Random Ramblings
Warburg Pincus yesterday announced that the family office of French businessman Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere “has made an investment resulting in a 5% stake in the private equity firm.”
But this is not a transaction whereby Warburg Pincus will use proceeds for management liquidity or to set a valuation ahead of IPO. Instead, my understanding is that the deal is actually for a 5% stake in the carried interest stream of both existing and future Warburg Pincus funds (including its new flagship vehicle -- Fund XII -- which soon will close on around $12 billion). No governance or voting rights in the firm’s management company are included.
The proceeds will be directed largely into Warburg Pincus funds, including to fill a massive $800 million GP commitment to the new fund.
If this sounds a bit familiar, that may because Warburg Pincus previously struck a similar a similar deal with Merrill Lynch, which expires with the firm’s eleventh flagship fund (the new deal, I’m told, is indefinite).
As you might imagine, Warburg Pincus declined comment beyond the press release.
• Another huge PE move: TPG Capital yesterday said that it has hired former Goldman Sachs president Jon Winkelried as co-CEO.
He will share the role with TPG co-founder James Coulter, while fellow co-founder David Bonderman will continue to serve as firm chairman (a role he took on last year, stepping back from day-to-day management as the firm began raising its seventh flagship private equity fund).
“John has a skill set from building large parts of Goldman Sachs that is the type of skill set you need today to manage and grow a business like this,” says Coulter, who first reached out to Winkelried back in June.
Winkelried left Goldman Sachs in 2009 after a 27-year run, but at just 49 years-old. Shortly thereafter, Fortune published a profile titled “The Man Who Walked Away.” It showed how Winkelried — who many viewed as a possible successor to Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein — felt a bit burned out by the financial crisis, was worried about personal illiquidity and had interest in figuring out his next act.
He says that “burned out” was the author’s phrasing — pointing out that he had first considered leaving long before Bear Stearns went bust — but admits that more than two decades with the same firm had him itching for different opportunities.
Winkelried had worked several times with TPG while at Goldman Sachs, and then signed on as a part-time advisor in 2011. “The guy who built the credit opportunities business here, Alan Waxman, was a partner at Goldman who had worked for me,” Winkelried explains. “So after I retired from Goldman, I started to work with Alan and helped them raise their first fund. I got a lot closer to TPG as a result of that.”
Winkelried also would become an advisor with venture capital firm Thrive Capital, led by Joshua Kushner. He says he will continue to work with Josh when asked, but that he’ll no longer be a regular presence in the firm’s New York offices.
• Today in Theranos: The blood-testing company is taking some issue with the idea that it wants to raise new money, saying instead that "we authorized the C-3 shares with plans to ensure all of our authorized but unissued shares have the proper terms." No, I also have no idea what that really means. And it's not for a lack of trying.
Also worth noting that Theranos responded to the disclosed FDA lab reports and said that it slimmed down its board back in July from 12 members to 5 members (even though it didn't actually update its website until early this morning).
• New firm alert: Caretta Partners has been launched by Eric Becker, who previously co-founded Chicago-based private equity firm Sterling Partners.
• Oops: Yesterday's personnel section had an item about venture firm NEA promoting someone to partner, but included a blue dot instead of the person's name. Major apologies to Sara Nayeem, who originally joined NEA's healthcare practice in 2009 from Merrill Lynch, and sits on the boards of portfolio companies Mersana, Cydan, Vtesse and Therachon.
• Go Pats!
THE BIG DEAL
• Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) are considering a merger that would create a drugs giant worth over $300 billion, according to multiple media reports. Read more.
VENTURE CAPITAL DEALS
• Brandwatch, a UK-based social media monitoring platform, has raised $33 million in Series C funding. Partech Ventures led the round, and was joined by return backers Highland Capital Partners Europe and Nauta Capital. www.brandwatch.com
• Qvella, a Toronto-based molecular diagnostics company, has raised US$20 million in Series A funding. RA Capital Management and Whitecap Venture Partners co-led the round, and were joined by Hatteras Venture Partners and Sands Capital Ventures. www.qvella.com
• Gobble, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based meal kit delivery startup, has raised $10.75 million in Series A funding. Trinity Ventures led the round, and was joined by Andreessen Horowitz, Fenox VC, Initialized Capital and Anjula Acharia-Bath. www.gobble.com
• MabSpace Biosciences Co., a Chinese developer of antibody-based therapeutics, has raised $15 million in Series A funding from Lilly Asia Ventures. www.mabspacebio.com
• Elastic Path Software Inc., a Canadian provider of ecommerce revenue solutions for brands, has raised C$10 million from Yaletown Venture Partners and the BDC Venture Capital. www.elasticpath.com
• Enlitic LLC, a San Francisco-based startup that applies machine learning to X-rays, has raised $10 million in Series B funding led by Australian radiology provider Capitol Health (ASX: CAJ). Read more.
• KeepTruckin, a San Francisco-based maker of electronic logbook apps for truckers, $8 million in Series A funding from Index Ventures and return backer Google Ventures. www.keeptruckin.com
• Filld, an on-demand fuel delivery startup, has raised $3.25 million in funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Javelin Ventures Partners. Read more.
