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Todd Chaffee Recounts Challenge of Getting into Twitter Deal
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 Speaking at Venture Capital Journal’s Venture Alpha conference Thursday, Chaffee described how a then-junior Institutional Ventures employee, Jules Maltz, came back from a December event organized by the Churchill Club, an organization that holds talks in the San Francisco Bay area. He had heard Evan Williams, co-founder ... |
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peHUB Second Opinion 10.21
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 More From The Bio: Steve Jobs kinda sorta hated Eric Schmidt, Google's chairman, because of the Android. And, Jobs told Obama he was headed to be a "one-term" president. Next Up to Be Cut: S&P says it will likely downgrade France, Spain, Italy, Ireland and Portugal if the euro zone goes into a recession. Clarity: Mobile phones don't cause cancer, according to a new study. This is good since about 6% of two to five year olds have their own smart phones. Not Worth $30 Bln: Felix Salmon "likes" the Groupon IPO a little more after seeing some roadshow documents. 150 Characters: Here's Michelle Obama's first tweet which calls on Americans to support military families. Read more » |
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Three PE firms--Warburg Pincus, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Centerbridge Partners--have bought 25% of Santander Consumer USA, the U.S. affiliate of Grupo Santander that provides automotive fiancing. The PE firm have invested $1 billion while Dundon DFS has put in $150 million. Deutsche Bank and Barclays Capital provided financial advice to the PE firms. Read more » |
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Union Square Closes on $116M for Third Early Stage Fund, Has Commitments for Rest
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 Rumors of the close began to spread last week, with two sources close to the company confirming the commitments. The SEC filing says another $83.5 million of the firm’s third early stage fund remains to be spoken for, though one source said it too has been sold. Sources say Union Square drew its capital from existing LPs with few if any new investors invited. The apparent ease of the fundraising isn't surprising given the success of Union Square's first two early stage funds. Those funds invested in a number of notable Internet companies, including Twitter ... Read more » |
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Question of the Week RESULTS: Groupon Is a Stinker
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 Another three in 10 thought a $10 billion valuation was overdoing it, although the company might have a future. Only 6.1% bought into the $10 billion figure. If the stock prices at $17, the midpoint of its range, the company would be valued at... |
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Reduced Groupon IPO to Price Nov. 3, Trade the Next Day
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 The Chicago-based daily deals could raise as much as $540 million, according to its latest SEC filing. Groupon said it planned to sell 30 million shares at $16 to $18 each via joint bookrunners Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse. The eleven other underwriters on the deal include Allen & Co., BofA Merrill Lynch and Barclays Capital. The underwriters have the option to buy an additional 4.5 million class A shares, the Oct. 21 SEC filing said. Read more » |
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Blair Garrou: Investing in the Middle of the Country
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 We often get asked why we chose to base DFJ Mercury in Houston. In part, it’s actually a simple matter of convenience. We are a seed and startup venture capital firm focused on entrepreneurs and innovation that originate in the middle of the country – what we call the “Midcontinent.” When you are a super-regional fund visiting the number of states that we do, you grow to love Houston for its central location and terrific airport system. There is no subst... Read more » |
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AdMedia Partners announced Friday that it acted as financial advisor to retail marketing agency GA|PRC Group in its acquisition by RFE Investment Partners and equity partners Caymus Equity Partners and Starboard Capital Partners. Debt financing was provided by Fifth Third Bancorp and CapitalSouth Partners. Terms of the sale were not released.
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The Audax Group has exited its investment in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Great Expressions Dental Centers, selling the company to OMERS Private Equity. Terms of the deal were not released. Audax acquired a majority interest in the company in May 2008. Read more » |
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Buyout shops Advantage Partners, Bain Capital and Olympus Capital have been shortlisted as bidders for for Japanese software developer Yayoi, Reuters reported Friday. The company, which is owned by MBK Partners, could fetch more than $650 million. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, which also placed a bid, is not among second-round bidders, Reuters wrote.
