Restructuring firm NexGen Advisors has sent over its Global Organization Efficiency Survey, conducted in partnership with APQC. The goal was to learn how Fortune 1000 companies were dealing with their organizational structures -- in terms not only of metrics like headcount, but efficiency of the remaining management superstructure. Download it here.
1 min read · 29 October 2009
Donald Layden, former general counsel of Metavante Corp. and president of Metavante International Group, has joined Warburg Pincus as an advisor, peHUB has learned. Layden recently helped lead negotiations for Metavante's $2.94 billion sale to Fidelity National Information Services Inc., but opted against remaining with the merged company. "I had a great run at Metavante, but I didn't want to relocate to Jacksonville from Milwaukee," Layden says. "I've known the guys at Warburg Pincus for a long time and think we could do some interesting things together in the transaction data processing space."
1 min read · 29 October 2009
In 2007, CalPERS invested $600 million for around a 9% stake in Apollo Global Management. Per usual, it got help from then-unregistered placement agent ARVCO, which is run by former CalPERS board member Alfred Villalobos. But this wasn't a typical Apollo-ARVCO arrangement, in which Apollo would pay ARVCO 1% of the pension system's capital commitment (above a certain threshold), according to documents released earlier this month by CalPERS. Instead, Apollo paid ARVCO $13.2 million over two installments, which worked out to approximately 2.2 percent. Not only is this fee unusually high vis-a-vis industry standards, but it also breaks with a tradition of placement agents lowering their commissions for follow-on business with the same investor. Then again,
1 min read · 29 October 2009
Reuters sent a cameraman to our Boston cleantech event last night, and used some of the clips as part of our weekly video conversation:
1 min read · 28 October 2009
The Fed's Private Equity Merchant Banking Knowledge Center was formed in 2000, and has held an annual conference each year since. Click here to read a summary of its most recent gathering.
1 min read · 28 October 2009
In preparation of last night's peHUB cleantech event, I asked our data folks to do a run of VC investment into the U.S. cleantech sector over the past three years. Also asked for a breakdown of investments into New England companies, since the event was in Boston. Here's what they sent me.
1 min read · 28 October 2009
Recent client note from law firm Skadden Arps, with a focus on the recent Corus Bank acquisition. Download it here.
1 min read · 28 October 2009
Great to see so many of you come out last night, for peHUB's Boston cleantech event. The specific focus was on federal financing and regulatory issues. A few quick takeaways from the panel (from memory, since it’s hard to take comprehensive notes and moderate at the same time): * Lot of discussion about how cleantech is a difficult business for early-stage investment, in that company maturation can push the limits of a traditional VC fund structure. Roger Berry of C Change Investments noted that some infrastructure funds in Europe are actually proposing 15-year or 20-year investment cycles. Hadn’t heard that before. Would make sense from the perspective of matching the money to the opportunity, but I’m not sure any LP would be willing to assume that a core group of partners would stick together for two decades (particularly given that anyone worth investing in for that long already has some career miles under their belt). * Most panelists believed some sort of climate bill would pass this year, although not much agreement on its contents (concerns that divisive healthcare debate is setting the stage for divisive energy debate). Also heard a few comments about how something like a Green Bank would make renewable energy companies more competitive with oil & gas, which already receive massive federal subsisidies.
3 min read · 28 October 2009
Connie is still on maternity leave, which leaves me stuck checking in on the world of Jesse Draper, daughter of venture capitalist Tim Draper (please come back soon Connie... this can be kind of painful). For the uninitiated, Jesse is an actress who regularly produces web videos called "The Valley Girl," in which she interviews local VCs and entrepreneurs. Not exactly hard-hitting -- she recently had on HRJ Capital's Ronnie Lott, and never noted that his firm had effectively collapsed -- but she does get an impressive set of guests. One recent sit-down was wth DFJ partner Raj Atluru, who talked a bit about the cleantech niches he's currently focused on (like smart grid). You can watch the video (which is actually Part II) after the jump. Now getting back to my regularly-scheduled work...
1 min read · 27 October 2009
The National Venture Capital Association and Cambridge Associates today released new VC fund performance data, for the period ending June 30, 2009 (VC returns lag a month). Most time horizons remained unchanged from the prior quarter's report, except for a significant drop in the 10-year horizon. Expect that decade figure to really hit the skids come January 1, when the 1999 results peel away. Full release after the jump...
4 min read · 27 October 2009
