Quepasa Corp., which runs the Latino social network Quepasa.com, will pay $100 million for venture-backed networking site myYearbook. The deal is comprised of $82 million in Quepasa stock, and $18 million in cash. myYearbook had raised venture funding from investors including Norwest Venture Partners, US Venture Partners and First Round Capital.
7 min read · 20 July 2011
Lazard Ltd. has named Peter Kuo a managing director and head of equity capital markets advisory in Asia. He will be based in Hong Kong. Kuo most recently served as a managing director of Cowen and Company, where he was responsible for the origination and execution of its capital raising transactions for Chinese companies, the company said in a release.
2 min read · 20 July 2011
Allergan is buying privately held dermatology company Vicept Therapeutics. Formed in 2009, Vicept is backed by investors including Vivo Ventures, Fidelity Biosciences and Sofinnova Ventures. Under the terms of the acquisition, which is expected to close during the third quarter, Allergan will pay $75 million in cash up-front, as well as up to $200 million in payments tied to specific milestones.
4 min read · 20 July 2011
Publicly traded DST Systems will pay $250 million to acquire ALPS Holdings, a provider of asset servicing and asset gathering technology for the asset management industry, the companies announced. ALPS has been a portfolio company of Lovell Minnick Partners since September 2005, when the firm took a majority stake in ALPS.
4 min read · 20 July 2011
New York-based private equity firm Castle Harlan has promoted Anand Philip to the post of managing director, and added Joyce Demonteverde to the firm as a vice president. Demonteverde had previously been with Castle Harlan prior to going to the Harvard Business School. Philip has been with Castle Harlan since 2006 and was previously a vice president.
3 min read · 20 July 2011
Rock Hill Capital, a Houston-based small to lower-market private equity firm, has held an initial close of its second fund, Rock Hill Capital II, LP. The fund has a target of $150 million, the firm said. The firm focuses on businesses located in the Gulf Coast and Southeast regions of the United States.
2 min read · 20 July 2011
Skullcandy, a Park City, Utah-based maker of headphones, priced its initial public offering Tuesday above the expected range, selling 9.44 million shares at $20 per share. The pricing values the company at $535.6 million, Reuters reported. Backers of Skullcandy include Mercato Partners. BofA Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley are underwriters for the offering.
2 min read · 20 July 2011
Dell is buying data center networking company Force10 Networks, which has a lengthy list of venture investors including New Enterprise Associates, Crosslink Capital, U.S. Venture Partners, Morgenthaler Ventures and Worldview Technology Partners. No terms of the deal were released. According to a press release, Force10 is a $200-million company, based on trailing 12 months revenue. Force10 was founded in 1999 and is based in San Jose, Calif.
4 min read · 20 July 2011
German state-controlled bank WestLB is in exclusive talks with private equity firm Apollo Global Management over a sale of its real estate unit, Reuters reported Wednesday. Earlier reported had valued the unit, WestImmo, at about 400 million euros ($567.9 million).
2 min read · 20 July 2011
Vodafone is reportedly in talks with private equity funds about selling a stake in its Indian mobile operations, Reuters reported, citing the Economic Times. The company is reportedly talking with at least two buyout firms. Earlier this month, Vodafone bought out its partner, Essar, from the Indian venture, Reuters said.
1 min read · 20 July 2011
