May 2011 - Association for Corporate Growth
May 2011 - Association for Corporate Growth
May 2011 - Association for Corporate Growth
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THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF<br />
MAY <strong>2011</strong><br />
Leerink Swann’s<br />
James Boylan is<br />
among those<br />
anticipating<br />
healthcare dealflow<br />
will continue to<br />
swell, pushed<br />
along by a set of<br />
diverse drivers<br />
Cocktail<br />
Therapy<br />
THEMIDDLEMARKET.COM<br />
PLUS<br />
Black Swan Indifference<br />
SBIC’s Growing Popularity<br />
Inter<strong>Growth</strong> Wrap Up
Contents<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong> | Volume 46 | Number 05<br />
Cover Story<br />
Cocktail<br />
Therapy<br />
Leerink Swann’s James<br />
Boylan is among those<br />
anticipating healthcare<br />
dealflow will continue to<br />
swell, pushed along by a<br />
set of diverse drivers<br />
24<br />
Cover Photograph by JohnCalabresePhotography.com<br />
The Watercooler<br />
8 Kid Brands suffers deal indigestion; a<br />
reality star becomes an M&A star; PE’s<br />
senior advisors bring benefits beyond<br />
operational oversight; and a new<br />
opportunity <strong>for</strong> distress, plus tomorrow’s<br />
deals, the Beltway monitor and other<br />
news deal pros are talking about<br />
Outlook<br />
14 Corralling the Black Swans<br />
16 Sizing up the Barriers to Entry<br />
18 Sprint’s Roadmap <strong>for</strong> Dissent<br />
LBO Watch<br />
20 Another IPO Heyday<br />
22 Tapping into the LP Mindset<br />
Inter<strong>Growth</strong> Wrap<br />
28 McChrystal Q&A: The Leadership<br />
Doctrine<br />
30 Strategic Power Shift<br />
Features<br />
32 The SBA’s Growing Popularity<br />
The Small Business Administration’s<br />
revitalized SBIC program is drawing<br />
investors of all stripes<br />
34 Guest Article: Recruiting and<br />
Retaining Talent<br />
CMF Associates’ Tom Bonney and<br />
Kathryn Kehoe describe that certain<br />
steps are required be<strong>for</strong>e and after a deal<br />
36 People<br />
47 Data<br />
<strong>Association</strong> <strong>for</strong><br />
<strong>Corporate</strong> <strong>Growth</strong><br />
4 Who’s Who<br />
6 Letter to Members<br />
40 The Pulse<br />
42 Community Commentary<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong><br />
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Inside Word<br />
<br />
Every year, Inter<strong>Growth</strong> seems to provide a pretty accurate gauge of the middle<br />
market. By the time this issue reaches readers’ mailboxes, it will have<br />
been almost exactly one year since the “flash crash” had Inter<strong>Growth</strong> attendees<br />
in Miami in a state of shock, underscoring the uncertainty that was still<br />
embedded in the deal market at the time. Within months, M&A activity would<br />
pick up, and the market would close with one of the more impressive fourth quarters<br />
in recent memory.<br />
Fast <strong>for</strong>ward to March, and the deal pros that made it out to San Diego seemed<br />
completely at ease -- moreso than at any point since I arrived at Mergers & Acquisitions<br />
in late 2007. Lenders I spoke to were confident that world events would not<br />
spook the credit markets, while deal pros gave off a sense of harried contentment<br />
that seemed to reflect an abundance of dealflow.<br />
As Brian McDonagh, managing director and co-head of Robert W. Baird said<br />
during the state of market panel, “Every day, we’re seeing a major strategic transaction<br />
take place, certainly every Monday.”<br />
For those in M&A, there is probably no better way to start the week. Our Inter-<br />
<strong>Growth</strong> coverage begins on page 30.<br />
Also in this issued, we covered the frenzied healthcare market <strong>for</strong> the <strong>May</strong> cover<br />
story that starts on page 24. Dealmakers, by and large, are bullish on the space,<br />
which is reflected in the activity and the valuations, but you have to wonder whether<br />
the demographic trends are overshadowing some of the potholes.<br />
Also this month, Danielle Fugazy covered the strides made by the SBA to attract<br />
investors to its SBIC program. The story, found on page 32, details that the SBA’s<br />
ef<strong>for</strong>ts appear to be paying dividends. Also, Tamika Cody explored the various<br />
barriers to entry dealmakers chase after, highlighting that some barriers may not<br />
provide the <strong>for</strong>tification buyers may hope <strong>for</strong>.<br />
Ken MacFadyen<br />
Editor<br />
Mergers & Acquisitions | TheMiddleMarket.com<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong> Volume 46, Number 05<br />
Editor<br />
Senior Reporter<br />
Senior Reporter<br />
Contributing Editors<br />
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Ken MacFadyen<br />
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Tamika Cody<br />
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Anthony Noto<br />
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Danielle Fugazy<br />
Carol Clouse<br />
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Richard Kellerhals<br />
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MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
WHO’S WHO<br />
ACG Board 0f Directors<br />
Chairman*<br />
Michael A. Carr<br />
Partner, BAC Investments, LLC<br />
ACG Los Angeles<br />
Term expires <strong>2011</strong><br />
Vice Chairman*<br />
Andrew W. Rice<br />
Senior Vice President, The Jordan Company<br />
ACG Chicago<br />
Term expires <strong>2011</strong><br />
President & Chief Executive Officer*<br />
Gary A. LaBranche, CAE<br />
ACG Headquarters<br />
Chairman of Finance*<br />
Cliff Braly<br />
Partner, Deloitte Tax LLP<br />
ACG Dallas/Fort Worth<br />
Term expires <strong>2011</strong><br />
Secretary<br />
Tom Walton<br />
Managing Director, Hanley, Hammill, Thomas<br />
ACG Wisconsin<br />
Term expires <strong>2011</strong><br />
Chairman of Inter<strong>Growth</strong> <strong>2011</strong><br />
Jack Helms<br />
Chairman, Lazard Middle Market<br />
ACG Minnesota<br />
Term expires <strong>2011</strong><br />
Chairman of Inter<strong>Growth</strong> 2012<br />
Doug Tatum<br />
CEO, The Co-Investment Partnership LLC<br />
ACG Atlanta<br />
Term expires 2012<br />
Immediate Past Chairman<br />
Dennis J. White<br />
Partner, Verrill Dana, LLP<br />
ACG Boston<br />
Term expires <strong>2011</strong><br />
Chapter Representative Directors<br />
Tracy Albert*<br />
Managing Director, Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin<br />
ACG Orange County<br />
Term expires <strong>2011</strong><br />
Dan Amadori<br />
President, Lamerac Financial Corp.<br />
ACG Toronto<br />
Term expires <strong>2011</strong><br />
Spencer J. Brown<br />
President, Spencer J. Brown & Associates<br />
ACG Portland<br />
Term expires 2012<br />
Vanessa Brown Claiborne<br />
President, Chaffe & Associates<br />
ACG Louisiana<br />
Term expires 2012<br />
Richard P. Jaffe*<br />
Partner, Duane Morris, LLP<br />
ACG Philadelphia<br />
Term expires 2012<br />
John Kerschen<br />
Managing Director, The Charter Group<br />
ACG Western Michigan<br />
Term expires 2012<br />
Charles Morton<br />
Partner, Venable LLP<br />
ACG Maryland<br />
Term expires <strong>2011</strong><br />
Wendy Neal*<br />
Director, International Commodity Alliance, Ltd.<br />
ACG Cleveland<br />
Term expires <strong>2011</strong><br />
Clif<strong>for</strong>d R. Pearl<br />
Of Counsel, Hensley Kim & Holzer LLC<br />
ACG Denver<br />
Term expires <strong>2011</strong><br />
Ashley Rountree<br />
Managing Director, C.W. Downer & Company<br />
ACG France<br />
Term expires 2012<br />
Tom Tullidge<br />
Managing Director, Cary Street Partners<br />
ACG Richmond<br />
Term expires 2012<br />
Directors At Large<br />
Les Alexander<br />
Managing Director, Fairway Capital<br />
ACG Louisiana<br />
Term expires <strong>2011</strong><br />
Erik Dykema<br />
Principal, Lineage Capital LLC<br />
ACG Boston<br />
Term expires 2012<br />
Ed Fisher<br />
Managing Partner, SouthPointe Ventures<br />
ACG Atlanta<br />
Term expires 2012<br />
Michael Gibbons<br />
President, Brown Gibbons Lang & Co.<br />
ACG Cleveland<br />
Term expires <strong>2011</strong><br />
Patti Gillenwater<br />
CEO, Elinvar<br />
ACG Raleigh Durham<br />
Term expires 2013<br />
Penny Hulbert<br />
Managing Director, Links Financial<br />
ACG Tampa Bay<br />
Term expires 2012<br />
Stuart Johnson<br />
Partner, Barnes & Thornburg, LLP<br />
ACG Atlanta<br />
Term expires <strong>2011</strong><br />
Cory Mims<br />
Managing Director, ICV Capital Partners<br />
ACG New York<br />
Term expires 2013<br />
Stephen V. Prostor<br />
Director, Citi Private Bank<br />
ACG New York<br />
Term expires 2013<br />
* Member of the Executive Committee<br />
ACG Honorary Directors<br />
Robert G. Coffey<br />
Alan B. Gelband<br />
ACG Chapters<br />
ACG 101 Corridor<br />
acg.org/101<br />
ACG Arizona<br />
acg.org/arizona<br />
ACG Atlanta<br />
acg.org/atlanta<br />
ACG Austria<br />
acg.org/austria<br />
ACG Boston<br />
acgboston.org<br />
ACG Calgary<br />
acg.org/calgary<br />
ACG Central Texas<br />
acg.org/centraltexas<br />
ACG Charlotte<br />
acg.org/charlotte<br />
ACG Chicago<br />
acgchicago.com<br />
ACG China<br />
acg.org/china<br />
ACG Cincinnati<br />
acg.org/cincinnati<br />
ACG Cleveland<br />
acg.org/cleveland<br />
ACG Columbus<br />
acg.org/columbus<br />
ACG Connecticut<br />
acg.org/connecticut<br />
ACG Czech Republic<br />
acg.org/czechrepublic<br />
ACG Dallas/Fort Worth<br />
acg.org/dallas<br />
ACG Denver<br />
acg.org/denver<br />
ACG Detroit<br />
acg.org/detroit<br />
ACG France<br />
acg.org/paris<br />
ACG Frankfurt<br />
acg.org/frankfurt<br />
ACG Holland<br />
acg.org/holland<br />
ACG Houston<br />
acg.org/houston<br />
ACG Indiana<br />
acg.org/indiana<br />
ACG Kansas City<br />
acg.org/kc<br />
ACG External Affairs/Media Manager<br />
Greg Fine, gfine@acg.org<br />
Matt Switzer, mswitzer@acg.org<br />
ACG Sponsorship Director<br />
Kris Wolcott, kwolcott@acg.org, 312-673-4981<br />
Contributors<br />
Gary A. LaBranche, Michael A. Carr, Tom Gage, Robert W. Stewart<br />
ACG Kentucky<br />
acg.org/kentucky<br />
ACG Los Angeles<br />
acgla.org<br />
ACG Louisiana<br />
acg.org/louisiana<br />
ACG Maryland<br />
acg.org/maryland<br />
ACG Minnesota<br />
acg.org/minnesota<br />
ACG National Capital<br />
acgcapital.org<br />
ACG Nebraska<br />
acg.org/nebraska<br />
ACG New Jersey<br />
acg.org/newjersey<br />
ACG New York<br />
acg.org/nyc<br />
ACG North Florida<br />
acg.org/northflorida<br />
ACG Orange County<br />
acg.org/occ<br />
ACG Orlando<br />
acg.org/orlando<br />
ACG Philadelphia<br />
acg.org/philadelphia<br />
ACG Pittsburgh<br />
acg.org/pittsburgh<br />
ACG Portland<br />
acg.org/portland<br />
ACG Raleigh Durham<br />
acg.org/raleighdurham<br />
ACG Rhein-Ruhr<br />
acg.org/rheinruhr<br />
ACG Richmond<br />
acg.org/richmond<br />
ACG San Diego<br />
acg.org/sandiego<br />
ACG San Francisco<br />
acg.org/sanfrancisco<br />
ACG Seattle<br />
acg.org/seattle<br />
ACG Silicon Valley<br />
acg.org/sv<br />
ACG South Florida<br />
acg.org/southflorida<br />
ACG St. Louis<br />
acg.org/stlouis<br />
ACG Tampa Bay<br />
acg.org/tampabay<br />
ACG Tennessee<br />
acg.org/tennessee<br />
ACG Toronto<br />
acg.org/toronto<br />
ACG Utah<br />
acg.org/utah<br />
ACG Vancouver<br />
acg.org/vancouver<br />
ACG Western Michigan<br />
acg.org/wmich<br />
ACG Wisconsin<br />
acg.org/wisconsin<br />
<strong>Association</strong> <strong>for</strong> <strong>Corporate</strong> <strong>Growth</strong><br />
71 S. Wacker Drive, Suite 2760<br />
Chicago, IL 60606<br />
ACG Membership: 877-358-2220<br />
www.acg.org<br />
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
LETTER TO MEMBERS<br />
An Open Forum<br />
In the wake of another successful Inter<strong>Growth</strong>, ACG introduces a plat<strong>for</strong>m to foster the sharing<br />
of members’ ‘growth stories’<br />
GARY A. LaBRANCHE and MICHAEL A. CARR<br />
We would be remiss without opening<br />
our monthly letter with a<br />
thank you to everyone who made<br />
Inter<strong>Growth</strong> <strong>2011</strong> such a success. The event<br />
was the largest Inter<strong>Growth</strong> ever, and the<br />
feedback attendees have been providing has<br />
been very positive. Check out this month’s<br />
“Few fully understand the important<br />
role of each stakeholder in driving<br />
middle-market growth.”<br />
Pulse column on page 40 <strong>for</strong> just a capture of<br />
what some attendees learned and benefited<br />
from at this year’s event.<br />
ACG Launches Middle-Market Private<br />
Capital Leadership Forum (The Forum) to<br />
Tell the “<strong>Growth</strong> Stories” of the Middle-<br />
Market<br />
ACG has responded to member requests<br />
and is moving <strong>for</strong>ward in becoming a more<br />
active and visible voice <strong>for</strong> the middle market<br />
dealmaking and corporate growth community.<br />
Middle-market investors, lenders, advisors,<br />
and corporate leaders quietly go about<br />
their business every day. As a result, middlemarket<br />
companies grow, add jobs, serve<br />
customers and contribute to their communities.<br />
But few know or fully understand the<br />
important role of each stakeholder in driving<br />
middle-market growth. Un<strong>for</strong>tunately, negative<br />
views of our industry have prevailed and<br />
there is an absence of positive stories describing<br />
how members of the ACG community<br />
build and grow middle-market companies.<br />
To advance the positive story of middlemarket<br />
private capital investment, ACG has<br />
created the Middle-Market Private Capital<br />
Leadership Forum<br />
(The Forum). The<br />
Forum will support<br />
projects and<br />
research designed<br />
to tell the story of<br />
how privately-held middle-market companies<br />
grow jobs, add to the tax base, enhance prosperity<br />
<strong>for</strong> employees and entrepreneurs, and<br />
power our economy. The Forum is organized<br />
to communicate how private capital delivers<br />
public good.<br />
We encourage you to visit www.middlemarketgrowth.org,<br />
learn more about what<br />
The Forum is doing and how you can add your<br />
voice to the story.<br />
