Sorry for the light posting, but I just arrived in Quebec City for the North American Venture Capital Summit (via chartered jet, no less). Tomorrow I'll be participating in an industry overview panel moderated by Matthew Bishop of The Economist, and then will be conducting keynote Q&A sessions with Alan Patricof (Greycroft) and David Rimer (Index Ventures). I've also got plans to live-blog Steven Schwarzman's speech, but am not too sure there is wireless in the Chateau Frontenac's ballrooms (gotta be tethered here in the rooms). Lots of GPs and LPs already wandering the lower city, which seems like the thing to do. If memory serves, there's a museum somewhere with a dead general's skull in a glass box (gave me nightmares as a kid). Hope to do some posting when I return...
1 min read · 27 October 2008
* The $250 billion question: Are CLOs heading toward default? * Apollo and TPG Capital marked down their Harrah's investment by 20% just months after their $17.3 billion buyout closed this past January, but the WSJ reports that yet another haircut is coming. The article adds that minority shareholder GoldenTree Asset Management has already taken 75% off the top, and I've heard that Highland Capital Partners had it marked down by 50% as of last month. * Morning call: Futures point lower, as recession fears deepen. * Terrorists use Twitter? * Heidi discusses some Ticketmaster M&A deal, but leads with Guns n' Roses finally preparing to release Chinese Democracy. I'm trying to figure out if I still care about either of them (I really do like the Madagascar track...). * The AP reports that the deal for Alaska's new natural gas pipeline "emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to administration." An October not-so-surprising...
1 min read · 27 October 2008
2 min read · 24 October 2008
* Futures have plunged low enough to freeze pre-market trading, particularly in the financial sector. It's going to be a bumpy morning. * Speaking of falling financials, the Fed's Bear Stearns portfolio has lost 9% of its value. * Huntsman keeps racking up the legal victories. Maybe it should put its counsel in charge of its finances. * Matt Wurtzel: Why the next Treasury chief needs charisma. * Econbrowser: CRA and the GSEs as betes noire. * What happens when a virtual husband divorces his virtual wife? She virtually murders him.
1 min read · 24 October 2008
Mid-market lenders are putting the screws to private equity firms, when it comes to bolt-on acquisitions. For example, imagine you launched a manufacturing acquisition platform in 2006, and used leverage to fund the initial formation and acquisitions. Chances are that the debt terms were pretty loose, or at least much looser than you could get today. So when you go back to your banker to help finance a bolt-on acquisition, you get told: (A) You’re not going to be able to get the 2006 terms for the bolt-on, and (B) In order to get bolt-on financing, you’ll need to rework the original 2006 loan terms. “Banks now want to reset any deal cut under the old rules, and will use any excuse to do that,” says Stuart Kohl, co-CEO of
2 min read · 23 October 2008
2 min read · 23 October 2008
With the election less than two weeks away, it’s time for our final reader survey of presidential preferences. Back in July, (the collective) you preferred Obama 41%-40%, while that lead expanded to 50%-48% when “leaners” were taken into account. In other words, it was a virtual dead heat. A lot has happened in the intervening three months, so let’s see where you now stand. The survey will take just a moment or two to complete, and can be accessed here. The survey will be open until midnight tonight, with results to be published here tomorrow morning. Happy fake voting...
1 min read · 23 October 2008
* Al Qaeda monitors the U.S. financial crisis. * Sankaty Advisors, the credit affiliate of Bain Capital, is suffering major writedowns in its latest funds. This is actually worse for Bain than it appears at first blush, because Bain took $200 million out of its ninth buyout fund to help bolster one of the Sankaty vehicles in question. * Goldman Sachs plans to cut 10% of its workforce. * LinkedIn raises more money, which gives Rafat an opportunity to introduce us to a new buzzword: Hydrogen Winter. * Hollywood and Silicon Valley need eachother, but Spark Capital partner Dennis Miller says that the current relationship is "wildly dysfunctional." * Sequoia Capital's portfolio companies keep laying off. Yesterday it was Mahalo. Today it's Imeem, a streaming music company that may also be on the auction block.
1 min read · 23 October 2008
3 min read · 22 October 2008
Tonight I’ll be speaking at ACG Boston’s Big Deal event at the Taj, which is for senior private equity and investment banking pros. The plan is for me to give a brief view of where I see the market going, and then open it up to a larger discussion. Plus, there will be booze. So, if your title is vice president or higher, you can get registration info by emailing info@acgboston.org. Hope to see a bunch of you there.
1 min read · 22 October 2008
