Private Equity
Here's a look at the last week's worth of scoops, data, and analysis from the peHUB team. Catch up on what you missed before it goes behind our paywall... All First Reads | All Second Opinions PE Debt Watch (Upgrades and Downgrades) Q&A with TrialPay CEO Alex Rampell: "We could have had a lot more revenue if we'd done more in this sleazy market" Deal Scoop: Vistaprint Buys Threadsmith.com Founder Spotlight: Siqi Chen of Serious Business Fundraising Updates: vSpring, Weathergage, Golub Capital... KKR's Navab: Media Opportunities Abound A Lost Generation of Entrepreneurs? Papa Murphy's Auction Heating Up M&A Marke Erik Hirsch: "GPs Are Essentially Service Providers" Broadcom's Henry Nicholas is Having a Very Good Day (Finally) Pet PR Peeve: Don't Call It "Rumors or Speculation" Screw the Superbowl; Go Skiing M&A Monday (On a Tuesday) Vestar Capital Leaves Japan The Case for Private Equity Registration NY State Common to Emerging Managers: "We Have a Placement Agent Workaround" Energy Efficiency Prediction For 2010 Already Coming True Behold: Apple's iPad, the New Newton Leon Black Supports Change To Carried Interest Tax Is Carl Icahn Feeling Better About Motricity? And About His Son? Quote of the Day: Secondary "Line in the Sand" Rising "Clouds" Within The VC Downturn Yelp Helps Kill the IPO Market VC Adam Dell, Not Too Busy For Padma Lakshmi? Tagg Romney's New Firm To Close Fund Above Target in Coming Weeks
2 min read · 30 January 2010
Physical Toll: Hank Paulson's Valley of the Dolls Moment (Daily Intel) Tweet of the Day: "Rich Bressler of THL was refreshingly candid about perhaps paying too much for ClearChannel." (Twitter) More Davos: PE deals are picking up, says CD&R's Gogel. (BusinessWeek) The Challenges of Time for Start-Ups: In the world of start-ups, capital efficiency is a factor in determining how much entrepreneurs and investors realize on their invested time and capital. (Dealbook) Wow: It's a day of bold calls all around. First Bain and KKR executive an egregious dividend recap on HCA, then IDD names Goldman Sachs its bank of the year? Really? I mean, its possible that there were no other less reviled yet profitable candidates, though I can think of a few (JPMorgan perhaps? Deutche Bank? HDBC maybe? UBS?)... Maybe this tone-deaf choice had something to do with the fact that Blankfien actually agreed to do an interview with the publication... (IDD) World of Connections: A special report on social networking. (Economist via Abnormal Returns)
1 min read · 29 January 2010
3 min read · 29 January 2010
As usual, we have a week’s worth of ratings actions on the debt of LBO-backed companies from ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and Moody’s Investors Service. This week is apparently companies owned by Apollo, Warburg Pincus, JLL Partners, Arcapita and Kelso & Co. received ratings changes. Apollo saw the most action, with three companies on the list. Jacuzzi Brands was upgraded after a recap/distressed debt exchange, Noranda Aluminum Holding Corporation received an upgrade on improved performance, and Hexion’s outlook was changed from negative to stable, thanks to a debt restructuring.
3 min read · 29 January 2010
He predicted he’d be misquoted and taken out of context, so I will try not to do that here. Very simply, Eric Hirsch, Chief Investment Officer of Hamilton Lane, believes that limited partners should not view private equity pros as partners. GPs, he said, provide a service to LPs, and should act accordingly. Speaking in a keynote interview at Buyouts South in Boca Raton, Hirsch noted his comment might get him in trouble with some GPs, but nevertheless made the argument against the idea of a “parternship.” That phrase twists the real meaning of an LP-GP relationship, he said. “The word “partner” makes it seem like an LP needs to support a GP even when things go awry, because they are partners,” he said. When in reality, investors have hired general partners to generate superior returns over a 10-year period and the relationship should be viewed as such.
2 min read · 28 January 2010
Whaa? PE Firms may actually benefit from the Wall Street restructuring plan. (FT Lex) Pot Calling Kettle Black? Public pension funds needing to boost their returns but frustrated with hedge funds and private-equity investments are turning to one of the oldest investment strategies-using leverage! (WSJ) Speaking of Pensions: Yesterday I outlined how NY State Common plans to support emerging manager funds without placement agents. From that same presentation, NY Post reports on the firm's "rationalization" of its exposure to mega-funds. (NY Post) Contradictions: The first Indian-American woman to run for Congress is a hedge fund lawyer, and she's a Democrat running with a pro-Wall Street mantra. (NY Times) Reports from Davos I: Felix Salmon is siding with the pessimists. (Reuters)
1 min read · 27 January 2010
2 min read · 27 January 2010
Still Needed: A Sheriff of Finance, according to George Soros. (NYT) Blu-Ray Shams: This is Just Ballsy. If you open up a $3,500 Lexicon Blu-Ray Player, you will find an entire $500 Oppo Blu-ray player inside, intact, with its original chassis. A manufacturer actually bought the $500 model, put it inside a bigger box, and sold it for $3500. WOW. (Wired) Hope They're Not Flocking to Journalism: College freshmen are abandoning business as a major. (Inside Higher Ed via Abnormal Returns) Unmitigated Gall: Most Irony-Impaired Wall Street Research Title. Ever. (The Big Picture) Take That Main Streeters: 'Main Street' Is An Idiotic Concept, Which Doesn't Exist Outside Of Disneyland (Clusterstock) Yikes: Rosetta Stone had a successful IPO (remember, they were backed by ABS Capital) but have recently stumbled. Here's how to avoid their fate. (Dealscape)
2 min read · 26 January 2010
I'm reporting from the Private Equity Analyst Outlook Conference at the Grand Hyatt in New York. Raudline Etienne, Chief Investment Officer for the New York State Common Retirement Fund, fielded some difficult questions about the fund's ban on placement agents. She explained how the NY State Common's emerging managers program will resolve the dichotomy of banning placement agents but remaining committed to new, smaller funds, which, she said, often perform the best. On emerging managers: "We looked at the ‘big boys' in our portfolio, and it's the early funds--funds one through three-that we made the most money on. So, in time we will identify the next generation of emerging managers to back." The moderator asked how the fund might reconcile that with its recent ban on placement agents, a result of the pay-for-play debacle that has played out since this summer. Young funds, with fewer resources to dedicate to fundraising, often need placement agents the most. Etienne said the firm has enacted an emerging manager program to avoid missing out on new, small funds that often need
3 min read · 26 January 2010
Here are some potential M&A ideas, rumored or official, to jumpstart your deal pipeline. Our sources are various news reports and the Buyouts “Seeking Buyers” list. For prior lists, see below. Levine Leichtman Capital Partners IV, raised its offer for Rubio's Restaurants. One analyst told Dow Jones he doesn't believe Rubio's will accept the offer. He said, "continued pressure in the form of increasing its bid may force Rubio's to seek an alternative acquirer." Protection One, Inc. (Nasdaq:PONE), a leading provider of electronic security services to the residential, commercial and wholesale markets, has engaged J. P. Morgan to advise it in exploring strategic alternatives. TSX-listed Conjuchem Biotechnologies announced its exploring strategic alternatives. France-based Toreador Resources Corp. was reported to be in talks with several energy conglomerates to acquire or partner with the oil and gas company.
2 min read · 26 January 2010
