Yahoo Inc. said on Thursday it bought a small, mobile start-up company in New York, marking one of new Chief Executive Marissa Mayer's first moves to revamp the struggling Web pioneer by acquiring outside products and technology, Reuters reported. Yahoo purchased Stamped, which makes a product that lets consumers share favorite restaurants and music on their smartphones. It did not disclose financial details. In a blog on the Stamped website, Stamped co-founders wrote that Yahoo would discontinue the Stamped product by the end of the year and that the team would be working on something "big, mobile and new."
2 min read · 26 October 2012
In a deal that may top $3 billion, industrial machinery maker Gardner Denver Inc. is exploring a sale and has drawn initial interest from TPG Capital, KKR, Blackstone, Bain Capital and Onex, according to an exclusive report from Reuters.
1 min read · 25 October 2012
One of Silicon Valley's most established venture funds is seeking to ferret out startup talent in India at the very earliest stages by investing in AngelPrime, a Bangalore-based incubator program to foster young companies. The Mayfield Fund said it would take a majority investment in AngelPrime, bringing its India investment expertise to younger companies, and more technology companies, than in the past, Reuters reported. It did not disclose the exact amount, but said the overall fund run by AngelPrime would total less than $10 million.
2 min read · 25 October 2012
Following a 1.3 percent rise in nine-month revenues, AXA chief financial officer Gerald Harlin said the company remained "absolutely positive" on its ability to meet the goals of its strategic plan announced last year, writes Reuters. Asked about the company's plan to sell or spin off its private equity arm - announced roughly a year ago - Harlin said the process was "continuing normally" though he noted that French government plans to boost taxes on the industry would be "an additional factor" in the talks, writes Reuters.
2 min read · 25 October 2012
Carlyle Group is making its first investment in Southeast Asia, buying a stake of around 25 percent in a publicly traded Indonesian telecom towers operator for about $100 million, writes Reuters. The investment in PT Solusi Tunas Pratama TBK, Indonesia's fourth largest tower operator, underlines a growing trend of global private equity funds setting their sights on investing in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.
3 min read · 25 October 2012
KKR is opening a Singapore office, writes Reuters. The New York-based firm is pushing ahead with raising a $6 billion Asia private equity fund, which would be the largest such fund ever devoted to the region.
3 min read · 25 October 2012
China has allowed overseas investors to buy stakes in unlisted companies in the country using offshore yuan, part of Beijing's efforts to promote international use of the Chinese currency, writes Reuters. The Hong Kong unit of Haitong Securities Co and Bank of Shanghai plan to raise up to $100 million in China's first fund under the so-called Renminbi Qualified Foreign Limited Partner (RQFLP) scheme, initially launched in Shanghai, writes Reuters.
1 min read · 25 October 2012
Ratos has sold broadband, cable TV and telephony company Stofa to the Danish energy and telecom group SE (syd energi) for DKK 1,900 million ($331.2 million), writes Reuters. The sale is reported to generate a net exit gain for Ratos of approximately SEK 850 million and an average annual return (IRR) of approximately 55 percent.
1 min read · 25 October 2012
Private equity firms in the Middle East are preparing to exit a range of investments, a sign that asset markets in the region are recovering from the twin blows of Arab Spring uprisings and the global financial crisis, Reuters reported. Firms including Abraaj Capital, Egypt's Citadel Capital, Abu Dhabi-based Gulf Capital and the private equity arm of Standard Chartered aim to conduct at least three initial public offers of shares and a dozen portfolio asset sales in coming months, conversations with industry executives suggest.
4 min read · 24 October 2012
In a victory for Thomson Reuters, a state judge tentatively ruled that the University of California must try to obtain and then disclose closely guarded information on the investment performance of VC funds managed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital.
4 min read · 24 October 2012
