|
Backupify Shows Where Drinks and a Good Idea Can Lead (if You’re Having Drinks with a VC)
|
||||||
 Over drinks with May’s friend Charlie O’Donnell of First Round Capital, O’Donnell told May he thought there was a need for a backup tool for Flickr, the photo-sharing site now owned by Yahoo. It’s the kind of haphazard suggestion that typically dissipates into thin air, yet the idea stuck for May. He started ta...
|
NEWS |
|
||||||||
|
Foster's Group Ltd, Australia's largest brewer, said it rejected a private equity offer worth up to $2.5 billion for its wine unit as too cheap and would continue with the split of its beer and wine businesses.
The bid for wine surprised investors who have been focusing on potential buyers for the more lucrative beer business, and boosted the share price almost 6 percent on Wednesday to its highest since January 2008. Sales of Foster's wine, including Beringer, Penfolds and Wolf Blass, have been hit by a deep U.S. recession and a trend away from low-end, bulk wines in Australia. The strong Aussie dollar AUD= has also been a drag, slashing the value of U.S. earnings.
|
||||||||
 |
|
Controversial Investor McClure On Doing 50 Deals This Year, Clashing With VCs, and More
|
||||||
 He recently went on a 2,500-word rant against traditional VC firms that invest in Internet companies. “Most consumer internet investors, large or small, have no goddamn clue what they are doing,” he blogged. “They are getting killed on IRR, and ...
|
|
VC Fund-Raising Sees Further Shrinkage
|
||||||
 With just over three weeks left in the quarter, just seven U.S. venture firms have held final closes on funds collectively valued at just under $1.88 billion, according to a preliminary look at the Thomson Reuters data. Barring some last-minute surge in closing announcements, fund-raising levels will likely be below Q2, during which some 20 firms raised $2.76 billion in commitments for the final closings in...
|
|
peHUB Second Opinion 9.7
|
||||||
|
HP fires Mark Hurd. Mark Hurd joins Oracle as co-president. HP sues Mark Hurd. The Journal analyzes the drama.
New San Francisco-based startup Ubercab gets a nice shout-out from Jon Callaghan of True Ventures. He's not an investor (yet), but Stumbleupon cofounder Garrett Camp is; so is angel Travis Kalanick. Speaking of wheels when you need them, the Economist takes a look at the big business of renting cars by the hour. Vanity Fair profiles self-described perennial outsider Sean Parker of Facebook, Napster, and Founders Fund fame. Is Wall Street research "a valuable social good?" Google's new interactive logo has people feeling stoned confused.
|
NEWS |
|
||||||||
|
Healthcare-oriented private equity firm RoundTable Healthcare Partners announced that it’s just completed the sale of Bioniche Pharma Holdings to pharmaceutical company Mylan for $550 million in cash. The sale marks the first portfolio realization for RoundTable’s Fund II. PRESS RELEASE: RoundTable Healthcare Partners, an operating-oriented private equity firm focused exclusively on the healthcare industry, announced today that it has completed the sale of Bioniche Pharma Holdings Limited (”Bioniche Pharma”) to Mylan Inc. (”Mylan”), a leading, global generic and specialty pharmaceutical company, for $550 million in cash. Bioniche Pharma is a fully-integrated, global specialty sterile injec
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
The global private equity firm AXA Private Equity has just announced a €3m investment in JIT Solaire, a photovoltaic energy company based in the Poitou-Charentes and Rhône-Alpes regions of France. PRESS RELEASE: AXA Private Equity announces its investment in JIT Solaire, a specialist player in photovoltaic energy. Based in the Poitou-Charentes and Rhône-Alpes regions, this group installs turnkey electricity-generating solar systems for individuals, companies and local authorities, with solutions designed to meet each client’s roofing specifications. At end July 2010, JIT Solaire had installed more than 6 MWp and its sales continue to enjoy high growth. This €3m fundraising gives it the resources needed to maintain its growth
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Access Intelligence, a media and information company serving the chemical, energy, defense, aerospace and communications markets, just sold Chemical Week magazine, SRI Consulting, and The Energy Daily to publicly traded business information company IHS Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Access is backed by the private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson. PRESS RELEASE: Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a leading private equity firm dedicated to the business information and services, education, media and business and marketing services industries, today announced that its affiliate Access Intelligence, a full service global b-to-b media and information company serving the chemical, energy, defense, aerospace and communications markets, has sold assets from its Chemi
|
||||||||
|
|
|
Onex Portfolio Company Buys Quantum Medical
|
||||||
 Financial terms of the deal, which closed Friday, were not announced. The seller was Riverside Partners. News of the Quantum Medical sale was reported by peHUB last week. The transaction did not result from an auction process. Carestream and Quantum have known each other for years, a source says.
|
NEWS |
|
||||||||
|
(Reuters) -- ResCare Inc said it agreed to be acquired by Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp in a cash deal that values the U.S. provider of home care to the elderly and disabled at $390 million, after Onex sweetened its initial bid by 65 cents a share.
