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Lawrence Aragon

Top 10 Posts Feature Hot IPO Prospects, Fund Performance and Promotions at Carlyle and TA

Posted on: January 27th, 2012

The big news today is that Facebook is reportedly planning to register to go public next week. It should come as no surprise, then, that our most popular post this week was about this year's prime IPO candidates. Other hot topics included the above-average performance of the San Francisco Employees' Retirement System's PE portfolio, a surge in VC investing and promotions at Carlyle and TA Associates. Here are the top 10 posts peHUB's regular readers found most compelling from Jan. 23 to Jan. 27

1. Slideshow: Bring on the 2012 IPO Candidates - by Joanna Glasner
2. Scorecard: San Francisco Builds A Winning PE Portfolio - by David Toll
3. Venture Investing Rebounds In 2011 With Early Stage Leaping To A 10 Year High: Slideshow - by Mark Boslet
4. Aydin Senkut Recalls a Game of Pool with Aaron Levie Led Him to Milo.com: PHOTOS - by Alastair Goldfisher
5. Slideshow: Smart Grid, Smart Play? - by Jonathan Marino
6. TA Associates Promotes Eight - by peHUB staff
7. Carlyle Promotes 41 Execs - by peHUB staff
8. Global PE M&A Does Well in 2011 - by Angela Sormani
9. TransDigm Group Acquires AmSafe Global - by peHUB staff
10. Battery, Bay and USVP Could See 22x Return from Guidewire IPO - by Lawrence Aragon

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Gregory Roth

New Mexico’s Sovereign Fund Lays Out Long-Range PE Plan

Posted on: January 27th, 2012

The New Mexico State Investment Council, manager of the state’s $14.4 billion sovereign wealth fund, released a new long-range strategy for its private equity portfolio that envisions committing around $400 million per year through 2016, according to a copy of the strategy released at the Council’s Jan. 24 meeting. The strategy was prepared by Council’s private equity consultant, LP Capital Advisors.

New Mexico’s private equity program has $1.7 billion in private equity capital as of Nov. 30th, about 12 percent of the portfolio. That is slightly above state’s private equity target allocation of 10 percent.

The state’s long-range strategy, the report says...

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Joanna Glasner

Atlanta Startups Seek Silicon Valley Cash

Posted on: January 27th, 2012

As someone who spends more time reading venture funding data than any human should, one trend that’s long stood out is the comparative paucity of capital going to companies in the Southeastern U.S., and in particular, Atlanta.

Last year, companies in the Atlanta metro area raised $374 million in venture funding, according to Thomson Reuters. On the face of it, that doesn’t sound like a bad chunk of change. However, it’s still less than 4% of the $11.6 billion that went into companies in Silicon Valley – a region that,...

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peHUBlogger Network

Chris Bulger: Who’s Really Atop the IPO BCS?

Posted on: January 27th, 2012

The Wall St. Journal reported recently that Morgan Stanley was king of the tech IPO world and they had topped the underwriter charts with $115 million in revenue. That’s good news? Is this a sign of health in the Tech IPO world? I spent many years leading many IPOs at Robertson Stephens, we were a small firm compared to Morgan Stanley, but $115m would have been a bad year.

Put in more current perspective, if Morgan’s tech group were a college football team, they would have about tied University Texas for the top spot on the 2011 revenue...

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NEWS

01.27.12 5:19pm
Mo Koyfman, who has been with Spark Capital since 2008, has been promoted to general partner. He will be based in the firm’s New York office. Since joining Spark, Koyfman has worked on deals including Skillshare, Work Market, Svpply, gdgt, and Aviary.


Read more »


Luisa Beltran

peHUB Second Opinion 1.27

Posted on: January 27th, 2012

Apple Cares, Really: Tim Cook responds to claims of factory worker mistreatment.

A Tribute: Here's every Dr. Who story since 1963 in a 9 minute video and the Daleks haven't changed at all.

Celebration: Happy national Chocolate Cake Day! And here's 10 recipes.

Updated Policies: Twitter will censor tweets deemed illegal or harmful in other countries.

We've done Trailmix for the Cloud: Sh*t startup people say.

Still Impartial? Page rage escalates as Google cancels Twitter Android meeting.

