The first quarter doesn’t officially close until the clock strikes Thursday, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take a peek at preliminary deal volume data. My colleagues at Thomson Reuters sent over the following tidbits:
• Global M&A deal volume for Q1 is at nearly $550 billion for 8,737 deals, compared to $617 billion for 10,860 deals in Q4 2009. The prior first quarter had just $476 billion for 8,908 deals.
• Global PE-sponsored deal volume for Q1 is at just over $31 billion for 625 deals, compared to $55 billion for 761 deals in Q4 2009. The prior first quarter had just $17 billion for 639 deals.
• Private equity’s percentage of the total M&A pot is 5.7% in Q1 2010, which is the lowest total since Q2 of last year (3.2%).
• Fundraising by U.S.-based buyout and mezzanine funds remains sluggish. As of this morning, our database shows just $13.57 billion raised by 42 such funds in Q1. When all the numbers are counted, however, Q1 could still top the $14 billion raised in Q4 2009.
• Venture fundraising is even worse, with just $2.66 billion banked by 23 U.S.-based VC funds. Likely to be worse than the $4.06 billion raised in Q4 2009, but already better than the $2.3 billion raised in Q3 2009.
*** Lots of talk about a reported powwow today between LBO bigs and pension fund chiefs, over the issue of fund terms. The GP side will be repped by folks like David Rubenstein (Carlyle), Glenn Hutchins (silver Lake) and Jim Coulter (TPG) and Chip Kaye (Warburg Pincus). The LP side will be repped by Joe Dear (CalPERS), John Breen (Canada Pension Plan) and Ahmed Gubash (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority).
Three quick thoughts: (1) A select group of GPs and LPs are going to secretly gather to discuss industry-wide fund terms, in order to preclude claims of collusion. Just let that sink in. (2) CalPERS and ADIA have stakes in Carlyle, while CalPERS also has a stake in Silver Lake. Not just LP interests, mind you, but actual pieces of the management companies. What side of the table will Dear and Gubash be sitting on? (3) W! here are Apollo, Blackstone and KKR?
*** Chrysalis Ventures this morning announced the addition of an EIR and a VP of biz dev. Both were women. Not sure I can remember the last time a VC firm hired two women on the same day. Welcome change…
Top Three
HM Capital Partners has agreed to sell Canadian local search and directories publisher Canpages to Yellow Media, a subsidiary of Yellow Pages Income Fund. The C$255 million deal includes C$75 million in cash and C$150 million in mandatory exchangeable promissory notes of Yellow Media.
Mark Anson has joined Oak Hill Investment Management as a managing partner and chair of the firm’s investment committee. He previously was with Nuveen Investments as president and executive director of investment services. Before that, he served as CEO of Hermes Pensions Management and as CIO for CalPERS.
Coda Automotive, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based electric car and battery company, has secured $394 million in capital commitments for its joint venture with Lishen Power Battery. The deal includes $100 million in equity from undisclosed backers, and a $294 million line of credit commitment from the Bank of Tianjin Joint-Stock Co. CODA previously raised over $75 millionin VC funding fromthe Angeleno Group, company founder Miles Rubin, Mac Heller (Coda co-chair), Kevin Czinger (Coda president and CEO),Hank Paulsen (former U.S. Treasury Secretary), John Bryson (ex-Edison Int’l CEO), Mack McLarty (former chief of staff for President Clinton) and Thomas Steyer (founder ofFarallon Capital Management).
VC Deals
Enphase Energy Inc., a Petaluma, Calif.-based developer of micro-inverter systems for the solar industry, has raised $40 million in privateequity and debt funding. Return backerBay Partners led the round, and was joined by Horizon Technology Finance, Bridge Bank, Third Point Ventures, RockPort Capital Partners, Madrone Capital Partners and Applied Ventures. The company previously raised over $25 million.
JenaValve, a German maker of aortic valves, has raised €19 million in Series B funding. Backers include GIMV, Atlas Venture, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners, Neomed Management, VI Partners and Sunstone Capital. The company previously raised €13.5 million.
Glacier Bay Inc., a Union City, Calif.-based developer of system-integrated DC power and thermal management technologies, has raised $15 million in new Series C funding. City Light Capital led the tranche, and was joined by return backers The Westley Group and New Enterprise Associates. The company previously raised over $40 million, from Westley, NEA and Quercus Trust.