If you have questions regarding the Forum<br />
or would like additional in<strong>for</strong>mation, please<br />
contact Greg Fine, ACG vice president of marketing<br />
and communications at 312-957-4277<br />
or gfine@acg.org.<br />
Keeping Limited Partners Happy—a<br />
Joint White Paper from Grant Thornton<br />
and ACG<br />
Last but not least, we’d like to draw your<br />
attention to a new joint white paper released<br />
by Grant Thornton and ACG regarding limited<br />
partners (LPs) current and future expectations.<br />
With LPs remaining somewhat cautious<br />
about investing, many private equity firms are<br />
faced with the prospect of not being able to<br />
raise a new fund in <strong>2011</strong> or, <strong>for</strong> some, ever<br />
again. Visit www.acg.org and click on the<br />
banner on the left hand side of the page to<br />
download it <strong>for</strong> free!<br />
Gary A. LaBranche, CAE<br />
President & CEO<br />
President & CEO<br />
Michael A. Carr<br />
Chairman<br />
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
Watercooler<br />
Kid Brands Suffers Deal Indigestion<br />
The 2008 acquisition of LaJobi is producing<br />
headaches that take the <strong>for</strong>m of a customs<br />
investigation<br />
The 2008 acquisition of LaJobi has come back to haunt<br />
Kid Brands, Inc., which is now the subject of an ongoing<br />
investigation. Kid Brands said in March<br />
it had fired both the subsidiary’s managing director of<br />
operations and its president, Larry Bivona, who was part<br />
of the group that sold LaJobi to Kid Brands nearly three<br />
years ago. The firings were precipitated after the board of<br />
directors found misconduct related to the customs duty<br />
paid on products imported from China -- putting the<br />
company in violation of anti-dumping regulations.<br />
Kid Brands, <strong>for</strong>merly known as Russ Berrie & Co.,<br />
originally acquired LaJobi <strong>for</strong> $47 million -- a deal that<br />
occurred alongside the $16 million acquisition of CocaLo<br />
Inc.<br />
Larry Bivona and his brother Joe Bivona had founded the<br />
infant furniture business in 1994. Upon the sale to Kid Brands,<br />
Joe Bivona retired, while Larry Bivona structured a three-year<br />
employment contract to stay on at LaJobi post close. An earnout<br />
agreement was also included, which could have produced<br />
another $15 million in proceeds <strong>for</strong> the sellers. Kid Brands,<br />
however, cited that it does not intend to make any earnout payment<br />
in light of the discovered malfeasance.<br />
The board, after it was made aware of potential issues, retained<br />
Skadden Arps to conduct the probe. Among the findings,<br />
LaJobi had applied<br />
incorrect import duties on<br />
S H U T T E R -<br />
STOCK: 56158117<br />
Attempts to skirt import duties costs Kid Brands<br />
certain wooden furniture<br />
imported from Chinese<br />
vendors, as certain employees<br />
allegedly misidentified<br />
the manufacturers<br />
and shippers of products.<br />
The ongoing investigation<br />
also focuses on staffing<br />
practices in LaJobi’s business<br />
in Asia.<br />
Kid Brands expects to pay an additional $7 million related<br />
to customs duty and could be assessed a penalty that matches<br />
the amount owed.<br />
Escape Reality<br />
Bethenny Frankel unloads her Skinnygirl<br />
cocktail business after two years of building<br />
the brand as a reality TV star<br />
The first week of March saw dealmaker Lynn Tilton<br />
make her debut as a reality star; less than three weeks<br />
later, Bethenny Frankel, best known <strong>for</strong> her time on reality<br />
show The Real Housewives of New York City, crossed into<br />
M&A. She sold her Skinnygirl line of low-calorie cocktails to<br />
POLITE CONVERSATION<br />
“What I would do differently is I just would never<br />
have mentioned it to Warren, and just made my own<br />
investment and left it alone.”<br />
—David Sokol, the disgraced Berkshire Hathaway vet, who resigned amid scrutiny<br />
into his personal investment in Lubrizol. Speaking to CNBC, Sokol revealed<br />
that his investment in Lubrizol followed meetings with bankers representing<br />
the company, but preceded Berkshire Hathaway’s acquisition of Lubrizol.<br />
Fortune Brands’ Beam Global.<br />
Frankel launched the company just two<br />
years ago, bringing in Skyy Vodka veteran<br />
David Kanbar as a co-investor. Terms of<br />
the deal were not disclosed.<br />
The brand, of course, has benefitted<br />
from Frankel’s exposure on the reality show<br />
circuit. In 2005, she was a contestant on<br />
the short-lived and little watched Apprentice<br />
spinoff featuring Martha Stewart. Two<br />
years later, she was<br />
included in the cast<br />
of “Real Housewives<br />
Bethenny Frankel, dealmaker<br />
of New York City,” where the Skinnygirl<br />
brand has played a bit role. In 2009, it<br />
was Frankel’s promotional ef<strong>for</strong>ts <strong>for</strong> the<br />
brand that led to a falling out with BFF<br />
Jill Zarin, who took issue with the Skinnygirl<br />
signage at a charity event.<br />
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
Leaning on Operating Execs<br />
<strong>for</strong> Dealflow<br />
Providence Equity’s acquisition of SRA<br />
underscores the value some senior advisors<br />
can provide<br />
In the quest <strong>for</strong> operational capabilities, the PE industry has<br />
turned en masse to <strong>for</strong>mer business executives. In a competitive<br />
environment, it turns out these executives are also<br />
proving themselves useful when it comes to dealsourcing.<br />
Providence Equity Partners’ late March acquisition of SRA<br />
International, <strong>for</strong> instance, came roughly a year after the firm<br />
tapped Renato DePentima as a senior advisor. DePentima, of<br />
course, had previously served as president and chief executive<br />
officer of SRA, retiring in 2007.<br />
The deal, announced in the first week of April, valued SRA<br />
at $1.88 billion. Providence agreed to a go-shop provision, but<br />
negotiated matching rights should any topping offers emerge.<br />
According to analysts at Lazard, however, the enlistment of De-<br />
Pentima gives Providence an edge and his presence will likely<br />
serve as the “primary impediment” squelching outside interest.<br />
Others too have called on their senior advisors to multitask.<br />
When New Mountain Capital acquired Covidien’s Mallinckrodt<br />
Baker specialty chemicals business last year, the deal came a<br />
year after <strong>for</strong>mer Rohm & Haas chairman and CEO Raj Gupta<br />
was brought in as a senior<br />
advisor. Gupta, coincidentally,<br />
is a boardmember<br />
at <strong>for</strong>mer<br />
Covidien parent Tyco<br />
International.Advent<br />
International is another<br />
firm that has at times<br />
leaned their operating<br />
partners to channel<br />
dealflow. Jenny Ming,<br />
Advent’s Jenny Ming among those who<br />
have multi-tasked into dealsourcing<br />
the <strong>for</strong>mer Old Navy<br />
president, was able to<br />
walk the firm through<br />
the Charlotte Russe opportunity,<br />
which translated into an investment in 2009, less<br />
than a year into Ming’s tenure at Advent.<br />
The Next, Great Distress<br />
Opportunity<br />
Fundamental Advisors raises its second<br />
PE fund to target the muni market<br />
Dealmakers love a dislocation. And it was only a matter<br />
of time be<strong>for</strong>e investors began looking <strong>for</strong> ways to<br />
capitalize on the oft-predicted muni crisis.<br />
Laurence Gottlieb, less than three years after<br />
raising his debut fund, is back in the market seeking<br />
$750 million <strong>for</strong> Fundamental Partners II,<br />
LP -- his second private equity vehicle targeting<br />
opportunities in distressed municipal bonds.<br />
Gottlieb, who sits as chairman and CEO of<br />
Fundamental Advisors, launched the firm in<br />
2007 with Dana Fusaris, a managing director and<br />
co-founder.<br />
Gottlieb previously headed Citigroup’s municipal<br />
distressed and special situations prop<br />
desk, while Fusaris had been a portfolio director<br />
at Madison Capital Management. Daniel Gilman, Gottlieb’s<br />
<strong>for</strong>mer co-head at Citi, also signed on as a managing director.<br />
The new fund suggests Fundamental has already committed<br />
the bulk of its 2007-vintage first vehicle. The firm’s website<br />
discloses just one deal, the acquisition of minor league franchise<br />
The Memphis Redbirds. The team was acquired after Fundamental<br />
bought up the muni bonds issued to build the team’s<br />
stadium, AutoZone Park.<br />
The new fund comes as<br />
clouds continue to loom<br />
over the muni bond segment.<br />
Meredith Whitney<br />
sounded the alarms in a<br />
report late last year and an<br />
ensuing interview on “60<br />
Minutes,” in which she<br />
<strong>for</strong>ecast that the defaults<br />
in the space would reach<br />
the hundreds of billions of<br />
dollars.<br />
Meredith Whitney among those pumping muni distress<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong><br />
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Watercooler<br />
TOMORROW’S DEALS<br />
Hachette Sale Sets Up New<br />
Strategy <strong>for</strong> Lagardere<br />
The France-based media group is expected<br />
to pursue sports representation assets<br />
Expect to see Lagardere SCA make waves within the sports<br />
representation industry, thanks to the sale of its international<br />
magazines business to Hearst Corp.<br />
The French media group, in the last week of March, agreed<br />
to deal handing over its Hachette portfolio, featuring 102 magazine<br />
titles, to New York-based media<br />
conglomerate Hearst. The move,<br />
observers say, will allow Lagardere to<br />
put the €651 million ($918 million)<br />
in proceeds toward acquisitions to<br />
bolster its growing sports division.<br />
Lagardere Unlimited, launched<br />
last <strong>May</strong> with the goal of expanding<br />
the publishing company into the<br />
sports marketing arena, is gaining<br />
traction as a <strong>for</strong>midable competitor to Forstmann Little & Co.’s<br />
IMG Worldwide Inc.<br />
In June, Lagardere acquired Louisville, Ken.-based Blue<br />
Entertainment Sports Television (BEST), which represents<br />
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, <strong>for</strong> undisclosed<br />
terms. Media reports now indicate that Cleveland-based IMG<br />
could be next.<br />
Forstmann acquired IMG <strong>for</strong> $750 million in November<br />
2004.<br />
Some marketwatchers, however, believe Lagardere is more<br />
likely to sweep up smaller, sport specific assets.<br />
“So much of its business is international,” says a source in<br />
the sports marketing industry, referring to IMG’s size and global<br />
reach. “A more likely target [<strong>for</strong> Lagardere] is a younger firm<br />
that has promising young clients and prowess in<br />
the recruiting world.”<br />
The source pointed to Australia’s SFX Sports<br />
Group Pty Ltd. as a possible target.<br />
The sector has seen limited deal activity. Wasserman<br />
Media Group is among those that have<br />
been active buyers, acquiring a number of SFX<br />
properties in 2006, including its football, rugby<br />
and marketing and events divisions. Wasserman,<br />
in March, was also rumored to be close to a deal<br />
<strong>for</strong> SFX Golf, according to reports.<br />
Meanwhile, Lagardere expects to complete its transaction<br />
with Hearst over the next couple of months. Initial discussions<br />
began in late 2010. — ANTHONY NOTO<br />
Constellation Exploring<br />
Strategic Alternatives<br />
The Canadian software developer hired Bank<br />
of America Merrill Lynch and BMO Capital<br />
Markets to manage a potential process<br />
Constellation Software Inc. is evaluating strategic options<br />
as a means to raise shareholder value, hiring investment<br />
advisers Bank of America Merrill Lynch and BMO Capital<br />
Markets to assist the process.<br />
Details of the review, including a timeline and whether it is<br />
seeking a capital raise or a sale of assets, were not disclosed.<br />
Constellation, which develops customized software <strong>for</strong> private<br />
and public sector entities, has been particularly active pursuing<br />
M&A over the past year. In January, the Toronto-based company<br />
purchased certain software assets of John Deere Agri Services Inc.<br />
from Moline, Ill.-based agricultural giant Deere & Co. In October,<br />
Constellation acquired the Health–Clinical business of GFI<br />
Solutions Group Inc. and also bought utility software provider<br />
Cogsdale.<br />
Including a handful of other deals, the company spent $114.2<br />
million on acquisitions throughout 2010, a 53% increase over<br />
the previous 12 months.<br />
According to analysts, the company’s diversified end markets<br />
better lends itself to financial buyers. Constellation, while public,<br />
is still controlled by private equity investors Birch Hill Equity<br />
Partners and OMERs, which took the company public in 2006.<br />
TD Newcrest, in a research note found on Thomson One<br />
Analytics, cited: “Constellation management has done an outstanding<br />
job of finding and executing on M&A opportunities.<br />
As a result, the company now serves over 40 different verticals.<br />
However, given the diverse nature of Constellation’s business,<br />
potential synergies <strong>for</strong> strategic buyers are not obvious to us.”<br />
Total revenue <strong>for</strong> 2010 grew 44% to $631 million, year over<br />
year. — ANTHONY NOTO<br />
10 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
Watercooler<br />
BELTWAY MONITOR<br />
New Bill Aims to Void Dodd-Frank<br />
Registration Requirements<br />
Riverside Co.’s Pam Hendrickson spoke in<br />
front of the House Committee on Financial<br />
Services to help make the case <strong>for</strong> PE<br />
Private equity’s eleventh-hour ef<strong>for</strong>ts in Washington are<br />
starting to gain some traction, as sponsors seek to push<br />
off registration requirements. Virginia Congressman<br />
Robert Hurt introduced a bill, “The<br />
