Venture Economics Names Texas Pacific Group Buyout Firm of the Year; Sun Capital Partners' Rodger Krouse and Marc Leder Are Buyout Pros of the Year

from PR Newswire

March 11, 2004

NEW YORK, NY, Thomson Venture Economics, a Thomson Financial company and publisher of Buyouts Newsletter, drew hundreds of deal-makers from the leveraged buyout industry to the WaldorfAstoria Hotel last week to find out who among them would be named best in the field in Thomson's Buyout Deals of the Year 2003. The awards ceremony, which featured NFL Star Michael Strahan, was the highlight of Thomson's three-day Buyouts Symposium 2004, which took place March 3-5.

Capturing top honors as Buyout Firm of the Year was The Texas Pacific Group. "All of the firms that had award-winning deals this year really pushed themselves a little further than their peers and deserved to be recognized," said Danielle Fugazy, editor of Buyouts Newsletter. "Buyouts' Firm of the Year, TPG, completed three acquisitions, including the 1.7 billion pound purchase of U.K. retailer Debenhams, returned about $1.5 billion to its investors and raised $4.7 billion for its TPG Partners IV Fund, which is impressive in a year when buyout and mezzanine funds closed on only $24 billion."

Buyout Pros of the Year laurels went to Rodger Krouse and Marc Leder of Sun Capital Partners, who closed a $500 million fund in two weeks, completed four exits, opened offices in both New York and Los Angeles and oversaw more than 20 transactions in 2003.

The Buyout Deal of the Year award went to The Blackstone Group for its $4.7 billion purchase of TRW Automotive Holdings. Blackstone didn't blink when Carlyle dropped out, and helped convince Northrop Grumman to cover around half of Carlyle's proposed commitment. Blackstone then took the company public, which provided LPs with very quick liquidity. A total of 11 award winners were honored at the luncheon ceremony. In addition to the three top awards announced for the first time, eight other winners recently profiled in Buyouts Newsletter. Stories on these winners can be found at www.BuyoutsNewsletter.com.