Nolan Ryan Re-Bids for Texas Rangers
July 30, 2010
(Reuters) – A group led by former all-star pitcher Nolan Ryan and a minor league baseball team owner made a new bid to buy the bankrupt Texas Rangers in a move that would block an auction for the Major League Baseball team set for next week. The Rangers’ bankruptcy court-appointed chief restructuring officer, William Snyder, said at a court hearing on Friday that he supports the new offer, according to a person who attended the hearing by telephone. The source did not want to be identified because of this person’s proximity to the sale process. Snyder did not offer details, the person said. The new bid would entail canceling the auction, Snyder said, according to this person. The hearing where Snyder made his remarks was in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Fort Worth, Texas
Read more from the original source:
Nolan Ryan Re-Bids for Texas Rangers
Jet Broadband Completes Cable Sale
July 30, 2010
Jet Broadband Holdings , a portfolio company of MCG Capital, has completed the sale of its cable operations to Shentel Cable Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. (Nasdaq: SHEN), peHUB has learned. The deal was valued at $148 million. Waller Capital Partners advised Jet Broadband while Lazard Freres advised Shentel.
Read the rest here:
Jet Broadband Completes Cable Sale
Boston Power Boosts VC Round
July 30, 2010
Boston-Power Inc. , a Westborough, Mass.-based developer of lithium-ion batteries, has expanded its Series E round from $60 million to $66.4 million, according to a regulatory filing. The company previously announced that Foundation Asset Management and Oak Investment Partners co-led the round, and were joined by fellow return backers Venrock and Gabriel Venture Partners. The company has now raised around $191 million in total VC funding since 2005.
Read more:
Boston Power Boosts VC Round
Charterhouse Selling NewPath to Crown Castle
July 30, 2010
Charterhouse Group has agreed to sell NewPath Networks Inc. to Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI), for $115 million. NewPath is a Seattle-based developer and operator of distributed antenna system networks. PRESS RELEASE Charterhouse Group, Inc. (”Charterhouse”) today announced a definitive agreement to sell NewPath Networks, Inc.
Link:
Charterhouse Selling NewPath to Crown Castle
Oaktree Fights DIC Plan for Almatis
July 30, 2010
(Reuters) Oaktree Capital, a senior debtholder in German aluminum company Almatis, ratcheted up its fight against Almatis’s equity owner, Dubai International Capital, over the best way to restructure the bankrupt company, according to court documents. Oaktree objected to Almatis’ continued use of cash collateral, which companies need to cover operating costs and other expenses while in bankruptcy. Oaktree also said it is in talks with Almatis on an alternative restructuring plan. Oaktree, a major investor in financially hobbled companies, helped develop Almatis’ original restructuring plan, which was abandoned last week when Almatis inked a replacement financing deal with Dubai International Capital LLC [DUBAHP.UL]. Under the new plan, Dubai International plans to pay off the company’s senior debt in full.
