Hewlett-Packard just announced that it has agreed to buy 3Com Corp. for $7.90 per share, or approximately $2.7 billion. Two quick thoughts: 1. It's a good thing the SEC is off for Veteran's Day, or else it would be busy trying to sort through the slew of inside traders. First, 3Com's stock price has been steadily raising for the past few days -- as Dan Frommer points out -- for no discernable reason. Moreover, someone with access to a Bloomberg terminal sent over some charts showing the price and volume for 3Com $5 strike calls. Take a look at the below, and pay specific attention to the the bottom right-hand corner:
1 min read · 11 November 2009
The revolving door between politics and private equity has typically been dominated by public servants becoming private-sector millionaires. Over the past few months, however, it seems to have reversed course. Yesterday, The Department of Energy yesterday named Jonathan Silver, a former managing director with Core Capital Partners, as executive director of the DoE’s loan program. This came just hours after President Obama said that he will nominate Joshua Gotbaum, an operating partner with Blue Wolf Capital Management, to be director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. What follows is a list of other private equity pros who have taken government jobs since Obama took office this past January: Jeffrey Goldstein: A managing director with Hellman & Friedman since 2005, Goldstein left over the summer to become Traeasury's undersecretary for domestic finance. Prior to joining Hellman & Friedman, Goldstein spent five years as managing director of The World Bank. Matthew Kabaker: A managing director with The Blackstone Group, Kabaker was one of Tim Geithner's first hires as a senior advisor. Kabaker had joined Blackstone in 1998, and served on the boards of portfolio companies Alliant Insurance, Ariel Re, TRW Automotive, FGIC, HealthMarkets and Michaels Stores. At the time of his hiring, sources said that Kabaker's experience with financial institutions made him particularly qualified to help handle the TARP and toxic asset programs.
3 min read · 11 November 2009
Not too long ago, Congressfolk were talking about how private equity and venture capital funds would be required to register themselves, as part of proposed financial reform legislation. Then came the House bill, which exempted all VC funds and any PE fund with under $150 million in capital under management. Yesterday, Chris Dodd introduced a Senate version that keeps the VC exemption, but also adds a PE exemption (leaving hedge funds in the registration mix). You can find it on page 301 of this massive document. The big catch in all of this, however, is that both the House and Senate bills leave the definitions of “venture capital” and “private equity” up to the SEC. The SEC also would be allowed to set certain reporting requirements for PE firms, although no clarity on what that may entail.
1 min read · 11 November 2009
My weekly video spot with Reuters, this time about why secondary market supply+demand≠deals. Per usual, broadcasting just a few paces away from the home office:
1 min read · 11 November 2009
1 min read · 10 November 2009
Our next Internship Rodeo begins tomorrow, so this is the last call for firms that want to hire first-year MBA candidates for summer internships. This is a free service open to most any type of peHUB-related firm, including VC, LBO, LP, I-bank, Mezzanine, Consulting, Funds-of-Funds, etc. We also accept listings from portfolio companies. If you are interested in posting an available position, please do so today by emailing me at daniel.primack@thomsonreuters.com. Please include your firm name, job location and type of business (i.e., VC/LBO/etc.). Also include any additional information you would like posted, including a contact email address for applicants. If you would prefer me to create an anonymous email account for you, just say so. Your firm name can be kept confidential upon request. There is no requirement that participating firms hire via the program. The listings will be posted tomorrow in the peHUB MBA Forum, an online message-board only accessible to MBA candidates. We've placed over 450 summer interns via this program over the years, and many have gone on to fulltime employment at their internship site following graduation. Suffice to say, this year is a "buyer's" market... I hope that you participate.
1 min read · 10 November 2009
Earlier this year, Atlas Venture thinned its personnel roster after raising far less than it had hoped for its eighth fund ($293m compared to $500m target). Four partners either left or were demoted, while some younger staffers began to consider other options. So where are the departed? Martin Gibson: A London-based partner who focused on IT investments for Atlas, Gibson just recently reemerged as a venture partner with Accel Partners. Not bad timing, given that the firm's London office today is celebrating its agreement to sell Playfish to EA for up to $400 million. Gibson's Atlas portfolio companies had included DisplayLink, Phyworks and Zinwave. He also worked closely with Azea Networks, Icera Semiconductor, Orthogon Systems, RadioScape, Ubiquisys and xelerated. He does not yet appear to have done an Accel investment.
2 min read · 09 November 2009
2 min read · 09 November 2009
Last Friday, I participated in a secondary investing conference, hosted by DealFlow Media. My piece was a 20 minute Q&A (I gave the A's, which was a refleshing change of pace), but I also watched some of the panel discussions and had a few takeaways: * The secondary market’s stickiest wicket continues to be the gap between buyside and sellside pricing expectations. Rather than trying to bridge the divide, it would appear that both sides are calcifying – believing that the other will cave. For buyers, that means banking on a theory that increased capital call volume will push some LPs over the line from liquidity-parched to liquidity-desperate. Sellers, on the other hand, counter that an increase in capital calls is likely to be coupled with an increase in distributions, which could help them maintain an even keel.
2 min read · 09 November 2009
New York AG Andrew Cuomo just announced a settlement with controversial social network Tagged.com, which he had previously accused of "deceptive e-mail marketing practices and invasion of privacy." The company will pay $500,000 in penalties and costs, and "adopt industry-leading measures regarding the access and use of its members’ personal information." Tagged CEO Greg Tseng had denied the charges back when the suit was originally filed, arguing that there had simply been confusion regarding an "invite your friends" feature that was disabled after numerous complaints (and bad press). As you might remember, Connie had written a few posts on the spammy nature of Tagged prior to Cuomo's suit:
2 min read · 09 November 2009
