Houlihan Lokey News

Crowley Maritime Corporation announced it has appointed Massimo Messina as vice president, mergers and acquisitions (M&A).Based in Jacksonville, Fla., Messina will lead Crowley’s corporate expansion goals by identifying and assessing potential M&A candidates and execute transactions that align with the global enterprise’s future growth projection and endeavors across all business units.“Massimo has the vision and experience needed to source and obtain target opportunities to integrate into our business model and help keep Crowley on the cutting edge as a leader of our industry…

Fairbanks Morse Defense (FMD), a portfolio company of Arcline Investment Management, has acquired Hunt Valve Company Inc., a specialty manufacturer of naval valves and electromechanical actuators. This acquisition expands FMD’s capabilities and service solutions for shipyard, defense, and industrial customers – including its support for and offerings to the U.S. Nuclear Navy.The transaction includes Hunt Valve, the Hunt Valve Actuator Division, MB Valve (Montreal Bronze), and Pima Valve, LLC.“Our core customers value quality, reliability, and convenience, and the addition of Hunt Valve to the Fairbanks Morse Defense brand allows us to enhance the customer experience by offering a wider range of aftermarket support services through a single vendor,” said FMD CEO George Whittier.

Greece’s largest lender by assets Piraeus Bank is eyeing a strategic partnership with a major Asian Pacific financial conglomerate that will help it provide financing to Greek shipping companies."This pioneering initiative forms part of Piraeus Bank’s continued commitment to the shipping community, through investment of international capital into existing opportunities and new financing to the shipping industry," said a press release form the bank.The initiative aims at positioning Piraeus Bank at the forefront of servicing the needs of Greek shipping clients.Piraeus did not name the Asian partner. Piraeus Bank has not set a timeline for this process and there can be no assurance that a transaction will be entered into or consummated or…

Danaos Corporation, a leading international owner of containerships, has announced the consummation of its previously announced debt refinancing , significantly strengthening the Company's capital structure and reducing its outstanding debt by approximately USD 551 million.The debt refinancing strengthens the Company's financial position through the significant debt reduction, reset financial and certain other credit facility covenants, modified interest rates and amortization profiles and the extension of existing debt maturities by approximately five years to December 31, 2023. Danaos' CEO Dr. John Coustas said: "We are pleased to announce the closing of our comprehensive debt refinancing agreement…

J.F. Lehman & Company (JFLCO), a middle-market private equity firm said that its investment affiliate JFL-NRC-SES Partners, LLC  signed an agreement to sell its membership interests in NRC Group Holdings, LLC (NRC Group), formed earlier this year with the combination of JFLCO companies National Response Corporation (NRC) and Sprint Energy Services (Sprint) , to Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. III (HCAC). After the transaction is completed, NRC Group will be a wholly-owned direct subsidiary of HCAC, who will change its name to NRC Group Holdings Corp. NRC Group Holdings Corp.

Seaspan Corporation announced that Bing Chen will be joining the Company as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and appointed to the Board of Directors in January, 2018. Gerry Wang will be retiring as CEO and Director of Seaspan effective November 3. Upon Wang’s retirement, Peter Curtis, executive vice president and chief operating officer, will also serve as Seaspan’s interim chief executive officer until Chen’s arrival, after which he will continue in his current role. David Sokol, Chairman of Seaspan’s Board of Directors, stated, "We are pleased to have reached a very successful conclusion to our CEO search, and to have a seasoned professional like Mr. Chen join our executive team. Mr.

Dun & Bradstreet will acquire the entirety of Dun & Bradstreet’s ANZ business, including consumer risk and debt collection, and commercial solutions, for AUD $220 million. As part of the agreement, pending regulatory approval, Credit Data Solutions will become a partner within Dun & Bradstreet’s Worldwide Network to continue to provide commercial solutions in the region. This decision supports Dun & Bradstreet’s long-term growth strategy. Today, approximately two-thirds of the ANZ business is consumer-related, which is inconsistent with Dun & Bradstreet’s established business-to-business focus. “We’re excited to welcome Archer Capital’s Credit Data Solutions as the newest member of our Worldwide Network.

