Video Analysis From Hoover's Editors
Casual Dining Restaurants
IHOP
When you're looking for comfort food but pancakes just won't do it, how about Applebee's? That's what IHOP said when it agreed to pay $2.1 billion to acquire Applebee's International, which has nearly 2,000 casual dining restaurants across the US and in about 20 other countries. The deal marks a departure for IHOP, which hasn't made big acquisitions for the past 30 years, much less any of this size. Buying Applebee's will also more than double IHOP's footprint; right now there are more than 1,300 International House of Pancakes restaurants (most of them franchised) across the US. Insider connection: IHOP chairman and CEO Julia Stewart came to the pancake chain in 2001 from a senior role at Applebee's. The industry veteran also logged stints with other restaurant chains including Taco Bell, Burger King, and Carl's Jr.
Storage & Systems Management Software
Opsware
Besides proving the validity of a market that didn't even exist a few years ago, the success of Opsware demonstrates that its founder and chairman, Marc Andreessen, is no flash in the pan. You may remember Andreessen as the whiz kid who programmed the groundbreaking Web browser Mosaic (ahh, memories of 1994 . . .) and founded Netscape, which ushered in a new era of tech IPOs before it was acquired by AOL. For an encore, Andreessen started a company called Loudcloud, which sputtered as an Internet services business before changing its name to Opsware in 2002. The reorganized company provides software that is used to automate and optimize processes in the data centers of large enterprises. Last month Andreessen & Co. sold Opsware to Hewlett-Packard for a tidy $1.6 billion. Now for the guessing game: what will Andreessen come up with next?
Oil & Gas Well Drilling
Transocean
As older oil fields peter out, big petroleum companies continue to look farther and farther out into the ocean for new sources to tap. When they do, they call Transocean. The deepwater drilling specialist operates in all the world's major offshore oil-producing areas, including Africa, Asia, Brazil, Canada, India, the Middle East, the Gulf of Mexico, and the North Sea. As if its fleet of more than 80 vessels weren't enough, the company has announced plans to buy rival GlobalSantaFe for almost $18 billion; the combined company stands to be a dominant player in deepwater drilling. The purchase continues a long trend for Transocean, which has grown quickly in the past decade through a series of mergers and acquisitions.
Accessories
Samsonite
CVC Capital Partners went shopping for luggage and came back with a big matched set: Samsonite Corporation. The suitcase company, which is nearly a hundred years old, is the world's top maker of luggage, and buying it will cost CVC $1.7 billion. Samsonite has done a lot lately to expand beyond typical luggage. One of its biggest moves has been to expand into high fashion: it markets its Black Label line of premium travel attire to American women, and it has introduced shoes inspired by notable designers like Alexander McQueen. Samsonite already gets most of its sales outside the US, and it's looking to continue expanding in big emerging markets such as China, India, and Latin America.