Who Wins: Peter Thiel and Accel among investors to make fortunes off the Facebook IPO. And, can regular investors get a piece of Facebook?

A Matter of [REALLY BAD] Taste: Contestants on "Fear Factor" this Monday drink donkey semen.

Say It Ain't So: Is it time to say goodbye to Siri? Vote here.

Contrarian view: Traditional Hollywood is dead. New Hollywood takes over.

Epicurean Dealmaker: John Carney gives us the best alternative financial blogs.

Read more »


Reuters News

Facebook to file IPO documents soon as Wednesday: report

Posted on: January 27th, 2012

(Reuters) - Facebook plans to file documents as early as Wednesday for a highly anticipated IPO that will value the world's largest social network at between $75 billion and $100 billion, the Wall Street Journal cited unidentified sources as saying on Friday.

Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are expected to lead what would be one of the largest initial public offerings in U.S. history, the Journal cited its sources as saying.

Facebook was not immediately available for comment.

The impending IPO -- expected to raise $10 billion -- is a prized trophy for investment banks, setting up a fierce competition on Wall Street, particularly between the presumed front-runners Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

Read more »

NEWS

01.27.12 1:59pm
New Wave Group, of Sweden, has acquired Paris Glove of Canada, according to a Dec. 1 statement. Financial terms weren't announced.

Read more »
01.27.12 1:54pm

The Experiment Fund, a new seed stage investment fund, opened for business with backing from New Enterprise Associates. The fund is designed to support student start-ups and to nurture novel technologies created in Cambridge, Mass., or by those who started their educations there. Some angel investors are expected to participate.

PRESS RELEASE

Early Stage Venture Fund launches in Cambridge, Mass.

New resource will serve local students and alumni worldwide

Cambridge, Mass. - January 27th, 2012 When the “next big thing” is invented in a cramped

dorm room, ruminated ov

Read more »

01.27.12 11:20am
Checkpoint Surgical has raised $3 million. This includes a $1.7 million series B investment round led by NDI Healthcare Fund. The neurodevice firm also secured non-dilutive funding of over $1.3 million, including a $1.065 million Innovation Ohio loan and a $245,000 federal grant.

Read more »
01.27.12 7:00am
Fluoro-Seal Holdings LLC, the provider of adhesion and surface enhancement products, has been acquired by Arsenal Capital Partners, the New York private equity firm. Specifics on the deal were not publicized.


Read more »
01.27.12 6:17am
CollabNet, the California-based enterprise cloud developer is adding Promod Haque, a managing partner with Norwest Venture Partners, to its board of directors. Additionally, the company brought on Tony Farinaro as senior vice president, worldwide services and Laurence Sweeney as vice president, enterprise transformation.


Read more »
01.27.12 5:52am
Semiconductor MagnaChip, based in Korea, will acquire Dawin Electronics, another semiconductor company that Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), Fast Recovery Diode (FRD) and MOSFET modules. Dawin is headquartered in South Korea, with offices in China and Europe. Specifics on the deal were not publicized.

Read more »
01.27.12 5:44am
IA Ventures and Softbank led a $1.7 million investment in Visual Revenue, the predictive analytics firm for online publishing, and were joined by the company’s existing investors. Visual Revenue concurrently announced new job opportunities in engineering at the firm.

Read more »


Jonathan Marino

peHUB First Read

Posted on: January 27th, 2012
You Don’t Get the daily peHUB Wire? Well, this is your chance.

Please teach this man about football

Also, please teach this man about football.

What Could Have Been for Ron Jeremy: Alternate careers for porn stars

Related: Party at the UN!

In What was clearly an attempt to woo a man roughly Ashton Kutcher’s age again, Demi Moore reportedly hurts herself on whippets.

Read more »

NEWS

01.26.12 8:57pm

ZeaChem Inc. said it was selected for a $232.5 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 9003 Biorefinery Assistance Program. The conditional decision will allow the financing and construction of ZeaChem’s first commercial-scale cellulosic biorefinery. The company is backed by Mohr Davidow Ventures, Globespan Capital Partners, Firelake Capital, Birchmere Ventures, PrairieGold Venture Partners and Spring Ventures.