Genco Shipping & Trading Limited and its subsidiary Baltic Trading Limited has announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Genco will acquire Baltic Trading in a stock-for-stock transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, Baltic Trading will become an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Genco, and Baltic Trading shareholders will receive 0.216 shares of Genco common stock for each share of Baltic Trading common stock they own at closing, with fractional shares to be settled in cash. Upon consummation of the transaction, Genco shareholders are expected to own approximately 84.5 percent of the combined company and Baltic Trading shareholders are expected to own approximately 15.5 percent of the combined company.

Business advisory specialists, AlixPartners, honored by TMA for 'International Turnaround of the Year' for their work at DeepOcean Group. AlixPartners, the global business-advisory firm, has been honored by the Turnaround Management Association for its work, in concert with other advisors, at the company now known as DeepOcean Group Holding AS, previously the Trico Marine Group. The AlixPartners team, led by John Castellano, managing director, was cited for its contributions in the highly successful effort, which is the winner of the TMA's "Turnaround of the Year: International Company" award for 2012. The Norwegian-registered DeepOcean Group is an integrated provider of subsea…

New Capital Structure Provides Opportunity for Significant Deleveraging. Horizon Lines, Inc. (NYSE: HRZ) today announced that it has completed a comprehensive refinancing of the company's entire capital structure. The new capital structure addresses the company's financial needs by providing adequate liquidity to fund continuing operations and the ability to achieve substantial additional debt reduction. "We now have a new capital structure that eliminates the refinancing uncertainty faced by our company over the past several months and better positions us for the future," said Stephen H. Fraser, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Todd Shipyards Corp. (NYSE: TOD) and Vigor Industrial LLC announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Vigor will acquire the stock of Todd for $22.27 per share, or approximately $130m. The transaction is structured as an all cash tender offer. Under the terms of the agreement, which has been unanimously approved by Todd’s board of directors, Vigor will offer to purchase all outstanding shares of Todd’s common stock for $22.27 in cash per share. This represents a premium of 31% over the average closing price of Todd’s common stock during the three month period ended December 21, 2010. The price of Todd’s stock has climbed steadily during the year from a low of $13.98 to its recent 52 week high closing price of $21.00.

Friede Goldman Halter, Inc., announced that it plans to retain, subject to Bankruptcy Court approval, the services of Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin. Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin is an international investment banking firm providing a wide range of services including mergers and acquisitions, financial restructuring, private placements of debt and equity capital, business and securities valuations, financial opinions, litigation support, and merchant banking services. In the last decade Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin's financial restructuring professionals have consummated over $30 billion in transactions. FGH will draw upon the firm's diverse industry experience, extensive talent base, and resources to coordinate and execute a successful financial restructuring.

Boat manufacturer Outboard Marine Corp. said on Tuesday it plans to reduce its worldwide workforce by about 1,000 employees, or about 14 percent of its staff, and retained an investment banking firm to evaluate strategic options. The company said the moves to reduce costs and improve focus on key business segments are necessary to offset softness in the company's operating performance, which resulted primarily from material supplier problems in the engine division along with a recent slowdown in the recreational marine market. The company also said it is currently exploring strategic alternatives and has retained the firm of Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin to help in that effort.

Bonds issued by British shipbuilder Cammell Laird held steady at deeply-discounted levels on Tuesday after the company unveiled a strategic review which could include a debt restructuring. Investors quoted Cammell's 125 million euro high-yield bond due October 2010 at 11 to 13 percent of face value at around 1245 GMT, down by around half a percentage point from Tuesday's opening. The bonds have been trading at levels that clearly imply default for some time, dealers said. Investors said they expected Cammell to miss the first coupon payment on the bond, due on April 15. "The market was clearly expecting this and the news looked as though it had already been priced in," said Martin Reeves, vice-president of fixed income at Alliance Capital.