In the wake of last week's public offering of Dollar General, more IPOs are expected to be coming down the pipeline as private equity firms seek a monetary return on investments made during the boom years. Speculation is that Toys "R" Us and Dunkin' Donuts could be next.

Toys "R" Us Inc. is owned by Bain Capital, KKR, and Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO). The world's leading dedicated toy and baby products retailer was a public company from 1978 until its acquisition by the private equity consortium in July 2005 for $6.6 billion. It has more than 1,500 stores in 33 countries, and its businesses include Babies "R" Us, eToys.com, and FAO Schwarz, the latter two acquired earlier this year. Main competitors include privately owned KB Toys, as well as big-box retailers Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT).

Bloomberg reports that Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings Ltd. may sell up to 20% of the company to Bain Capital LLC. The asking price is said to be approximately $500 million. The other companies competing for the piece of Gome are KKR & Co. (NYSE: KFN) and Warburg Pincus.

Gome is the second-largest electronics retailer in China, with more than 800 stores in over 160 cities. So it makes a nice target for investors looking for alternatives to recession-constrained businesses in the United States, Europe and developed markets in Asia.

The Blackstone Group LP's (NYSE: BX) $930 million purchase of GSO Capital Partners early this year didn't get much fanfare. But so far, it looks like a stellar deal.

Simply put, GSO is a hedge fund that's focused on distressed debt. Of course, with the slowing economy, GSO is in a prime spot to capitalize on some nice opportunities.

But there is more. Basically, GSO has become a key source of buyout financing (this is according to Bloomberg.com).

For example, when the Weather Channel was up for sale, it was tough to get financing for the deal. So why not GSO?

It worked. In the end, Blackstone and Bain Capital teamed up with General Electric (NYSE: GE) to pull off the acquisition. As for GSO, it provided higher-risk mezzanine debt financing.

Of course there are issues. After all, Blackstone has a conflict. But at the same time, the financial markets are mired in a credit crunch. So, if there are essentially no alternatives, GSO is probably going to provide the best offer.

More importantly, Blackstone realizes that there are some juicy opportunities right now. Thus, by having the GSO advantage, Blackstone certainly is positioned nicely.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Financial Times reported that Bain Capital, The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) and General Electric Company's (NYSE: GE) NBC universal will acquire The Weather Channel properties from Landmark Communications for approximately $3.2B in a leveraged buy-out. The Weather Channel will be run separately.
• A top Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) trader is defecting to GLG Partners Inc (NYSE: GLG), the UK's second-largest hedge fund. Goldman's Driss Ben-Brahim, a partner in the firm and the head of its emerging market trading business, will take over GLG's $1.2B emerging markets special situations fund, the Financial Times reported.

OTHER PAPERS:

• Take-Two Interactive Software Inc (NASDAQ: TTWO), which makes video games, will probably sign video game creator Ken Levine to a new contract. The deal would bolster Take Two's argument that its value exceeds the $25.74 per share that Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ: ERTS) has offered as a takeover price for the company, The New York Post believes.

WEB SITES:

• Reuters reported that Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB) is the only bidder remaining for Citigroup Incorporated's (NYSE: C) German retail operations. Sources said Commerzbank AG (OTC: CRZBY) dropped out of the running on Friday.

The Japanese market for buyouts is certainly alluring (basically, there is lots of opportunity to cut costs). But, it has been tough for US private equity firms to break in.

But, today there was a success: D&M Holdings Inc. agreed to a $470 tender offer from Bain Capital Partners LLC. This is according to a report in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

D&M sells premium and super premium audio and video products, with brands like Denon and Snell. The company got its start in 1910 and has since engaged in a variety of acquisitions, such as for McIntosh Laboratory, Allen&Heath Holdings and Boston Acoustics.

D&M does have an attractive long-term potential. After all, with the surge in wealth in Asian countries, there is likely to be strong demand for D&M products. And, with the financial backing of Bain, there are likely to be more acquisitions to enhance the D&M platform.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Wendy's International Inc (NYSE: WEN), struggling since the 2002 death of founder Dave Thomas, and pressed by investor Nelson Peltz to improve results, will today announce a deal with Peltz, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• The Wall Street Journal also reported that the House Financial Services Committee voted to approve $15B in loans and grants so that local governments can buy foreclosed homes throughout the U.S. Committee chairman Barney Frank said the bill will avoid abuse, including requiring that purchased homes be a minimum 60 days into the process.
• Adding to evidence of a rally in corporate credit markets, the Financial Times reported that Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB) is preparing another big sell-off of its leveraged loans in Europe.

