Small healthcare auctions see progress -sources
By Soyoung Kim and Jessica HallOct 18 (Reuters) - Several small-to-mid-sized healthcare
assets have garnered interest from private equity firms, with
Medtronic Inc’s Physio-Control unit fetching bids after
past efforts to sell the business failed, sources said.In February, Medtronic said it had restarted the process of
finding a buyer for its Physio-Control unit, which makes
automated external defibrillators. The unit has about $450
million per year in revenue.Although the Medtronic unit has failed to find a buyer in
the past, it now has received interest from private equity
firms in an auction process that is “pretty far along,” said a
source familiar with the situation, who declined to be named
because he was not authorized to speak to the media.Private equity firms have been active in healthcare this
year, as they bet on rising use of services by aging
populations in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.Medtronic said it was proceeding with the divestiture as
planned, but declined further comment.Meanwhile, World Courier Ground, which provides quick
delivery services for medical samples, legal briefs and
financial documents, has been put up for sale, sources said.
The sources could not be identified because the talks were not
public.The courier business has attracted a wide array of interest
from private equity firms and rival delivery services, said the
source.World Courier could not be immediately reached for
comment.Meanwhile, Press Ganey Associates Inchas
attracted takeover interest from firms including TPG Capital LPHellman & Friedman, sources said.Press Ganey collects data and performs surveys that medical
centers and hospitals use to improve service, cut costs and
increase patient care.Press Ganey, which has about $100 million in EBITDA
(earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortization), could fetch at least 10-times EBTIDA in a sale,
sources said.Press Ganey, TPG and Hellman & Friedman were not
immediately available to comment.Another healthcare auction, PRA International, fell apart a
few weeks ago, sources said. It is possible that a bidder could
come back with a low offer to try to scoop up the asset as a
bargain, one source said.PRA, a contract research company, could not be immediately
reached for comment. Contract research organizations provide
drug research services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology
companies.The last big private equity deal in healthcare was also for
a contract research company, Pharmaceutical Product Development
Inc . PPD was acquired for $3.9 billion in cash by
Carlyle GroupHellman & Friedman.
WRAPUP 2-Thai floods to slash growth, crisis not over for Bangkok
* Bangkok governor warns the capital still at risk* Central bank seen holding rates despite
inflation-economistsBy Alan RaybouldBANGKOK, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Thailand’s economy may grow by
little more than 2 percent this year because of floods that have
devastated parts of the country and forced a series of
industrial estates to close, the finance minister said on
Tuesday.The economy, Southeast Asia’s second-largest, will probably
shrink 1.1 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier,
Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala added in an interview with Reuters,
the clearest indication yet of the disaster’s economic toll.His ministry forecast in late September that the economy
would grow 4.0 percent this year.The central bank could help by cutting interest rates when
it reviews policy on Wednesday, he said.”For the Bank of Thailand to lower the interest rate would
be nice because, at least for the short term, it would lower the
costs for businesses,” he said.”But I don’t have the authority to interfere. I only hope
that the Bank of Thailand has enough common sense to judge their
way forward.”The central bank has raised its policy rate to 3.50 percent
from a record low of 1.25 percent in stages since July last year
to cool inflation.Flooding in the north, northeast and centre of the country
has killed at least 315 people since July and damaged large
areas of farmland in the world’s top exporter of rice.The cost to the economy could go far higher if Bangkok,
which accounts for 41 percent of gross domestic product (GDP),
is hit by floods.Monsoon rain, high tides and water flowing from reservoirs
in northern Thailand had threatened the capital at the weekend
but its defensive system of dikes and canals held.However, Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra warned the
danger was not over, even if the city escapes the sort of
flooding that has overwhelmed other areas, including the ancient
capital of Ayutthaya and its centuries-old temples.”We are still concerned that there could be more rain and
high sea tides at the end of this month that could put us at
risk again,” Sukhumbhand said on Tuesday, asking residents to
leave temporary dikes made of sandbags in place.MIXED MESSAGESAt least six big industrial estates have now been halted by
the floods, mostly in central Ayutthaya province.Officials had sent conflicting signals about the danger to
the Nava Nakorn industrial estate north of Bangkok, which has
270 plants and about 270,000 workers, until the government told
firms to halt operations on Monday as floodwater breached its
walls.Hiroshi Minami, head of the local unit of Japanese chip
maker Rohm Co Ltd , said the government did not appear
to have learnt from experience at other industrial estates.”We needed early warning,” he told Reuters Television on
Tuesday, adding Rohm customers around the world would suffer.Reuters reporters said production appeared to have halted at
the estate and workers were trying to protect their factories.
An army official said at least 10 percent were under water.Industry Minister Wannarat Channukul said Western Digital
Corp could lose about 80 billion baht ($2.6 billion) in
exports of hard disk drives from two plants forced to close
because of the floods.It might take the company eight months to resume operations,
he added. It sources 60 percent of its global output from
Thailand.CP All Pcl , the country’s biggest convenience
store operator under the 7-Eleven brand, said it had closed
about 150 outlets, up from 70 last week, and shut a distribution
centre in Nonthaburi province.The government is pushing ahead with a big increase in the
minimum wage from April 1 despite the huge bill companies face
to restart their operations once the waters subside.That will add to the central bank’s dilemma at the policy
meeting on Wednesday. Core inflation is near 3 percent, the top
of its target range, but the economy is under threat from both
the floods and lower demand in Western export markets.To fund the recovery effort, the cabinet approved an
increase in the budget deficit to 400 billion baht ($13 billion)
for the fiscal year from Oct. 1 from an initially agreed 350
billion.Deputy Prime Minister Kittirat Na Ranong said the government
would look at ways to borrow “several hundreds of billions of
baht” to fund the rebuilding and Finance Minister Thirachai said
it could turn to a multilateral institution to tap into its
technical expertise as well as its funding.
Susan Sarandon calls Pope Benedict a Nazi: report
“The last one. Not this Nazi one we have now,” she was reported as saying by New York newspaper Newsday.The remark was made on Saturday in an interview conducted by fellow actor Bob Balaban about Sarandon’s career that was part of the Hamptons Film Festival.Newsday said Balaban gently chided Sarandon for the remark but she repeated it.Sarandon’s Hollywood agent did not immediately respond to calls for comment on Monday.German born Pope Benedict, formerly Joseph Ratzinger, was briefly a member of the Hitler Youth in the early 1940s when membership was compulsory, the Vatican has said. He deserted the military during World War Two and has said that as devout Catholics, his parents rejected Nazi ideology.Sarandon, 65, who was raised in New York as a Roman Catholic, is known for her support of causes ranging from hunger and AIDS to opposing the U.S.-led war in Iraq. The “Thelma and Louise” star was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1999.
UPDATE 1-Celadon seeks takeover talks with USA Truck
In a regulatory filing, Celadon said it recently asked to
meets USA Truck’s management to discuss a possible association
between the companies, potentially including a combination of
the two.Celadon, which has annual revenue of around $557 million,
has not yet had talks with USA Truck and does not know whether
the target firm would entertain any such discussions, it said.USA Truck, valued at $86 million, recently said it expected
to post a third-quarter loss due to a significant decrease in
the efficiency of its truckload operations.Its revenue last year was $387 million.Shares of USA Truck jumped 21 percent to $9.97 on Tuesday on
Nasdaq. The stock had dropped sharply in late-August after the
company posted disappointing second-quarter results.Celadon shares rose 4 percent to $9.66, a 3-week high.
