When VC and Buyout Firms Team Up...
WSJ blogger Scott Austin is reporting that Sequoia Capital is a small part of the consortium that has agreed to buy private bank First Republic from Bank of America, for more than $1 billion. Don’t quite know what to say, except that it’s a bit unexpected. Not only because Sequoia doesn’t typically involve itself with buyout deals (save for the Aricent deal with KKR), but because it also isn’t known as much of a financial sector investor. I’m sure Sequoia is aware that the VC world’s track record with big buyout clubs is mixed (to be kind). The most egregious examples are Battery Ventures with Freescale Semiconductor and Highland Capital Partners with Harrah’s. More recently we had
22 October 2009•1 min read
