Private Equity
1 min read · 25 August 2011
5 min read · 23 August 2011
The value of U.S. tech/telecom M&A has nearly doubled so far in 2011. There were 1,914 transactions so far this year, valued at a combined $209.9 billion, according to data from Dealogic. This compares to 2,210 deals that occurred in 2010, totaling $107.3 billion. As expected, bulge bracket firms like Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan dominated the top 10 of U.S. advisors. But some independent boutiques, such as Evercore Partners and Qatalyst Partners, are making major headway. In fact, of all the top 10 advisors, it is Frank Quattrone's IB that posted the biggest gains. Last week, Qatalyst Partners scored two big deals. The San Francisco IB advised Autonomy which is being sold to HP for $11.72 billion, as well as the $12.94 billion sale of Motorola Mobility Holdings to Google. With both of these deals, Qatalyst vaulted into the top 10 of U.S. tech advisors, Dealogic says. But Qatalyst isn't the only player in town. Citi, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse also posted made major jumps for U.S. tech/telecom advisors, according to Dealogic. So here's the list of the top 10 U.S. M&A advisors for tech/telecom deals, according to Dealogic. The rankings are as of Aug. 22, 2011.
4 min read · 22 August 2011
(Reuters) - The bubble in mobile phone technology patent values may just have popped. Now that Google Inc. has agreed to a $12.5 billion deal to buy Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. -- scooping up a trove of 17,000 phone-related patents to give itself some ground to defend its Android operating system -- the most motivated buyer looks to be off the market. "The game is completely changed as a result of Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility. The arms race is essentially over," said John Amster, chief executive of RPX, a company that advises customers on patent purchases. "They have basically created through acquisition what they needed." Google's move was widely seen as a response to its loss in the auction of 6,000 Nortel patents to a group led by Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc. and Research in Motion, which fetched an unprecedented ...
5 min read · 22 August 2011
The big surprise of yesterday's poll was how predictable it turned out. On Thursday, we asked you which smartphone maker would likely be bought next. The choices were RIM, HTC and Nokia. There’s been lots of speculation that RIM’s problems--poor earnings, layoffs and its inability to make the Blackberry Playbook a healthy competitor to Apple’s iPad--make it a likely takeover target. Apparently, many of our readers agree. Nearly 56% said they expect RIM to be the next smartphone maker to get sold. HTC, in another surprise, came in second with 22.6% (this surprises me because HTC seems more like a buyer than a seller but I could very easily be wrong). And Nokia wound up third with 21%. We also asked for some write-in candidates. There were mentions of Samsung as well as Nortel Networks (one jokester even suggested the iPhone would go up for sale. I doubt this but maybe this person knows something we don't). Till next week.
1 min read · 19 August 2011
Here is one piece of news that I missed. Paul DiNardo has joined GCA Savvian as an MD focusing on software and infrastructure. He is based in San Francisco. DiNardo was recently vice chairman and head of technology investment banking at Montgomery & Co. Before that, he was at Credit Suisse where he led their global software effort. From 2002 to 2004, DiNardo was also head of corporate development at VERITAS Software and spent 13 years at Goldman Sachs (during his last years at Goldman he apparently co-led the software practice), according to the GCA web site. It's not clear why DiNardo left Montgomery but the move to GCA Savvian happened in April, I'm told. GCA is a boutique investment bank known for its West Coast tech practice. The IB recently advised TouchTunes in its sale of a minority stake to 3i. In April, GCA also advised Dealmap in its sale to Google.
1 min read · 18 August 2011
Daniel McCarthy has joined DeSilva+Phillips as a partner. He was Chairman & CEO of Gallarus Media Holdings. DeSilva+Phillips, a media focused investment bank, also said that John Kaiser will now oversee the advertising and digital agency sectors, while Jessica Luterman Naeve will oversee social media and video. Kaiser and Naeve will co-head marketing services, the IB said.
3 min read · 17 August 2011
Many M&A deals include a go-shop but do such provisions actually work? I put this question to John Pollack and David Rosewater, M&A partners with Schulte Roth & Zabel. Pollack and Rosewater recently conducted a review of 25 mergers this year involving private equity and public companies. The deals had a minimum of $500 million in enterprise value. Pollack and Rosewater found that about half of the deals surveyed, or 14, included a "go-shop." J. Crew's $3 billion sale to TPG Capital and Leonard Green had a go-shop, as well as Jo-Ann Stores' $1.6 billion sale to Leonard Green.
2 min read · 08 August 2011
Meet Warren Lee, head of Canaan Partners' New York office. A specialist in digital media, Lee was promoted to general partner in June after spending six years with Canaan. He recently sat down with peHUB for a quick Q&A on a wide range of topics: Q: Is there a bubble in tech? A: I think there are bubbles in selective categories such as flash sites and social media startups. There are too many 'me-too' startups without any real differentiation getting funded by investors. How many different services can your average online consumer subscribe to before getting fatigued? Q: What did you think of Specific Media buying Myspace for $35 million? A: I was surprised the price was so cheap. Thirty five million isn't a lot if you can execute and take advantage of the asset. gotten a fair price. They've also gotten Justin Timberlake and you can't beat that combination. There's still lots of traffic and lot of profiles. They'll get value out of it.
3 min read · 01 August 2011
3 min read · 29 July 2011
