Family networking and genealogy website MyHeritage said it bought rival Geni.com as it continues to expand into the United States, Reuters reported. The Israeli company did not disclose how much it paid for Los Angeles-based Geni.com but said it was an eight-figure deal in a combination of cash and equity. MyHeritage also said it raised $25 million in a funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, while existing investors Index Ventures and Accel Partners also participated. The company has raised $49 million in total. MyHeritage, which helps people delve into their ancestry and connect with long-lost relatives, is second in the sector behind market leader Ancestry.com, which agreed last month to be bought for $1.6 billion by a group led by Europe-based private equity firm Permira Advisors LLC.
2 min read · 29 November 2012
U.S. securities regulators on Wednesday charged the former chief executive of Delta Petroleum Corp. with leaking confidential information to his friend about an impending large investment in the company by a well-known private firm, Reuters reported. The Securities and Exchange Commission said that former Delta CEO Roger Parker is the central source of an insider-trading scheme that occurred before the Beverly Hills-based private investment firm Tracinda Corp had agreed to purchase a 35 percent stake in Delta Petroleum.
1 min read · 29 November 2012
Anand Balasubrahmanyan, the former Carlyle Group Southeast Asia head, has joined CIMB Group Holdings, where he will have responsibility for the Malaysian bank's private equity products, Reuters reported. The hiring comes as CIMB is expanding its investment banking business after buying some Asian operations of British lender Royal Bank of Scotland earlier this year.
1 min read · 28 November 2012
Private equity firms EQT and GIC will start contacting potential buyers for Springer Science+Business Media next week, aiming to fetch up to 4 billion euros ($5.2 billion), two people close to the process told Reuters. The owners have been preparing an initial public offering (IPO) of the German speciality publisher for April 2013 but are now launching a parallel sales process as an outright sale will generate greater proceeds, the sources said.
2 min read · 28 November 2012
SolarCity Corp, a US installer of residential and commercial solar systems, said it expects its initial public offering of 10.07 million shares to be priced at between $13 and $15 apiece, writes Reuters. At the top end of the expected price range, the offering would raise about $151 million and give the company a valuation of more than $1 billion.
2 min read · 28 November 2012
The main owners of Denmark's TDC have raised nearly 3 billion Danish crowns ($521.5 million) from the sale of stock in the telecoms group, reducing their stake for a second time this year. NTC Holding, a consortium of investment firms Apax Partners, the Blackstone Group LP, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Permira Advisers and Providence Equity Partners, said on Tuesday it had sold 80 million shares in TDC.
2 min read · 27 November 2012
Chief executives in their 20s, led by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, are lionized, in part because of their youth. Many investors state bluntly that they prefer to see people under 40 in charge. Does Silicon Valley have an age bias?
8 min read · 27 November 2012
UK financial services group Nationwide is interested in bidding for 316 branches being sold by Royal Bank of Scotland to speed up its expansion into lending to small and medium-sized businesses, writes Reuters. A 1.65-billion-pound ($2.6 billion) deal to sell the branches collapsed last month after Spanish bidder Santander said the process of carving out the business had proved more difficult than expected, writes Reuters.
3 min read · 27 November 2012
Aston Martin stands at the center of an international takeover battle after Indian motors group Mahindra trumped an Italian bid for half of the British luxury car maker, Reuters wrote Monday. Italian private equity fund Investindustrial reached a agreement on Thursday with the owner, Kuwaiti investment house Investment Dar, but Mahindra made a higher offer on Friday, leaving the fate of the 98-year old icon of British motor engineering hanging in the balance, sources familiar with the discussions said.
3 min read · 26 November 2012
Kevin Kwong, a partner at Senrigan Capital, has left the Hong Kong-based hedge fund this month to start his own investment firm, Reuters reported. Kwong was part of the core investment team at Senrigan, an Asia-focused event-driven hedge fund that started in 2009 with seed capital from U.S. alternative asset manager Blackstone Group.
2 min read · 26 November 2012
