Just tired, to answer your question about a public company going private again. Here's one and some interesting thoughts and comments.
Aramark is going private for the
second time, after the food services company’s directors approved an $8.3 billion buyout offer by chairman Joseph Neubauer and a group of private-equity investors.
Aramark (nyse:
RMK -
news -
people ) shareholders will receive $33.80 per share, slightly higher than Monday's closing price of $33.05.
The buyout parties include Neubauer along with GS Capital Partners, CCMP Capital Advisors, J.P Morgan Partners, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Warburg Pincus. T
The deal includes the assumption or repayment of roughly $2 billion worth of debt. The buyout price represents an improvement from the $32 per share Neubauer and his partners offered stockholders on May 1.
In a press release on Tuesday, the company said it expects the deal to close by early next year, subject to shareholder approval.
Neubauer owns a class of stock with extra voting rights, but he will not be allowed to exercise them, giving him less than 5% of the ballot.
That shouldn't be a problem, as the current price is "fair…compared to other food service or business service companies with comparable gross rates," according to Bruce Simpson, an analyst for William Blair & Company.
The buyout comes at a time when private equity firms have or are raising roughly a half trillion dollars in investment funds. As a result, a number of companies have taken themselves out of public hands.
"Corporate America is at record profitability levels and yet the stock market averages are where they are or lower than they were four years ago," said Simpson. "It just isn't that lucrative to be a public company as it once was."
The analyst said major changes at Aramark are unlikely: "There are probably some assumptions that they will try and tighten up concerning cost structure, but I wouldn't think it would cause real change to the business."