I've been a business reporter for a while. I've covered Wall Street, venture capital and now private equity. I'm always looking for a scoop or something to talk about. I'm the eternal optimist and am still waiting for the Chicago Cubs to win the World Series. Yes, I believe.
McKesson Ventures has invested in Propeller Health, adding to the $20 million funding round announced last week. Financial terms weren’t revealed. Propeller is a digital therapeutics company.
3 min read · 11 June 2018
Mark Garrett has joined General Atlantic as a special adviser. Garrett is the executive vice president and CFO of Adobe Systems Inc.
3 min read · 11 June 2018
Blackstone is offering discounts, including permanent fee breaks and the ability to make some investments without paying Blackstone anything for six years, to coax investors into its $40 billion infrastructure fund, the Financial Times is reporting. Saudi Arabia has pledge to match up to $20 billion in contributions from other investors to the infra fund. Blackstone hopes to finalize the first investments from other sources, the story said.
1 min read · 11 June 2018
Abraaj may have dipped into investor funds because of a cash shortage but it didn’t embezzle, the Financial Times is reporting, citing a forensic review from Deloitte. Abraaj suffered from “a lack of adequate governance, including segregation of duties and the overall weakness in the control frame,” the story said according to briefing notes.
1 min read · 11 June 2018
Showpad, which is backed by Insight Venture Partners, has acquired LearnCore. Financial terms weren’t announced. LearnCore, of Chicago, provides sales training and coaching software. A source said the deal was valued at $50 million.
4 min read · 07 June 2018
Taylor Morrison Home Corp said June 7 that it agreed to buy AV Homes Inc in a deal valued at $963 million. TPG Capital, which owns a 40 percent stake in AV Homes, is voting its shares in favor of the deal. AV Homes, of Scottsdale, Arizona, develops and builds residential communities in Florida, the Carolinas, Arizona and Texas.
9 min read · 07 June 2018
Sentinel Capital Partners said June 7 that it acquired GSM Outdoors. Financial terms weren’t announced. GSM, of Grand Prairie, Texas, provides branded accessories for the hunting, sport shooting, and outdoor enthusiast markets. UPDATE: Huron Capital was the seller.
3 min read · 07 June 2018
Byron Trott, the former Goldman Sachs banker who founded BDT Capital in 2009, is in talks to raise a new private equity fund that will have a $9 billion target, the Financial Times is reporting. BDT Capital, of Chicago, provides long-term capital to businesses. Trott is the longtime adviser of Warren Buffett, the story said.
1 min read · 07 June 2018
ForgeRock said June 6 that Francis (Fran) C. Rosch was named CEO. Rosch was previously executive vice president at Symantec. ForgeRock said interim CEO John Fernandez will return to his full-time role as CFO and EVP Global Operations.
3 min read · 07 June 2018
Milestone Partners said June 6 that it acquired mTAB LLC. Financial terms weren’t announced. mTAB, of Anaheim, California and Essex, U.K., provides database services and cloud-based data analytics platforms to enterprise clients in a variety of end markets, including automotive, consumer electronics, insurance and consulting. Woodforest National Bank provided financing for the transaction. Pepper Hamilton LLP advised Milestone. Petsky Prunier and Goodwin Procter advised mTAB.
2 min read · 07 June 2018
