Erin Griffith
peHub Second Opinion ***The latest in banned corporatespeak: “Flat is the new up.” I have no doubt that this is an industry-specific catch phrase (ahem, financeretailautomotiveairlinehousingoldmedia). ***The Glass Hammer points out discrepancies in simultaneous articles tallying a headcount of women at the top of tech companies. Seems like it’s a tricky thing to pin down. […]
A pile of links today: ***PE-backed bankruptcies are piling up in July. Last week it was TA Associates’s Steve & Barry’s. This week its Madison Dearborn’s Pierre Foods, and Cerberus’s Western NonWoven. Three consumer products companies in a row (indirectly for Western NonWoven) makes me curious about some of the consumer-focused funds. North Castle Partners […]
***Deal Journal suggests that hostile bidder Microsoft could learn from Inbev’s takeover of Anheuser Busch. Got a reluctant target? Just raise your bid. How simple is that? They show a handy little chart that outlines the high correlation between increased hostile bids and times the board recommended the bids. Strikingly, the bids not increased were […]
***The Glass Hammer reports that Wachovia has been recognized by several magazines as having progressive women and minorities-related policies. Apparently the firm wasn’t always this politically correct, but I say cheers on the turnaround! ***On that note, Keith Fitz-Gerald at Seeking Alpha argues that a woman should chair the Fed. A former Wachovia woman, to […]
The Lenders Ain’t Lendin’, the Sellers Won’t Sell ***Good news for private equity when it comes to bank bail-outs, according to the Fed. I wonder, which kinds of firms are itching to infuse banks with capital? Mega-funds that don’t have deals to do? Turnaround firms? Hybrid hedge fund-PE firms? ***Headwaters MB, a mid-market investment banking […]
***Cleantech venture investments hit a record high in the second quarter, according to Cleantech Group, a research firm. I had no idea there was talk of a potential cleantech bubble, but the firm’s director of research refutes it, saying, “When you look at all of the estimates on how much capital needs to be deployed […]
This Saturday marks the official midpoint of the summer, and for those in finance, that heralds the onset of a major slowdown. In an already slow market, what’s a firm to do? For many, the summer signals survey time. I’ve got the heads-up on several of the best PE-focused studies. Today I’m looking at the […]
***Pringles are not chips. This is confusing (then what are they?), but what I want to know is, what does that mean for the potential sale of Pringles? Remember when it was being shopped by Merrill Lynch and Blackstone, alongside Duracell and Folgers? Well, Folgers sold. Maybe this tax break is just what P&G needs […]
This weekend we said goodbye to the two remaining BCC (before credit crunch) deals, closing the book on both Penn National and BCE. Each found long-anticipated resolutions that seemed relatively painless for those involved. End of story. But as we bid farewell to that era, a different deal opened up a whole new can of […]
peHub Second Opinion ***We all see firms and companies trying to bolster their experience by adding up all their partners’ years in the field. We also know no one really falls for that malarkey. But I have to say Alumni Capital Network has one the best one to date. According to a colleague, “they’ve been […]