I am pleased to announce that the next peHUB Shindig will be in Boston on Wednesday, March 31.
We’ll be doing it again at The Bell in Hand on Union Street, and tickets are now on sale. Get yours by going to: http://bostonshindig.eventbrite.com
Per usual, just cocktails & conversation with other members of Boston’s venture capital and private equity communities. Investors, entrepreneurs, bankers, lawyers and other assorted hangers-on…. Plus yours truly (I’ll be the guy in a baseball cap making announcements from atop the bar).
Tickets cost just $10 each, with proceeds being donated to a local charity that will be selected by event attendees (you can nominate a charity when you register). I urge you to get yours soon, since the last peHUB Shindig in Boston sold out (if you attended that one, don’t worry — we found a bigger room this time around).
A very special thanks to our sponsors, without whom we couldn’t do this: .406 Ventures, Atlas Venture, Capital Dynamics and Velocity Financial Group.
*** Last Friday’s column on Hugo Boss and Permira generated a flood of email comments, including ones that accused me of “hypocrisy,” “populist buffonery” and of being a “raving protectionist.”
Normally I would handle this in a feedback column, but didn’t have space today because of the Shindig announcement. You can read some of the comments beneath the original post. I also have given them serious consideration, and posted a detailed response here.
Your continued feedback is encouraged, either via email or the blog comment section.
Top Three
ABRY Partners has agreed to acquire broadband services provider RCN Corp. (Nasdaq: RCNI), for $15 per share (22% premium to last Thursday’s closing price). The total deal is valued at around $1.26 billion, including $536 million in equity.
Dataxu, a Boston-based operator of a real-time bidding platform for online display advertisers, has raised $11 million in Series B funding. Menlo Ventures led the round, and was joined by return backers Atlas Venture and Flybridge Capital Partners. The company previously raised just over $6 million.
Kabel Deutschland, a German cable television provider, today filed for a €700 million IPO in Frankfurt. The company is 88% owned by Providence Equity Partners, 8% by Teacher! s’ Pension Plan and 4% by management.
VC Deals
Tilera Corp., a Santa Clara, Calif.-based developer of multicore processors, has raised $25 million in Series C funding. New backers include Broadcom Corp., Quanta Computer and NTT Financing Corp. The company previously raised $39 million from Bessemer Venture Partners, Columbia Capitaland Walden International.
Alien Technology, a Morgan Hill, Calif.-based RFID company, has raised $10.9 million in new VC funding. Return backers include Advanced Equities, New Enterprise Associates and Sunbridge Partners. The company previously raised around $300 million over nine rounds of funding.
DoubleVerify Inc., a New York-based provider of online advertising verification solutions, has raised $10 million in Series B funding. Institutional Venture Partners led the round, and was joined by return backers Blumberg Capital, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.
American Sentinel University, an online university that provides degree programs for professionals, has raised $9 million in growth equity financing from JLL Partners. Capstone Partners advised ASU on the deal.
SensAble Technologies Inc., a Woburn, Mass.-based provider of 3D touch-enabled (force feedback) solutions, has raised $8 million in new VC funding from HLM Venture Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners.
SeaWell Networks Inc., a Toronto-based provider of Internet video dis! tribution products, has raised C$7 million in Series A funding. BDC Venture Capital led the round, and was joined by Northwater Intellectual Property Fund and Ontario Centres of Excellence.
eXo, a France-based provider of Java middleware for cloud services, has raised $6 million in VC funding from Auriga Partners and XAnge Capital.
Posterous, a San Francisco-based blog publishing platform, has raised $4.4 million in Series A funding. Redpoint Ventures and Trinity Ventures co-led the round, and was joined by SV Angel, Founder Collective, Lowercase Capital, Brian Pokorny, Aydin Senkut and XG Ventures. www.posterous.com
Smartdate, a Paris-based online dating site,has raised $2.2 million infirst! -round fundingled by 360 Capital Partners. It previously raised $400,000 in angel funding.
PlumWillow, a New York-based developer of a social shopping site, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed capital led by Crossbar Capital.
Buyouts Deals
Angelo American, a global mining company, said it has received “strong interest” in its zinc assets. The leading suitors are believed to be strategics, although both Apollo Management and First Reserve are reported to have expressed interest. A sale could be valued at upwards of $800 million.
CCMP Capital has agreed to buy data and marketing services company Infogroup Inc. (NasdaQ: IUSA) for around $460 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Coller Capital reportedly is the frontrunner to acquire HBOS Integrated Finance, which could garner around £500 million.