Small Business Capital Access and Job Preservation<br />
Act,” that seeks to extend to private equity the same<br />
exemption venture capital firms receive under Title<br />
IV of the Dodd-Frank act.<br />
In the bill, private equity funds would be spared<br />
from both registration and reporting requirements,<br />
although the legislation does call <strong>for</strong> the Securities<br />
and Exchange Commission to come up with a<br />
“definition” of private equity to determine exactly<br />
which firms would gain exemption. Also, firms<br />
would be required to maintain records and provide the SEC<br />
with reports documenting “fund size, governance, investment<br />
strategy, risk and other factors.”<br />
Hurt, in a statement during the March subcommittee hearing,<br />
noted that the registration requirements <strong>for</strong> private equity,<br />
as they currently stand, “do not make the financial system more<br />
stable or less risky,” but rather “impose an undue burden on<br />
small and mid-sized” firms.<br />
The Riverside Co.’s Pam Hendrickson spoke in front of the<br />
Subcommittee on the same day, and reiterated many of the familiar<br />
gripes sponsors have made about the new law. She stayed<br />
true to the theme that registration, while diverting resources,<br />
will do little to “accomplish the [Dodd-Frank] Act’s stated purpose<br />
of helping identify and reduce systemic risk.”<br />
While it remains to be seen how far Congressman Hurt’s<br />
bill will go, the drafting of the<br />
legislation is a sign that sponsors<br />
are at least being heard.<br />
At press time, on the evening<br />
of April 8, came word that the<br />
filing date <strong>for</strong> private fund<br />
registration had been extended<br />
six months -- perhaps a<br />
more poignant sign legislators<br />
are listening and likely a relief<br />
<strong>for</strong> sponsors unprepared <strong>for</strong><br />
the original July deadline.<br />
Hurt’s bill was introduced alongside a new slate of repeal<br />
legislation unveiled on the same day seeking to tweak to Dodd<br />
Frank act. Among the other legislative proposals were a bill to<br />
amend the definitions of “a major swap participant,” a bill to<br />
repeal section 939G of the Dodd-Frank act dealing with certain<br />
rating agency exemptions, and legislation to repeal certain disclosure<br />
requirements of the Consumer Protection Act.<br />
PE found an advocate in Congressman Robert Hurt<br />
FTC, DOJ Provide Clarity on<br />
Healthcare Antitrust<br />
Following the CMS’s new rules on accountable<br />
care organizations, antitrust regulators<br />
created a “safety zone” <strong>for</strong> qualified<br />
ACOs, but offered no leeway <strong>for</strong> M&A in the<br />
sector<br />
It has been more than a year since the Patient Protection and<br />
Af<strong>for</strong>dable Care Act was signed into law. While the sweeping<br />
healthcare re<strong>for</strong>m bill has driven M&A and encouraged<br />
scale as a way to squeeze efficiencies out of the system, one lingering<br />
unknown relates to how the antitrust regulators will view<br />
the consolidation that ensues among healthcare providers.<br />
The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice<br />
provided some clarity in late March, issuing a joint statement<br />
detailing how the agencies intend to en<strong>for</strong>ce antitrust law<br />
<strong>for</strong> Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).<br />
While the guidance from the FTC and DOJ bodes well <strong>for</strong><br />
participants in ACOs, a proposed “safety zone” and the expedited<br />
review do little <strong>for</strong> buyers and sellers in the healthcare space.<br />
The policy statement explicitly said that merger transactions,<br />
including deals that meet the criteria of the new “competitor<br />
collaboration guidelines,” will continue to be evaluated under<br />
the agencies’ horizontal merger guidelines, which were updated<br />
last year.<br />
The FTC and DOJ are soliciting comments about the proposal<br />
until <strong>May</strong> 31 of this year.<br />
12 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
Motorola/Nokia Deal Delayed<br />
Chinese regulators have extended the<br />
review period of Motorola’s asset sale<br />
China’s antitrust regulator extended its review of Motorola<br />
Solutions’ sale of its network-equipment business<br />
to Nokia Siemens Networks. The deal was originally<br />
announced in July and expected to close in December 2010.<br />
“This is ‘Phase Three.’ The third review,’” a Motorola spokesman<br />
said.<br />
Schaumberg, Ill.-based Motorola is dependent on the $1.2<br />
billion deal with Nokia Siemens -- a joint venture between<br />
Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG – in order to move ahead with its<br />
planned restructuring. It must now wait another 60 days be<strong>for</strong>e<br />
China’s Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce<br />
(Mofcom) makes a decision on whether or not to approve the<br />
transaction.<br />
Chinese rival Huawei Technologies sued to block the deal<br />
in January and a month later won an injunction on allegations<br />
that the sale would illegally transfer intellectual property used in<br />
certain Motorola products.<br />
It’s also worth noting that legislators in the US have applied<br />
more scrutiny to Chinese telecom companies, including Huawei<br />
and ZTE. Reportedly, the two have been excluded from<br />
certain contracts due to national security concerns.<br />
“It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out,” said<br />
tech analyst Rob Enderle of San Jose, Calif.-based Enderle<br />
Group. “The bureaucracy in China is unique in its difficulty.”<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong> MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS 13
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Dealmakers aren’t necessarily inured to black<br />
swan events, but following the tragic tsunami<br />
in Japan and uprisings in the Middle<br />
East, the M&A market has proven itself to be resilient<br />
in the face of the unexpected.<br />
Even the affected regions continue to witness a<br />
steady supply of deal flow. Japan’s Oji Paper Co., <strong>for</strong><br />
instance, recently acquired Lombard Investments’<br />
stake in Thai packaging manufacturer P.Pack & Print<br />
Public Co. The deal was announced on March 28,<br />
just two weeks after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake<br />
and ensuing tsunami devastated much of the country.<br />
On the same day, Japan’s Ikuyo Co. sold its USi Tennessee-based<br />
hard coating business to Cooper-Standard<br />
and Japanese microchip test maker Advantest<br />
Corp. agreed to buy Singapore rival Verigy in a $1.1<br />
billion deal. The Carlyle Group, not to be outdone,<br />
acquired Japan’s Tsubaki Nakashima Co., a maker of<br />
industrial steel balls, and also launched a new fund<br />
targeting Sub-Sahara Africa.<br />
Closer to home, in the domestic middle market,<br />
dealflow continued unabated. “We have seen absolutely<br />
zero reticence on the part of buyers,” describes<br />
Rob Parker, a co-founder and managing director with<br />
Birmingham, Mich.-based investment bank Quarton<br />
Partners. He cites one deal the firm is currently working<br />
on in which roughly 10% of the target company’s<br />
sales come from Japan. “It’s a topic that is discussed,”<br />
he says, but adds he has yet to see any suitors turned<br />
off by the exposure.<br />
Even the lender universe — normally the more<br />
temperamental constituency in M&A -- is overlooking<br />
the recent rash of events. Two lenders Mergers &<br />
Acquisitions spoke to recently express the same sentiment<br />
as Parker. If a specific credit isn’t impacted, they<br />
aren’t going to be spooked by risks that can’t be <strong>for</strong>ecast<br />
or predicted.<br />
One might assume that the string of bad news<br />
would at least slow down what has been a strong recovery<br />
<strong>for</strong> the deal market. Indeed, the earthquake in<br />
Japan and the unrest in the Middle East will surely<br />
be felt in a number of specific sectors -- from the automotive<br />
and tech industries to the energy, luxury<br />
retail, food and defense sectors, among others. But<br />
again, the impact appears muted. For instance, in the<br />
face of renewed nuclear fears, Russia’s state-owned<br />
JSC Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ) merely revised the<br />
terms of its acquisition <strong>for</strong> uranium miner Mantra<br />
Resources, trimming the purchase price from A$1.16<br />
billion to A$1.02 billion. As part of the revised agreement,<br />
ARMZ also waived its material adverse change<br />
clause.<br />
But the robust pace of M&A activity may actually<br />
belie dealmakers’ revised approach in ever-uncertain<br />
times, especially <strong>for</strong> a market that has only become<br />
more global and interconnected over the past decade.<br />
In 2006, it was Hurricane Katrina; the next year saw<br />
coup d’états in Thailand and Fiji and by 2007, the<br />
first cracks started to emerge in the global financial<br />
markets. Since then, dealmakers have had to absorb<br />
the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, the BP oil spill, a<br />
devastating earthquake in Haiti and the recent developments<br />
in the Middle East and Japan.<br />
José Feliciano, a founding partner of private equity<br />
firm Clearlake Capital Partners, notes that while<br />
black swan events won’t dissuade investors from pursuing<br />
deals, the volatility encourages acquirers to<br />
hedge their bets. For Clearlake, a special situations<br />
firm, that translates into less leverage and more pricing<br />
discipline.<br />
Feliciano, though, says it goes beyond deal terms.<br />
“We’re a lot more focused today on input pricing,”<br />
he describes. He adds that it’s not only an awareness<br />
of commodity volatility, but also a focus on the availability<br />
of input resources.<br />
He cites that a number of manufacturers have<br />
moved operations to Mexico in recent years. Alluding<br />
to the political unrest in the country, he warns, “If<br />
14 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
there isn’t any redundancy, you have to worry about a<br />
hidden supply chain risk.”<br />
Another factor, one that Feliciano says became more<br />
prominent in the wake of the debt crisis, is the credit<br />
profile of a target company’s customer base. In the past,<br />
buyers would key in on customer concentration, and<br />
pay special attention to a target’s largest clients. Today,<br />
Feliciano says, “We’ll spend a lot more time concentrating<br />
on the next nine customers.”<br />
The rapid succession of world-changing events is<br />
in part accentuated by the flow of in<strong>for</strong>mation that at<br />
times can threaten to overwhelm investors. Feliciano<br />
says the challenge <strong>for</strong> acquirers today is to “distill the<br />
significant facts and tune out the noise,” adding, “a lot<br />
of noise is out there.”<br />
He points to Clearlake’s recent recapitalization of<br />
Platinum Energy Solutions, a services provider to the<br />
domestic oil and natural gas sector. “If you just read<br />
the headlines or pay attention to natural gas prices,<br />
you would get the idea that it’s not a great place to invest...<br />
once you really drill down and understand the<br />
industry, you distinguish between the misin<strong>for</strong>mation<br />
and relevant facts.”<br />
Parker, meanwhile, adds that deal pros have become<br />
accustomed to taking in and synthesizing in<strong>for</strong>mation.<br />
And while it may add volatility to the public<br />
markets, buyers and sellers have become less reactive<br />
than they may have been a decade ago. “There is so<br />
much efficiency with in<strong>for</strong>mation today. If anything<br />
happens on any part of the globe, you’re going to<br />
hear about,” he says. “It may have de-sensitized us a<br />
little bit, but buyers today are more apt to try to get<br />
their arms around something be<strong>for</strong>e simply dismissing<br />
it.”<br />
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<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong> MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS 15
Outlook<br />
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There is usually one characteristic that separates<br />
the ‘must have’ targets from the assets that fail<br />
to seduce buyers. Ask a panel of dealmakers,<br />
and they’ll respond in unison that it’s the barriers to<br />
entry that distinguish the great assets from those that<br />
generate indifference. But as past deals have shown,<br />
perceived barriers can also quickly crumble.<br />
Take The Carlyle Group’s acquisition of Oriental<br />
Trading Company. When the firm acquired the<br />
company <strong>for</strong> roughly $1 billion in 2006, Sandra<br />
Horbach was quoted by one trade publication as<br />
saying that the company’s brand and its loyal customer<br />
base, said to number 18 million, served as the<br />
company’s high barrier to entry. As it turned out,<br />
however, that outsized customer base, which collectively<br />
received 300 million catalogs a year, became<br />
an albatross when postal rates surged higher<br />
and consumer spending plummeted, especially <strong>for</strong><br />
the discretionary items that make up OTC’s product<br />
lines. As the New York Times reported last year,<br />
about a month ahead of the company’s bankruptcy<br />
filing, Oriental Trading was <strong>for</strong>ced to cut back on<br />
its mailings at a time when consumers were already<br />
inclined to spend less.<br />
One deal pro, speaking generally, identifies the<br />
hole in Carlyle’s thinking. When it comes to identifying<br />
barriers and assessing the value they bring, “it’s<br />
not the market share, per se, it’s what you have to do<br />
to earn the contract,” the source describes.<br />
Indeed, recent research from Morningstar details<br />
the more appealing barriers to entry and also singles<br />
out perceived barriers that don’t necessarily hold up.<br />
High switching costs, <strong>for</strong> instance, represent one<br />
