Liberty Acquisition (stock symbol: [t]LLA[/t] (<span style='font-size:11px'>LAST</span>: 0<span style='font-size:11px'> 12:00:00 AM</span>) ) raised over $1 billion when it went public in December 2007. Last week, the WSJ reported Liberty gas been engaged in talks to acquire a 60% interest in the Pearl Group, a UK insurer.
Some comments:
-- The Liberty shares are trading at $9.00, a substantial discount from their liquidation value of $9.87.
-- The warrants, which have a strike price of $5.50 and allow the holder to purchase half a share of the common, are trading at $.44
-- The two principals of Liberty, Nicolas Berggruen and Martin Franklin, took another SPAC public (Freedom Acquisition Holdings), raised $528 million in December 2006 and subsequently acquired GLG Partners.
-- Liberty has until June 12, 2010 to close on a transaction.
Pearl Group In Exclusive Talks
By Marietta Cauchi
JUNE 15, 2009, 6:13 A.M. ET
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
LONDON (Dow Jones)--Pearl Group is in exclusive talks with Liberty Acquisition Holdings (International) Co. (LIACS.AE) that could see Liberty taking a 60% stake in the U.K. insurer within weeks, a person familiar with the situation said Monday.
Pearl Group is owned by Hugh Osmond's Sun Capital and TDR Capital, another London-based buyout firm, and is struggling under some GBP3 billion debt following its GBP5 billion takeover of Resolution PLC last May.
The deal being discussed with the U.S. investor would involve the remaining equity being split between the two main shareholders and the lending banks in a debt-for-equity swap, the person told Dow Jones Newswires.
Liberty Acquisition is a special purpose acquisition vehicle, or SPAC, a publicly quoted company set up specifically to raise cash to fund purchases. If SPACs don't buy companies within a certain period, usually 18 months to two years, they must return the money raised in initial public offerings to the shareholders.
Liberty Acquisition is offering around GBP500 million for the 60% stake, according to some reports.
-By Marietta Cauchi, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9241; marietta.cauchi@dowjones.com
Link to Wall Street Journal story |
