Abdicated responsibility upon return
Greetings from the home office, where it's good to be back after two weeks of doing remarkably little. No column this morning since I... well, did remarkably little and am just trying to get back up to speed.
In the interim, a HUGE note of thanks to Erin Griffith -- who did a fantastic job in my absence. Hopefully she slept in a bit this morning... Also, as a reminder, you can always drop me anonymous tips via this link.
Back to regular business tomorrow, and lots of news blurbs below.
THE BIG DEAL
• KKR and Rhone Capital have increased their offer for Australian wine-maker Treasury Wine Estates Ltd. (ASX: TWE) to A$3.4 billion, or A$5.20 per share. This represents an 11% bump from their prior offer in April, and is a 5.1% premium to the company’s closing stock price last Friday. www.tweglobal.com
VENTURE CAPITAL DEALS
• Rebiotix Inc., a Roseville, Minn.-based drug development company focused on treatments for gastrointestinal diseases, has raised $25 million in Series B funding. No investors were identified. www.rebiotix.com
• Destiny Pharma, a UK-based developer of a drug to prevent post-surgical staphylococcal infections, has raised £2.8 million in VC funding led by The Angel CoFund. www.destinypharma.com
• WearYouWant, a Thai fashion ecommerce site, has raised $1.5 million in Series A funding. Digital Media Partners led the round, and was joined by IMG Investment Partners and OPT SEA. www.wearyouwant.com
PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS
• American Securities has completed its previously-announced acquisition of Emerald Performance Materials LLC, a Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio-based specialty chemicals company, from Sun Capital Partners. No financial terms were disclosed, but a prior Reuters report puts the price-tag above $1 billion. www.emeraldmaterials.com
• Clayton Dubilier & Rice has completed its previously-announced acquisition of German packaging group Mauser for approximately €1.2 billion from Dubai International Capital. www.cdr-inc.com
• Lion Equity Partners has acquired substantially all the assets of Endurance Business Media Inc., publishers of local printed and online home-related magazines like Homes & Land, Estates & Homes, Rental Guide and Home Guide. No financial terms were disclosed. www.HomesandLand.com
• Marlin Equity Partners has completed its previously-announced acquisition of the Arcserve data protection business of CA Technologies (Nasdaq: CA). No financial terms were disclosed. www.arcserve.com
• Packaging Coordinators Inc. (PCI), a Philadelphia-based provider of packaging solutions for the healthcare market, has acquired Penn Pharmaceutical Services Ltd., a UK-based provider of provider of drug development and manufacturing services. No financial terms were disclosed. PCI backers include Frazier Healthcare, QIC Global Private Equity, Greenspring Associates and Thomas, McNerney & Partners. www.pciservices.com
• Peet’s Coffee & Tea has acquired Mighty Leaf Tea, a San Francisco–based specialty tea brand, from VMG Partners for an undisclosed amount. Peet’s will be joined on the deal by Next World Group, which will hold a minority stake in the new partnership. www.mightyleaf.com
• Tecomet Inc., a Wilmington, Mass.-based contract manufacturer for the medical device and aerospace industries portfolio, has agreed to acquire the OEM solutions unit of Symmetry Medical Inc. (NYSE: SMA) for $450 million. Tecomet is a portfolio company of Genstar Capital. www.tecomet.com
• Thompson Street Capital Partners has acquired Stone Panels Inc., a Coppell, Texas-based maker of natural stone composite panels. No financial terms were disclosed. www.stone-panels.com
• TractManager, a portfolio company of Arsenal Capital Partners, has acquired MD Buyline, a Dallas-based provider of healthcare analytics and supply chain spend intelligence solutions to healthcare providers and vendors, from SFW Capital Partners. No financial terms were disclosed. www.mdbuyline.com
• Zimt Holding, a private equity group led by David Burresi and Sebastian Sipp, has acquired a 100% stake in British food distributor BFP Wholesale Ltd. from Lesaffre. No financial terms were disclosed. www.bfpwholesale.com
IPOs
• Eleven companies are expected to price U.S. IPOs this week, including five VC-backed biotech offerings, according to Renaissance Capital. Read more.