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Western Solars up Ante Against Chinese Peers
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 German group SolarWorld said on Thursday it was working on steps to curb alleged price dumping by Chinese rivals in Europe. This comes less than a day after its U.S. unit led a group of seven U.S. solar companies in urging the U.S. government to slap anti-dumping duties on Chi... |
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Mark Suster Has Internet TV on the Brain. Should You?
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 Not that anyone has been paying much attention to him, Suster told a crowd at the Venture Alpha conference held yesterday in San Francisco. “I’ve walked up and down Sand Hill Road and not a single person agrees with me.” Suster thinks this “means I’m on to something.” But it’s easy to see why others might not agree, beginning with the enduring popularity of good old-fashioned TV. According to the Nielsen Company, Americans watch 5.3 hours of television every single day, and every year, they watch just a tiny bit more than the year before. Indeed, in its latest report.... Read more » |
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Buyout giant Blackstone Group is paying $1.08 billion for the suburban office portfolio of Duke Realty Corp. The portfolio includes 82 suburban office properties located in Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Minneapolis, Orlando and Tampa, Reuters reported. Read more » |
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Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is placing an early bet on a slowdown in the Chinese economy, and plans to expand into Hong Kong in the next six to nine months with its $2 billion special situations unit, Reuters reported, citing a story in the Financial Times. The buyout group's plans follow news that top TPG Capital dealmaker Weijian Shan has raised $875 million for a distressed asset fund to invest in Asia under his PAG group. Read more » |
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HipWay Ltd., the creator of an online, invitation only club for Russian travel, has added $2 million in financing, bringing its total raised to $2.75 million. The company said that its investors included Chamath Palihapitiya, formerly of Facebook; Michael van Swaaij, formerly of Skype; Fabrice Grinda, co-founder of Zingy; and Mark Gerson of the Gerson Lehrman Group. Read more » |
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Liquidnet Inc., a venue for institutions to anonymously trade public stocks, was sued by Wedbush Securities Inc. for allegedly stealing trade secrets to start a rival business trading shares of private companies, Reuters reported. The company announced earlier this week that it would move into trading private company stock, making it a competitor to private exchanges like SecondMarket. The Wedbush lawsuit comes three days after Liquidnet hired Lou Kerner, formerly a Wedbush vice president of equity research covering social media and e-commerce, to spearhead the new business, Reuters reported.
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peHUB First Read
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 Who Got Gaddafi? David Cay Johnston eyes pay data… looks like the rich get richer GE Sees 2012 Growth, hits analysts’ notes for ’11 so far Read more » |
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Shane Robison, Hewlett-Packard's chief strategy and technology officer has retired, becoming the latest senior executive to leave the company, Reuters reported. Robison, 57, will step down on November 1, ending an 11-year term at the company, which is now pondering a sale or spinoff of its core personal computing division and trying to assure skeptical investors it can restructure to return to growth, Reuters wrote.
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In Japan's largest buyout since the financial crisis, Bain Capital announced that it will pay $2.1 billion to buy restaurant chain Skylark from Nomura Holdings and other investors, Reuters reported. Nomura Principal, the private equity unit of Nomura, originally invested in Skylark in 2006 through a management buyout with UK private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.
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Groupon IPO Eyes $540M
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 Groupon plans to sell 30 million shares at between $16 and $18 each, the filing said. That means the company aims to raise $480 million to $540 million from the IPO, depending on investor demand. Groupon is set to launch a road... |
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Redwood City, Calif.-based Dermira has raised $42 million in Series A financing to back the acquisition, development and commercialization of novel therapeutics in dermatology. Investors include Bay City Capital, New Enterprise Associates and Canaan Partners. In conjunction with the financing, Dermira also said that it has acquired Valocor Therapeutics, which has a pipeline of development stage dermatology programs for the treatment of acne, inflammatory skin diseases, and other conditions.
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Video site Viki has closed on $20 million in Series B financing from investors including SK Planet, BBC Worldwide, Greylock Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Charles River Ventures and Neoteny Labs. The money will go toward product development and expanding the company’s staff. Viki provides online video, including TV series, movies and premium content, translated into over 150 languages by a community of fans.
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CouponCabin.com has raised $54 million in growth financing led by JMI Equity, the company announced Thursday. JMI is taking a minority stake in the online coupon company. Read more » |
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