Black Is Back

摘要

After a series of his deals in the late 1990s came a cropper, some wondered if the dice had gone cold on Leon Black, the former Drexel Burnham mergers chief. The head of buyout firm Apollo Management raised just $3.8 billion for a 2002 fund he had hoped would attract at least $4 billion, a blow even in a tough private equity market. But in the past year it's been nothing but good news for Black. One of his biggest winners is a deal to sell Apollo-controlled AMC Entertainment. It will turn the $250 million he put into the movie theater chain just 3 1/2 years ago into $940 million. The transaction is classic Black, and not just for the impressive returns. Black is engaging in a bit of legal legerdemain here that will let AMC's buyer avoid cashing out junk bond holders while still triggering a bonus payout to Black's firm.