• Otonomy Inc., a San Diego-based developer of therapeutics for diseases and disorders of the inner and middle ear, has set its IPO terms to around 5.33 million shares being offered at between $14 and $16 per share. It would have an initial market cap of approximately $291 million, were it to price in the middle of its range. The company plans to trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol OTIC, with J.P. Morgan and BofA Merrill Lynch serving as lead underwriters. Otonomy reports a $10.9 million net loss on $9 million in Q1 2014 revenue. It has raised over $140 million in VC funding from firms like Avalon Ventures (16.8% pre-IPO stake), OrbiMed Advisors (15.2%), Novo AS (14.4%), TPG Biotech (14.4%), Domain Associates (11.8%) and Rivervest Venture Partners (7.5%). www.otonomy.com
EXITS
• The Abraaj Group has sold Fibrex, an Angora-based manufacturer of high-density polyethylene and other low-pressure plastic pipe products used in the construction industry, to a pair of unidentified strategic buyers in the region for an undisclosed amount. www.abraaj.com
• RoundTable Healthcare Partners has sold Vesta, a Franklin, Wis.–based contract manufacturer for the medical device industry, to The Lubrizol Corp., a unit of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK). No financial terms were disclosed. www.vestainc.com
• Taboola, a New York-based provider of content recommendation software, has acquired Perfect Market, a Pasadena, Calif.-based programmatic advertising company. No financial terms were disclosed. Taboola has raised around $40 million in VC funding from such firms as Evergreen Venture Partners, WGI Group, Pitango Venture Capital and Marker. Perfect Market has raised at least $30.6 million in venture funding from Trinity Ventures, Rustic Canyon Partners, Tribune Co. and Idealab. Read more.
OTHER DEALS
• The Co-Operative Group has sold its agricultural unit, which includes 15 farms and more than 125 residential and commercial properties, to The Wellcome Trust for £249 million. www.co-operative.coop
• Goldman Sachs is in talks to buy Palo Alto, Calif.-based instant messaging startup Perzo Inc., in an effort to create a Bloomberg chat rival, according to Reuters.
• Fosun International has agreed to acquire Australian energy company Roc Oil (ASX: ROC) for A$474 million in stock. The deal thwarts a previously-disclosed merger attempt with Roc Oil by Australia’s Horizon Oil (ASX: HZN). www.rocoil.com.au
• Scientific Games Corp. (Nasdaq: SGMS) has agreed to acquire Las Vegas-based gaming equipment maker Bally Technologies Inc. (NYSE: BYI) for approximately $5.1 billion (including the refinancing of around $1.8 billion in Bally’s net debt), for $83.30 per share in cash (38% premium to last Thursday’s closing price). www.ballytech.com
FIRMS & FUNDS
• Asia Climate Partners has been formed as a $400 million private equity fund focused on “low-carbon” opportunities in Asia. The new effort is funded by the Asian Development Bank, Orix Corp. and Robeco Institutional Asset Management.
• Pátria Investments, a Brazilian private equity group that is 40% owned by The Blackstone Group, has closed its latest fund with $1.8 billion in capital commitments. www.patriainvestimentos.com.br
MOVING IN, UP, ON & OUT
• Will Kohler has quietly joined Lightspeed Venture Partners as a partner, with a focus on SaaS solutions, enterprise IT, and cloud-based services and applications. He previously was a partner with Summerhill Venture Partners. www.lsvp.com
• Jason Currier has stepped down as controller with Bessemer Venture Partners. No word yet on his future plans. He had joined the firm in November 2012 from General Atlantic. www.bvp.com
• Matthew Grinnell has agreed to join Credit Suisse as a managing director of leveraged finance and sponsors, according to Dow Jones. He previously led European financial sponsors for Barclays. www.credit-suisse.com
• Paul Parker, former global head of M&A for Barclays, has agreed to join Goldman Sachs as co-chairman of M&A, according to The FT. www.goldmansachs.com
• David Prendergast has joined Great Point Partners as a vice president. He previously spent three years with Summit Partners (2009-2012). www.wppfunds.com
• Evan Schoenbach has left Insight Venture Partners, where he had been an analyst for the past three years. No word yet on his future plans.
• Rajiv Shah has joined Providence Equity Partners as a private equity associate. He previously spent two years as an investment banking analyst with Greenhill & Co. www.provequity.com
• Adil Syed has left Redpoint Partners, where he had been an associate since early 2011. No word yet on his future plans. www.redpointvc.com
• Mike Zabik has joined RedBird Capital Partners as a vice president. He previously spent more than four years with Ares Management in Europe,
