Funds galore for LBO prospects | Tax snags of a global buyout | Europe is the next frontier | UK buyouts grow in complexity | Managers who succeed as bosses | Spawn of an era: specialist firms | Warnings fail to dim LBO dazzle
Bowater: going for paper profits
Capping a major two-year corporate restructuring, Bowater Industries in September sold its UK paper-making operations to management and other investors in a 38 million cash buyout. The investor group consisted of 71 managers, who now own 20% of the UK business; the Electra and Globe investment trusts, which together own 70%, and Scandinavian Bank, with just under 10%.
The sale marked the final stage of a long-term divestiture programme by London-based Bowater, as it sought to withdraw from the pulp and paper-making business in the northern hemisphere and to focus on packaging and associated products, builders' supplies and other services. The...
