Erin Griffith

The fact that it's 15 years old makes it that much funnier. The only difference? Suzie didn't take out a low interest loan to buy the lemonade. Click here to view it large.

Few word combinations could arouse more bearish skepticism than SPAC, auto industry, public markets, pre-revenue and Apollo Management (given peHUB's recent Apollo coverage). Yet we have Hughes Telematics, an automotive supply company facing a shareholder vote to merge with a SPAC. The SPAC's $700 million deal for Hughes Telematics was the largest of this year when it was announced in June. That was back when news headlines read "SPACs are Back," trumpeting the attractiveness of the special purpose acquisition vehicle. The deal worked in Apollo Management's favor: Three years ago Apollo had backed Hughes, a venture-stage maker of in-vehicle telematics technology, and would have laid the groundwork for an exit before the company was even profitable. Meanwhile Hughes would have the financing it needed to get over the revenue hurdle, allowing Apollo to continue to take part in the upside. Increased volatility in the public markets and massive hedge fund redemptions make it safe to say those days are over. Layer that with the increasingly global woes of the automotive industry, and it's safe to say Hughes Telematics faces an uphill battle to get its deal approved. Talking to the deal's leader, Polaris Acquisition Corp. head Marc Byron, and you can sense the nerves. "We are definitely facing headwinds," he said. Last month Byron, Apollo Management and Hughes restructured the deal for a lower value ($385 million). Yet Byron assured me, repeatedly, that he and Apollo Management are bullish on Hughes Telematics and really, really, really want the vote to go through. Apollo and Hughes Telematics' management and shareholders even agreed to hold their shares for a two-year lock-up period. The first earnout shares are unable to vest till the stock price hits $20 (its around $8.86 now). Byron needs to convince $105 million worth of Hughes' shareholders to believe in the story, which he is painting as "the one bright shining star out there in this economic mess." Here's why.

Well: "Just about everyone in Kimberly, Wisconsin, hates billionaire Stephen Feinberg." Are we surprised? (Bloomberg) First Bono: Now Bjork. Another first-name 90s music star joins the world of venture investments. What Is Going On Here: Plenty of people, Jim Cramer included, are angry that TARP-funded banks can't or won't say what they're doing with the money. (Dealscape) Gotta Love Deal Professor: Some wonderfully acerbic lessons learned from 2008, including "Banks trump private equity." We Beat China: In IPOs, by value. How is that possible, you ask? Visa. (FT)

Following Dan’s news that HRJ Capital, the over-committed fund of fund manager, will soon cease to exist, I asked several players in the FoF industry: Is this the first of many? Will we see more fund-of-funds sparring with their warehouse lenders before eventually disappearing? The consensus on this question was a pretty strong “no,” with […]

peHUB is on a short blogging break starting today, since Dan is in Costa Rica and I’m trekking out to the frozen Midwest. We’ll return to regular programming Monday morning with PE Week Wire. Please direct any press releases or pieces of news for Monday’s Wire here.

My email inbox looks a bit like Times Square with all the flashing and sparkling holiday love it’s been getting. I have received countless holiday e-cards from various contacts (thank you all kindly), but thus far, absolutely no real dead-tree cards. A few of them even say “We’re sending e-cards this year,” indicating that that was not in case in years past, where I remember getting real, signed cards and not just an overlooked email. That was special only because our inboxes are already clogged with hundreds of unsolicited emails that are a chore to clear out, but snail-mail is a novelty. I can only assume that if cut-backs go as deep as Christmas parties (see: Wall Street) and pencils (see: GM), they’re going to include frivolous postage on glittering holiday greetings to bloggers like myself. Regardless of whether or not old fashioned tree-killing cards ever return, if there’s anyone out there today, here is my e-card to you. I was even nice enough to keep it out of your already-clogged inbox.

Move over Dr. Doom, there’s a new gloom-sayer in town. Or rather, across the pond. In a new report, a two European professors, alongside Boston Consulting Group and IESE Business School, have predicted that 20% to 40% of all private equity firms could fail next year. Called “Get Ready For The Private Equity Shakeout,” the […]

The latest issue of BusinessWeek has a pretty big section of articles catering to would-be or current MBAs. So I thought I'd highlight my favorites: Cracking the Admissions Code: "It turns out business school is inherently extreme. Take 500+ hardworking, determined self-starters with a few years of work experience and a false sense of yuppiedom, then bring them to a hotbed of academia." (BusinessWeek) Shame: The diversity of students' ethnicities at B-schools is shrinking, not growing. That's bad news for schools like the Kelly School, Cornell, and Chicago Booth School of Business. Recruiters have noticed. (BusinessWeek) Speaking of Booth: The school ranked first, above Harvard, on BusinessWeek's ranking of the best U.S. business schools for 2008. (BusinessWeek)

Shock Value: !?!Could Google, Microsoft and Yahoo be the next Ford, GM and Chrysler!?! The comparison, based on M&A history. (Dealbook) Blackstone: A fund that invests in Blackstone Group and other public private equity firms got named one of the worst funds of the year, according to Morningstar. Q&A: What PE can teach the government about rescue investing? Even though their interests aren't aligned, this is an interesting question and good interview by Deal Journal with Lynn Tilton, the founder of Patriarch Partners (which purchased the elusive AriZona Iced Tea earlier this year). Your Favorite Start-Ups: Much Easier than picking a favorite kid I'm sure. Not many kids have balance sheets. (BusinessWeek) Catching Up: A new survey supports what PE pros have been cramming down our throats for years. "It's not about leverage and financial engineering." Often key phrases like "operational expertise" and "partnering with management" are used. Anyways, here's an uplifting survey comparing board members on public companies and PE-backed entities. (Recent contradicting quote from a unnamed PE source: "Boards? Why would we have a board? We don't need a board, we're a private equity firm. That's why we're private!") Why Infectious Greed is Great: A link, a compliment, a quote and a rant. Paul Kedrosky on the NYT behemoth of a Madoff story. (11 bylines?)

“Giving money back is something VCs did after the bubble, but PE firms will never do it.” That’s what I was told six months ago when I asked GPs struggling in the fundraising market if they’d ever decide, “Maaaaybe we don’t need that much money in this environment.” Then firms like Blackstone and Madison Dearborn lowered their targets. Then rumors of LPs missing their capital calls spread like wildfire. And now we have the next logical step: Firms allowing LPs to scale back their commitments. Yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported that TPG had followed in the footsteps of Permira, allowing its investors to cut their commitments to the $20 billion vehicle by as much as 10%, or $2 billion. TPG is the second firm to allow such a move, but the Permira (the first) move looks a bit different and here’s why: TPG is much more benevolent than Permira.