OTHER PAPERS:

• Several e-mails that have been obtained by the New York Post sent between Wall Street banks may prove a serious setback in the fight over the takeover Clear Channel Communications Inc (NYSE: CCU). The e-mails reportedly show the banks, led by Citigroup Incorporated (NYSE: C) and Deutsche Bank, looking to get out of financing the buyout by Bain Capital and THL Partners by offering terms "they know the [firms] won't be able to accept."

Whomever buys The Weather Channel will probably see nothing but blue skies.ss

According to The New York Times' DealBook, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS), CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS), General Electric Company (NYSE: GE)'s NBC, Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Liberty Media Inc. (NASDAQ: LINTA) are all vying to buy the Weather Channel from closely held Landmark Communication.

"Also, a handful of private equity firms, including Bain Capital, Providence Equity Partners and Madison Dearborn have reportedly indicated an interest, though they are unlikely to be serious bidders because of the tight credit markets," according to the paper.

Landmark reportedly is expecting to get $5 billion for the property though bidders tell the Times that $4 billion is a more realistic figure. I would venture that the company will get the higher figure because properties like this don't often come on the market.

Not only is the cable channel one of the most lucrative, its Web site is wildly popular as well. Unlike CNN, people don't just tune in when there is big news. Energy traders hang onto the channel's every word when they make bets on the hugely volatile commodities for oil, natural gas and electricity. People also rely on the company's forecasts to plan their lives. Moreover, The Weather Channel is in a good position to benefit from the public's growing interest in global warming.

He made hundreds of millions of dollars running Bain Capital, but Mitt Romney won't be running the U.S. He announced this afternoon that he is ending his run for the presidency. No doubt, countless Mormons and private equity lobbyists have gone into mourning.

Technically, Romney is "suspending" his campaign. This means that he will keep the delegates he won in his primary victories in Massachusetts, Michigan and Utah. This will give him some influence in the process of selecting the eventual Republican nominee.

Although Romney was a great success in the world of private equity, it didn't seem to help him in the national campaign. Mike Huckabee's line about the essential coldness of private equity investors -- "I believe most Americans want their next president to remind them of the guy they work with, not the guy who laid them off" -- was pretty devastating. I don't know if that background was Romney's greatest weakness -- his Mormonism didn't help, nor did his salesman's tendency to say just about anything to please a given audience -- but you can bet there are some disappointed Democrats out there. I'm sure they were looking forward to exposing the layoffs that Romney initiated through his equity investments.

Not long ago, a billion-dollar private equity deal wouldn't have received much attention. But with the severe credit crunch, it's now amazing to see such a deal.

Well, we got one today; that is, the $1.3 billion buyout of Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: BFAM). The private equity sponsor is Bain Capital. The debt facilities will come from Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS).

And yes, the transaction has a good amount of equity (Bain will write a check for $640 million). Basically, the debt markets are still jittery.

Bright Horizons is a provider of employer-sponsored child care and early education services. There are more than 600 customers, with 90 of the Fortune 500. Over the past year, there was about $762 million in revenues and $100 million in EBITDA, although Bright Horizons did had a tough Q3 (because of weakness in enrollment, which may have been the result of the slowing economy).

In today's trading, the shares of Bright Horizons spiked 36.81% to $44.86.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

In November of 2006, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital announced that they were pursuing a deal for Clear Channel Communications (NYSE: CCU). It took a few months to reach an agreement, but in May 2007 buyout terms were reached, and shareholders approved the deal in September. The deal is worth nearly $20 billion, one of the largest buyouts in history.

As of noon today, Clear Channel is trading at $33.94, a significant discount to the buyout price of $39.20. This suggests that there is considerable -- and growing -- skepticism about the deal. Concerns include the weak track record of recent big buyouts as well as the uncertain prospects of commercial communications companies like Clear Channel, which face growing competition from internet-based services and MP3 devices.

The Financial Times, via MSN.com, is reporting that while bankers involved in the deal still think it will probably go through, there is some resistance. One banker is quoted as saying, "there are a lot of undercurrents, including the fact that the returns for the sponsors are terrible and the break-up fee isn't huge." The 'not huge' break-up fee is $500 million -- not a small amount for your average music lover, but small enough when compared to massive losses on a $20 billion deal.

A secondary buyout is when private equity firm buys a position from another private equity firm. And with private equity deals getting tougher, we may see more of these transactions, especially from top tier firms that have lots of capital to throw around.

So today there was a biggie secondary buyout: Bain Capital, TPG Capital and 3i have agreed to purchase Quintiles Transnational.