• Aira.IO, a La Jolla, Calif.-based visual interpreter for the blind, has raised $790,000 in seed funding from Lux Capital and ARCH Venture Partners. www.aira.io
PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS
• Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO) has completed its previously-announced acquisition of OM Group Inc. (NYSE: OMG), a Cleveland-based diversified industrials company, for approximately $1.64 billion, or $54 per share. Also as previously-announced, Platform Specialty Products (NYSE: PAH) subsequently acquired OM Group's electronic chemicals and photomasks businesses from Apollo for around $365 million in cash. www.omgi.com
• ArcLight Capital Partners has completed its previously-announced acquisition of the U.S. wind energy business of Infigen Energy (ASX: IFN) for approximately US$272.5 million. The newly-independent company will be known as Leeward Renewable Energy LLC. www.arclightcapital.com
• Christy Sports, a Lakewood, Colo.-based retailer of ski and snowboard equipment and apparel in the Rocky Mountain region, has secured a “significant” investment from Norwest Equity Partners. www.christysports.com
• Dubai International Capital (DIC) is working on a deal to sell British engineering aerospace company Doncasters Group Ltd. to an investor consortium led by members of DIC management for upwards of $2 billion, according to Bloomberg. The deal would be financed, in part, via participation from The Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs and AlpInvest Partners. Read more.
IPOs
• Bain Capital has hired Rothschild to pursue either a sale or IPO for car carts maker FTE Automotive, according to Reuters. Bain purchased FTE in 2013 for €400 million, and reportedly wants to “take advantage of high sector valuations.” Read more.
• MyoKardia Inc., a South San Francisco-based provider of therapies for genetic heart disease, raised $54 million in its IPO. The company priced 5.4 million shares at $10 per share, compared to plans to offer around 4.69 million shares at between $15 and $17. Its initial market cap will be approximately $262 million. MyoKardia will trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol MYOK, while Credit Suisse and Cowen & Co. served as lead underwriters. The company reports a $12.2 million net loss on $7.1 million in collaboration and license revenue for the first half of 2015, and had raised over $90 million in VC funding, from firms like Third Rock Ventures (52.67% pre-IPO stake), Fidelity (13.19%), Aventis Inc. (11.22%), Casdin Capital, Cormorant Asset Management, Perceptive Life Sciences and BioBridge. www.myokardia.com
• Permira has hired Rothschild to manage a 2016 IPO for Spanish pizzeria chain Telepizza, according to Reuters. Read more.
EXITS
• IBM (NYSE: IBM) confirmed that it has agreed to acquire the digital assets of The Weather Channel for an undisclosed amount. The Weather Channel was purchased for $3.5 billion in 2008 by The Blackstone Group, Bain Capital and NBC Universal. Read Jonathan Vanian's analysis at Fortune.
• PAI Partners has hired Credit Suisse to find a buyer for Global Closure Systems, a French maker of plastic lids for beverages, according to Reuters. GCS reportedly generates nearly €100 million in annual EBITDA. Read more.
• UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) is in “advanced talks” to acquire Helios, a Memphis, Tenn.-based employee benefits manager currently owned by Kelso & Co. and Stone Point Capital, according to Bloomberg. The deal could be valued at upwards of $1.7 billion. Read more.
OTHER DEALS
• Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) has agreed to sell Finnish cybersecurity company Stonesoft to Raytheon (NYSE: RTN), according to Fortune. An announcement could come later today. Intel had paid $389 million to acquire Stonesoft two years ago. Read more.
• Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE:HOT) reportedly is receiving takeover interest from both Chinese suitors and Hyatt Hotels (NYSE: H). The Stamford, Conn.-based company’s market cap is now approaching $13.5 billion. Read more.
FIRMS & FUNDS
• Altos Ventures is raising upwards of $110 million for its second Korea-focused venture capital fund, according to a regulatory filing. www.altos.vc
• Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) said that, as part of its restructuring, it will cut upwards of 35,000 jobs (via both layoffs and biz unit sales) over the next two years and shutter operations in 10 countries. Read more.
• Frazier Healthcare Partners, a healthcare-focused venture capital and growth equity firm, has closed its eighth fund with $262 million in capital commitments. www.frazierhealthcare.com
• Green Visor Capital, a San Francisco-based VC firm focused on financial services, is raising upwards of $200 million for its second fund, according to a regulatory filing. www.greenvisorcapital.com
• U.S. Venture Partners has raised around $281 million for its eleventh fund, according to a regulatory filing. An earlier filing suggested it was targeting $275 million. www.usvp.com
MOVING IN, UP, ON & OUT
• Jay Fishman has resigned as a board director with The Carlyle Group (Nasdaq: CG) due to “previously announced health issues.” He will be succeeded by Anthony Welters, executive chairman of Black Ivy Group and senior advisor to the CEO at UnitedHealth Group. www.carlyle.com
• Brian Modoff has joined Qualcomm Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM) as executive VP of strategy, M&A and ventures. He previously was a managing director of equity research with Deutsche Bank. www.qualcomm.com
• Daniel Pietrzak has stepped down as co-head of structured finance at Deutsche Bank, in order to join KKR as a London-based partner in the firm’s credit business, according to the WSJ. Read more.
• Josh Silverman has rejoined venture capital firm Greylock Partners as an executive-in-residence. He had served as an EIR at Greylock in 2011, and had spent the past several years with American Express as president of consumer products and services. He also has served as CEO of both Evite and Shopping.com. www.greylock.com
• Mark Sturrock has joined Monroe Capital to lead origination efforts in Canada. He previously was a senior managing director at Salus Capital Partners. www.monroecap.com
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