Private Equity
My weekly video chat with Reuters moved out of the laundry room and into Times Square this week, for a discussion about a pair of burgeoning private equity scandals:
1 min read · 05 February 2010
The quarterly China Venture Capitalist Confidence Index is based on an ongoing survey of Mainland China and Hong Kong venture capitalists, and released each quarter by University of San Francisco (USF) professor Mark Cannice. Get the latest data here.
1 min read · 05 February 2010
Law firm Edwards & Angel has published a clinet advisory on new FTC rules for advertising, endorsements, etc. in new media (blogs, etc.). Download it here.
1 min read · 05 February 2010
More than 400 peHUB readers took over Connolly's on 45th Street in Manhattan last night, for our first peHUB Shindig of 2010. No content, just cocktails and conversation. Plus, more than $4,500 raised for Doctors Without Borders. Great to see so many of you there, and sorry we'd been gone for so long (our last NYC event was in Nov. '08). Next time we promise to find a larger room, so that we can fit the other 300 or so of you who got stranded on the wait-list. Get photos from the event, after the jump...
1 min read · 05 February 2010
We have a new contender for most scandalous private equity exec of the year. And, for bonus points, this one also happens to be a peHUB Wire reader. The NY Daily News reports that Giri Sekhar, a managing partner with FA Technology Ventures, has been indicted for trying to blackmail the chief counsel of NY State Comtroller Thomas DiNapoli, in order to secure a $25 million fund commitment from NY Common Retirement Fund. Specifically, Sekhar is alleged to have sent messages threatening to expose the chief counsel’s extramarital affair (which, for the record, DiNapoli’s office denies having occurred).
1 min read · 03 February 2010
Tough day to be Markstone Capital Partners. First comes word of alleged fraud at Israeli investment house Psagot, of which Markstone holds a 24% stake (see below). Now, Israeli newspaper H'Aaretz reports that the private equity firm is near a settlement with New York AG Andrew Cuomo, over its role in the state's pay-for-play scandal. I've put in a call to Cuomo's office for confirmation, but have not yet heard back. The report says that Markstone has agreed to pay a fine, although no specific numbers are mentioned. Also not mentioned is anything about Markstone signing Cuomo's "code of conduct," but I'd be stunned if such a thing wasn't included.
2 min read · 02 February 2010
Another month, another allegation of massive fraud at a company that recently switched private equity sponsors. This one is Israeli investment house Psagot, which is under investigation for alleged trading impoprieties by former executives David Edry and Shai Ben-David. In a statement, the Israel Securities Authority said: "Edry and Ben David are suspected of having committed fraud in their dealings with securities in a systematic manner that stretched over a long period of time." That time period was 2007 to 2009, when Psagot was controlled by York Capital Management. Late last year, York agreed to sell its 76% stake to Apax Partners for approximately $822 million, with minority shareholder Markstone Capital Partners retaining its 24% position. The deal would
2 min read · 02 February 2010
Every private equity pro has been touched (perhaps punched?) by the financial crisis, but few spent more time at the intersection of Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue than did Seth Gardner, then a managing director and associate general counsel with onetime Chrysler owner Cerberus Capital Management. As the slog thickened, Gardner realized two things: (1) The next generation of finance professional is in the academy; and (2) The next generation of finance professional is doomed to repeat past mistakes, unless the academy changes its lesson plan. This was the message Gardner brought last summer to Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, where he had received an MBA in 1994. The result is something Fuqua calls the Center for Financial Excellence, with Gardner serving as executive director.
2 min read · 01 February 2010
History shows that the best private equity returns come from investments made in economic downturns. The worse the fiscal shitstorm, the better the ROI. For example, Cambridge Associates reports that the best vintage for PE funds over the past two decades was 1991 -- a year that opened in the midst of a recession. The next-best vintage was 2001, which played host to a recession for eight months. Considering that 1991 and 2001 can't hold a candle to our current fiscal mess, PE funds raised in 2010 should eventually be considered on par with a 1996 Borolo (yes, I had to look that up). Except for one not-so-little problem: Precious few firms are able to raise funds right now.
2 min read · 01 February 2010
Will Kohler is leaving Prism VentureWorks after a six-year run, in order to join the Boston office of Summerhill Venture Partners as a partner. He informed his portfolio company CEOs of the move last week, and plans to begin at Summerhill in late February. While with Prism, Kohler has led or co-led investments in such companies as Sonian, The Receivables Exchange, Conduit Labs, Six Degrees Games, Sparkplay Media and ExpoTV. "We're happy for Will, because he gets to become a general partner," says Prism partner Woody Benson. "But we're obviously sad to see him go."
2 min read · 31 January 2010