of the more appealing moats Morningstar identified.<br />
This, <strong>for</strong> example, is what helps to separate a company<br />
like SAP from its competitors.<br />
Cost advantages can also be considered a barrier<br />
to entry, but it has to be driven by something that<br />
can’t easily be mimicked. Lean manufacturing or<br />
a replicable sourcing strategy won’t qualify. But the<br />
substantial buying power of a company like Wal-Mart<br />
does, as few competitors can demand the same kinds<br />
of concessions.<br />
Intangible assets represent another barrier, although<br />
at the same time can present a gray area that<br />
makes it difficult to assign value to the moat. A brand,<br />
<strong>for</strong> instance, can provide protection, while a faddish<br />
product can prove to be more dangerous.<br />
Footwear, in particular, is one segment where<br />
these lines often blur. Heelys Inc. saw its stock rise<br />
when its roller skating shoes gained popularity with<br />
kids in 2006 and 2007. The company’s patents, especially<br />
after they held up in court, added another<br />
barrier, which prevented competitors from merely<br />
rolling out knockoffs. Heelys intellectual property<br />
was likely why Skechers showed so much interest<br />
in the company in 2007 and the two years that followed.<br />
Believing that Skechers’ unsolicited offers undervalued<br />
the company, Heelys ultimately decided to<br />
remain independent. As of its most recent earnings<br />
call, in March, Heelys was trading below its cash levels.<br />
Its future is bleak enough that certain investors<br />
were suggesting in what was a brutal earnings call<br />
<strong>for</strong> company management that the company should<br />
consider liquidation.<br />
Buyers will often favor intangible assets centered<br />
around approvals or licenses.Warburg Pincus, <strong>for</strong> instance,<br />
acquired ambulance services company Rural/<br />
Metro in March <strong>for</strong> $438.2 million. The company’s<br />
golden ticket takes the <strong>for</strong>m of certificates required<br />
<strong>for</strong> non-emergency ambulance transportation in certain<br />
counties in Central Florida where the company<br />
operates. The certification positioned Rural/Metro to<br />
<strong>for</strong>ge long-term contracts and arrangements between<br />
municipalities and other companies.<br />
Heather Brilliant, vice president of equity and<br />
credit research at Morningstar, said that she believes<br />
BARRIERS continued on page 46<br />
16 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
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Almost as soon as AT&T’s $39 billion acquisition<br />
of Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA<br />
division was announced, a cavalcade of negative<br />
sentiment dominated the discourse surrounding<br />
the deal. Even T-Mobile USA CEO and president<br />
Philip Humm conceded in a note to employees that<br />
the transaction was “unexpected and may be somewhat<br />
unsettling.” Perhaps the least surprising critic<br />
to emerge was No. 3 domestic carrier Sprint. While<br />
the transaction will surely receive scrutiny from the<br />
various regulatory agencies, what remains to be seen<br />
is how much of an impact rival carriers can have when<br />
they plant a flag in opposition.<br />
“You have to be careful if you are opposing a deal,”<br />
Dechert partner and antitrust practice co-chair Michael<br />
Weiner cites. “If you complain too much, you<br />
run the risk of changing the perception of regulators,<br />
who may conversely take it to mean that it’s actually<br />
‘pro-competitive.’”<br />
To be sure, AT&T and Deutsche Telekom will<br />
make out nicely should the sale be cleared. The <strong>for</strong>mer,<br />
so long as the deal goes through in its current<br />
incarnation, will add 33.7 million subscribers, giving<br />
the combined company a roughly 42% domestic<br />
market share. The seller, meanwhile, solves its capacity<br />
crunch issues with a sale that ranged from €6.5<br />
billion to €9.3 billion more than analysts thought the<br />
assets could fetch.<br />
The losers, though, are many. Consumers ostensibly<br />
lose an aggressive competitor in T-Mobile; handset<br />
makers, excluding Apple, are faced with a shrinking<br />
pool of buyers; while companies that play into<br />
the mobile infrastructure, whether its network equipment<br />
providers such as Alcatel Lucent and Ericsson<br />
or tower companies like Crown Castle or SBA Communications,<br />
now face a future tied to an increasingly<br />
concentrated customer base.<br />
Yet, among those affected, Sprint, as of the first<br />
week of April, has been the only corporate dissenter<br />
to weigh in on the merger. In a statement released<br />
shortly after the deal, Sprint’s Vonya McCann, senior<br />
vice president of Government Affairs, warned it<br />
would create “a new Ma Bell duopoly.” Sprint further<br />
claimed that the industry, should the deal go through,<br />
would be “overwhelmingly” dominated by the two<br />
vertically integrated companies, AT&T and Verizon,<br />
“with unprecedented control over the US wireless<br />
post-paid market, as well as the availability and price<br />
of key inputs, such as backhaul and access needed by<br />
other wireless companies to compete.”<br />
It seems easy to dismiss Sprint’s objections as sour<br />
grapes. The company, based on earlier Bloomberg reports,<br />
was left at the altar following negotiations to<br />
merge or <strong>for</strong>ge a strategic agreement with T-Mobile.<br />
And whether Sprint’s public dissent holds water with<br />
regulators remains to be seen.<br />
Weiner notes that regardless of who comes out<br />
against a deal, the review from regulators is going to<br />
be “fact based.”<br />
For its part, AT&T outwardly appears pretty confident<br />
that the facts rest on its side. The company<br />
agreed to a reverse termination fee of $3 billion in<br />
cash, and mapped out a commitment to transfer to<br />
Deutsche Telekom certain wireless AWS spectrum<br />
that it doesn’t use as part of its initial LTE rollout.<br />
Moreover, a roaming agreement with DT, “on terms<br />
favorable to both parties,” would also be included in<br />
the event that AT&T can’t complete the acquisition.<br />
Wayne Watts, AT&T’s general counsel and senior<br />
executive vice president, also oozed confidence on the<br />
company’s conference call following the transaction.<br />
When challenged about the remaining market following<br />
the proposed deal -- ostensibly made up of AT&T,<br />
Verizon and Sprint -- Watts responded unequivocally<br />
18 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
that the very premise of the question was off. “The government will<br />
look at this on a local, market-by-market basis and that’s not a conclusion<br />
we’ve just drawn <strong>for</strong> our purposes, that’s the way the government<br />
has looked at transactions -- every wireless transaction that we<br />
and other people in the industry have completed.”<br />
And a local reading, he argues, leaves five or more competitors<br />
fighting <strong>for</strong> customers in 18 of the 20 largest markets, representing<br />
70% of the population. “This is an FCC study, not my analysis,” he<br />
accentuated.<br />
Indeed, when AT&T acquired Cingular in 2004, it had tried to<br />
make a case <strong>for</strong> a national scope in the application of antitrust law.<br />
Rebuffed at the time, the market-by-market analysis favors AT&T’s<br />
current purposes and probably makes it easier to handicap possible<br />
divestitures.<br />
But while the odds do seem stacked against Sprint, at least based<br />
on historic rulings, corporate dissent has worked in the past. When<br />
Comcast subsumed NBC Universal, competitors were largely quiet<br />
at first, although in December, filings with the Federal Communications<br />
Commission revealed that Viacom, Inc. was working behind<br />
the scenes to address its concerns about the merger. The FCC and<br />
the Department of Justice did clear the transaction, although not<br />
be<strong>for</strong>e Comcast made commitments to ensure reasonable access to<br />
its programming <strong>for</strong> multi-channel distribution and also provided<br />
access to its own distribution systems. The company, <strong>for</strong> instance,<br />
agreed to provide 10 new independent channels within eight years<br />
on its digital tier.<br />
If Sprint is going to shape the narrative around the AT&T deal,<br />
Weiner cites that the company’s best bet would be to “plant the<br />
seeds” that the industry’s market should be defined on a national<br />
level and then work through a grass roots campaign that encourages<br />
consumer groups to deliver the message.<br />
Weiner, <strong>for</strong> instance, worked on Google’s planned advertising<br />
deal with Yahoo, which was ultimately abandoned following anti-<br />
ROADMAP FOR DISSENT continued on page 46<br />
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<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong> MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS 19
LBO Watch<br />
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Allison Transmission is the latest company looking<br />
to tap the equity market to repay debt.<br />
The Indianapolis manufacturer of transmissions<br />
and other auto parts is planning to raise around<br />
$750 million in an initial public offering. Despite the<br />
perception that an IPO represents a healthy payday<br />
<strong>for</strong> its PE backers, the Allison flotation reflects the<br />
more common trend today in which sponsor-backed<br />
companies channel whatever proceeds they receive<br />
from the IPO to pay down debt.<br />
“Overall, companies are in the mode of deleveraging,”<br />
said Jeff Peskind, chief investment officer with<br />
Phoenix Investment Adviser. “Even though they can<br />
and they have been refinancing debt with longer-dated<br />
maturities, management teams would rather have<br />
less debt on the company than they did pre-crisis.<br />
Their thinking is that less leverage is better.”<br />
Peskind added that private-equity owners of junkrated<br />
companies also face pressure from investors to<br />
return money.<br />
Allison, a <strong>for</strong>mer General Motors division, went<br />
private in 2007 in a $5.575 billion buyout by the<br />
Carlyle Group and Onex. The firms contributed a<br />
combined $1.5 billion in equity to the deal and financed<br />
the rest with debt, made up of a term loan B,<br />
11% senior facility, PIK toggle notes and a revolver. A<br />
total of $3.67 billion of the debt remains today.<br />
Allison’s planned offering follows that of its <strong>for</strong>mer<br />
parent, GM, which raised $23 billion last year. And<br />
observers wouldn’t be surprised if parts manufacturers<br />
Delphi and IAC follow suit.<br />
“The auto-parts sector took advantage of [an open<br />
equity market] in latter 2009, when the sector began<br />
its recovery,” said Timothy Harrod, a vice president<br />
and senior analyst with Moody’s Investors Service.<br />
Other companies in the sector that have completed<br />
successful IPOs include Dana Holdings and TRW<br />
Automotive.<br />
To be sure, the highlight in the IPO market, year<br />
to date, was the March flotation of HCA, which returned<br />
to the public market after a roughly five-year<br />
stay in private equity hands. Its sponsors, Kohlberg<br />
Kravis Roberts, Bain Capital and Merrill Lynch Global<br />
Private Equity did not recoup any of their investment<br />
in through equity offering, which was used to<br />
repay debt.<br />
While it won’t stop the sponsors from cashing in<br />
at a later date, marketwatchers will usually scrutinize<br />
an IPO in which the proceeds don’t go back to the<br />
business or trim debt.<br />
That’s not to say sponsors aren’t taking chips off the<br />
table; there just isn’t the immediate gratification some<br />
might prefer. Amid the flurry of IPOs, March also<br />
saw Italian restaurant chain Bravo Brio and healthcare<br />
marketing company Accretive Health Solutions<br />
-- both private equity backed -- file <strong>for</strong> secondary<br />
offerings. Bravo Brio is looking to raise around $80<br />
million, while Accretive Health is aiming <strong>for</strong> around<br />
$151 million.<br />
But the story remains the inflow of companies that<br />
hope to enter the market while the window remains<br />
open and trim their leverage as much as possible.<br />
GNC, in the last week of March, raised $360 million<br />
in an IPO, while Penthouse publisher Friend-<br />
Finder Networks, also in March, filed <strong>for</strong> its own IPO,<br />
following previous ef<strong>for</strong>ts to do so last year. Heat tracing<br />
equipment maker Thermon also filed to go public<br />
in February, less than a year after Code Hennessy &<br />
Simmons acquired the company.<br />
“This deleveraging theme will continue,” said<br />
Peskind. “Companies that lived through the ’08 crisis<br />
and almost went bankrupt will continue to issue<br />
equity to pay down debt and de-risk their balance<br />
sheets.”<br />
20 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
LBO Watch<br />
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Few would argue that the balance of power in<br />
the limited partner / general partner relationship<br />
has shifted toward LPs. While limiteds will<br />
always pursue the top quartile, GPs throughout the<br />
market have taken pains to ensure their investors are<br />
getting the attention they demand. In recent months,<br />
a handful of GPs have responded by installing <strong>for</strong>mer<br />
limited partners and institutional investors on their<br />
teams in an investor relations capacity.<br />
Sheryl Schwartz is a senior managing director at<br />
private equity firm Perseus and works on mezzanine<br />
debt investments, private equity investments and IR.<br />
Prior to joining Perseus in 2010, Schwartz was head<br />
of TIAA-CREF’s alternative investment team, where<br />
she reportedly oversaw more than $10 billion of private<br />
equity fund commitments.<br />
If anyone knows best practices, Schwartz would be<br />
