A shareholder agreed to withdraw his lawsuit protesting the acquisition of Talbots Inc. by BPW Acquisition Corp., removing a hurdle for the Stamford-based “blank check” investment company to complete its $463 million buyout of the women”™s apparel retailer.
BPW agreed to corporate governance measures sought by plaintiff John Campbell, who reserved the right to rekindle the lawsuit.
BPW raised funding in a blank-check initial public offering of stock, and reached a deal in December to acquire Hingham, Mass.-based Talbots in a complicated deal that included $200 million in financing from the Norwalk-based GE Capital division of General Electric Co.
ALTERRA CAPITAL DEBUTS
Less than five years after it was launched with backing from Greenwich-based Stone Point Capital L.L.C., Harbor Point Ltd. has merged with Max Capital Group to form Alterra Capital Holdings Ltd.
The combined insurance company is to be based in Bermuda, where Max Capital is based. Harbor Point has its main U.S. office in Bernardsville, N.J.
Harbor Point shareholders will receive 52 percent of the new company”™s shares, which will be traded on the Nasdaq Global Select market.
In 2005, Stone Point led the $1.5 billion capitalization of Harbor Point which used the proceeds to acquire the Chubb Re subsidiary of Chubb Corp.
MYSTERY WRIT BIG
An unspecified buyer is acquiring Terex Corp.”™s Atlas heavy construction equipment division, which has 800 workers primarily in Germany and the United Kingdom.
Westport-based Terex did not immediately disclose terms of the deal. The unit produced a $61 million operating loss last year on sales of $194 million.
The deal includes a wide range of Atlas product lines, including wheeled and rail excavators; knuckle-boom truck loader cranes; and Atlas material handlers.
The deal also includes a sales and distribution facility in Bradford, U.K.; and Terex”™s minority interest in an Atlas joint venture in China.
Terex retains some compact equipment lines made in Germany, including mini excavators and compact wheel loaders, as well as the Terex Fuchs material handler line.
“The Atlas divestiture is another important step forward in the strategic repositioning of Terex,” said Ron DeFeo, CEO of Terex, in a prepared statement. “We acquired the Atlas business in 2001 with the intention of having a quality full-size excavator as part of a globally competitive portfolio of construction equipment. Our goal was to grow the regionally strong Atlas excavator product as part of this strategy, but we were, for various reasons, never able to achieve the product cost advantage required for it to be successful.”
CIRCUIT EXPRESS ABOARD
Through a subsidiary, Westport-based Compass Diversified Holdings Inc. acquired Circuit Express Inc. for $15.6 million.
Based in Tempe, Ariz., Circuit Express makes custom circuit boards for aerospace and defense customers, generating $16.4 million in revenue last year. CODI is folding the company into its existing Advanced Circuits subsidiary in Aurora, Colo.
CODI subsidiaries include Staffmark, which provides temporary workers from 300 offices in nearly 30 states.