PRESS RELEASE

ZeaChem Selected for $232.5 Million USDA Loan Guarantee

Award to Support Construction of ZeaChem’s First Commercial-Scale Cellulosic Biorefinery

Lakewood, Colo. – Jan. 26, 2012 – ZeaChem Inc., a dev

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01.26.12 6:58pm

Five9, a Pleasanton, Calif-based, venture-backed company that makes call center software, has hired Barry Zwarenstein as CFO. Most recently, Zwarenstein served as CFO for SMART Modular Technologies, through the $635 million purchase by Silver Lake Partners. He has also served as CFO with VeriFone Holdings Inc., Iomega Corporation, Mellanox Technologies Ltd., Acuson, and Logitech S.A.

PRESS RELEASE:

Company Continues Rapid Revenue Growth And Expansion

Five9 Inc., the global leader in cloud-based call center software, announced today that technology industry veteran Barry Zwarenstein has joined the company as Chief Financial Officer. Barry brings over 35 years of experience and extensive relationships in the financia

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01.26.12 6:54pm

House Party, a New York-based social media company, has raised a $5.3 million Series C round of funding led by Acadia Woods Partners, a New York-based venture firm. No other funders were announced as part of the round.

House Party was founded in 2005 has previously raised roughly $4.6 million, including from a long list of individual investors that includes Josh Weinreich, Robert Kavner, and Gene DeRose.

PRESS RELEASE:

House Party, Inc., a leading social media company that combines digital media and word-of-mouth marketing with brand-inspired, in-home events, today announced it has raised $5.3 Million in Series C funding. The latest round of funding was led by New Y

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01.26.12 6:47pm

Sleep Innovations, a West Long Branch, New Jersey-based maker of polyurethane foam products, has retained the New York investment bank Sawaya Segalas & Co. to explore opportunities that may include the sale of the business. Sleep Innovations was founded in 1996 and has a number of investors over the years, including the private equity firm Catterton Partners.

PRESS RELEASE:

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Sleep Innovations, Inc., a recognized leader in developing, manufacturing and marketing innovative polyurethane foam products proven to deliver enhanced comfort, relaxation and rejuvenation, announced today that it has retained New York-based Sawaya Segalas & Co., LLC, a leading consume

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01.26.12 6:28pm

San Francisco-based Industrial Growth Partners has sold O’Brien Corporation to publicly traded AMETEK for approximately $175 million. O’Brien designs fluid and gas handling equipment; IGP, founded in 1997, is a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm that invests exclusively in middle-market companies in the manufacturing sector.

PRESS RELEASE:

San Francisco, CA – Industrial Growth Partners is pleased to announce the completion of the sale of O’Brien Corporation to AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE: AME) for approximately $175 million in a transaction that closed on January 13, 2012.

O’Brien, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, is a leading designer and manufacturer of fluid and gas

Read more »

01.26.12 6:10pm

HydroNovation, a San Francisco-based water treatment company, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series B venture funding from 3M New Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Maplewood, Minn.-based 3M. According to an SEC filing, HydroNovation has raised almost $3.1 million in its latest securities offering.

PRESS RELEASE:

3M New Ventures, the corporate venture organization of 3M, today announced an investment in HydroNovation Inc. of California, a developer of next- generation water conditioning systems for residential and food service industry applications.  The Series B round financing included a second investment by Clean Pacific Ventures.  Terms of the transac

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01.26.12 5:16pm
Jory Crowell and Dan Gustafson have joined Brookwood Financial Partners in the firm's acquisition department. Monique Hilton has also joined Brookwood's accounting department.

Read more »


Connie Loizos

Social Media Makes Kids Feel “Less Normal,” Says New Stanford Study

Posted on: January 26th, 2012

Stanford professor Clifford Nass has been studying the social-psychological aspects of human-interactive media interaction for many years, and his newest study, released this week, examines the negative emotional and social effects on children who engage in heavy media use. Among its conclusions: that the more girls spend interacting with media online, the less “normal” and “socially successful” they feel.

To learn more about his findings, I talked with Nass this morning. Our conversation has been edited for length.

You just released a study ...

