First, thanks to all of you for indulging me in my One Shining Moment.
Rather than provide my sweeping opinions on the broader PE market, placement agents, the VC model or carried interest taxation, I thought I’d give you my thoughts on picking an NCAA bracket, or as I like to call it, hindsight on steroids.
While acknowledging that there’s an enormous amount of luck involved in predicting the actions of 19-year-olds better than 500 other people, I think there were a few simple strategies that increased my odds of winning.
Have Theses – And Stick to Them
One major thesis that served me well in this tou! rnament was that the Big East was overhyped. It allowed me to correctly predict Butler over Syracuse, Xavier over Pittsburgh and early exits for Georgetown, Villanova, Marquette and Louisville. Unfortunately, it also caused me to miss on West Virginia as a final four pick.
The point being, there were two possibilities: Either the Big East beat up on itself all year because its talent level was just that deep, or no dominant team emerged because it was a collection of talented-but-flawed teams. By taking a definitive stand on the latter theory, I gave myself a chance to be successful. Had I decided to guess which Big East teams were for real and which weren’t, it would have been much tougher.
Don’t Go Too Crazy
It would be a source of temporary pride to correctly predict Ohio beating Georgetown, or Kansas losing its second game. But it’s an improbable and low-upside gamble. Both Ohio and Northern Iowa lost their next g! ames, so what could you really gain from successfully making such a bo ld prediction? The first thing I did with my bracket was put the #1 and #2 seeds in the Sweet 16, without even really looking at their potential opponents.
Take Some Tactical Chances
There were 500 people in this pool. If you correctly guessed a Kansas over Kentucky final, you’d be competing with about 50 other people to determine who guessed the rest of the bracket correctly. Take a few shots. I took Duke as my champ hoping that people might be down on them with their recent tournament (lack of) success. I put Butler in the Final Four (great!)… and Wisconsin (oops). At least when some of those chances hit, you’ll have a differentiated bracket with a real chance to win.
That said, next year I’m sure I’ll assume my usual spot near the bottom of the standings.
Thanks again to Dan for providing me with this self-indulgent 15 minutes of minor fame.
For those of you in Bay Area, look for me at the San Francisco ! Shindig next week. I’ll be neither wearing a baseball cap nor making announcements from atop the bar, but I’ll be there nonetheless.
Top Three
Bain Capital and KKR are planning IPO filings for portfolio companies Toys “R” Us and NXP Semiconductor, according to The Wall Street Journal. Read more…
Sagent Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Schaumburg, Ill.-based developer of injectible drugs, has raised $40 million in Series B funding. Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.provided $10 million, while the remainder came from an undisclosed China-docused private equity fund. The firm previously raised over $110 million in VC funding from firms like Vivo Ventures. Read more…
The Blackstone Group and The Wellcome Trust have launched a joint bid for bank branches being sold by RBS for more than £1 billion. There are at least four other bidders. Read more…
VC Deals
MedVentive Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based provider of pay-for-performance software for evidence-based medicine, has raised $2.25 million in new Series C funding. This is in additional to a previously-announced $7.25 million close. Clarian Health Ventures led the new tranche, while existing backer Core Capital Partners also provided new capital. Prior round investors included Excel Venture Management, HLM Venture Partners and Long River Ventures. Read more…
Svelte Medical Systems Inc., a New Providence, N.J.-based maker of balloon expandable stents for angioplaty procedures, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding. Backers include CNF Investments, Apjohn Ventures, Norwich Ventures and the Fischell family. Read more…
Buyouts Deals
Court Square Capital Partners has acquired The Harvard Drug Group from H.I.G. Capital for an undisclosed amount. Harvard Drug is a Livonia, Mich.-based distributor of generic pharmaceuticals, with nearly $500 million in annual sales. Read more…
Istithmar is expected to receive bids from around 10 buyout firms for its proposed sale of Inchcape Shipping Services, a port and shipping agent valued at approximately $700 million. Read more…
Studio Moderna Holdings, an electronics and consumer products retailer in Central and Eastern Europe, has raised an undisclosed! amount of minority funding co-led by Insight Venture Partners and Templeton Strategic Emerging Markets. JH Partners also participated. Read more…
Summit Partners has invested $30 million into Indian seed company Krishidhan Seeds Ltd., in exchange for a minority ownership stake. Read more…
Temasek Holdings has agreed to invest $200 million into the power unit of India’s GMR Infrastructure (BO: GMRI). Read more…
VantaCore Par! tners, an acquisition platform focused on core mineral assets l ike quarries, has raised $100 million in private equity funding from Trilantic Capital Partners. It also has secured a $15 million acquisition facility and $27 million senior secured credit facility from PNC. VantaCore previously raised funding from Kayne Anderson, Tortoise Capital Resources Corp. and Hartz Capital Investments. Read more…
Yucaipa Cos. has joined film producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein on a $600 million bid for studio Miramax, which is being sold by Walt Disney Co. Other bidders include Gores Group and Platinum Equity. Read more…
PE-Backed IPOs
DynaVox Inc., a Pittsburgh-based maker of software and devices that assist people in overcoming speech, has set its IPO terms to 9.375 million shares being offered at between $15 and $17 per shares. It plans to trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol DVOX, with Piper Jaffray and Jefferies & Co. serving as co-lead underwriters. Shareholders include Vestar Capital Partners and Park Avenue Equity Partners. www.dynavoxtech.com
PE-Backed M&A
Fate Therapeutics, a La Jolla, Calif.-based stem cell biotech company focused on cell fate control, has acquired Verio Therapeutics Inc., an Ontario-based developer of drug candidates targeting the activation of endogenous stem cells. No financial terms were disclosed. Fate Therapeutics has raised $42 million from OVP Venture Partners, ARCH Venture Partners, Polaris Venture Partners and Venrock. Read more…
StrataCare Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based provider of national bill review software, workflow and outsource solutions to the workers’ compensation payer market, has acquired the MedBillPro division of CS Stars LLC, a unit of Marsh Inc. No financial terms were di! sclosed. StrataCare shareholders include SV Life Sciences Advisers, Beecken Petty O’Keefe & Co. and Paul Glover. Read more…
Human Resources
Ron Franklin has joined law firm Proskauer as a New York-based partner in the firm’s corporate practice. He previously was a partner with Mayer Brown. Read more..
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