a pretty good candidate. “I see the world differently,”<br />
she describes. “There are three of us [at Perseus] who<br />
have been on the LP side and we bring a different<br />
perspective [than] the people who have always been<br />
on the GP side.”<br />
To wit, Schwartz can relate to recent LP demands<br />
<strong>for</strong> more in<strong>for</strong>mation and better details. She debunks a<br />
common misconception on the GP side that limiteds<br />
can be burdened by too much disclosure. “Even if they<br />
can’t get through it all, LPs want to see it,” she cites,<br />
adding that a substantial disconnect exists “between<br />
what LPs want and what GPs think LPs want.”<br />
This, Schwartz says, was a key driver in Perseus’<br />
recruitment. “Even if I don’t know the answer, I can<br />
call one of my relationships and ask their opinion,”<br />
she adds.<br />
And it’s a safe bet too that Perseus didn’t overlook<br />
those relationships either, which undeniably help<br />
open doors.<br />
Perseus isn’t alone. GPs, by and large, are bolstering<br />
their investor relations capabilities amid what has<br />
become a trickier fundraising market. Moreover, the<br />
pay-to-play scandal has incentivized some sponsors,<br />
such as Carlyle Group, to bring their fundraising ef<strong>for</strong>ts<br />
in-house. Institutional investors are also facing<br />
pressure, as capital flows allocated to fund of funds<br />
dries up and as pension systems struggle to attract<br />
Wall Street talent on public service salaries. In turn,<br />
more GPs are bringing <strong>for</strong>mer limited partners on<br />
board, while more LPs are looking <strong>for</strong> such a career<br />
change.<br />
In February, Brazos Equity Partners, a Dallas<br />
based private equity firm, added Patrick O’Hara as a<br />
managing director of investor relations. O’Hara will<br />
lead communication ef<strong>for</strong>ts with current and future<br />
investors and is heavily involved in fundraising activities<br />
<strong>for</strong> the firm. He joined Brazos from the Texas<br />
Employees Retirement System, a $22.5 billion public<br />
pension fund, where he has served as director of private<br />
equity <strong>for</strong> the past three years.<br />
Platinum Equity, which is currently fundraising,<br />
hired Robert Klap earlier this year as a senior executive<br />
in the firm’s London office, where he is involved in<br />
Platinum’s deal origination, investor relations and capital<br />
raising programs. Klap arrives from UBS, where<br />
he managed the private equity fund investments in<br />
the bank’s wealth management group and be<strong>for</strong>e that<br />
put in stints overseeing alternative investments <strong>for</strong> Mn<br />
Services and Shell Asset Management, the roughly<br />
EUR45 billion asset manager that directs investment<br />
activity of the Royal Dutch Shell pension funds.<br />
“Mostly we have seen the transition of LPs to investor<br />
relations and fundraising positions,” observes<br />
Lori Campana, a managing director with placement<br />
agent Monument Group. “It makes sense in today’s<br />
22 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
more challenging fundraising environment to have<br />
someone on the team with that type of experience<br />
and perspective.”<br />
The additions are making a difference. Schwartz’s<br />
input has changed some of the processes at Perseus. For<br />
example, at Schwartz’s suggestion, Perseus has started<br />
doing update calls that include in<strong>for</strong>mation LPs may<br />
have already received in their quarterly reports.<br />
Schwartz, not that far removed from her time at<br />
TIAA CREF, remembers when she would receive<br />
quarterly reports from nearly 300 different GPs. “It’s<br />
better to assume LPs need to be refreshed,” she cites.<br />
“The GP thinks they are the most important investment<br />
the LP has, but there is just so much in<strong>for</strong>mation<br />
LPs need to keep track of.”<br />
Meanwhile, Mark Barnhill, a principal with Platinum<br />
who leads the firm’s capital raising and investor<br />
relations programs, adds that Klap’s appointment<br />
underscores the firm’s commitment to align interests<br />
between the GP and LP. “[It] provides them with a lot<br />
of assurance that we understand their perspective and<br />
the things they need to be successful,” Barnhill says.<br />
Barnhill, however, notes that beyond certain IR<br />
duties, Platinum is counting on Klap to be a presence<br />
in the firm’s European office by “helping drive deal<br />
flow and strategic initiatives.”<br />
It’s another task that plays into the relationships<br />
and awareness of best practices that LPs come<br />
equipped with.<br />
And as the industry deals with the prospect of registration<br />
requirements, it never hurts to have a multitasker<br />
on board.<br />
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<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong> MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS 23
Healthcare<br />
Cocktail<br />
Therapy<br />
When <strong>for</strong>mer Teleflex, Inc. chairman and chief executive<br />
Jeff Black spoke at a January JPMorgan Healthcare<br />
Conference, he took pains to convince attendees the<br />
company does indeed belong at a healthcare-focused<br />
symposium. Considering Teleflex had spent the bulk<br />
of its 60-plus-year existence as an automotive parts<br />
supplier, its name is not exactly synonymous with the<br />
medical devices sector. Yet over the past five years, since<br />
its $2 billion acquisition of catheter-based products<br />
maker Arrow International, Teleflex has gradually
Leerink Swann’s<br />
James Boylan<br />
is among those<br />
anticipating<br />
healthcare<br />
dealflow will<br />
continue to<br />
swell, pushed<br />
along by a<br />
set of diverse<br />
drivers<br />
KEN MacFADYEN<br />
Photograph by JohnCalabresePhotography.com
Healthcare<br />
“<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
”<br />
morphed into a player in the space. The company essentially<br />
traded up. It turned over its industrial businesses<br />
that sell into other, less-appealing end markets,<br />
all while accumulating healthcare assets with better<br />
margins that play into better demographics. Black’s<br />
extreme makeover was effectively capped off at the<br />
end of January, when Benson Smith -- a veteran in<br />
the devices space -- was installed as the company’s<br />
new CEO.<br />
The enthusiasm drawing dealmakers to the space<br />
can be summed up by the three primary drivers --<br />
demographics, dislocation and deadlines. A fourth,<br />
distress, could also be included, but is specific to certain<br />
segments. It is the aging baby boomer generation,<br />
of course, stimulating the end market growth, while<br />
the pressure on the system and the re<strong>for</strong>m meant as<br />
a remedy are creating the dislocation. The deadlines,<br />
dealmakers already know, is the patent cliff that has<br />
been spurring acquisition activity among the pharmaceutical<br />
giants <strong>for</strong> the past decade. Taken together, it<br />
all translates into a frenzied deal environment attracting<br />
buyers and sellers of all shapes and sizes diving<br />
into the various crosscurrents of opportunity.<br />
“The activity is broad-based,” describes Leerink<br />
Swann’s James Boylan, head of investment banking<br />
at the healthcare-focused boutique. “We continue<br />
to see aggressive and even hostile transactions. We’re<br />
seeing the traditional consolidators, <strong>for</strong>eign buyers,<br />
and new entrants; the bigger companies are looking<br />
to add new technologies and new products, but we’re<br />
also seeing the weaker players fish through the assets<br />
to add scale.”<br />
If one were to quantify the sector’s eminence, the<br />
$51 billion-plus worth of transactions in the first<br />
quarter of the year, according to Thomson Reuters<br />
data, is building up to a pace not seen since 2007,<br />
when the sector completed over 2,100 deals worth a<br />
combined $257.8 billion. The valuations -- anecdotally<br />
exceeding 10x Ebitda in certain segments -- are<br />
also at the high end of historic levels and expected<br />
to climb.<br />
The breadth and velocity of activity in the space<br />
can be difficult to capture. In one 48-hour stretch in<br />
the second week of April, <strong>for</strong> instance, more than 25<br />
deals were either completed or announced. Sanofiaventis<br />
completed its exchange offer <strong>for</strong> Genzyme<br />
Corp., Pfizer sold its Capsugel unit to Kohlberg Kravis<br />
Roberts; Thermo-Fisher Scientific finalized its sales<br />
of Athena Diagnostics and Lancaster Laboratories;<br />
Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo Co. completed the acquisition<br />
of Plexxikon, Inc.; and Health Care REIT wrapped<br />
up its purchase of Genesis HealthCare’s real estate assets.<br />
And these were just the more sizable deals, which<br />
together represented a total value exceeding $25 billion.<br />
In the same 48 hours, Waud Capital expanded<br />
its Acadia Healthcare behavioral health rollup, while<br />
Merck & Co. agreed to acquire opthalmology specialist<br />
Inspire Pharmaceuticals. Also, on the periphery of<br />
the sector, communications company Harris Corp.,<br />
IT and engineering outfit NCI Inc. and packaging<br />
company CCL Industries all cinched new acquisitions<br />
delivering exposure to healthcare.<br />
The deal market may resemble 2007 on paper,<br />
though Boylan sees a few significant differences,<br />
noting that the blockbuster deals have, <strong>for</strong> the most<br />
part, receded into the background. “People are starting<br />
to look through the patent cliffs, largely because<br />
they’re already upon us,” he says. “The analysts have<br />
no choice but to look beyond them and recast.” And<br />
Big Pharma, Boylan adds, is viewing M&A through<br />
a narrower lens. “They’re more focused on specific<br />
M&A strategies, preferring to go after high-quality<br />
science, particularly in the orphan and specialty disease<br />
categories.”<br />
Merck’s acquisition of Inspire Pharmaceuticals reflects<br />
this more granular focus.<br />
Boylan’s career track, in a lot of ways, mirrors the<br />
trend line in healthcare. He spent over 12 years at<br />
Merrill Lynch, where he worked on more than 80<br />
deals, including Celgene’s $2.9 billion acquisition of<br />
Pharmion, Lifecell’s $1.7 billion sale to Kinetic Concepts,<br />
and Pfizer’s $90 billion merger with Warner<br />
Lambert. He moved to healthcare specialist Leerink<br />
Swann in 2009, shortly after Merrill’s sale to Bank of<br />
America. Leerink’s focus on the small and mid-cap<br />
market coincidentally lines up with the current palate<br />
of buyers today, who are largely pursuing growth and<br />
innovation-oriented assets.<br />
When discussing the opportunity in the sector,<br />
<strong>for</strong> many buyers, the conversation usually begins and<br />
ends with re<strong>for</strong>m. The anniversary marking the passing<br />
of the Patient Protection and Af<strong>for</strong>dable Care Act<br />
came in went in March, and many are still trying to<br />
digest the impact and navigate through the moving<br />
pieces of the landmark legislation. That’s not to say<br />
that buyers aren’t cognizant of other drivers or that<br />
the recession-resistent appeal of the industry is any<br />
less of a factor. But many investors are focused on the<br />
26 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
overriding theme of the bill that the system has to become more<br />
efficient.<br />
“We just added 32 million insured people, but re<strong>for</strong>m will not<br />
add a single new doctor; that creates a significant dislocation that will<br />
present a huge opportunity <strong>for</strong> anyone who can solve the problems<br />
that presents,” described Duane Morris partner Mitchell Goldman,<br />
who spoke at the <strong>Association</strong> <strong>for</strong> <strong>Corporate</strong> <strong>Growth</strong>’s Inter<strong>Growth</strong><br />
Conference in March.<br />
Hence, the race <strong>for</strong> innovation Boylan alluded to.<br />
“Demographics are a big part of the story, but I think once<br />
healthcare spending accounts <strong>for</strong> 20% of the GDP, you will see an<br />
urgency to figure out how to better coordinate the delivery and payment<br />
systems,” observes Dechert Partner Susan Hendrickson, who<br />
leads the law firm’s corporate and securities healthcare team.<br />
This isn’t lost on companies like Emdeon,<br />
which recently outlined a plan to trans<strong>for</strong>m into<br />
a healthcare in<strong>for</strong>matics business -- a strategy<br />
meant to pivot the payment cycle management<br />
company so it faces the opportunity in areas such<br />
as payment integrity. Emdeon, in March, detailed<br />
<strong>for</strong> analysts a goal of expanding its analytics<br />
business to represent roughly 30% of its total revenues,<br />
up from five percent last year. It will also<br />
build out its payment services offerings, while<br />
its network and applications businesses make up<br />
less of the targeted product mix. Acquisitions,<br />
of course, are going to be part and parcel to the<br />
strategy. The company is said be currently tracking<br />
over 20 targets across all verticals. Last year,<br />
Emdeon acquired Chamberlin Edmonds, and<br />
sealed a number of other buys that fed into its<br />
provider-based ePayment suite and its denial and<br />
recovery services business. It also added strategic<br />
consulting to its payer solutions business.<br />
The quest <strong>for</strong> efficiency is also driving consolidation<br />
among specialists that allow providers<br />
to outsource services. Providence Equity Partners<br />
backed Virtual Radiologic and soon after added<br />
Nighthawk Radiology to the plat<strong>for</strong>m, creating a<br />
giant in the teleradiology space.<br />
“You’re going to see a lot deals premised on<br />
wrenching inefficiencies out of the system,” Hendrickson<br />
adds, pointing to the wave of REIT<br />
acquisitions, allowing healthcare groups to focus on care delivery,<br />
