Private Equity and Traditional Media

Jeff Marcus,partner and co-founder of Crestview Partners,a private equity firm with expertise in media,said that 92% of Americans still listen to traditional radio,and 100 million homes subscribe to cable or satellite.That's where the channels that people want to watch are.Cable has the bandwidth.
There isn't a la carte cable because programmers insist on bundling.It's a contractual matter for the cable companies.
We specialise in difficult situations;contrarian situations;complexity.Hopefully we'll always be there to take advantage of that.We like a good business model,but with too much debt.
There are dislocations caused by new media that cause value to go down,but radio's a local business.People listen to radio in the car more than to any of the others;and most people do traffic and weather,which are not on new media.We believe in traditional media,Mr.Marcus emphasised.
Crestview Partners says it is a value-added private equity firm with about four billion dollars under management.It targets investments in financial services;media;health care;and energy.Among Crestview's holdings are Charter Communications;FBR Financial Corporation;Cumulus Communications;Silver Creek Resources;and Symbion Helathcare.

Who Owns St.Joseph Aspirin

St.Joseph Aspirin is a brand owned by Ilex Consumer Products Group,a subsidiary of private equity firm Ilex Capital Group.The longtime children's aspirin product received a new lease on life when research showed that a low dose aspirin regimen has numerous benefits for cardiovascular health,reducing stroke and heart attack risk,and even lessening the damage from a heart attack in progress.
More recently,it has been ascertained that an 81 mg aspirin regimen may help prevent colon cancer as well.Some people are allergic to aspirin.Others with sensitive stomachs may develop bleeding ulcers from taking aspirin.These are rare complications,however.The low dose aspirin regimen,with its minimal cost and multiple benefits,has become one of the most widely recommended in family medicine.
Ilex Consumer Products also owns the Calgon and Gourmet Dining brands.
Based in Annapolis,Maryland,Ilex Capital Group has client service offices in Baltimore and London.Private equity firms such as Ilex normally seek to optimize a brand until it is ready to sell or list for a substantial profit.

A Private Equity View

Scott Sperling of THL Partners says they've always found Goldman Sachs to be of the highest integrity.Goldman is still one of the leading firms that help advise and finance private equity.This fraud charge probably does not have long legs as far as the market itself is concerned.
A year ago,there was enormous uncertainty about the global economy.Today,the economy has stabilized.THL is seeing reasonably good growth throughout most of their portfolio companies.Today they're back to a much more normal level of financing.Today you're looking at deal structures of 35-40% equity.
Historically,THL has done best when the debt level is normalized or below normal.They try to remain highly disciplined,Scott Sperling explained.
THL Partners is not a publicly traded company.