Private Equity
George Hornig is stepping down as co-COO of Credit Suisse Asset Management, which houses all of the firm's global alternative investment activities. The move was first announced to Credit Suisse AM staff earlier this afternoon via memo, and confirmed by a firm spokeswoman. No word yet on his future plans, which one insider suggested could include a continuation of existing charity work.
2 min read · 16 August 2010
I understand why everyone hates Nazis. What I don't get is why some so easily equate other things they hate with Nazis. For example, I hate peanut butter. Pretty sure, however, that I've never suggested that those making Skippy are culinary stormtroopers. Today's hyperbloic example comes from Blackstone Group boss Steven Schwarzman, who is pissed off by the D.C. debate over private equity tax policy. According to Jonathan Alter, he said the following during a July meeting: “It’s a war,” Schwarzman said of the struggle with the administration over increasing taxes on private-equity firms. “It’s like when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939.” To state the obvious: No, it's nothing like when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939. I could go into all the reasons why it's different, but that would be like explaining why a birch tree is different than a water buffalo. Schwarzman is among those who believe that Obama loathes Blackstone and its Wall Street bretheren. He thinks there should be a former CEO atop Commerce, and that there has been no real effort to understand the capital markets.
2 min read · 16 August 2010
(Warning: What follows is the most self-absorbed post I’ve ever written. And that’s saying something) In September 2002, a friend suggested we all take a day off work in order to go ride roller coasters at Six Flags. The conversation went like this: Me: “We can’t leave until 10am.” Friend: “Why not? Me: “Because I just started an email publication, and readers expect it each morning.” Friend: “How many readers?” Me: “About 300.” Friend: “Wow, that’s a lot. Ok, we’ll leave at 10.” Well, now there are 60,000 email readers. It’s quite humbling, and makes the following quite difficult to write: I’ve decided to leave Thomson Reuters. My final peHUB Wire – and last posts on this website – will be a week from this Thursday.
1 min read · 16 August 2010
Bob Metcalfe, a general partner with Polaris Venture Partners, recently tweeted the following: “All 5 of my Polaris-backed enertech start-ups are raising rounds, in August. Today, 1 received an offer to buy the company, in August.” According to the Polaris website, Bob currently serves on seven boards. Two of those, however, are already out of business (Greenfuel and SiCortex). Another, Mintera, has agreed to be acquired by Oclaro (and wasn’t enertech).
1 min read · 13 August 2010
This is simply inspired. And it will become a great archeological find when the Twitter movie is, indeed, produced in 2023:
1 min read · 12 August 2010
1 min read · 12 August 2010
peHUB has learned that Richard Kauffman has resigned as president and CEO of Good Energies, a multi-billion dollar firm that invests in renewable energy on behalf of the Cofra Group. In an email sent this morning to friends and colleagues, Kauffman did not give a specific reason for his decision. His immediate plans are to teach a glass on renewable energy this fall at Yale, while continuing to serve as chairman of the board at Levi Strauss & Co. He did not mention yesterday's resignation of Good Energies chief operating officer Hugh Frater, who has agreed to become CEO of Berkadia Commercial Mortgage.
2 min read · 12 August 2010
It's been nearly one year since the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) released a set of "best practices" for structuring private equity funds. This was hardly the first attempt to better align interests between GPs and LPs, but is the one that seems to have prompted the most discussion among market professionals. In preparation of the anniversary, market research firm Preqin decided to examine whether the principles are having a tangible effect on fund structure. The results were decidedly mixed. Preqin examined all funds of 2009 and 2010 vintage, including those in market and many that actually launched before the ILPA principles were released last September. Yes, that last part is a major methodological flaw -- particularly since its includes around three-quarters of the analyzed funds -- but the research still gives a good reflection of where things stand today.
2 min read · 11 August 2010
Two months ago, readers of Philadelphia Magazine were treated to an extraordinary tale of covert military missions and technology investing. It was about Mike Burns, co-founding managing director of Guggenheim Ventures. Here’s the lead: The most successful Philadelphia entrepreneur no one has ever heard of wants to go off the record. Mike Burns, described by one friend as having an altar-boy face and an assassin’s heart, is in his understated King of Prussia office, from which he runs Guggenheim Venture Partners — the “deep tech” venture firm he founded with asset manager Guggenheim Partners, of the philanthropic New York family best known for a museum. Burns, who is all of 37 but looks little more than half that, entered into the Guggenheim partnership after he sold his first two companies for $750 million, one of those companies being Traffic.com. The problem? I’ve asked about the Lidocaine patch Burns is wearing on a particular body part. When he’s not making millions, the former naval officer is a reservist in Special Operations Forces, a volunteer troop of special-mission commandos. Burns doesn't talk about what he does as a reservist, but it presumably involves some Bond-like stuff. Last week he returned from his last deployment, likely an exotic place, and he injured said body part — a particularly vulnerable spot, given that he’d injured it before doing something else that was dangerous and secretive. “This has to be off the record,” he reiterates. “I don’t want the enemy knowing any weakness.” The piece carried on for several pages, including a Photoshopped image of Burns holding a gun in one hand and a briefcase in the other (see above). Fascinating stuff. Well, if it were true.
4 min read · 11 August 2010
Today's Internet buzz has been about a woman who quit her job via whiteboard, and stuck it to her boss in the process (I hope @glennf is wrong about her being a fake -- UPDATE: He was right). In more provincial news, angel investor Chris Sacca has posted perhaps the best new job posting I've ever seen. It's for an intern at Lowercase Capital, the "institutional" fund that Sacca recently launched. As he explains:
2 min read · 10 August 2010