Read more »



Luisa Beltran

peHUB Second Opinion 1.26

Posted on: January 26th, 2012

The Attack: Buyout firms allegedly destroy jobs of real people but its the returns to investors that's the real problem.

In Defense: Private equity finds a haven at Wharton. And, how to think about private equity from The American.

Discount: Starting in June, Apple employees get $500 off new Macs and $250 off iPads.

What About the Bonuses: Credit Suisse banker pay for 2011 to drops 30%.

A Symbol of Injustice or part of the 1%? Warren Buffett's secretary likely makes between $200K to $500K a year.

SOPA Aftermath: Jason Calacanis thinks we need to empower Hollywood, not kill it.

Ivy Gate: Is Yale a "clandestine network of Freemasons"? Connected to the mob? One T.A. thought so.

Warning: Symantec tells customers to stop using its pcAnywhere software because hackers have stolen its old source code.

Sitting All Day Can Kill You: How to counteract the effects of an office job.

Sale: WaveDivision hires RBC and Waller Capital for a sale that could fetch $1 bln.

Read more »


Bernard Vaughan

Welcome To The “Schizo” Fundraising Environment

Posted on: January 26th, 2012

There was a strange disconnect at the Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst Outlook conference, with near universal agreement among LPs and placement agents that a whole lot of sponsors will try to raise new funds this year.

Brian Adams of Alcatel-Lucent, for one, estimated that a good 20 percent of his existing GPs will be returning to the market. Many fund managers have been waiting for a better economic environment, he said. An attorney who works in fund formation for a major law firm told me at lunch that pretty much a...

Read more »

NEWS

01.26.12 3:37pm

Highland Capital Partners opened the doors to its summer startup program. The 10-week program offers university-affiliated startups office space and $15,000 in funding. Highland does not take an equity stake. Here is the program’s Web site.

WEB POST

Summer@HIGHLAND

$15K + Cambridge/Menlo Park + Awesome Mentors + No Strings attached

Summer@HIGHLAND is a 5-year old entrepreneurship program designed to provide university-affiliated startups with the environment and resources for taking their initiative/company to the next level. The program is “founder friendly”: Highland receives no equity stake in exchange for a team’s participation, and teams are under no obligation to Highland

Read more »

01.26.12 3:12pm
Michael Moran, a managing partner at Brockway Moran, intends to transition out of future funds, according to a statement Thursday. Moran intends to remain active in funds currently under the firm's management. The PE firm did not give any reason for the changes and calls were not immediately returned.


Read more »
01.26.12 3:07pm

Cozi said it closed a $3 million round of funding as an extension to its Series C financing. The new money brings the total raised by the Seattle online calendar company to $25 million. No investors were disclosed. The company confirmed the financing and the deal is noted in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Here is a statement from the Cozi CEO Robbie Cape:

“Cozi’s fanatical focus on families has brought us tremendous growth over the past year, particularly in the mobile arena, and it shows no signs of stopping. This additional capital from a longstanding partner enables us to continue innovating around Cozi Gold, our premium offering, to give families even more control over their busy schedule

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We all know that interest rates are incredibly low. The three month Libor continues around 30 bps., an extremely low level designed to spur growth in the economy. Yet, other than asset-based loans priced at L+200 to 300, loans to middle-market companies continue to be expensive, and have not declined nearly in proportion to the decrease in overall interest rates. In fact, for many financings, the weighted average cost of capital is in the 8.0 – 9.0 percent range, rates much higher than would be expected compared to just about any index.

Add to this the fact that middle-market loan volume actually decreased substantially in the fourth quarter of 2011. As reported by S&P LCD, leverage loan volume declined from an average of $4.8 billion per quarter in the first...

Read more »






955 Dreams Closes Seed Round Posted on: January 26th, 2012
Recurly Raises $6M Series A Led by BV Capital Posted on: January 24th, 2012
Steve Case: Washington is No Also-Ran Posted on: January 25th, 2012
Columbia Business School Appoints Former IBM VP Posted on: January 25th, 2012
33Across Bulks Up with Tynt Purchase Posted on: January 25th, 2012



Platinum Announces IPO Posted on: January 23rd, 2012
Capital Dynamics Sells Permasteelisa Posted on: January 25th, 2012






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