Over the past year secondary buyout transactions have become the increasingly common move of primary private equity fund managers seeking to exit their portfolio company investments in Europe and the United States. Secondary buyouts, also referred to colloquially as “pass the parcel” deals, occur when one private equity firm sells its stake in a portfolio…
Month: April 2014
The Intersection of Private Equity and ERISA after Sun Capital
In July 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled in Sun Capital Partners III, LP v. New England Teamsters & Trucking Industry Pension Fund that a private equity fund was considered a “trade or business” under the rules of the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”).1 Under this standard, a private equity fund…
(Jump)start Our Business Startups: The JOBS Act 500+ Days Later (Part 2)
Two years, one month, and three days have passed since President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act into law. A product of rare bipartisanship, the JOBS Act was praised on both sides of the aisle as improving access to capital for US small business, which would in turn drive economic growth.1 While…
Will King Meet the Same Fate as Zynga? I.P.O. in the Mobile Gaming Industry
The stock price of King Digital Entertainment fell over 15% on its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange, despite the great success this mobile game maker has enjoyed from Candy Crush Saga, one of the biggest hits in the social mobile gaming industry.1 The drop was not surprising, however, as investors expressed fears…
Lenovo’s Deals with IBM and Google Likely to Survive CFIUS Review
The Chinese leading PC maker, Lenovo, has been ambitiously using acquisitions to fuel its growth since the beginning of this year. The company announced two deals valued at over $5 billion, total, in January, both with U.S. firms. On January 23, 2014, Lenovo entered into an agreement with IBM to acquire the latter’s x86 Server…
Private Equity Investment in Farmland
“Buy land, they’re not making it anymore.” – Mark Twain Financiers have been investing in farmland for centuries, from the Roman empire being fed by farms in North Africa to American fruit companies buying plantations in Central America.1 Now, nearly 200 private equity firms are expected to have almost $30 billion in private capital invested…
Increased Interest in Co-Investment Rights: Justified or Not?
Since the Economic Recession of 2008, it has been more difficult for private equity firms to secure capital commitments from institutional investors and other wealthy individuals for prospective funds. One of the ways firms spark their fundraising efforts is allowing co-investment rights, normally to large institutional investors, which typically allow the institutional investors to directly…
Africa: The New Private Equity Frontier
Investing in Africa probably doesn’t sound too lucrative to your average fund manager. The thought of investing in Africa probably seems too risky to most investors with its inadequate infrastructure, corruption, and weak rule of law, the negatives seem to outweigh the positives. Despite these concerns, though, investment in Africa is becoming much more popular,…