake, at US$18, below the US$19–$21 indicative range. In an attempt to flush out any momentum buyers, the banks allowed PanAmSat shares to plunge to a low of US$16.95 on the open, a fall of 5.8%, before trading was stabilised at around US$17.30. Investor demand was lukewarm, with the book just slightly oversubscribed at the offer price.