Prior to the deal announcement, the shares had declined about 25 percent since reaching a closing high this year on Feb. 21 -- the day before ClubCorp reported weak fourth-quarter earnings.
Firestone Club
Founded in 1957, the company owns or operates more than 200 private golf, country and private clubs. Its properties include the Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, and the Capital Club Beijing. The transaction is slated to close in the fourth quarter.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP acted as legal counsel for ClubCorp. Citigroup Inc. was lead financial adviser to Apollo, with RBC Capital Markets LLC, Barclays Plc, Credit Suisse Group AG and Deutsche Bank AG assisting. Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP acted as Apollo’s legal counsel.
The deal for ClubCorp is the latest in a string of take-private transactions for New York-based Apollo, which deployed more money last year than ever in its history. Apollo scooped up public companies including ADT Corp., Fresh Market Inc., Diamond Resorts International Inc., Outerwall Inc. and Rackspace Hosting Inc. In May, the firm agreed to buy communications infrastructure provider West Corp. for about $5.1 billion including debt and earlier this month, completed its acquisition of Lumileds, the lighting-components division it carved out of Royal Philips NV.
To replenish its coffers, the firm has set a $23.5 billion cap on its new global buyout fund. The pool, the firm’s ninth, will be the largest ever raised by a private equity firm if it exceeds the $21.7 billion that Blackstone Group LP gathered for its fifth pool from 2005 to 2007.
Apollo, led by founders Leon Black, Josh Harris and Marc Rowan, oversaw $197.5 billion in private equity holdings, credit assets and real estate as of March 31.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.