The pace of fund-raising was slow a week after the financial turmoil on Wall Street, but there was some fund-raising activity that boosted the total capital commitments obtained so far this year to $223.6 billion.
In addition, some firms are launching new vehicles.
Deal activity slows
The number and size of the LBO transactions during the past week was also tepid.
There were nine transactions and the five with disclosed values totaled only $85.4 million, according to Thomson Reuters (publisher PE Week). The year-to-date deal flow inched up to about $106.9 billion.
The biggest deal of the period was Orchard Brands’ acquisition of Crosstown Traders Inc., a retailer of women’s apparel, from Charming Shoppes Inc. for $35 million. Orchard Brands is owned
Another deal of note in the last week was the sale of ProxyMed Inc.
Two bidders reportedly were competing to buy ProxyMed, a Fort Lauderdale-based health care information technology company that electronically links physicians, pharmacies and managed care organizations through its on-line computer network. The company had filed for bankruptcy and was expected to sell for about $11 million.
Marlin Equity Partners-owned MHC Acquisition Corp. was selected as the winning bidder over the reported rival bidder private equity-owned Maple Acquisition Co.
The bidding war helped push the sale price of ProxyMed to nearly $25 million. —Eamon Beltran