Nick Sinai is the latest venture capitalist headed to Washington, where he will serve as Energy and Environmental Director at the Federal Communications Commission. In an email to friends and colleagues, Sinai wrote: President Obama and the Congress have asked the FCC, led by Chairman Julius Genachowski, to form a National Broadband Task Force to deliver a plan to Congress in February 2010. I'll be leading a team that will examine how broadband/communications infrastructure and policies can support our national energy and environmental goals, with an emphasis on the Smart Grid. Sinai most recently was with Tenaya Capital, which he joined as a principal in January 2008. For those not familiar with Tenaya, it's a new firm previously known as Lehman Brothers Venture
1 min read · 10 August 2009
Just got back from doing a CNBC spot about if private equity is making a comeback (read more in-depth thoughts here), particularly in regards to the exit environment. Video after the jump...
1 min read · 10 August 2009
Early posting this morning, as I have a 10:10am spot on CNBC (they don’t quite believe in my laundry room setup, which means I actually need to leave the house). Our scheduled topic: “Is private equity back?” The answer, of course, rests largely on how you define “back.” Or, for that matter, how you define “away.” So here are four different definitions, with corresponding answers. Really hoping I settle on one within the next hour or so, because multiple choice makes for bad television (save for game-shows). Back , 1: The public is beginning to take positive notice of private equity again, due to a building trickle of IPOs and Blackstone’s rising stock price (a bogus, but pervasive, barometer). Narcissistic evidence for this can be seen in the Dan Primack CNBC Appearance Index, which spiked in 2007 and has been largely inactive until August 10, 2009. Many experts note that the DPCNBCA is predictive of PE market visibility, but utterly irrelevant in terms of PE market performance or health. Back , 2: Private equity deal volume has significantly increased, particularly as a percentage of the overall M&A market. This is one of those things that is difficult to perceive, but which we’re told is real. Like string theory or
3 min read · 10 August 2009
Platinum Equity is fast becoming the year’s most intriguing private equity firm. Not only for the rollicking Delphi saga, but also for its counterintuitive interest in the beleaguered newspaper sector. Los Angeles-based Platinum did its first newspaper deal just a few months ago, buying the San Diego Union-Tribune for a reported price of less than $50 million. I kind of thought it was a one-off sort of transaction, at least partially prompted by SoCal solidarity. But now that deal seems to be part of a broader strategy, judging by reports that Platinum has submitted a bid for The Boston Globe ($35m plus $59m in assumed pension liabilities). I’ve got no idea why any private equity firm would want a broader newspaper strategy. After all, look at what happened to Avista in Minneapolis, or the fact that Bain Capital’s Steve Pagliuca is bidding on the Globe via a nonprofit strategy
1 min read · 07 August 2009
Only political junkies care about the polling business right now, but since I'm touched by that particular affliction... Rasmussen Reports, one of the nation's best-known polling outfits, today announced that it has raised an undisclosed amount of private equity funding from Noson Lawen Partners. The deal closed on Monday, and seems to technically be for a control position, although Noson Lawsen partner Ted Carroll took pains to say that existing management would remain firmly in charge. "We have very defined roles, and I've got no interest in interfering with polling methadology or anything like that," explains Carroll, a longtime media investor who once was the lead finance producer for The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. "I was working on the program when AT&T wrote a $10 million check and became our sole sponsor, so realize that once big brands recognize credibility in an information source, they covet it. I sense Scott
2 min read · 06 August 2009
What follows are six VC deals culled from recent Regulation D filings with the SEC. None of them has been otherwise disclosed: * Meru Networks Inc., a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based developer of wireless infrastructure solutions, has expanded its Series E round to over $87 million. It had announced a $30 million first close earlier this year, led by Vision Capital. Return backers had included Clearstone Venture Partners, NeoCarta Ventures, BlueStream Ventures, The D. E. Shaw Group, Evercore Partners, Tenaya Capital and Monitor Ventures. The company has now raised over $160 million in total VC funding since its 2002 inception. www.merunetworks.com
2 min read · 06 August 2009
During a media call earlier this morning, Blackstone Group president Tony James was asked about the general status of mega-buyouts done in 2006-2008. He declined to discuss any specific deals (Hilton, Freescale, etc.), but did say the following: "One of the things unique about the big buyouts done in last few years was they have massive debt instruments out there which trade. I'm talking more about US ones than European ones... What's happened in past cycles of LBOs is you overleveraged it or overpaid... you were stuck, locked in time. Now these big U.S. buyouts, because the debt trades... You can rewrite history in a sense. You can come in with more equity, buy debt at a discount, swap senior instruments for subordinated instruments... There is lots of flexibility to work with. You can actually change the cap structure and, in so doing, reduce original purchase price."
1 min read · 06 August 2009
Need to refinance portfolio company debt? Well, it might help if your firm was founded by the former CEO and CFO of a bank that’s still in business. Yesterday, Falfurrias Capital Partners announced that it has secured a $70 million refinancing for quick-serve restaurant chain Bojangles (it of the famed chicken & biscuits). The refi was co-led by Bank of America and Wells Fargo, with BB&T and Regions Bank also participating. Not coincidentally, Falfurrias was launched in 2006 by ex BoA bigs Hugh McColl and Marc Oken. Oken told me yesterday that the relationship obviously helped facilitate the deal, but that it ultimately came down to the company’s growth. Not only did it have 7% sales growth over the first six months of 2009 (compared to first six of 2008), but also had 17% EBITDA growth over the same period.
1 min read · 06 August 2009
The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) had another monster day on the Big Board, with its stock rising 15.7% to $14.96 per share. That represents a 32.86% jump from where Blackstone shares closed just last Friday, and more than a 75% bump from some mid-day trading on July 8. Really not quite sure what to make of all this, except that the markets apparently expect big things when Blackstone releases its Q2 earnings tomorrow morning (and yes, I still smell a leak). First Call shows estimated earnings of $0.09 per share, compared to -$0.07 per share last quarter (which actually beat estimates by two cents).
1 min read · 05 August 2009
We're just three days into the 60-day comment period on the SEC's proposed rules for placement agents, and market pros have already begun voicing their disapproval. The SEC website shows five comments submitted on Monday and Tuesday, with four of them objecting to the proposal's ban on investment advisors (PE funds, VC funds, hedge funds, etc.) using placement agents when trying to solicit fund capital from public pension systems. The fifth letter is an objection to the proposed ban on political contributions from investment advisors to pension-connected officials, which the writer claims is a violation of free speech rights (this argument won't fly -- nor should it -- since SEC already regulates political contributions in other areas). Read sampling of what's been submitted after the jump...
3 min read · 05 August 2009
