peHUB Wire: Monday, July 12, 2010

Not too much going on this morning, so just a few quick notes to kick off your week…

*** On Friday I gave three reasons to downplay a Dow Jones report about how VC fundraising was on the upswing. One of them was that a similar report was coming from the NVCA and Thomson Reuters, which would tell a much different story.

Well, the NVCA/TR data was released this morning, and it says that just 38 U.S.-based VC funds raised $1.9 billion in Q2 2010. That’s a 49% decrease from Q1 totals, and the first half of 2010 is off nearly 19% from the first half of 2009. You can get the full report here.

*** Speaking of Friday’s edition, we had an email glitch that caused some of you not to receive it. Major apologies, and here’s a link if you’re still interested.

*** Candidate Alert: Paul Roales, an associate with Pearl Street Venture Funds, is running for state rep. in Indiana’s 26th district. Per usual, peHUB endorses for its own self-serving purposes.

*** Quiz Time: Can ! you name the professional athlete who is helping to launch a venture capital firm? Hint: The athlete is not retired, and it’s not LeBron.

Top Three

Automatic Data Processing (Nasdaq: ADP) has agreed to acquire The Cobalt Group, a Seattle-based provider of digital marketing solutions auto manufacturers and auto dealers. The deal is valued at approximately $400 million in cash, and is expected to close within the next two weeks. Cobalt Group was taken private by Warburg Pincus in 2001, and since has raised around $85 million from Warburg, ABS Capital Partners and Oak Investment Partners.

Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc., an Irving, Texas-based developer of oral a! nti-inflammatory drugs, has raised $78 million in new VC funding. Return backers CPMG Inc. and Novo AS co-led the round. Reata Pharma now has raised more than $180 million in total VC funding since its 2002 inception.

Kent Reliance Building Society (LSE: KRB) confirmed that it is in talks to raise around £50 million from J.C. Flowers & Co.

VC Deals

Adsmarket, an Israeli provider of performance-based online advertising solutions, has raised $17 million from Viola Private Equity at an $80 million pre-money valuation. The news was first reported by TechCrunch. www.adsmarket.com

Beyond the Rack, a Montreal-based members-only “flash sale” site, has raised $12 million in new VC funding from Highland Capital Partners and BDC Venture Capital. This is thecompany’s first institutional venture round, having previously been backed by angel investors.www.beyondtherack.com

Ubiquisys, a UK-based developer of 3G femtocells, has raised $9 million in new VC funding. Yasuda Enterprise DevelopmentCo. led the round, and was joined by return backers Advent Venture Partners, Accel Partners and Atlas Venture.

iLevel Solutions, a New York-based provider of private equity software and reporting solutions, has raised $6 million in VC funding from Egis Capital Partners, Swift River Investments and Epiphany Ventures.

Visterra Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of technologies that can interrogate how pathogens interact with human cells, has raised $6 million in first-round funding. Backers include Flagship Ventures, Lux Capital and Polaris Venture Partners. The company is an MIT spinout, and previously was called Parasol! Therapeutics.

National Billing Partners LLC, a Chicago-based provider of financial services for healthcare providers, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from OCA Ventures.

Buyouts Deals

ArcLight Capital Partners has acquired a 640-megawatt generation facility located in Sandersville, Georgia from KGen Power Corp. The deal was valued at $130 million, with GE Capital leading a $98 million financing package.

Monomoy Capital Partners and Starboard Capital Partners have acquired the heat transfer products business of Carrier Corp., a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX). No financial terms were disclosed. The unit has more than 500 employees and around $90 million in 2009 revenue.

Playboy Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: PLA) said it has received a $185 mill! ion buyout offer from founder Hugh Hefner, in partnership with Rizvi T raverse Management.

San Miguel Corp. plans to name a buyer for a 49% stake in its Pure Foods unit by Friday, in a deal that could be worth more than $500 million. Biddders include The Carlyle Group and CVC Capital Partners.

PE-Backed M&A

Devicor Medical Products LLC, a medical device platform backed by GTCR, has acquired Ethicon Endo-Surgery’s (EES) breast care business. The company will be renamed Mammotome (a unit of Devicor), and operate out of Sharonville, Ohio.

Kall! ista Energy, a French wind farm operator owned by AXA Private Equity, has acquired the wind farm assets of Neoelectra Group in Brittany. No financial terms were disclosed.

Ranir LLC, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based maker of oral care products, has acquired Synpart, a maker or branded and third-party oral care products, from HemCon Medical Technologies Inc. No financial terms were disclosed. Ranir shareholders include Linden LLC, Beringea and an investment vehicle led by William Blair & Co. principal Richard Kiphar.

Firms & Funds

The Blackstone Group reportedly has agreed to manage a $2 billion Asian real estate fund for BoA Merrill Lynch.

The Irish government has launched a €500 million fund-of-funds “to support enterprise development and job creation.” Specifically, the vehicle will commit to international VC firms that agree tolaunch new European operations in Ireland.

Livingstone, a Chicago-based investment bank focused on the middle markets, has expanded into Germany by merging with Alarius GmbH.

Human Resources

Mitchell Berk has been named CEO of Hilco Consumer Capital. He most recently founded and ran Vortex LLX.

Greg Erman has joined Allied Minds as an entrepreneur-in-residence, with a focus on medical technologies. He most recently served as president and ! CEO of Novo Medical Corp. Allied Minds is an early-stage VC firm focused on commercializing technologies from U.S. universities and national labs.

Robert McGuire has joined CCMP Capital as a senior member of the firm’s London office. He most recently served as vice chairman of J.P. Morgan Cazenove.

Sundaram Rajago is rejoining Starwood Capital Group as managing director of India and Southeast Asia. He had left the firm in 2005 to join Third Point India, after which he went to Lehman Brothers. He will succeed Balaji Rao, who is leaving the firm “to pursue other interests.”