The $13.25 a share deal price represents a premium of 6 percent to ResCare's Friday close and a 30 percent premium to its closing on Aug. 13, the last trading day before Onex first offered to buy the company. The deal permits ResCare, which also offers education, vocational training and job placement opportunities for all age groups, to solicit superior proposals from third parties during a 40-day "go shop" period ending Oct. 16.
|
||||||||
|
|
|
Russell, Expected To Be Sold, Hires Key Execs
|
||||||
 In May, Russell tapped David Tenney to be managing director of business growth and development, a spokeswoman says. Tenney is the former co-head of America's research at Goldman Sachs & Co. He was COO of global investment research at Goldman before he retired in December 2007, an official says. Last month Russell announced that John McMurray had been hired as chief risk officer to lead the global risk management department within Russell's office of the Chief Legal Officer. McMurray was previously chief risk officer for the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle. Russell also hired Erik Strom as director of government & community relations. Strom was in a similar role at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle.
|
|
Ex-Modern Luxury CEO Sues Company
|
||||||
 According to court documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Aug. 5, both Kong and Goldstein are claiming that Modern Luxury has breached their employment agreements and has failed to indemnify and defend them against lawsuits stemming from their actions on behalf of the company. In June, Juli Benlevi-Zeff and JBA Holdings sued Kong, Goldstein, Modern Luxury and other defendants, in a separate Delaware complaint, for $8.5 million in damages. (It's unclear why Benlevi-Zeff is suing although Modern Luxury acquired her company, JuliB Inc., a publisher of twice weekly e-newsletters, in 2008.)
|
NEWS |
|
||||||||
|
Institutional investor Parish Capital Advisors of Chapel Hill, N.C., has announced three promotions: Tracy Harris, who joined the firm in 2004, has been promoted to partner, and both Kate Sidebottom Simpson and Tim Weld has been promoted to director positions. Both Simpson and Weld joined the firm in 2006. PRESS RELEASE: Parish Capital Advisors, LLP (“Parish Capital”) is pleased to announce three promotions. Tracy Harris has been promoted to Partner, and both Kate Sidebottom Simpson and Tim Weld have been promoted to Director. Based in Chapel Hill, NC, Ms. Harris joined Parish Capital in 2004. Today, she shares responsibility for oversight of the investment team and is a member of the investment committee. Her main focus is primary fund invest
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
The London-based cleantech venture firm Zouk Ventures has brought aboard Sven Hansen as venture partner. Some of his past roles include as Global Head of Environmental Risk Management at UBS and CIO of the London-based energy investment firm Good Energies. PRESS RELEASE: zouk ventures, a leading cleantech investment firm, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Sven Hansen as Venture Partner. As one of the world’s most long-standing cleantech investors, Dr. Hansen brings in his valuable experience in advisory, investment banking and private investment practices of the industry. Dr. Sven Hansen is one of the pioneers in cleantech investing with unique multidisciplinary experience in the field of sustainable finance and investment spanning
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Amedica Corp., a Salt Lake City, Utah-based orthopaedic implant company, completed a $30 million financing. Half comes in the form of private equity and the rest is from a debt facility. Zions First National Bank provided the debt facility. America plans to use the capital for expansion, mergers and acquisitions, sales and marketing support.
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
An affiliate of Washington, D.C.-based ACON Investments LLC signed a definitive agreement to sell SAE Towers Holdings LLC to KEC International Ltd. of India for $95 million excluding working capital adjustments on a debt-free, cash free basis. The sale of SAE Towers to KEC will yield proceeds representing more than 3.6x ACON's investment.SAE Towers is a Houston, Texas-based manufacturer of transmission towers. SAE Towers' management team will remain with the business.
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
SuperDimension Ltd., a Minneapolis, Minn.-based developer of pulmonology devices, secured a $9.8 million equity round of financing. It also secured a new $15 million credit facility from Oxford Finance Corp. All of SuperDimension’s existing investors (Dan Sullivan Investments, Medica Venture Partners, OrbiMed Advisors, Oxford Biosciences Partners, Pitango Venture Capital and an unnamed institutional investor) participated in the equity financing.
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Perseus LLC hired Sheryl Schwartz as a senior managing director. Schwartz will work on mezzanine debt, private equity investments, and investor relations. She will be based in New York. Schwartz previously served as TIAA-CREF’s managing director.
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Cortview Capital Securities LLC, a Richmond, Va.-based broker-dealer, commenced business operations. Warburg Pincus LLC invested $125 million in the business. Cortview Capital has offices in New York; Charlotte, N.C. and Boca Raton, Fla.
