Madison Dearborn Partners was founded in 1992 and is based in Chicago, Illinois. The founders, John A Canning Jr,
Paul J. Finnegan, Samuel M. Mencoff, and Nicholas W. Alexos, had previously made
private equity investments for
First Chicago Bank.
Investments Between 2006 and 2007, Madison Dearborn completed
leveraged buyout transactions for a number of
publicly traded companies, including
Asurion,
CDW,
LA Fitness,
Nuveen investments, Sorenson Communications,
Univision Communications,
VWR International and
Yankee Candle. In 2007, the firm joined with
Michael Eisner's
Tornante investment company to buy out
baseball card maker
The Topps Company. In 2010, the firm acquired a majority stake in
Transunion from the
Pritzker family. In 2014, a plan for MDP to sell Nuveen to
TIAA-CREF for $6.25 billion was announced. While the
Wall Street Journal cited an anonymous source close to the transaction to the effect that MDP "will have broken even on the transaction",
Felix Salmon queried that assertion at Reuters. Dan Primack at
Fortune then published additional information about auxiliary benefits to MDP to buttress the break-even claim.
Bell Canada In June 2007, Madison Dearborn,
Providence Equity Partners and the
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan agreed to acquire
Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) in what would have been one of the largest leveraged buyouts in history. The transaction was valued at C$51.7billion (US$48.5 billion) and was approved on September 21, 2007, by more than 97% shareholder votes cast by holders of common and preferred shares. Bondholders argued in the
Superior Court of Quebec that the deal did not protect their interests. While the court rejected the bondholder's arguments, the
Quebec Court of Appeal sided with those opposed to the deal. In 2008, the
Supreme Court of Canada overruled the Court of Appeal, allowing the deal to move forward. In December 2008, the deal collapsed after auditing firm
KPMG determined that the transaction would create an insolvent entity. ==Selected portfolio==