Integrated Photovoltaics, asealth-mode developer of photovoltaic solutions, has raised $8.5 million in Series A funding. Peninsula Ventures led the round, and was joined by I2BF andseed backers Alloy Ventures and Labrador Ventures. Integrated Photovoltaics is based in Sunnyvale, California.
Pentaho Corp., an Orl ando, Fla.-based provider of commercial open-source solutions for business intelligence, has raised $7 million in fourth-round funding, according to a regulatory filing. The company previously raised around $25 million from firms like Benchmark Capital, Index Ventures and New Enterprise Associates.www.pentaho.com
Goomzee, a Missoula, Mon.-based developer of an interactive mobile marketing platform for real estate agents and buyers, has raised $1.5 million in Series A funding. Highway 12 Ventures led the deal, its first in a Montana-based company.
Payvment Inc., a San Francisco-based shopping cart services for use on social networks like Facebook, hascalled downaround $1.15 million of a $1.7 million funding round, according to a regulatory filing. The only outside ! board member listed is Jonathan Ebinger of BlueRun Ventures.www.payvment.com
CardStar Inc., a Canton, Conn.-based developer of a mobile loyalty application, has raised $1 million in Series A funding. Amplifier Ventures led the round, and was joined by Acta Wireless and LaunchCapital. CardStar previously raised seed funding from Amplifier, as part of the firm’s business accelerator program.
Quora, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based question-and-answer site launched by Facebook alums like former CTO Adam D’Angelo, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding from Benchmark Capital. TechCrunch reported that the round was $11 million at an $86 million valuation.
Derivix, a New York-based provider of pricing and analytics solutions to the options trading market, has raised an undisclosed amount of new funding from J.P. Morgan and S.A.C. Venture Investments. The company previously raised $6.7 million in Series A funding from Goldman Sachs and Susquehanna Growth Equity.
NexPlanar, a Hillsboro, Ore.-based maker of chemical mechanical planarization pads for the semiconductor device market,has raised $3.5 million in venture debt funding from ATEL Ventures. The company previously raised around $29 million in VC funding from BlueRun Ventures, Intel Capital, SmartForest Ventures, Finaventuresand Interwest Partners.
Buyouts Deals
AXA Private Equity and F2i reportedly are prepping a bid for Endesa’s gas assets in Spain.
Barclays Private Equity reportedly is considering a £200 million bid for Poundland, a UK-based budget retailer owned by Advent International. Close Brothers is managing the process, according to The Independent.
HgCapital has agreed to acquire the talent management software unit of StepStone ASA. The deal is valued at €110 million, and is expected to close next month.
Jackson Square Aviation has formed with a $500 million equity commitment from Oaktree Capital Management. The company is led by former Pegasus Aviation and Sky Holding executives, andwill providelease capital to passenger and cargo airlines.
KKR and CVC Capital Partners reportedly have teamed up to bid on Interactive Data Corp. (NYSE: IDC). Rival bidding groups include Advent International with Bain Capital, and Hellman & Friedman with Silver Lake Partners.
Shackleton Equity Partners has acquired Excel Meridian Data, a Carrollton, Texas-based provider of computer data storage equipment for the education, gaming, government and video surveillance industries. No financial terms were disclosed.
PE-Backed M&A
VPIsystems, a Holmdel, N.J.-based provider of mobile network analytics and capacity management software, has acquired Elanti Systems, a provider of routing software for carrier networks. No financial terms were disclosed, except that existing VPIsystems and Elanti Systems shareholders invested an additional $4 million into the combined company. VPIsystems backers include AlpInvest Partners, Cipio Partners andCore Capital Partners, while Elanti shareholders include New Venture Partners Innovation Capital.
Human Resources
Jan Thaw Bruce and Wendy Jarchow have joined Chrysalis Ventures as an executive-in-residence and director of business development (Upper Midwest), respectively. Bruce is the former CEO of New Age Publishing, who most recently was a managing director at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Jarchow most recently founded a startup consulting practice in Chicago, but now will work out of Cleveland.
Ian Goldin has been named non-executive director of UK-based development finance institution CDC Group PLC. Goldin is a former World Bank executive who currently serves asdirector of the James Martin 21st Century School at the University of Oxford.
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