When prison services contractor geo group rndecided to buy rival Cornell Cos. for $685 million, it had no second thoughts about where to turn for financing. Eight years ago, in the depths of the dot-com bust, BNP Paribas had been willing to overlook market turmoil and extend $150 million (plus a bridge loan) to Boca Raton-based GEO so it could buy back control from British security services provider Group 4 Falck. "It was a very difficult time, and BNP Paribas was the only one that stepped up so that we were able to become an independent company again," says GEO chairman and CEO George Zoley. This April the French bank was the sole provider of a bridge loan to GEO for its largely stock purchase of Cornell.
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