Random Ramblings
A bunch of notes to kick off your Friday:
• That was quick: The Blackstone Group has held a $17 billion first close for its seventh global buyout fund, compared to its $16 billion target. All of this is outside commitments (i.e., doesn't include GP money) and the firm is said to have more than another $500 million in outside commitments soft circled -- meaning that it should hold a close at its $17.5 billion hard cap within a month or two, once all the paperwork gets finalized.
It's worth noting that Blackstone only formally began fundraising in Q3 2014, whereas its prior flagship fundraise took nearly four years to complete (thanks, in large part, to the financial crisis). No comment on the new raise from a Blackstone spokesman, natch.
• They can't hire until we fire: As first reported yesterday by the WSJ, General Electric has required than any bidders on its $16 billion mid-market lending business (Antares) sign an agreement not to hire any "key" GE Antares personnel for 12 months. To be clear, this is not a non-solicitation pledge. It's a non-hire, even if the bidder already has a third-person search process underway or if the GE employee quits and makes first contact. (Correction: It appears that an employee may be able to quit first, and then reach out to a prospective employer).
So if you're a GE Antares employee who wants to join one of the nearly dozen firms that are said to be bidding, you're basically stuck until (and unless) you're formally fired.
Even worse, sources tell me that GE has refused bidder requests to define what "key" means. Is it C-suite? Is it all managing directors? All investment professionals? That guy who keeps the urinals smelling fresh? No one knows, which means bidders face legal repercussions if they hire anyone from GE Antares. Quite a way to give one extra kick to employees who already are on their way out the door, and also to possibly reduce your number of bidders.
• (Almost) done deal: Martini Media, a San Francisco-based company that connects brands with luxury online audiences, has quietly signed a letter of intent to be acquired by a strategic buyer. No word yet on the buyer's identity or the deal's price-tag.
A source close to the situation says that most of Martini Media's staff is expected to join the buyer, although no one was answering phones at either its San Francisco nor New York offices yesterday. In fact, the SF office no longer has working voice-mail and the NY office's voice-mailbox was full.
The company had raised over $40 million in VC and venture debt funding since 2008, from such firms as Venrock, Granite Ventures, Reed Elsevier Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank.
• Speaking of secret deals: Yahoo yesterday filed a 10-Q that reveals it paid $23 million to acquire a company in the first quarter. No word, however, on what company it was.
• Thought experiment: If all of the 'unicorn' companies were put into an index, and priced to their most recent valuations, would you buy the index, ignore it or short it? Common shares, not preferred.
• That's new: Uber has made a $3 billion offer to buy mobile mapping service Here from Nokia, per the NY Times. Even if not successful (there's competition), this seems to signal a pretty big strategic shift for a company that has loudly favored organic growth over big M&A.
• Venture nadir: Some of you have asked me to comment on the Jennifer Lopez interview at the National Venture Capital Association's annual event in San Francisco this week. I'll just leave it at this: If the NVCA would like to do a keynote interview with me next year in which I ask attendees for a billion dollar business idea and the money to make it a reality, you know where to find me.
• Succinct: Yesterday we noted that Stuart Bernstein is "retiring" as Goldman Sachs' head of venture capital coverage and global leader of its cleantech and renewables group. So I emailed Bernstein to see if this was just a retirement from GS, or if he was hanging up his spreadsheets for good. His reply: "Let’s put it this way, when I retire, that will mean my heart has stopped."
• Have a great weekend... And, to my mother and to J, have an even better Mother's Day!
THE BIG DEAL
• Fitbit, a San Francisco-based maker of fitness tracking devices, has filed for a $100 million IPO (likely a placeholder number). It plans to trade on the NYSE under ticker symbol FIT, with Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and BofA Merrill Lynch serving as lead underwriters.
The company reports nearly $132 million in net income on $745 million in revenue for 2014, compared to a $52 million net loss on $271 million in revenue for 2013.
Fitbit has raised over $80 million in VC funding since its 2007 founding, from firms like Foundry Group (28.9% pre-IPO stake), True Ventures (22.4%) and SoftBank Capital (5.6%), Sapphire Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures and Felicis Ventures. Read more.
VENTURE CAPITAL DEALS
• Cybereason, a Cambridge, Mass.-based cybersecurity startup, has raised $25 million in Series B funding. Spark Capital led the round, and was joined by Lockheed Martin and return backer CRV. www.cybereason.com
• Govini, a San Francisco-based provider of business intelligence solutions for companies that sell goods and services to the public sector, has raised $20 million in Series C funding. Backers include Accel Partners, Salesforce Ventures and Symphony Technology Group. www.govini.com
• Vedantu, an Indian online tutoring platform, has raised $5 million in Series A funding from Accel Partners and Tiger Global Management. Read more.
• Cursive Labs, a San Diego-based “venture studio,” has raised $2.2 million in Series A funding. Backers include Crescent Ridge Partners Ventures, Wavemaker Partners, Howard Lindzon, Keshif Ventures and Bootstrap Incubation. www.cursivelabs.com
• Trizic, a San Francisco-based provider of digital wealth advisory solutions for financial institutions and RIAs, has raised $2 million in seed funding from Operative Capital. www.trizic.com
• Yard Club Inc., a San Francisco-based P2P rental platform for heavy equipment, has raised an undisclosed amount of strategic funding from Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT). Read more.
PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS
• Information Innovators Inc., a Springfield, Va.-based portfolio company of DFW Capital Partners, has acquired Creative Computing Solutions Inc., a Rockville, Md.-based provider of IT and project management solutions to federal government customers. No financial terms were disclosed. www.iiinfo.com
• Jensen Hughes Inc., a Baltimore-based provider of engineering consulting services for the “built environment,” has acquired both Randal Brown & Associates Engineering Ltd. (Toronto) and Sereca Fire Consulting Ltd. (Vancouver). No financial terms were disclosed. Jensen Hughes is a portfolio company of Huron Capital Partners. www.jensenhughes.com
• Winona Capital has acquired a control stake in Diono, a Puyallup, Wash.–based maker of juvenile products. No financial terms were disclosed. www.skjp.com
IPOs
• Collegium Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Canton, Mass.-based developer of abuse-deterrent treatments for chronic pain, raised $70 million in its IPO. The pre-revenue company priced 5.8 million shares at $12 per share (low end of $12-$14 offering range), for an initial market cap of around $236 million. It will trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol COLL, while Jefferies and Piper Jaffray served as lead underwriters. Collegium Pharma had raised around $77 million in VC funding, including a $50 million round last month. Shareholders include Longitude Capital Partners (22.37% pre-IPO stake), Skyline Ventures (20.04%), Frazier Healthcare (12.44%), TPG Biotech (8.68%), Boston Millennia Partners (7.77%) and RA Capital (6.08%), Adage Capital Management, Rock Springs Capital, EcoR1 Capital, Eventide Asset Management and Aperture Venture Partners. www.collegiumpharma.com
• Bojangles, a Charlotte, N.C.-based chain of around 600 quick-serve chicken restaurants, raised $147 million in its IPO. The company priced 7.8 million shares at $19 per share, compared to original plans to sell 6.25 million shares at between $15 and $17 per share. Its fully diluted market cap is around $750 million, and it will trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol BOJA. BofA Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo and Jefferies served as lead underwriters. Bojangles reports $26 million of net income on $430 million in revenue for 2014, compared to $24 million of net income on $375 million in revenue for 2013. Advent International held a 94.33% pre-IPO ownership position. www.bojangles.com
EXITS
• Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is in talks to acquire a 20% stake in privately-held Indian smartphone maker Micromax Informatics for upwards of $1.2 billion, according to Reuters. Micromax shareholders include Sequoia Capital and TA Associates. Read more.
• Metro AG (DB: MEO) has made a “tentative bid” of between $300 million and $400 million to acquire Singapore-based Classic Fine Foods from EQT Partners, according to Reuters. Read more.
OTHER DEALS
• GIC has agreed to acquire a $1.7 billion stake in the combined business of Li Ka-shing’s Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and O2, which is in the process of merging. In addition, another $4.8 billion of the combined wireless company’s stock will be purchased by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Grupo BTG Pactual and a pair of Canadian pension fund managers. Read more.
• JD.com Inc. (Nasdaq: JD) has purchased $500 million of new shares in Chinese travel e-commerce site Tuniu Corp. (Nasdaq: TOUR). Read more.
• Just Eat (LSE: JE) has agreed to acquire Menulog, a restaurant delivery business in Australia and New Zealand, for around £445 million. Read more.
• Syngenta AG (Swiss: SYN) has rejected an unsolicited $45 billion takeover offer from Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON), saying that it “fundamentally undervalues” the Swiss agribusiness company’s future prospects. Read more.
• Uber has made a $3 billion offer to buy mobile mapping service Here from Nokia, according to the NY Times. This would rival a bid being prepped by a consortium of Baidu, BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz. An unidentified private equity firm also has reported interest. Read more.
• Yelp (NYSE: YELP) has hired bankers to explore a possible sale, according to the WSJ. The San Francisco-based local business review site saw its stock price spike around 23% on the news, giving it a market cap of approximately $3.5 billion. Read more.
FIRMS & FUNDS
• B. Riley & Co. LLC, an investment banking unit of B. Riley Financial Inc. (OTCBB: RILY), has acquired the investment banking team of J. Moore Partners, a San Francisco-based M&A boutique and merchant bank. No financial terms were disclosed. www.brileyco.com
• The Carlyle Group has closed its third CLO fund this year with around $610 million in capital commitments. www.carlyle.com
• Cross Culture Ventures, whose principals include Atom Factory CEO Troy Carter, is raising upwards of $50 million for its debut fund, according to a regulatory filing. www.crossculturevc.com
• Leeds Novamark Capital, a Reston, Va.-based private equity and debt investor, has changed its name to LNC Partners. www.lnc-partners.com
MOVING IN, UP, ON & OUT
• Eric Jones has joined Comcast Corp. as a senior manager of corporate development. He previously was CFO of Professional Trading Solutions and, before that, was with private equity firm LLR Partners. www.comcast.com
• Tye Stebbins has joined Centerfield Capital Partners as a senior associate. He previously was an associate with Cardinal Equity Partners. www.centerfieldcapital.com
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