Bloomberg– Hellman & Friedman LLC agreed to acquire Goodman Global Inc. for $1.76 billion, turning to hedge funds including Farallon Capital Management LLC for backing after banks curtailedtheir financing of leveraged buyouts.
The San Francisco-based firm will pay $25.60 a share in cash, 17 percent more than the Oct. 19 closing price, Goodman Global said today in a statement. The Houston-based company sells heating and cooling products under the Amana, Goodman and Quietflex brands.
Farallon and asset manager GSO Capital Partners are among firms filling a void in leveraged-buyout financing created when banks pulled out in July and August. The banks were stuck with about $300 billion in LBO debt they couldn’t sell after rising subprime-mortgage defaults soured investors on low-rated loans.
The transaction “is a sign that the credit markets are not entirely closed for M&A transactions,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst Deane Dray wrote today in a note to clients.
