KKR

The board of Italian state lender CDP said on March 5 it backed making a joint non-binding offer with Macquarie Asset Management for the fixed network of Telecom Italia (TIM).

The offer will go up against a rival bid from U.S. investment fund KKR, which last month made a 20-billion-euro ($21.2-billion) offer for a controlling stake.

Greece has short-listed six investors in the sale of its state-controlled gas distribution network DEPA Infrastructure, the country's privatization agency said on Tuesday.

Dutch-based cable and pay-TV operator United Group is to conduct meetings over the coming week with potential buyers, two sources familiar with the matter told BIRN, ahead of a reported auction in September.

Norwegian telecom Telenor negotiates with a US fund to sell its businesses in Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro for a price of 2 billion euros. This is reported by the specialized Mergermarket, referring to three unofficial sources. Capital has confirmed from a single source that the prospective buyer has been selected as exclusive in December.

US investment firm KKR is taking over the historic factory and the output of Elais-Unilever on Pireos Street at Neo Faliro in Piraeus.

It forms part of the wide-ranging deal providing for the acquisition by KKR of all Unilever's spread business worldwide, with the exception of South Africa.

Anglo-Dutch food and consumer giant Unilever has said it has reached a 6.8-billion-euro ($8-billion) deal with U.S. private equity giant KKR to sell its margarines business.

Pillarstone, the European platform set up by US private equity firm KKR, is in advanced talks with creditor banks regarding the restructuring of the Notos Com Holdings group and frozen seafood company Kallimanis.

The debt management firm will provide the funds needed for the restructuring of the two enterprises' debts and will take an active role in managing the companies too.

Greece's central bank has granted a license to Pillarstone, the platform set up by private equity firm KKR, to provide long-term capital to large Greek corporate borrowers and manage non-performing exposures for Greek banks, Eurobank said on Thursday.

Heavily indebted telecoms giant Telefonica said yesterday that its net profit fell close to 14 percent last year to 2.36 billion euros, hit by restructuring costs linked to a voluntary redundancy scheme in Spain.

Famar, a pharmaceuticals company in the Marinopoulos Group, will be the first Greek firm that US fund KKR includes in its Pillarstone corporate loan restructuring platform.

Famar's inclusion is aimed at restructuring the company's existing loans of 150 million euros, refinancing it with a fresh injection of 40 million euros, and then finding investors for it.