View post:
Oaktree Fights DIC Plan for Almatis
TeamSystem Auction To End “Within Weeks”
July 30, 2010
(Reuters) – The auction for Italian business management software group TeamSystem will conclude within weeks, with Sage (SGE.L) heading the field with a bid of up to 650 million euros, people familiar with the matter said. British accountancy-software group Sage is vying with private-equity groups Cinven and HgCapital to buy the business from U.S private equity firm Bain Capital, the people said, with bids expected from all three on Friday. Buying TeamSystem would be the first major deal for Newcastle-based Sage for a number of years, and would fill the in-tray of incoming CEO Guy Berruyer. Sage has a history of acquisitions and analysts have said TeamSystem, which provides tax, payroll and budgeting software for small and medium sized businesses, would be a good fit. The company, however, is cautious about overpaying, and earlier in July pulled out of a bidding war over Polish IT provider Teta as it could not justify raising its offer. Sage, Cinven, HG Capital and Bain declined to comment. (Reporting by Paul Sandle & Victoria Howle; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
Read the rest here:
TeamSystem Auction To End “Within Weeks”
Mike Maples Raises New Fund, Dave McClure Next in Line
July 30, 2010
A couple of notes from the world of institutionalized super-angels, via filings with the SEC: First up is Floodgate, the firm formerly known as (Mike) Maples Investments. It has raised $73.5 million for its third fund, which more than doubles the $33 million raised for Fund II back in 2008. Next we have Dave McClure, who is raising up to $30 million for a fund called 500 Startups (which would work out to $60k per startup — but I’m thinking it’s more a play off the name of his blog). The filing does not indicate any commitments yet, nor any partners beyond McClure… As an aside: I last saw both Maples and McClure at a Silicon Valley event hosted by TheFunded back in February. The basic explanation for raising institutional funds was as follows: Angels can usually move quicker than can traditional VC firms, due to more centralized decision-making (i.e., one guy). That gives angels an advantage, since startups need cash now. In many cases, however, a single angel won’t do
Read the original post:
Mike Maples Raises New Fund, Dave McClure Next in Line
About That Blackstone “Final” Fund Close…
July 30, 2010
During a media call last Thursday, Blackstone Group president Tony James said: “We’ve had first closings in our cleantech fund and a final closing for BCP VI. We have a few investors still completing documentation and we current anticipate BCP VI to end up at approximately $13.5 billion.” Seems I heard the first part (final closing for BCP VI) and not the contradictory second part. But I got kind of curious, when the Oregon Investment Council approved a $200 million commitment to BCP VI this week. And then an LP source noted that Oregon was not the only LP that hadn’t made a final decision as of James’ pronouncement. So what gives? It would appear that James veered a bit off script during the media call – he was more exact in the subsequent analyst call – and overstated the situation.
Continue reading here:
About That Blackstone “Final” Fund Close…
Would DST IPO Reveal Facebook Financials?
July 30, 2010
Digital Sky Technologies reportedly plans to go public next year in New York, and already has hired Goldman Sachs as a lead underwriter. For the uninitiated, DST is a Russian Internet conglomerate known for taking minority stakes in companies like Facebook, Zynga and Groupon. It also has lots of local investments, including in leading Russian web portal Mail.ru. Matthew Ingram described DST as a “mutual fund of hot startups.” He’s largely right, except that mutual funds disclose financial information on underlying portfolio companies (or at least it’s easy to find, since the companies are publicly-traded). DST, on the other hand, may not be required to tell shareholders much more than company name and date of investment. In other words, a DST IPO won’t open the Pandora’s Box that worried so many VCs during the public pension transparency debatse of 2002 and 2003.
Read more:
Would DST IPO Reveal Facebook Financials?
Silver Lake Buys Focus Media Division
July 30, 2010
Silver Lake Partners has agreed to acquire a 62% indirect equity stake in Allyes Online Media Holdings , the Internet subsidiary of Focus Media Holding Ltd. (Nasdaq: FMCN). The deal is valued at $124 million. PRESS RELEASE Focus Media Holding Limited (Nasdaq: FMCN), China’s leading digital media group today announced that they have entered into a definitive share purchase agreement with Silver Lake, a global leader in private investments in technology and technology-enabled industries, pursuant to which Focus Media will sell to Silver Lake a 62% indirect equity ownership of its Internet subsidiary, Allyes Online Media Holdings Ltd and its consolidated subsidiaries and affiliates (together “Allyes”). Under the terms of the agreement, Silver Lake will pay US$124 million to Focus Media, in exchange for the equity ownership of Allyes held by Focus Media. Simultaneously with the signing of the agreement, certain remaining shareholders of Allyes also agree to sell their equity ownership in Allyes to Silver Lake, so that following the series of transactions, Silver Lake will own a controlling stake in Allyes
Read this article:
Silver Lake Buys Focus Media Division