while monetizing their real estate assets in the process.<br />
While re<strong>for</strong>m presents some low hanging fruit <strong>for</strong> companies and<br />
investors, the industry’s exposure and reliance on state and federal<br />
budgets creates volatility and risk. The fiscal 2012 budget proposal<br />
unveiled by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan in early April probably<br />
put a lump in the throat of some in the sector, as it advanced<br />
the GOP’s goal to remove funding <strong>for</strong> and appeal the healthcare<br />
legislation. The proposed budget also sought to retool Medicaid,<br />
by converting the federal program into capped block grants to state<br />
governments and also floated a 2022 deadline, at which point Medicare<br />
would be transitioned into a voucher program.<br />
If anything, the GOP budget underscores the fiscal constraints<br />
that will keep operators in the sector on their toes. Apria Healthcare’s<br />
Chris Karkenny, an executive vice president and chief financial officer<br />
at the Blackstone Group-owned homecare company, also participated<br />
on the healthcare panel at Inter<strong>Growth</strong>. The conference<br />
occurred be<strong>for</strong>e the GOP’s proposed budget was made public, but<br />
Karkenny still tried to drive home to the audience that changes in<br />
funding can have widespread effects.<br />
“It all trickles down,”<br />
he said. “If the government<br />
takes it out of somewhere,<br />
it’s going to impact<br />
the whole marketplace.<br />
You may not be a Medicare<br />
business, but you’re<br />
kidding yourself if you<br />
don’t think those cuts will<br />
be felt in other areas too.”<br />
Investors longer of<br />
tooth probably remember<br />
the string of bankruptcies<br />
among long-term<br />
care providers following<br />
abrupt changes to Medicare<br />
reimbursement rates<br />
in the late Nineties.<br />
Assuming legislation<br />
stays in place, dealmakers<br />
will still find themselves<br />
spinning their wheels as<br />
lawmakers continue to<br />
iron out the kinks.<br />
Curtis Lane, founder<br />
and senior managing director<br />
of merchant bank<br />
MTS Health Partners,<br />
recites an oft-repeated<br />
warning when it comes to re<strong>for</strong>m ef<strong>for</strong>ts. “There are going to be<br />
unintended consequences,” he insists.<br />
Take the premise that re<strong>for</strong>m will add 32 million insured individuals.<br />
Lane cites that the uninsured aren’t actually <strong>for</strong>ced to buy<br />
coverage until they need to. “People will choose to pay the penalty of<br />
HEALTHCARE continued on page 46<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong> MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS 27
Inter<strong>Growth</strong> Wrap<br />
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<br />
third-generation Army veteran, retired<br />
Four-Star General Stanley McChrystal<br />
was among the architects of a warfare<br />
strategy combining intelligence and<br />
operations. The <strong>for</strong>mer commander of<br />
US and international <strong>for</strong>ces in Afghanistan and the<br />
<strong>for</strong>mer leader of the Joint Special Operations Command,<br />
McChrystal built his career on a leadership<br />
strategy focused on full disclosure, teamwork and <strong>for</strong>ward<br />
thinking.<br />
Since his resignation, McChrystal has taken his<br />
leadership skills to JetBlue Airways, where he signed<br />
on as a director last November, and to Yale<br />
University, where he is teaching a seminar on<br />
modern leadership and global affairs.<br />
Mergers & Acquisitions caught up with<br />
McChrystal just ahead of Inter<strong>Growth</strong> to discuss<br />
how leadership skills can be applied in a<br />
boardroom setting and also the rapid evolution<br />
of warfare. The following is an edited version<br />
of the discussion.<br />
Mergers & Acquisitions: Since entering<br />
civilian life, you’ve taken on quite a few<br />
speaking engagements in front of business<br />
leaders. Have you found any common<br />
parallels in running an Army and leading a<br />
business<br />
McChrystal: I certainly wouldn’t sell myself<br />
as a businessman, but I think there are a some<br />
similarities between an Army at war and a business<br />
operating in a competitive environment. I think there<br />
are a number of parallels in terms of the near-term<br />
requirements to be successful in the future. For instance,<br />
you don’t have to show a profit every day or<br />
win every battle, but both organizations share a need<br />
to learn rapidly and respond quickly to change.<br />
There is also a parallel in that you need to have a<br />
long-term strategy in place that prepares you <strong>for</strong> future<br />
success. It’s easy to focus on the near term and<br />
overlook an end goal, but you constantly have to be<br />
developing people and processes in order to prepare<br />
<strong>for</strong> long-term requirements. In the case of an Army<br />
in peace, there are also some parallels. You’ll try to<br />
General Stanley McChrystal<br />
project where your next enemy might be and the nature<br />
of the conflict. I’ve seen Armies in the past guess<br />
pretty badly, and it can put them in a bad position<br />
28 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
during the early part of a conflict. I’d imagine that startups have the<br />
same mentality.<br />
Mergers & Acquisitions: I was reading some of your thoughts on<br />
leadership, and some key themes that continually come up revolve<br />
around culture, communication and relationships. These<br />
are the components, you say, to creating change. I imagine it’s<br />
no different than in the board room. Can you talk a bit about how<br />
transparency and inclusion can serve the greater good<br />
McChrystal: Really, a culture of inclusion is the key part. If everybody<br />
is included and they take ownership of a mission or ownership<br />
in the success of the enterprise, than they’ll approach it differently<br />
because they’ll feel like they have a stake in it. It starts with treating<br />
people like people and transparency helps do that. Also, the more everybody<br />
understands about the inner workings of a company or situation,<br />
the better they’ll understand how to prepare and address the<br />
challenges at hand. There isn’t anything worse than keeping people<br />
ignorant and then asking them to produce in isolation.<br />
Since 9-11, you’ve had a number of government agencies and<br />
groups working together. Rather than just saying, “This is the mission<br />
of Agency X, and everyone has to support them,” a better approach<br />
is to position it as a joint mission in which the responsibilities<br />
and credit are spread around. If you have an employee who’s just<br />
paid to per<strong>for</strong>m a function, they’re not going to be completely invested<br />
in it and won’t accept the wider mission of the company.<br />
Mergers & Acquisitions: You recently joined JetBlue’s board of<br />
directors. Any initial thoughts on the processes of corporate decision-making<br />
versus what you may have been used to in the<br />
military<br />
McChrystal: One of the reasons I was happy to join JetBlue is<br />
that there is a culture in place that encapsulates a passion to be different<br />
and better. It’s very powerful and it affects different people in<br />
different ways. As a boardmember, my hope is to bring a perspective<br />
around being mission-focused and help in team building.<br />
Mergers & Acquisitions: Do you see yourself taking on other ventures<br />
McChrystal: I suspect that I will. I like to challenge myself and<br />
do things that aren’t familiar, but at the same time, I don’t want to do<br />
anything where I’m not adding value. That’s my litmus test.<br />
Mergers & Acquisitions: You teach a graduate seminar on<br />
modern leadership at the Jackson Institute <strong>for</strong> Global Affairs at<br />
Yale. Considering many of these students will graduate into a<br />
work<strong>for</strong>ce in which they’ll be subordinate to multiple layers of<br />
management, why is it important to understand the concept of<br />
leadership be<strong>for</strong>e you’re in a position to actually lead<br />
McChrystal: You have to have an appreciation <strong>for</strong> it. There is no<br />
<strong>for</strong>mula or set of business processes at the end of the day that dictate<br />
how everything should be done. Being a leader is about the relationships<br />
that you have with people and the ability to motivate and<br />
compromise. Even from the bottom up, employees who understand<br />
the role of leadership and are sensitive to and understanding of how<br />
organizations can become stronger, are going to be able to help make<br />
things happen.<br />
Mergers & Acquisitions: Any thoughts on the next generation of<br />
leaders that you’ve come across<br />
McChrystal: My first impression was that there is a tremendous<br />
amount of altruism, and an almost total lack of political partisanship.<br />
I’m not necessarily dealing with a huge swath of people, but I<br />
get the sense that they just want to help and don’t care about ‘right’<br />
or ‘left.’ And most seem to have little interest in how wealthy they<br />
become. The whole experience has been extraordinarily positive.<br />
Mergers & Acquisitions: The title of the class, ‘modern’ leadership<br />
implies that there has been an evolution. Can you talk about<br />
how the idea of leadership has changed over time and where it<br />
has settled today<br />
McChrystal: There clearly has been a change. The enduring principles<br />
of integrity and credibility are timeless, but the environment<br />
has changed. In<strong>for</strong>mation flows so much more broadly and rapidly,<br />
so leaders have to be more reactive in what is probably a more volatile<br />
environment. We’re developing generations that are com<strong>for</strong>table<br />
with this new environment, and people who are able to quickly discount<br />
the chatter that comes from a million blogs and 24-hour television<br />
should be able to succeed. We can push in<strong>for</strong>mation out faster<br />
than we can actually digest it or think about it. It’s something we<br />
have to come to grips with. Leaders who are able to operate in this<br />
kind of environment are better equipped to make sound decisions.<br />
Mergers & Acquisitions: Part of your role as the Commander<br />
of US and international <strong>for</strong>ces in Afghanistan was to train Afghan<br />
security <strong>for</strong>ces. You also oversaw international <strong>for</strong>ces from<br />
countries ranging from Sweden to Singapore -- 46 countries in<br />
all. I think our readers would view that as the toughest integration<br />
possible. Any advice on how get all the varying cultures and<br />
people on the same page and targeting the same goal<br />
McChrystal: I would point to a couple things. First, you really<br />
McCHRYSTAL continued on page 47<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong> MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS 29
Inter<strong>Growth</strong> Wrap<br />
<br />
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est anyone <strong>for</strong>get about the power strategic<br />
buyers wield, AT&T’s $39 billion acquisition<br />
of T-Mobile is an encouraging<br />
reminder. The deal also signaled that after<br />
three years spent largely on the sidelines,<br />
<strong>Corporate</strong> America is finally keen to start chipping<br />
away at its $1.5 trillion cash pile. A panel at ACG’s<br />
40th annual Inter<strong>Growth</strong> conference in San Diego<br />
confirmed that strategic activity is indeed percolating<br />
at all levels of the M&A market, complementing and<br />
augmenting a rebound that initially started to take<br />
shape last summer.<br />
“Every day we’re seeing a major strategic transaction<br />
take place, certainly every Monday,” noted Brian<br />
Brian McDonagh<br />
McDonagh, managing director and co-head of M&A<br />
at Robert W. Baird. He added that “every factor is in<br />
place” <strong>for</strong> strategics to maintain a dominant presence<br />
in the deal market <strong>for</strong> the <strong>for</strong>eseeable future.<br />
Beyond the cash pile sitting on corporate balance<br />
sheets, McDonagh said strategic activity has climbed<br />
as target earnings have become more predictable and<br />
as better assets have returned to the market. Moreover,<br />
organic growth remains elusive, but confidence<br />
in the C-Suite and among corporate boards is still on<br />
the rise, emboldening companies to turn to M&A as<br />
an alternative.<br />
The panel’s moderator, Lazard Middle Market Co-<br />
CEO Michael McFadden, added, “It’s amazing how<br />
much things have changed after just one year.”<br />
The return of the strategics won’t necessarily usher<br />
in a new era of indiscriminate acquisitions -- perhaps<br />
to the disappointment of some sellers. 3M Corp.’s<br />
Mark Copman, a vice president of corporate development<br />
and M&A at the St. Paul, Minn.<br />
company, says that going into every deal,<br />
he’s acutely aware about “what the press release<br />
will look like”<br />
That translates into more due diligence<br />
into how a deal would fit strategically within<br />
the organization and also attention to<br />
whether a transaction would sit right with<br />
shareholders, who he says “are looking <strong>for</strong><br />
earnings growth.”<br />
3M acquired 21 companies last year,<br />
and was among the more active strategic<br />
buyers in the market. Deals included the<br />
$810 million purchase of Arizant, a maker<br />
of specialty blankets; the $943 million<br />
purchase of Cogent Inc., a manufacturer<br />
of fingerprint identification products; and<br />
the $448 million deal to buy precision<br />
grinding technology company Winterthur Technologies<br />
AG.<br />
Copman noted that roughly half of the company’s<br />
acquisitions targeted overseas assets, underscoring<br />
STRATEGIC POWER SHIFT continued on page 47<br />
30 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
Inter<strong>Growth</strong> Wrap<br />
