Private Equity
The first quarter doesn’t officially close until the clock strikes Thursday, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take a peek at preliminary deal volume data. My colleagues at Thomson Reuters sent over the following tidbits: * Global M&A deal volume for Q1 is at nearly $550 billion for 8,737 deals, compared to $617 billion for 10,860 deals in Q4 2009. The prior first quarter had just $476 billion for 8,908 deals. * Global PE-sponsored deal volume for Q1 is at just over $31 billion for 625 deals, compared to $55 billion for 761 deals in Q4 2009. The prior first quarter had just $17 billion for 639 deals. Private equity’s percentage of the total M&A pot is 5.7% in Q1 2010, which is the lowest total since Q2 of last year (3.2%).
1 min read · 30 March 2010
Last week, TechCrunch reported that four VC firms were "fighting furiously to be the lead investor in FourSquare's next venture round." That story remains mostly accurate today, except that the four is now a three. peHUB has learned that Redpoint Ventures is no longer in the running to lead what Arrington referred to as a $10 million round with a pre-money valuation of between $60 million and $70 million (which my source calls "spooky accurate"). The remaining trio includes Accel Partners, Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Ventures.
2 min read · 29 March 2010
ZipCar is moving ahead with plans to go public in 2010, peHUB has learned. The car-sharing company is in the midst of hiring several financial and corporate communications executives, including at least two that should have "exposure to Sarbanes-Oxley regulations." It also is believed to have begun meeting with potential underwriters. If a ZipCar IPO sounds familiar, that might be because of a "will it or won't it" series of stories from last summer. First, Bloomberg reported that CEO Scott Griffith had disclosed plans to go public in 2010. Later that say, TheDeal called Bloomberg's story "a gross misinterpretation" and "nonsense," based on a followup interview with Zipcar spokeswoman Nancy Scott Lyon. Specifically, TheDeal quoted Lyon as saying: "We did not announce an IPO and have no immediate plans to go public."
2 min read · 29 March 2010
We’ve got 500 peHUB readers playing in our annual March Madness contest, and the current leader is Bob Aspell of Sverica International. He's got Duke beating Kansas in the final game, which might actually be good enough to win in a year of excessive bracket busting. In second place is someone calling his team Longhorn, which has Syracuse beating Duke in the Finals. And in third place is Dan Stevens, an analyst with Industry Ventures, who also has Duke beating Kansas. Unfortunately for Dan, he has no way of beating Bob (although some others do). Remember, the winner gets a peHUB archive subscription, a one-year magazine sub to VCJ or Buyouts and the keys to peHUB Wire for a morning. Continued good luck to all...
1 min read · 29 March 2010
Electric car maker Tesla Motors today filed amended earnings with the SEC today, as it continues to drive toward its inexplicable IPO. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company reported nearly $112 million in 2009 sales revenue, compared to just $14.7 million the year before. Good increase, although Q4 2009 was sluggish with just $18.6 million. The company's 2009 net loss was $55.7 million, of which around $24 million came in the final frame. Tesla also continues to warn of a "decrease in revenues and increase in losses prior to the launch of the Model S" sedan, which is scheduled to begin selling in 2012 at nearly $50k per vehicle.
1 min read · 29 March 2010
More than 1,000 peHUB readers have bought tickets to our upcoming shindigs in Boston (3/31) and San Francisco (4/14). Be sure to join us, by getting yours today: Boston: http://bostonshindig.eventbrite.com San Francisco: http://sfshindig.eventbrite.com Tickets cost just $10, with proceeds going to a local charity to be voted on by event attendees (nominate one upon purchase). We look forward to seeing you there...
1 min read · 27 March 2010
Earlier today, I explained why Elevation Partners is far from the “the worst run institutional fund of any size in the United States?” Of course, this raised a follow-up question: So, what is the worst run institutional fund of any size in the United States? I don't think it's possible to give a definitive answer, at least when it comes to private equity and venture capital. After all, final judgement on these funds can only come once all the investments are realized. But we certainly can identify funds that are in trouble. To do so, I turned to CalPERS, which likely has more VC/PE fund investments than any other U.S. institution. CalPERS publicly discloses performance data for each of its 642 general partners, through the end of Q3 2009. I ranked each of those firms by IRR, excluding any fund closed in 2007 or later (such funds are relatively young, and their IRRs can be unfairly depressed by the fabled J-curve). I also removed non-U.S. funds, which means you won't see things like Permira Europe IV, Polish Enterprise Fund VI, Candover 2005 Fund or Carlyle Japan Partners. Get them after the jump...
5 min read · 26 March 2010
Don't worry angels, the Senate Banking Committee hears your angst. Beginning a few weeks ago, there's been a lot of digital ink spilt over how Chris Dodd's financial reform package could make life more difficult for early-stage investors and early-stage companies (including by yours tuly). Specifically, the bill would repeal the federal preemption for Regulation D filings, while also opening the door for a doubling of the accredited investor thresholds. So I spoke yesterday to a Senate Banking Committee source, who told me: "The original intent of these provisions was to enhance consumer protections. We are seriously considering the concerns brought to us in recent days."
2 min read · 26 March 2010
Is Elevation Partners “the worst run institutional fund of any size in the United States?” That was the assertion of a Wall Street 24/7 post earlier this week, and a bunch of readers have emailed me for reaction. So I decided to take a dive into the media/tech-focused firm’s portfolio, from a financial perspective. What I found was hardly cause for celebration, particularly for a shop whose high-profile partners include Bono, Roger McNamee and Fred Anderson. At the same time, however, calling Elevation “the worst” is to give hyperbole a bad name. The knock on Elevation is that three of its largest investments are major duds: Palm, Move.com and Forbes Digital Media. So let’s look at them one by one:
4 min read · 26 March 2010
Bob Litan, vice president for research and policy at the Kauffman Foundation, stirred up the VC community yesterday with a HuffPo piece about how Chris Dodd's financial reform bill is bad for angel investors. The general sentiment is nothing new to peHUB readers, as I've previously criticized Dodd Bill provisions that would raise the accredited investor threshhold (thus draining the angel pool) and preempt the federal regulation for Form D (thus making it more complicated/costly for startups to raise money from investors in multiple states). But Litan finds another interesting nugget, writing:
3 min read · 25 March 2010
