Private Equity
Last month, we reported that Eric Cohen had stepped down as a managing partner of WHI Capital. The news was confirmed by Adam Schecter, the firm's founder and remaining managing partner. Now we've learned that Schecter is also gone, effective June 30. No explanation has been given for either departure by WHI, a Chicago-based buyout firm focused on niche manufacturing, distribution and specialty service companies. Schecter's voicemail, however, indicates that he has joined Geneva Glen Capital, a new private equity firm formed by Jeff Gonyo (ex-Wind Point Partners). It's unclear if Cohen also is joining Geneva Glen. I've left messages for both Schecter and Gonyo, and will update this post if they reply. As for the future of WHI, I spoke briefly via phone with Mike Schopin, one of three investment professionals still listed on the WHI firm's website. He said that WHI Capital still has dry powder from its $170 million fund raised in 2006, plus some additional commitments from sole sponsor William Harris Investors (family-based asset management firm).
1 min read · 12 July 2010
Last week I gave three reasons to downplay a Dow Jones report about how VC fundraising was on the upswing. One of them was that a similar report was coming from the NVCA and Thomson Reuters, which would tell a much different story. Indeed, the NVCA/TR data is out, and it says that just 38 U.S.-based VC funds raised $1.9 billion in Q2 2010. That's a 49% decrease from Q1 totals, and the first half of 2010 is off nearly 19% from the first half of 2009.
1 min read · 12 July 2010
Venture capitalists brought 26 companies to U.S. public markets in the first half of 2010, raising billions of dollars. Unfortunately, the majority of those companies are now trading below their offering price (16 of them, to be exact), with average performance at a pathetic -9.14 percent. So I figured it was time to take a quick look at the best performers, and the worst. Particularly notable is that four of the five top performers are based in China (but priced here). Get them after the jump...
3 min read · 09 July 2010
MergerMarket today released Latin American M&A activity for the first half of 2010, which it says booked record deal volume. Download the report here (.pdf).
1 min read · 09 July 2010
The carried interest taxation debate is fast becoming as irrelevant as "The Decision." Only a few die-hards still believe that persuasive arguments could revive meaningful legislation, while the rest of us despair at Democratic spinelessness and Republican obstruction. But God bless 'em for trying. Today, the Kauffman Foundation's Paul Kedrosky and Harold Bradley penned a Bloomberg Op-Ed, arguing that the IRS should treat carried interest as ordinary income. Not as some sort of ordinary income/capital gains hybrid, but as the same tax that the rest of us pay (or at least those of us without active lobbies in DC). They included the following rebuttal to those who claim carried interest is comparable to homeowner equity:
2 min read · 09 July 2010
Dow Jones today published VC fundraising data for the first half of 2010, showing a 13% bump over the first half of last year. This prompted headlines like: "VC Doesn't Look So Bad at the Half After All" and story ledes like "There’s good news for venture fundraising this morning." I hate to piss all over the parade, but this data is hardly worth celebrating. Here are three reasons why: 1. Bigger fundraising totals do not necessarily translate into better returns. For example, the high-water mark for VC fundraising was set in 2000, when funds secured over $100 billion. Lots of money, but it's also one of the worst-ever vintage years for VC funds in terms of performance. Cambridge Associates puts the pooled mean (net to LPs) at -1.26 percent. The only weaker vintage (five years or older) was 1999, which happens to have been the second-best VC fundraising year on record.
2 min read · 08 July 2010
We're psyched to announce that the next peHUB Shindig will take place in Atlanta on Thursday, August 5. Pretty sure this is our first trip to the Southeast, so we’re hoping to see a bunch of area PE pros, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, bankers and assorted hangers-on. The venue is Engine 11 Firehouse Tavern, and tickets are limited. Per usual, they cost just $10 a piece, with proceeds going to a local nonprofit that will be selected by event attendees. Be sure to nominate one upon registration. To get your ticket, go to: http://pehubatlanta.eventbrite.com BIG thanks to sponsors Grant Thornton, Navigation Capital Partners and Womble Carlyle. Without sponsors, there are no Shindigs... I look forward to seeing you there!
1 min read · 08 July 2010
Dow Jones today released second-half fundraising numbers, showing that PE fundraising fell 26% over the same period from last year. Venture capital fundraising, on the other hand, rose 13 percent. View the press release after the jump...
3 min read · 08 July 2010
My weekly video spot for Reuters was about this morning's scoop that Citi has agreed to sell more than $900 million worth of private equity assets to Lexington Partners. Per usual, I'm taping just a few paces away from the home office: Get more peHUB videos
1 min read · 07 July 2010
Ryan Sprott and Paul Maxwell are brothers-in-law who first met twenty years ago in their native Kansas City. Now, they are giving up their East Coast private equity jobs in order to launch a new firm back home. It's called Great Range Capital, and will focus on Midwestern, lower middle-market companies. Typical equity checks will be between $10 million and $30 million, and the sector strategy is mostly agnostic (save for an aversion to financial services and oil & gas).
1 min read · 07 July 2010
