Predators raise billions for European spree

[emad]

Predators raise billions for European spree
Jim Armitage,
15 June 2005

VENTURE capitalists will raise a record €46bn (£30.88bn) of funding this year to strike a wave of giant takeover deals in Europe.

American behemoths Carlyle and Blackstone have already gathered new multibillion European funds while many more are currently out on the road getting backing.

Meanwhile, London-based rivals like CVC, BC Partners and Apax are also boosting their financial firepower.

The sheer amount of cash being raised will mean venture capitalists can bid for ever-larger companies. If the forecasts are correct, the market will see a vast increase on the €28bn raised last year. The amount is fuelled by the growing number of €1bn-plus funds aimed at doing FTSE 100-sized company buyouts.

http://www.thisislondon.com/news/business/articles/timid401325?source=This%20is%20Money

[emad]

1. Some connection to Snow's Eurozone/Japan prod?:

June 15, 2005

US Treasury chief prods eurozone and Japan
By Gary Duncan, Economics Editor



JOHN SNOW, the US Treasury Secretary, yesterday stepped up pressure on the eurozone and Japan to play a bigger part in bolstering global growth prospects.

Speaking in Brussels during a tour of four European countries this week, Mr Snow said that the world economy was in a “sweet spot” but that stronger European expansion was vital to tackling global imbalances. Japan must also do more, he added.

“Europe and Japan have a critical role to play in maintaining global economic strength, but they have not been doing their part lately,” the Treasury Secretary told an audience at the Centre for European Policy Studies, the Brussels think-tank.

----------

In a week in which a merger of Germany’s HVB and Italy’s UniCredit have signalled a potential new wave of European banking consolidation, Mr Snow argued: “Further integration of EU financial markets is one structural reform that holds real promise to promote growth. Consolidation is happening now in Japan, and in Europe several major players now stand out.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,172-1654414,00.html

[orwell]

2. Go Go Growth

Snow is trying to encourage foreign economic growth in a feeble attempt to reduce the trade deficit. These guys all believe the reason the trade deficit has greatly expanded is that we are gobbling up foreign products while they are nibbling on ours.

The dirty little secret is that a significant portion of our deficit is either for things we don't/won't produce anymore or for the importation of oil. In other words while robust foreign economic growth might help a bit, it more than likely will not achieve the "miracles" that Snow and Co. expect.

[Tempest]

3. And while U.S. companies are taking over Europe...

China is taking over American companies.

First IBM, and now a Chinese company is in negotiations to buy Magtag.

[Karenina]

4. Oh dear...

Slash & Burn comes to Europe, BIG TIME.:hide:

[consuming]

5. holy cow