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.
Platinum Equity said Tuesday it has agreed to buy CBS Outdoor International in a deal valued at about $225 million. CBS Outdoor said it is one of the largest out-of-home media and billboard businesses in Europe, providing custom media solutions to outdoor advertising agencies and direct clients in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and China.
3 min read · 16 July 2013
Water Street Healthcare Partners said Tuesday it completed an investment in RTI Biologics Inc. Water Street invested $50 million private placement of convertible preferred equity to support RTI's buy of Pioneer Surgical Technology. Alachua, Fla.-based RTI specializes in orthopedic and other biologic implants.
3 min read · 16 July 2013
Christopher Lane has joined William Blair & Company as an MD in the the investment banking division’s technology group. He will be based in San Francisco. Lane most recently worked at Jefferies & Company, where he was a managing director. Lane joins Robert Abbe and Per Stahl who were recently hired by William Blair as MDs in the firm's tech banking team. Abbe and Stahl were also previously with Jefferies.
4 min read · 16 July 2013
Abacus Finance Group served as Administrative Agent and Joint Lead Arranger for $45 million in debt to support the formation of BIO-IVT Group by Thompson Street Capital Partners and management. Westbury, N.Y,-based BIO-IVT provides biological research materials to biopharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations, government and academic institutions.
3 min read · 16 July 2013
Kit Check said Tuesday it raised a $10.4 million Series A funding round led by New Leaf Venture Partners. Sands Capital Ventures, Easton Capital Investment Group and LionBird also participated in the round. Kit Check provides automated pharmacy kit processing software for hospitals.
5 min read · 16 July 2013
GamesAnalytics said Tuesday it secured $1.3 million in Series A equity funding from new investors Par Equity and STV Group. The deal includes a follow-on investment of more than $612,000 from Scottish Enterprise. GamesAnalytics is a predictive analytics specialist.
4 min read · 16 July 2013
Altamont has partnered with GSO Capital Partners to provide refinancing for Billabong International Limited. As part of the recapitalization, Altamont also agreed to acquire DAKINE from Billabong, which will be run as a separate company. Press reports value the financing package at $364 million. Billabong's board also said it plans to appoint Scott Olivet as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the company. Billabong was the subject of a bidding war earlier this year.
3 min read · 16 July 2013
Privateer Holdings said Tuesday it completed a $7 million Series A funding round. Investors include high net worth individual investors and family offices. Privateer, of Seattle, is private equity firm focused on investing in company's in the cannabis space.
3 min read · 16 July 2013
Henri Moudi, a former executive of Thomas Weisel Asset Management, has launched Mission Creek Capital Partners. San Francisco-based Mission Creek provides private equity distribution management and advisory services for select institutional and private clients. Moudi previously developed and led Thomas Weisel Asset Management’s distribution management platform. Charles Gehring, a former Managing Director and as Chairman of Insight Capital Research & Management, is also a cofounder and MD at Mission Creek.
3 min read · 16 July 2013
Ayasdi said Tuesday it raised $30.6 million in Series B funding led by IVP. Citi Ventures, GE Ventures and existing investors Khosla Ventures and FLOODGATE also participated. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Ayasdi is a big data company.
6 min read · 16 July 2013