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Tyfone Inc. closed a Series B financing of $5 million. HDFC Holdings Ltd. and Polaris Software Lab were new investors to the Portland, Ore.-based company. Ojas Venture Partners was a returning investor. Tyfone is a provider of mobile banking, mobile contactless payment and secure mobility solutions.
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Alethia Biotherapeutics Inc., a developer of monoclonal antibodies for the treatment and prevention of severe bone loss, ovarian cancer and metastatic breast cancer, closed a C$9.6M Series A round of financing. The Montreal-based company will use the funds to advance its lead pre-clinical programs into clinical development. AgeChem Venture Fund, BDC Venture Capital and GO Capital Fund participated in the round.
|
||||||||
|
|
|
peHUB First Read
|
||||||
 * Mark Suster on the role of a CEO and chief psychologist. * IPOs still coming despite rough receptions. * More U.S. stocks are paying dividends that beat bond yields while Euro falls on bank concerns. * U.S. unemployment may hit 10%. * A Jimmy Choo IPO? * Mark Hurd finds a job at Oracle. * Yahoo is apparently moving large numbers of engineering jobs within the YOS group to Bangalore. * Justice Department is trying to decide whether Google's buy of ITA Software gives it too much sway in travel industry. * Venture capitalists tire of Twitter-y startups.
|
NEWS |
|
||||||||
|
The secondaries market is heating up, with price increases causing some to consider strategic sales and others to buy, according to Pension & Investments.
Prices have been rising for the last 9 to 12 months to about 90% of face value and prices are now expected to level off, the story said. Among those looking to sell some of their PE holdings include the Illinois Teachers' Retirement System and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board of Montreal.
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
BC Partners is offering investors of a planned 6 billion euro fund (US $7.7 billion) an early bird discount of 5% off its fees, the Financial Times said.
BC Partners, which is marketing for its ninth fund, sent out a placement memo to potential investors last week. The PE shop is also offering to reimburse all its transaction fees to investors, up from only 80 per cent in its previous fund. According to information sent to potential investors, BC Partners’ most recent 5.8 billion Euro fund is more than 80 per cent invested with a portfolio that is valued at 50% above cost, well ahead of most peers, the FT said.
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Menlo Ventures is looking to raise $600 million to $800 million for its next fund, Bloomberg News said.
If it reaches $800 million, the Menlo fund would be the biggest raised in the U.S. this year. It would surpass Battery Ventures and Institutional Venture Partners, which each raised $750 million. But it would be smaller than Menlo's last fund which raised $1.2 billion in 2005, Bloomberg said.
|
||||||||
|
|
|
Pepperdine to HUB Readers: Kindly Take Our Survey
|
||||||
 For what it’s worth, contributors to the school’s fourth annual study, which aims to gauge current investor behavior—from how much capital is typically accessible right now for a particular kind of financing event, to what benchmarks must be met to qualify for that capital -- receive a
|
|
WEF Honoring Well-Connected Innovators at Accel and Other Firms
|
||||||
 First, it helps to be American. Over half of the 31 companies that won a Technology Pioneers 2011 award this week, meant to honor the world’s most innovative startups, were U.S.-based. Second, it helps to have a bit of venture capital—preferably from a brand-name firm. Of the 31, at least 20 have raised venture capital, including several recipients of large and highly competitive rounds, such as location-based ...
|
NEWS |
|
||||||||
|
The new, online bank, BankSimple, a subsidiary of Simple Finance Technology Corp., has closed a $2.9 million Series A round from First Round Capital, IA Ventures and Village Ventures led the round, with support from Jerry Neumann, SV Angel, Nauiokas Park and several, as yet, unannounced angel investors. PRESS RELEASE: Simple Finance Technology Corp., the makers of BankSimple (https://banksimple.com), a service for those who wish banking were easy, announced the close of a $2.9 million Series “A” round of financing. First Round Capital, IA Ventures and Village Ventures led the round, with support from Jerry Neumann, SV Angel, Nauiokas Park and several, as yet, unannounced angel investors. BankSimple was born out of its founders’ fr
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Offerpal Media, which helps games publishes make money by delivering an array of trial offers to their customers at the point of sale, just announced that Mirhir Shah has been named CEO. No reason was given for the appointment of chairman and former CEO George Garrick to executive chairman. PRESS RELEASE: Offerpal Media, the leader in social gaming monetization and distribution services, announced today that Mihir Shah has been named president and chief executive officer, while chairman and former CEO George Garrick has been named executive chairman. “I am honored to lead Offerpal during this exciting time,” said Shah. “The social and mobile gaming spaces are in a transitional and converging period right now, and we have some excit
|
||||||||
 |
 |
