Dan Primack

(Download data here: RaisingBids.pdf) I’ve been taking some reader heat for my latest thesis du jour: Private equity firm adulation/omnipresence is causing public shareholders and strategic buyers to feel that initial take-private offers are artificially low – thus resulting in a need to either raise or abandon bids. Recent examples include Equity Office, Harrah’s, Elkcorp, […]

Three PE-backed companies canceled IPOs during the first week of February. Two of them gave no explanation, perhaps because they knew that the answers lay in the mirror. But the third company – Trident Resources Corp. – blamed “market conditions.” For the uninitiated, that’s legalese for: “It’s the market that sucks, not us.” The SEC […]

Constellation Ventures is back in market with a third fund, and already has scored at least $90 million in commitments from LPs like GKM, New York Common Retirement Fund and longtime backer Bear Stearns ($50m cornerstone nut). Its ultimate target is between $200 million and $250 million. So why does it merit its own post? Well, […]

(Updated) Equity Office shareholders yesterday overwhelmingly approved the $55.50 per share buyout offer from The Blackstone Group, thus cementing the largest-ever LBO at around $39 billion (including around $16 billion in assumed debt). I wrote a few days ago that Blackstone might be better off losing the deal if it were able to collect the […]

Yesterday I wrote that Blackstone Group might be better off losing the Equity Office deal to Vornado, considering that it had been forced to raise its bid – and thereby reduce its return expectations — by 14.4 percent. And I received emails from six Blackstone LPs – all of whom agreed (although my guess is […]

There has been endless discussion over the past few years about how much capital is flowing into the private equity markets – whether it be for mega-LBO funds or VC vehicles focused on hot niches like cleantech or China. Too much money chasing too few deals… fund size tail wagging the due diligence dog… yada […]

General Atlantic today announced that it has acquired Network Solutions, a Herndon, Va.-based provider of online solutions for small businesses, from Najafi Cos. (f.k.a. Pivotal Private Equity). So let’s play 5 Questions with Anton Levy, a managing director with General Atlantic and head of the firm’s media and consumer practice. 1. Network Solutions provides services […]

Am I the only one who’s beginning to think it’s in Blackstone’s best interest to lose the Equity Office deal? It has now raised its bid to $55.50 per share, which is 14.4% higher than its initial offer. So assume for a moment that Blackstone was originally expecting a 25% ROI from the deal – […]

Force10 Networks Inc., a San Jose, Calif.-based provider of network routing and switching equipment, has raised $64 million in additional Series F funding, according to a regulatory filing. Get filing here: Force10.pdf The company held a $50 million first close on the deal last August with a reported post-money valuation of approximately $455 million. The […]

I know it’s brisk outside, but there’s got to be some other reason for the recent spate of canceled PE-backed IPOs. Last Friday it was Tube City IMS, and today’s it’s Hyco International and Trident Resources Corp. No official explanations were given in any of the withdrawal filings, save for Trident’s lame notation about “market […]