<br />
Keith Hennessey, Stan<strong>for</strong>d University Gary Pinkus, McKinsey & Co. Jack Helms, Lazard Middle Market<br />
Andrew Rice, The Jordan Co.<br />
(L-R) Tracy Albert, Houlihan Lokey; Al Melchiorre, MelCap Partners;<br />
Tom Walton, Hanley, Hammill, Thomas; Phil Worden, BofA Merrill Lynch<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong> MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS 31
Feature<br />
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n early March, Levine Leichtman Capital Partners<br />
held a final close of $225 million <strong>for</strong> a<br />
new fund targeting small-cap companies. The<br />
West Coast firm has never had a problem raising<br />
capital be<strong>for</strong>e. It was launched in 1985 by<br />
the husband and wife team of Lauren Leichtman and<br />
Westwood One vet Arthur Levine, and raised its first<br />
institutional fund in the mid 1990s with a $100 million<br />
commitment from CalPERS, its sole investor at<br />
the time. Today, it currently oversees a $1.1 billion<br />
traditional private equity fund; a distressed debt vehicle<br />
that raised in excess of $375 million in 2006;<br />
and the regionally focused Cali<strong>for</strong>nia <strong>Growth</strong> Fund.<br />
Yet <strong>for</strong> its new vehicle, Levine Leichtman opted to<br />
tap into the government’s coffers and raised an SBIC<br />
fund to complement its other vehicles. As Levine<br />
Leichtman and other new funds suggest, the Small<br />
Business Administration’s SBIC program is no longer<br />
relegated to the dark recesses of the asset class <strong>for</strong><br />
those who can’t raise institutional capital and are content<br />
to jump through hoops <strong>for</strong> funding.<br />
Indeed, at a time when fundraising has significantly<br />
decreased and it’s been harder overall <strong>for</strong> private equity<br />
firms to raise new funds, the SBA has been stepping<br />
up to the plate. The SBA’s growth capital program,<br />
which invests in mezzanine and growth capital, increased<br />
its lending by 23% in fiscal year 2010, providing<br />
a record $1.59 billion to investors backing small<br />
businesses. Last year also saw the highest volume in<br />
the 50 year history of the SBA’s Small Business Investment<br />
Company (SBIC) debenture program.<br />
“The demand from private equity firms <strong>for</strong> this<br />
program is high right now,” cites Sean Greene, an associate<br />
administrator <strong>for</strong> investment and senior adviser<br />
<strong>for</strong> innovation at the SBA. He notes that companies<br />
like Intel, FedEx and Costco all received early<br />
funding from the SBIC program. “It was created to<br />
help capitalize funds that make investments to small<br />
businesses; the government is making the investments<br />
directly.”<br />
As the administration has fended off accusations<br />
that small business was ignored amid the bailouts --<br />
be it the Troubled Asset Relief Program or the Temporary<br />
Liquidity Guarantee Program -- the SBA has<br />
been quietly putting capital to work directly into<br />
small businesses via the SBIC. “It costs the taxpayers<br />
zero and we are expecting the program to continue to<br />
grow in <strong>2011</strong>,” Greene adds.<br />
SBICs are privately-owned and managed investment<br />
firms that are licensed and regulated by the<br />
SBA. SBICs use a combination of funds raised from<br />
traditional limited partners and the SBA to make equity<br />
and mezzanine capital investments in small businesses.<br />
There are currently more than 300 SBICs with<br />
more than $16 billion in capital under management.<br />
(In the 1990s, the SBA has a similar program funding<br />
venture capital investors. However, the program was<br />
losing money and was ultimately shuttered in 2004.)<br />
Beyond Levine Leichtman, many other new faces<br />
have also gravitated to the program. PE shop Perseus<br />
LLC, <strong>for</strong> instance, is also in the midst of raising an<br />
SBIC-backed mezzanine fund. Sheryl Schwartz, a senior<br />
managing director with the firm, was brought on<br />
recently and is currently working with fellow new arrivals<br />
Randall Kutch and Seth Friedman -- both Met<br />
Life veterans -- to launch the new ef<strong>for</strong>t.<br />
“There is demand <strong>for</strong> mezzanine and limited competition<br />
in the lower end of the market, where the<br />
SBICs play,” Schwartz says, noting that the targeted<br />
market is safely out of the reach of the high yield<br />
market. Meanwhile, SBIC incentives allow <strong>for</strong> “private<br />
equity-like returns” <strong>for</strong> the mezz investments,<br />
Schwartz adds, citing that firms can raise up to two<br />
times the amount of capital raised by an SBIC fund<br />
at low interest rates. There is a cap of $150 million,<br />
but even sponsors used to working with larger pools<br />
32 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
of capital are attracted to the prospect of larger returns and more<br />
sizable management fees.<br />
Perseus, on average, writes equity checks of about $50 million.<br />
Its mezz fund, in contrast, will supply companies with about $10<br />
million to $15 million per investment. As part of the SBA guidelines<br />
firms have to invest in companies with a net worth of less than $18<br />
million and an annual income of less than $6 million.<br />
There are a four basic criteria the SBA looks at when deciding<br />
which candidates to back, and in a lot of ways, Uncle Sam can resemble<br />
traditional LPs. To qualify, administrators will scrutinize<br />
an investor group’s track record in analogous investments, certain<br />
benchmarks, its strategy, and the alignment of interests.<br />
Approval from the SBA <strong>for</strong> an SBIC loan took an average of six<br />
months in 2010, significantly less than the 15 months it took <strong>for</strong> approval<br />
in 2009. The efficiency, Greene says, was the result of ef<strong>for</strong>ts<br />
to streamline the process, a factor that has made the program more<br />
popular <strong>for</strong> investors. “We do our due diligence on firms, but we<br />
have worked hard to make the process easier <strong>for</strong> applicants.”<br />
Deerpath Capital Management was among those able to receive<br />
an SBIC license in 2009, albeit 15 months after the firm applied.<br />
Deerpath has deployed more than half of the $250 million raised.<br />
“This was our first SBIC fund and it has served us well,” James<br />
Kirby, president of Deerpath tells Mergers & Acquisitions. “It is important<br />
that the fund’s investment strategy match the requirements<br />
of the SBIC financing.”<br />
Deerpath is just one of many firms that have decided to raise an<br />
SBIC fund. In January <strong>2011</strong>, Alpine Investors, closed Alpine Investors<br />
IV, LP and Alpine Investors IV SBIC, a growth mezzanine<br />
debt and equity fund with $260 million of capital. One third of<br />
Alpine’s $260 million of committed capital comes from the SBIC.<br />
Jeri Harman’s Avante Mezzanine Partners also opted to go the SBIC<br />
route when the firm raised its debut fund.<br />
“Our pipeline is very full,” Greene attests. He isn’t necessarily<br />
SBA continued on page 47<br />
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<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong> MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS 33
Guest Article<br />
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hen meeting with a private equity<br />
client recently about a CFO<br />
search, our client asked “How<br />
can a CFO cost this much when<br />
there is 9% unemployment” On<br />
the surface, a legitimate question. The answer: “We<br />
have a resume glut, not a talent glut.” Today’s business<br />
environment relies more than ever on extraordinary<br />
leadership and human capital to manage through the<br />
infinitesimal number of issues that surface every year.<br />
In a world where tensions in the Middle East can<br />
abruptly disrupt the supply, demand and pricing<br />
equation of a barrel of oil, we see<br />
similar pressure building on the<br />
supply, demand and compensation<br />
equation <strong>for</strong> top talent.<br />
We are convinced that change<br />
will come with increasing velocity<br />
and private equity executives<br />
need to keep the dynamics of<br />
the marketplace top of mind to<br />
ensure their portfolio companies<br />
can recruit and retain top talent.<br />
Some trends we are seeing in<br />
our financial executive recruiting<br />
business include an uptick in demand<br />
<strong>for</strong> recruiting services – the<br />
first quarter of <strong>2011</strong> is up 50%<br />
compared with the first quarter<br />
of 2010. In addition, candidates<br />
are taking more calls, listening<br />
to opportunities and going on<br />
more interviews. We talk with candidates every day,<br />
and the interest level of currently employed executives<br />
in pursuing new opportunities is up three times compared<br />
to just six months ago. The grass appears to be<br />
Tom Bonney<br />
getting greener on the other side of the fence.<br />
Finally, the upgrade cycle has started. Many companies<br />
have altered their strategic thinking from the<br />
defensive, cash conservation orientation required<br />
since 2008 to an offensive, growth orientation in<br />
<strong>2011</strong>. However, many incumbent finance executives<br />
are not operationally focused or growth oriented,<br />
which will <strong>for</strong>ce private equity funds to find business<br />
and finance talent with the experience and vision <strong>for</strong><br />
growing a business.<br />
These trends have accelerated since the beginning<br />
of the year, and we believe a number of steps will help<br />
private equity executives retain<br />
and recruit A-level talent <strong>for</strong><br />
portfolio companies in a tightening<br />
market.<br />
For instance, sponsors should<br />
adjust their mindset. Get your<br />
team out of the foxhole and into<br />
the competitive battlefield again<br />
with a revised strategic and operating<br />
plan appropriate <strong>for</strong> the<br />
post-crisis environment.<br />
Buyers also have to ask some<br />
important questions. Who are<br />
the critical players that you<br />
must keep Who are the high<br />
potential employees Eliminate<br />
under-per<strong>for</strong>mers and toxic individuals<br />
– they will drive away<br />
your ‘A’ players. Faster and better<br />
is constantly being redefined,<br />
and you need to move <strong>for</strong>ward with those who will<br />
keep your business at the top and terminate those<br />
who will drag it down.<br />
To help keep in place the top talent, investors<br />
34 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
should re-establish long-term incentives. Ensure that<br />
your long-term compensation plan provides abovemarket<br />
financial opportunity <strong>for</strong> outstanding per<strong>for</strong>mance.<br />
Consider re-pricing existing options or<br />
making additional option grants <strong>for</strong> executives who<br />
fought through the financial crisis and are critical as<br />
you re-focus on growth initiatives.<br />
As part of this, it’s important<br />
to understand what market-rate<br />
pay is <strong>for</strong> the ‘A’ and ‘B +’ players<br />
on your team and ensure you<br />
are at or above market. If not,<br />
someone will remind you what<br />
market compensation is by taking<br />
your talent.<br />
Beyond the compensation,<br />
it’s crucial to pay attention to the<br />
‘little things.’ Many of us had to<br />
cut into the core in 2008 and<br />
2009. Consider what can be restored,<br />
such as the holiday party<br />
and the 401k match.<br />
With a rejuvenated M&A<br />
market, private equity funds<br />
recognize that they may need to<br />
buy a company with “a little hair on it” and make substantive<br />
improvements to achieve desired investment<br />
returns. There are a number of tactics <strong>for</strong> recruiting<br />
and retaining A-level talent. First and <strong>for</strong>emost, buyers<br />
should move quickly to fill vacant slots in the management<br />
team of a newly acquired entity. We believe<br />
that the demand-supply equation <strong>for</strong> talent is shifting<br />
and delaying changes that you need to make now will<br />
put you in a more challenging situation later.<br />
Just as important, don’t let competitors poach<br />
top talent. If you do, you will spend more time later<br />
searching <strong>for</strong> talent from a smaller candidate pool that<br />
will have increased compensation requirements. To<br />
the extent possible, constantly recruit or work with<br />
an executive search service provider who knows their<br />
marketplace very well and can react quickly to unexpected<br />
departures or opportunistic acquisitions of<br />
human capital.<br />
In many cases, buyers should redefine job duties<br />
and specs. Roles today are different from 2007 and<br />
many of our job descriptions and established processes<br />
are being dragged down by inertia from this<br />
earlier time. Cross-functional work is now a major<br />
Kathryn Kehoe<br />
component of every department head’s role and is absolutely<br />
necessary <strong>for</strong> an integrated business model.<br />
Cross-functional orientation, by definition, means<br />
lines are blurred, requiring a high degree of collaboration.<br />
Management teams that understand this will<br />
function at a higher level and win in the competitive<br />
environment.<br />
Finally, take care of your<br />
management team. Ensure that<br />
total compensation is at or above<br />
market <strong>for</strong> your top executives.<br />
Historically, voluntary turnover<br />
spikes after a recession and a<br />
recent Human Capital Institute<br />
survey noted that 35% of people<br />
who are in company leadership<br />
roles would listen to opportunities.<br />
Our recruiters are seeing<br />
empirical evidence in many markets<br />
across the country to this effect.<br />
After several years of limited<br />
transaction volume, private equity<br />
funds are clearly becoming<br />