Commercial Credit Group, a Charlotte, N.C.-based provider of equipme! nt financing for the construction, fleet transportation and waste industries, has raised $20 million in private equity funding from Falfurrias Capital Partners.
HgCapital is in exclusive talks to buy UK commercial laundry equipment supplier John Laithwaite for around £150 million, according to Reuters.
H.I.G. Capital has acquired Albertville Quality Foods (Albertville, Ala.) and Southern Quality Meats (Pontotoc, Miss) both providers of further processing services for protein-based products. No financial terms were disclosed.! Sellers included Tennessee Valley Ventures.
Penton Business Media Holdings Inc., a trade magazine publisher, has won bankruptcy court approval for its reorganization plan. The deal would include up to $51.2 million in new equity from current owners, and the elimination of more than $270 million in debt. The company was created in 2006, and counts shareholders like Lexington Partners, Blackrock Kelso Capital and Apollo Investment Corp.
Sun Capital Partners has acquired Arch Aluminum & Glass Co., a bankrupt architectural glass and aluminum fabricator and distributor based in Tamarac, Florida. No financial terms were disclosed.
PE-Backed IPOs
Calix Networks Inc., a Petaluma, Calif.-based provider of communications access systems and software, has set its IPO terms to around 6.33 million shares being offered at between $11 and $13 per share.It plans to trade on the NYSE under ticker symbol CALX, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley serving as co-lead underwriters. The company reported $232 million in revenue for 2009, compared to $250 million in 2008. The company has raised around $220 million in VC funding from Foundation Capital (9.05% pre-IPO stake), TeleSoft Partners (8.37%), Azure Capital Partners (8.23%), Meritech Capital Partners (6.6%), Redpoint Ventures (6%), Contrarian Capital Management, Credit Suisse, Kinetic Ventures, Menlo Ventures and Integral Capital Partners. It also secured venture debt funding from Silicon Valley Bank. www.calix.com
Financial Engines, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based provider of technology-enabled portfoli! o management and investment services, has reduced its the number of shares being offered in its IPO from 10.9 million to 10.6 million. It still plans to sell the shares at between $9 and $11 each. The company plans to trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol FNGN, with Goldman Sachs serving as lead underwriter. Shareholders include Foundation Capital (17.4% pre-IPO stake), New Enterprise Associates (14.4%) and Oak Hill Capital Partners (9.3%). www.financialengines.com
Maxlinear Inc., a Carlsbad, Calif.-based fabless chipmaker, has set its IPO terms to around 5.43 million common shares being offered at between $11 and $13 per share. The company plans to trade on the NYSE under ticker symbol MXL, with Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank Securities serving as co-lead underwriters. The company raised around $35 million in VC funding, from firms like U.S. Venture Partners (21.62% pre-IPO stake), Battery Ventures ! (13.75%), Mission Ventures (13.03%) and UMC Capital (7.09%). Maxlinera ’s net revenue for 2009 was just over $51 million, with $4.33 million in net income.www.maxlinear.com
PE Exits
Broadcom Corp. has acquired Teknovus Inc., a Petaluma, Calif.-based provider of broadband-access semiconductor chipsets, for $123 million in cash.Teknovus had raised around $66 million in VC funding fromLightspeed Venture Partners, Galleon Crossover Funds, Vision Venture Capital, Technology Alliance Investment, Itochu Technology Ventures, U.S. Venture Partners, Partech International, Focus Ventures, Samsung and Mitsubishi.
Google has acquired DocVerse, a developer of a document-sharing and collaboration tools. No financial terms were disclosed. DocVerse had raised $1.3 million in VC funding from firms like Baseline Ventures.
Firms & Funds
Citadel Capital of Egypt said today that it is forming a $150 million co-investment fund for Africa, focusing on Eastern Africa.
US Renewables Group has formed Westerly Wind LLC, a provider of development capital and expertise to wind developers. No financial terms were disclosed.
Human Resource
Samer Hamadeh has joined Lightspeed Venture Partners as an entrepreneur-in-residence. He is the former co-founder and CEO of Vault.com.
Rajesh Khanna has resigned as a managing director in charge of Warburg Pincus’ India operations. He reportedly will form his own firm and try to raise a private equity fund in excess of $250 million.
Olympus Capital has put David Shen in charge of its Asian operations. He previously had been running the firm’s Japan business.
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