baincapital
Latest
Toshiba's chip drama ends with sale to a financial group
The long-running bidding war over Toshiba's flash memory business has effectively come to an end... and the winner probably isn't who you expected. Toshiba has agreed to sell its NAND division to a group led by the private equity firm Bain Capital for the equivalent of $18 billion. This isn't going to please Western Digital, Toshiba's partner in the US, but Toshiba expects the deal to survive any legal battles. The question is why -- and whether or not Toshiba's eagerness to sell might cost you in the long run.
D&M Holdings bought up by Bain Capital, Kenwood not involved
Talk about needing a roster to tell the players apart! RHJ International -- which owns some 49-percent of the D&M Holdings hydra (Denon, Marantz, Boston Acoustics, Escient, MacIntosh and Snell) -- has accepted an offer from Bain Capital to the tune of ¥510 ($4.74) per share in a buyout bid. But earlier reports that pinned Kenwood as a partner to Bain in this effort have been denied by Bain. There's some goings-on here, for sure. First, we haven't seen any dealings involving the 12-percent stake that Philips has in D&M. Also, the soon-to-be JVC Kenwood Holdings states that it has not decided on whether it will invest in D&M; which corroborates pretty well with the latest Bain statement that Kenwood is not involved, and there are no ongoing talks of future involvement. Corporate squabbling and conspiracy theories aside, we just hope that the D&M brands come out unscathed.
Boston Acoustics gets efficient, cuts 30 employees
Amidst recent news about D&M Holdings being sold off, principal shareholder RHJ International has stated that 30 layoffs at Boston Acoustics are an unrelated happenstance. It's unfortunate timing, to be sure, but RHJI spokesman Gail Petersen has stated that acquisition preparation was "absolutely not a factor," and cited a decrease in new Boston Acoustics product development this year and increases in efficiency amongst companies folded into D&M holdings as reasons for trimming rolls. Whether it's coincidence or causality (if it's coincidence, it's an awfully common one), it should all get wrapped up soon -- word is that bidding between Merrill Lynch, Best Buy, Advantage Partners, and Kenwood/Bain Capital should end soon.Read - Boston Acoustics Cuts 30 EmployeesRead - Interview with RJHI's Gail Petersen
D&M Holdings up for sale
While the roster of storied high end names is pretty long, don't think for a minute that the blue-blood part of the market has not experienced consolidation. D&M Holdings is a prime example of this: D&M's owner, RJH International, has managed to fit Denon, Marantz, McIntosh, Boston Acoustics, Snell and Escient under one umbrella over the years. And now RJH is looking to cash in on the concentrated dollop of high end, offering up 49-percent of its shares in D&M. Philips has agreed to offer its12-percent stake to a winning bidder as well. Our math tells us that's more than a controlling percentage. Harman International, apparently satisfied with its own high end roster (including Harman Kardon, Infinity, Revel and Mark Levinson), has bowed out of bidding. That leaves Bain Capital (Kenwood) and Best Buy as the most prominent bidders, both of which scare us a little. One of the things we really enjoy about the D&M brands is the individual "personalities" behind them, and that's a credit to the management overlords. There's no guarantee that this variety of flavor will survive an en masse transition to new ownership.
