Apollo Ups Ante in Bidding War for Great Wolf Resorts

In 2011, Great Wolf Resorts saw its annual loss narrow by roughly 50% to $25 million on rising sales and overall operating profits. Still, much of Great Wolf Resorts financial stress results from a debt burden that's over $500 million. While the company turned an operating profit in 2011, its near $50 million in annual interest expense drove overall losses.

Great Wolf Resorts' bidding drama also coincides with some new high stakes corporate battles, including the takeover campaign launched by European drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline(GSK) for Human Genome Sciences(HGSI) , a failed hostile Roche bid for Illumina(ILMN) and Carl Icahn's first 2012 activist win.

For more on deal trends, see 5 deal ready stocks loved by hedge funds portfolios. See five stocks that could be trampled by a share overhang, for more on private equity backed IPO's.

Deutsche Bank will continue to advise Great Wolf Resorts, while Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Nomura have acted as financial advisers to Apollo's bid.

-- Written by Antoine Gara in New York