Back in 2003, the company went private for about $1.7 billion and the private equity sponsor was One Equity Partners. Interestingly enough, TPG was an investor in the transaction as well.

With about 19,000 employees, Quintiles has a global footprint in the healthcare industry, helping companies deal with the complexities of clinical trials. Such engagements are vitally important and tend to be long-term, allowing for nice cash flows. No doubt, this is attractive for private equity operators.

The price tag on the Quintiles deal was not disclosed. But the rumor is that it was more than $3 billion.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

This morning 3Com (NASDAQ: COMS) announced that private equity firm, Bain Capital, would put it out of its misery and pay $2.2 billion in cash for the company. 3Com has lagged so far behind that it has been painful to watch. 3Com and Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) indeed could provide at least two to three chapters in an investing teaching and history book. Here's the CliffsNotes version:

Summer of 1994 was a tough technology environment. Technology had a great run from 1990 through 1994, till summer that is. Valuations contracted and investor fatigue set in for about four to five months. I was traveling through Silicon Valley with a couple of British portfolio managers visiting companies. One day we had a breakfast meeting with then CEO Eric Benamou of 3Com and lunch with a senior VP at Cisco (whose name escapes me). Benamou was an intellectual, a refined man, but did not possess the street smarts necessary for a tech company CEO. He was arrogant and bluntly declared that Cisco's days were numbered and 3Com would acquire any tech company necessary to achieve total domination. OK, great, and we went on to Cisco for lunch.

The senior VP was a classy guy, never said a bad word about any competitor and just explained Cisco's game plan and execution philosophy. Here is the funny part: In July 1994, BOTH companies had a market capitalization of $9 billion.

According to the Wall Street Journal [subscription required] Marlborough, MA-based 3Com Corp. (NASDAQ: COMS) is going private with the help of Bain Capital and Huawei Technologies for more than $2 billion -- or $5.50 a share. 3Com is up 34% to $4.94 in pre-market.

3Com has been hobbled for most of this decade but it has a storied history. Its founder invented Ethernet -- a way for computers to share information. It bought a company that made a very popular modem during the era when people dialed up the Internet on a telephone line. And with this acquisition came a technology which became the Palm Pilot -- a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) which was an indispensable appendage for dot-commers in the 1990s.

Unfortunately, 3Com's financial position was weak -- it lost $89 million on $1.27 billion in sales in the year ending June 2007 but it generated $58 million in cash. It couldn't maintain its technology lead and it was surpassed by competitors in all its markets.

Time can be the enemy of buyout deals. It gives the parties more time to think about things -- or get frustrated. Just look at what happened with the Harman International Industries, Inc. (NYSE: HAR) implosion.

But, in the case of the buyout of Clear Channel (NYSE: CCU), the deal somehow appears to be mostly complete (the process took about 10 months). That is, today the company announced that its shareholders approved the transaction. As a result, the company's buyers -- Bain Capital Partners, LLC And Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. -- will become the new owners of the radio powerhouse.

In fact, during the buyout process, Clear Channel increased the price tag two times. There was also another interesting feature added along the way; that is, the shareholders have the right to roll over some of their equity into the private entity.

But, ultimately, the key takeaway is that radio has proven to be quite resilient. Despite competition from satellite providers and the Internet, the fact remains that traditional radio continues to be a big part of people's lives -- and more to the point, a nice cash-cow business.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

It looks like Home Depot's sale of its wholesale division will go through. But, to add insult to injury, Home Depot (NYSE: HD) had to drop the price of Home Depot Supply from $10.3 billion to about $8.5 billion to keep private equity buyers in the deal. Then it had to guarantee $1 billion of the debt being taken on to buy the operation because large banks recoiled at the idea of loaning money to a company linked to the housing business.

Bain Capital, Carlyle Group, and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice had made the original offer. But, as the mortgage industry began to implode and home sales dropped, large banks wanted to walk away from the deal. All of the parties had a reason to keep the buy-out alive. As The Wall Street Journal writes: "Both sides had agreed that if the financing for HD Supply fell apart, it would spook debt markets further, potentially casting more doubt on a series of higher-profile transactions."

The big cut in price raises the question of whether or not Home Depot shareholders are getting a good deal. At $10.3 billion, the purchase price was at least in line with the value that the market gives Home Depot. The world's largest home supply company planned to use the money to buy back shares and perhaps pay down some of its $11 billion in debt.

But, at some point, the price is simply too poor for Home Depot shareholders to take. And, that is what may have happened.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.