Fewer deals, more dollars. That's the gist of November data provided by Thomson Reuters, which shows that a decrease in global deal volume was counteracted by an increase in aggregate disclosed values. Global M&A hit $244 billion in disclosed value for 2,809 transactions, compared to $154 billion for 3,295 deals in October. November 2008 volume was $112 billion for 3,074 deals. Private equity firms announced 164 deals last month, compared to 217 in October and 221 in November 2008. Disclosed deal values, however, rose from $17.6 billion in October to $18.08 billion in November. Download the spreadsheet by clicking here.
1 min read · 01 December 2009
American Capital (Nasdaq: ACAS) has closed its Los Angeles office, peHUB has learned. The move comes almost exactly one year after the business development company shuttered its Palo Alto outpost, and leaves it without a West Coast presence. In an email sent out this evening, a Los Angeles staffer wrote: I wanted to inform you that the ACAS Leadership has decided to close its Los Angeles office and transfer its portfolio companies to the other remaining ACAS offices. My last day, and that of my fellow West Coast Buyout team members, is November 30th. American Capital's website currently shows ten Los Angeles team members, the most senior of which is managing director Frank Do. Three Los Angeles employees are not officially on the buyouts team -- two are in sponsored finance, one is in special situations -- although our understanding is that the entire group has been let go.
1 min read · 30 November 2009
It appears that venture capitalists aren't the only ones to have erased Canopy Financial from their websites, following allegations that the company cooked its books. peHUB has learned that law firm Wilson Sonsini also scrubbed itself clean, removing references to Canopy from the profiles of partner and associate Daniel Green. Here's the cached version of Green's bio, for example, and here's the current version. If this sounds familiar, it may be because Wilson Sonsini did the same thing with Entellium, the last company known to have enticed well-known VC firms with bogus financials. As Gawker's Owen Thomas wrote in October 2008: If your company ever gets into serious trouble, wouldn't you like to know your lawyer's standing behind you publicly? Better hope you're not represented by Wilson Sonsini, then. After Seattle software startup Entellium saw its CEO and CFO charged with wire fraud and cooking the company's books, Entellium disappeared from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati partner Craig Sherman's list of clients. It's unclear if Wilson Sonsini attorneys were the "legal professionals" ex-Canopy CEO Vikram Kashyap "relied on financial... in accepting the authenticity of the company’s financials," as he said in his only public comment on the matter.
1 min read · 27 November 2009
The Private Equity Council, a trade group representing a dozen of the world's largest buyout firms, has issued a formal rebuttal to Josh Kosman's The Buyout of America -- a new book arguing that "private equity will cause the next great credit crisis." To say the PEC disagrees would be an understatement. You can read the rebuttal after the jump, including some quotes from my early review of the book. Worth noting that I did agree with many of Josh's complaints about private equity -- particularly excessive fee-taking -- but I also stand by the criticisms cited by PEC (primarily, a lack of balance or opposing viewpoints).
1 min read · 27 November 2009
There's almost always some shutdown news that precedes Thanksgiving, and this year appears to be no different. The Keiretsu Forum's Denver chapter has decided to fold after its December events, due to dwindling membership. In an email obtained by peHUB, chapter president Steve Murchie says that the Denver group is down to just 10 active angel investors, compared to a chapter high of 35. He also says that Keiretsu Forum may stop in Denver as part of a traveling roadshow, with more specific details to come at the group's final meeting on December 2. Murchie makes no reference to Keiretsu Forum leadership recently asking chapters to waive presentation fees for pre-revenue startups that are seeking to raise less than $500,000 from investors. That move was widely viewed as a response to Jason Calacanis' public attacks on the pay-to-present model, although
3 min read · 25 November 2009
Steve Pagliuca has not yet caught fire with voters in Massachusetts, where he's running to succeed Ted Kennedy in the U.S. Senate. Most recent polls put him in third place (or tied for third), at least 15 points behind frontrunner Martha Coakley. But one place Pagliuca has lots of support is among his private equity peers. His September campaign report shows a total of 96 contributions for the primary campaign, of which 23 come from individuals currently employed at private equity firms. Most of this is from Bain Capital colleagues, but there also are outside notables like Kevin Landry of TA Associates and Bill Egan of Alta Communications. Then there are several more contributions from spouses of PE professionals, from Bain portfolio company executives (e.g., Weather Channel CEO Michael Kelly), Wall Street execs (e.g., Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein), attorneys (e.g., Matthew Steinmetz of Kirkland & Ellis) and HBS professors (e.g., Michael Porter). Finally, Pagliuca also has tapped contacts made during his stint as co-owner of the Boston Celtics. These include NBA Commission David Stern, Memphis general manager Chris Wallace, Celtics GM Danny Ainge and Celtics coach Doc Rivers. Get the full list after the jump...
5 min read · 25 November 2009
Erin reported yesterday on an unfolding situation in New Jersey, where Governor-elect Chris Christie has asked that the state indefinately halt all alternative investment activities. The New Jersey Investment Board is reviewing the recommendation, but has not yet chosen to grant Christie's request. What we're still trying to figure out is why Christie singled out alternative assets. He gives no explanation in his memo, nor has he returned our calls. In the absence of rationale, we figured that it must have something to do with alternative investment returns, so we took a look at the state's most recent alternative investment results. This is where it gets strange: Certain segments of New Jersey's alternative asset returns don't look any worse than its returns in other asset classes. Take private equity, for example: PE returns for Q1 2009 were -2.77%, compared to an overall pension return of -5.91 percent (Q1 is the most recent quarter for which such data is available). Moreover, New Jersey's private equity performance was superior to the Cambridge Associates benchmark.
1 min read · 25 November 2009
1 min read · 25 November 2009
Earlier today we reported on massive fraud at Canopy Financial, a San Francisco-based company that had raised over $88 million in VC funding. Company founder Vikram Kashyap has just issued the following statement, via his attorney: Vik Kashyap had no prior knowledge whatsoever of any fraud regarding Canopy’s financial statements. He is as surprised as anyone about these allegations. He relied on financial and legal professionals in accepting the authenticity of the company’s financials. Going forward, he will leave his role as CEO of Canopy, but will remain as Chairman of the Board of Directors, helping to ensure that anyone who committed fraud is held fully accountable. We have requested an interview with Kashyap, although don't expect that it will be granted.
2 min read · 25 November 2009
Former eBay executive Rajiv Dutta today announced that he is joining media/consumer-focused private equity firm Elevation Partners. Dutta's most recent roles with eBay were as executive vice president and president of eBay Marketplaces, but he previously served as CFO and president of both PayPal and Skype. He also sits on the board of Elevation investment Palm. Expect Dutta to help Elevation raise a second fund sometimes next year... Q. Why join a private equity firm? Dutta: I had been at eBay for a really long time, and had run every operatating division of the company. They were great and wonderful businesses and fulfilling jobs. But as I thought about what I wanted to do next, I felt like I had checked those boxes. I've been part of a startup. I've been part of a rising star. I've been part of a European business. So I wanted to find something different that could still match what I'd been doing in terms of intellectual diversity, in terms of fun and in terms of great people. I spent the better part of a year trying to figure it out. I've known Fred Anderson for a long time, and have gotten to know the others. They have a view of private equity that is very different of what I'd considered private equity to be. They have an operational perspective that plays right into what I've been doing all my professional life.
2 min read · 24 November 2009
