peHUB Wire: Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Our latest peHUB Internship Rodeo has begun, for first-year MBA candidates in search of summer internships in the private equity market (defined very broadly).

More than 40 listings are up so far, including shops that focus on VC, LBOs, growth equity, funds-of-funds, I-banking and more. We’ve even got opportunities in Brazil, China, India and the UK. More will be posted later today.

Listings can be found in the MBA Forum section of peHUB.com, under the Summer Internship folder of the Employment section. To access the MBA Forum, you must have an Access Code specific to your business school. If you do not have such a code, please contact the head of your PE/VC Club. If that fails, you also can email me (but please ask them first). Finally, please do not send me your resumes. Send them to the companies offering the internships.

Thanks to all the firms that are participating. I’ll continue accepting new postings through the end of today (let’s say until 6pm ET, which is when I leave for the Celts game)…

Top Three

AIG has received three bids for its aircraft leasing business (IFLC), with each one coming in at under $5 billion. The unit’s book value was $7.6 billion at the end of 2008. Terra Firma Capital Partners is leading one bid, while the others are: Carlyle Group/THL Partners and Onex Partners/Greenbriar Equity.

Chint Solar, a Chinese solar power producer, has raised $50 million in first-round funding co-led by Cybernaut and Shanghai Alliance Investment Ltd. Chint Solar was formed in 2006 as a subsidiary of Chinese electrical and power conglomerate Chint Group. It reached 100 MW of production capacity in July 2008, and expects to reach 1,100 MW production capacity by 2012.

Target Partners, a Munich-based VC firm focused on the tech sector, has closed its second fund with €113 million in capital commitments. Limited partners include CAM Private Equity, Capital Dynamics, Etera Mutual Pension Insurance Co., Invesco Asset Management, LGT Capital Partners, Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners and RWB AG.

VC Deals

Visiogen Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based developer of products for cataract and refractive patients, has raised $40 million in fifth-round funding. Novartis Venture Fund led the round, and was joined by Technology Partners and return backers Three Arch Partners, New Leaf Venture Partners, Prospect Venture Partners, CMEA Ventures and Foundation Medical Partners. The company had previously raised around $57 million since 2001.

Marin Software, a San Francisco-based provider of paid search management applications for advertisers and agencies, has raised $13 million in Series C funding. DAG Ventures led the round, and was joined by Focus Ventures and return backers Amicus Capital and Benchmark Capital. The company had previously raised around $12 million.

ETV Motors Ltd., an Israeli developer of electric vehicle propulsion technology, has raised $12 million in Series A funding. The Quercus Trust led the round, and was joined by 21Ventures LLC.

CPower, a New York-based company that helps corporate clients reduce energy usage and earn market payments for those reductions, has raised $10.68 million in Series B funding. Mayfield Fund led the round, and was joined by return backers Bessemer Venture Partners, Expansion Capital Partners, Schneider Electric Ventures, New York City Investment Fund and Consensus Business Group. It is Mayfield’s first investment in the energy sector.

Storage Appliance Corp. (a.k.a. Clickfree), a Toronto-based provider of automatic backup software, has raised US$10 million in Series B funding. Jefferson & Partners led the round, and was joined by company management and other return backers.

Good Data, an SAS cloud computing startup, has raised $2.5 million in first-round funding. The deal had been previously reported by Scott Kirsner’s Innovation Economy blog, but without a dollar amount. General Catalyst Partners led the round, and was joined by O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Windcrest Partners, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.

Symform Inc., a Seattle-based developer of decentralized cloud computing systems, has raised $1.5 million in Series A funding from OVP Venture Partners.

Jodange Inc., a New York-based developer of an online “opinion utility”, has raised $1.2 million in first-round funding. Big Red Ventures led the round, and was joined by individual angels Dennis Bennie, Nick Grewal and Eyal Shavit. The company’s technology is designed to automatically extract opinions from online content, in order to understand sentiment.

Buyout Deals

Big 10 Tire Stores Inc., a Mobile, Ala.-based tire retailer, has received bankruptcy court approval to auction off its assets. The leader bidder is an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, which acquired Big 10 back in 2006. www.big10tires.com

Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli said that Cerberus Capital Management is working to help Germany’s Daimler AG divest its 19.9% stake in the troubled U.S. automaker.

Monomoy Capital Partners has acquired Global Thermoplastics LP, a Houston, Texas-based maker of engineered compounds for plastic molding applications. No financial terms were disclosed. Monomoy will merge Global Thermoplastics into Fortis Plastics LLC, a plastic injection molding and extrusion platform that the firm formed late last year.

Safilo, a listed Italian eyewear maker, said that four private equity firms are considering an investment. They reportedly are: Apax Partners, Bain Capital, CVC Capital Partners and PAI Partners.

PE-Backed M&A

CoolIT Systems, a Calgary-based provider of electronics cooling solutions, has acquired the Thermal Liquid Cooling assets of Delphi Corp. No financial terms were disclosed. CoolIT Systems recently raised C$6.2 million in VC funding from iNova Capital, AVAC Ltd. and individual angels.

Headstrong, a Fairfax, Va.-based financial services consulting firm, has acquired iX Partners, a provider of middle and back-office services to the asset management and financial services companies. No financial terms were disclosed. Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe holds a majority stake in Headstrong, while other shareholders include H&Q Asia Pacific and Goldman Sachs.

Firms & Funds

Cognient Group has acquired Lake Pointe Partners, a Chicago-based turnaround advisory. No financial terms were disclosed.

Olympus Capital Holdings Asia is raising a $250 million fund to focus on environmental opportunities – including renewable energy and environmental protection – in China and India.

Teralys Capital Fund has launched as a Canadian venture capital fund sponsored by Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec and the Solidarity Fund QFL. Each group has committed C$250 million, with Teralys hoping to raise an additional C$125 million from third parties.

Walden International (“WI”) has closed Seed Ventures IV Pte Ltd., a S$20 million fund established under the Singapore National Research Foundation’s (“NRF”) Early Stage Venture Funding Scheme. Its initial investment is a S$2 million deal for Brandtology, a Singapore-based provider of online brand intelligence solutions.

Human Resources

UBS has named Alex Wilmot-Sitwell and Carsten Kengeter as co-heads of investment banking, replacing Jerker Johansson.

Rick Timmins has joined seed-stage investment firm G-51 Capital as a venture partner. He previously served as vice president of finance for Cisco Systems, and before that served in a similar position for Motorola. www.g51.com

Kevin Smith has joined The Silverfern Group as a managing director. He previously was with Wachovia Securities as head of Diversified Industrials and Business Services banking.