Private equity has been the hot business story on Q1, with everything from Forbes cover stories to Newsweek columns to an upcoming feature on female PE pros in the inaugural issue of Conde Nast Portfolio. I’ve even covered it from time to time (i.e., Mondays through Fridays). But here’s a dirty little secret: Private equity […]
TA Associates today announced that it has acquired a minority stake in K2 Advisors, a $5.5 billion hedge fund-of-funds manager. So we’ve got 5 Questions for Roger Kafker, a TA managing director who will sit on the K2 board: 1. Could this deal be a precursor to TA Associates launching its own hedge fund products? Kafker: […]
Update: Shareholder lawsuits are commonplace in public-to-private buyouts, as someone is always convinced that they’re getting short shrift. But I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a buyout firm sue its acquisition target for choosing the other guy. But that’s what happened yesterday in Texas, when Apollo Management sued EGL Inc. (Nasdaq: EAGL) and its chairman […]
The Blackstone Group has filed for a $4 billion IPO. It did not disclose the number of shares or a propsective price range. Download the filing here: Blackstone.pdf I’m still skimming through the document, but one thing jumped out first: The complete absence of Goldman Sachs. The original CNBC report last week said that Blackstone […]
PwC today released a study (download here) that found a majority of private equity pros expect the percentage of portfolio company dividend recaps to grow in the coming year, with most of that activity occurring in the middle-markets. Here’s one highlight (or lowlight, depending on your perspective): “94% of respondents consider dividend recaps an important part […]
A kind of disturbing story today related to the pending $19 billion buyout of Clear Channel by Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners. As we’ve previously discussed, the deal is being opposed by a number of major CC shareholders, who claim that the $37.60 per share pricetag is too low. One such shareholder is […]
Last November, Bessemer Venture Partners and Insight Venture Partners agreed to acquire enterprise software company Netsmart Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: NTST) for $115 million. It looked like a typical public-to-private buyout – save for the semi-oddity of venture capital firms doing the buying. No big deal. But certain Netsmart shareholders believed that the $16.50 per share […]
Last week, this space reported that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was considering legislation that would result in increased taxes for the private equity industry. Part of the pretext was that Grassley has particular leverage because such a move was unlikely to ruffle any feathers in his home state of Iowa. After all, how often have […]
I’m in the market for new cellphones for my wife and me. She wants to replace her small clamshell with a smartphone so she can check email and keep tabs on her schedule (though, frankly, I’m not sure why since she always loses her phone and never keeps it charged, which as her co-dependent, I […]
I just finished being interviewed by a reporter about the possibility of a Chrysler buyout, during which I was asked the following question: “Do you think it could be a club deal?” My response was a more articulate version of “hell yeah.” The question’s undercurrent was this burgeoning notion that club deals are – or […]