active sellers of portfolio companies<br />
and buyers of new plat<strong>for</strong>ms.<br />
For deals to succeed, there must be heightened<br />
diligence by both the buyers and sellers. That means<br />
fund executives must focus on the day-to-day details<br />
of potential acquisitions. And fund executives must<br />
adapt to changing times and re-energize human capital<br />
initiatives to ensure that their investments provide<br />
the best possible return to investors. The grass is not<br />
necessarily greener on the other side of the fence, but<br />
greener, where watered.<br />
Tom Bonney, founder and managing director of CMF<br />
Associates, <strong>for</strong>merly led a high-tech advisory, Polaris<br />
Consulting & In<strong>for</strong>mation Technologies, and be<strong>for</strong>e<br />
that worked at Deloitte & Touche in their accounting<br />
and audit practices in Philadelphia and London.<br />
Kathryn Kehoe, a managing director at CMF Associates,<br />
leads the firm’s organizational design and talent<br />
acquisition services. Prior to joining CMF, she was a<br />
senior vice president of US operations and strategy and<br />
a corporate officer at Langer, Inc. Be<strong>for</strong>e that, she served<br />
as a president at HR and organization development advisory<br />
firm Kehoe Associates.<br />
“<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
”<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong> MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS 35
People<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Hiring activity was robust in March, with notable moves in<br />
investment banking and among corporates. Facebook, <strong>for</strong> instance,<br />
recruited Google’s Amin Zoufonoun, leading to speculation<br />
that the company plans to expand on the 10 deals it cinched<br />
last year. Among the investment banks, the defense and government<br />
services space saw the most activity. Morgan Keegan recruited<br />
a Jefferies and Quarterdeck veteran to build out its ef<strong>for</strong>ts<br />
in the segment, while Bluestone Capital Partners, <strong>for</strong>med by <strong>for</strong>mer<br />
Quarterdeck president John Allen and Susan Gabay earlier<br />
this year, also bolstered its staff with two new appointments.<br />
Among the lenders, Monroe Capital topped off its new fund<br />
and recent ef<strong>for</strong>ts to launch a BDC with the recruitment of Moelis<br />
and UBS veteran Warren Woo, who will oversee a Los Angeles<br />
office <strong>for</strong> the Chicago firm.<br />
Advent International— The global PE firm<br />
added some operational muscle in March,<br />
naming Christopher Fraser and Bernard<br />
Bourigeaud to its operating partner program.<br />
Fraser, who’ll focus on the industrial sector,<br />
previously served as president and CEO<br />
of Chemical Lime, and also served in C-Suite<br />
roles at OCI Chemical and Rhone-Poulenc,<br />
among other companies.<br />
Bourigeaud, meanwhile, is best known<br />
<strong>for</strong> launching France-based in<strong>for</strong>mation technology<br />
company Atos Origin. Three years ago,<br />
Bourigeaud was tapped <strong>for</strong> a senior advisory<br />
role by Apax Partners.<br />
Angelo, Gordon & Co.— Mark Visser<br />
has joined the firm’s private equity group as a<br />
managing director and will lead its healthcare<br />
investment activities.<br />
Previously, Visser was a partner at Behrman<br />
Capital, which he joined in 1994. There,<br />
he led the firm’s healthcare investing.<br />
Visser has 20 years of experience in<br />
the healthcare sector, investing in companies<br />
ranging from healthcare services to products.<br />
Earlier in his career, he worked <strong>for</strong> Merrill<br />
Lynch’s investment banking group focusing on<br />
mergers and acquisitions and other corporate<br />
finance transactions.<br />
Barclays Capital— The investment bank<br />
named Josh Connor as head of global transportation<br />
investment banking within the firm’s<br />
global industrials investment banking group.<br />
He will officially join the firm in July and will<br />
be based in New York.<br />
Connor comes from Morgan Stanley,<br />
where he served as a managing director and<br />
head of the transportation and infrastructure<br />
group, and was also a member of the investment<br />
banking management committee and the<br />
board of the Morgan Stanley Foundation.<br />
Bank of America— The firm announced<br />
that Fernando Vicario is the head of corporate<br />
banking <strong>for</strong> emerging markets, excluding<br />
Asia, according to an internal memo obtained<br />
by sister publication IDD Magazine.<br />
The position is a newly-created role and<br />
reflects the firm’s push into emerging markets<br />
–- a commitment alluded to by BofA’s<br />
president of global banking and markets, Tom<br />
Montag, in its investor day. BofA has recently<br />
made strategic agreements with banking firms<br />
in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Also,<br />
it recently was given a license in Brazil to offer<br />
global treasury solutions to multinationals in<br />
the country.<br />
Vicario originally joined Bank of America<br />
in 1995.<br />
Barnard/Montague Capital Advisors—<br />
The San Francisco-based M&A advisory firm<br />
hired David B. Sloan as a partner.<br />
Sloan arrives from Bancroft Partners, an<br />
investment banking firm he <strong>for</strong>med in 2006 to<br />
focus on West Coast early- to mid-stage companies.<br />
Sloan was previously an executive director<br />
<strong>for</strong> Rabobank, where he concentrated on<br />
agribusiness M&A. Prior to 2004, he spent a<br />
decade and a half with JPMorgan Chase, with<br />
eight years focused on domestic M&A advisory<br />
and seven spent in Hong Kong focused<br />
on M&A in Asia.<br />
BDO Capital Advisors— Dan Shea is<br />
expanding his role at the advisory shop. An<br />
executive in the firm’s BDO Valuation Advisors<br />
subsidiary, Shea will also join BDO Capital<br />
Advisors as a managing director.<br />
His track record includes stops at Hadley<br />
Partners, as a managing director, and WY<br />
Campbell, where he served in the same capacity<br />
and headed the firm’s Los Angeles office.<br />
Shea also held a senior role at Ernst & Young<br />
<strong>Corporate</strong> Finance.<br />
Bluestone Capital Partners — The<br />
McLean, Va.-based investment bank specializing<br />
in middle-market aerospace, defense,<br />
internet technology and professional services<br />
companies, announced the hiring of Chris<br />
Taylor and Mike Ivey as senior vice presidents.<br />
Taylor <strong>for</strong>merly was president of the $250<br />
million technical services business unit of VT<br />
Group Inc., the North American defense and<br />
government services operations of Britain’s<br />
36 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
Babcock International Group plc. He previously<br />
served as VT Group’s vice president of<br />
corporate development with responsibility <strong>for</strong><br />
its strategic growth initiatives in the U.S., including<br />
overseeing all merger and acquisition<br />
activity.<br />
Ivey joins Bluestone after serving as a<br />
senior financial executive with leading public<br />
and private equity-backed companies in the<br />
defense and federal services arena. Most recently<br />
he was vice president of finance <strong>for</strong> Net-<br />
Star-1 Inc., a Lake Capital portfolio company<br />
that provides IT and management consulting<br />
services to the federal government.<br />
BMO Capital Markets— The investment<br />
and corporate banking arm of BMO Financial<br />
Group appointed Dirk Leasure and Les<br />
Gorman co-heads of the financial sponsors<br />
group.<br />
Leasure and Gorman will be responsible<br />
<strong>for</strong> overseeing and expanding the existing<br />
group of professionals in New York, Chicago<br />
and San Francisco. They will work out of New<br />
York and report to Perry Hoffmeister, head of<br />
US investment and corporate banking.<br />
Leasure has led BMO’s financial sponsors<br />
group since 2009. Be<strong>for</strong>e joining BMO<br />
Capital Markets in 2002, he spent eight years<br />
with Goldman Sachs, working with financial<br />
sponsors in their leveraged finance group, including<br />
two years leading that group’s ef<strong>for</strong>ts<br />
with financial sponsors in London.<br />
Gorman, meanwhile, joined BMO Capital<br />
Markets in 2010. He previously worked <strong>for</strong><br />
12 years at Lehman Brothers, where he was<br />
a managing director. There, he worked in the<br />
office of the chairman, in the firm’s M&A department<br />
and had responsibilities <strong>for</strong> covering<br />
selected clients in the media and communications<br />
sectors.<br />
The Carlyle Group— The global PE firm<br />
with $97.7 billion of assets under management<br />
established a team to conduct buyout<br />
and growth capital investments in sub-Saharan<br />
Africa. Managing directors Marlon Chigwende<br />
and Danie Jordaan were named as<br />
co-heads of the new ef<strong>for</strong>t. Chigwende was <strong>for</strong>merly<br />
a managing director and head of private<br />
Monroe Capital LLC—<br />
The Chicago lender hired Warren Woo as a partner and managing director,<br />
recruiting the veteran lender from Moelis & Co.,<br />
where he was a founding partner.<br />
Monroe is counting on Woo, who’ll be stationed<br />
in Los Angeles, to lead the firm’s West Coast operations.<br />
Be<strong>for</strong>e Moelis, Woo was vice chairman and<br />
a member of the board of directors at UBS Investment<br />
Bank. He also was the global head of financial<br />
sponsors, hedge funds and leveraged finance at<br />
UBS. Earlier stints included stops at Donaldson,<br />
Lufkin & Jenrette and Drexel Burnham Lambert.<br />
Woo, a part owner of the National Hockey<br />
Warren Woo<br />
League’s Nashville Predators, is joining Monroe as<br />
the firm continues to build out its resources. Monroe<br />
raised a $250 million third party fund earlier this<br />
year and also recently filed to float a business development company. In the filing, the<br />
firm disclosed separate plans to raise an SBIC vehicle.<br />
equity in Africa <strong>for</strong> Standard Chartered Bank,<br />
while Jordaan was an executive committee<br />
member and partner of Ethos Private Equity.<br />
The team also includes managing director<br />
Genevieve Sangudi, most recently a partner<br />
and managing director of Emerging Capital<br />
Partners.<br />
Carlyle’s new team will operate out of offices<br />
in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Lagos,<br />
Nigeria.<br />
Covert & Co.— Kevin Covert, a West<br />
Coast investment banking veteran who cofounded<br />
what is now Montgomery & Co.,<br />
launched his own boutique investment bank.<br />
The eponymous firm will be based in LA.<br />
Covert & Co. currently has 10 employees,<br />
full and part time. By yearend, its founder<br />
expects to have 15 to 20 workers, as well as<br />
offices in the Bay Area and on the East Coast.<br />
Covert, along with Jamie Montgomery<br />
and others, founded Digital Coast Partners in<br />
1999 in Santa Monica, Calif. When it changed<br />
its name to Montgomery & Co. in 2003, Covert<br />
took charge of its technology and media-<br />
Internet groups. He left Montgomery in 2009.<br />
Covert, in his career, also had stops<br />
at Credit Suisse First Boston and Salomon<br />
Brothers.<br />
Among the early hires, Michael<br />
Metzger came aboard as a principal. Metzger<br />
arrived from New Century Capital Partners,<br />
where he was a vice president.<br />
Duff & Phelps Corp.— The advisory firm<br />
named Jacob Silverman leader of its investment<br />
banking segment. Silverman will continue<br />
to oversee corporate development <strong>for</strong> the<br />
company and will remain on the advisory firm’s<br />
executive committee. Patrick Puzzuoli, now<br />
managing director of finance, succeeds Silverman<br />
as executive vice president and chief<br />
financial officer.<br />
Michael Cochrane, who preceded<br />
Silverman as segment leader <strong>for</strong> investment<br />
banking, has decided to leave the company to<br />
pursue other interests, the firm said.<br />
Silverman joined Duff & Phelps in March<br />
2004, when he worked with Noah Gottdiener<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong> MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS 37
People<br />
to acquire the firm. Previously, he worked <strong>for</strong><br />
Stone Ridge Partners LLC, a mergers and acquisitions<br />
advisory firm focused on middlemarket<br />
companies.<br />
Earlier posts <strong>for</strong> Silverman included stints<br />
as the VP of finance <strong>for</strong> enterprise software<br />
concern Atomica Corp., and stops at investment<br />
bank Furman Selz and investment firm<br />
Oak Hill Advisors.<br />
Puzzuoli, meanwhile, has been affiliated<br />
with Duff & Phelps and its predecessor firms<br />
<strong>for</strong> more than seven years, having joined the<br />
firm from Jupiter Media Metrix.<br />
Evercore Partners— Eric Mandl has<br />
agreed to join the firm as a senior managing<br />
director.<br />
Mandl, 36, will work in New York and will<br />
focus on advising companies in the large-cap<br />
technology and software and Internet sectors.<br />
Mandl was most recently global head of<br />
software and enterprise banking at UBS. With<br />
nearly 15 years of experience, Mandl has advised<br />
on deals involving IBM, Hewlett-Packard,<br />
Apple, Dell, Citrix, Symantec, Microsoft<br />
and others.<br />
Facebook— News of Amin Zoufonoun<br />
leaving his post at Google Inc. had the tech<br />
world buzzing in March. A catalyst behind<br />
Google’s buying spree in recent years, Zoufonoun<br />
joined the company in 2003.<br />
Zoufonoun has a law degree from Santa<br />
Clara University and previously served as corporate<br />
counsel at ArrayComm LLC.<br />
At Facebook, he will report to Vaughan<br />
Smith, who currently heads Facebook’s corporate<br />
development ef<strong>for</strong>ts. The company<br />
has ramped up its M&A activities, acquiring<br />
10 companies last year, including New Yorkbased<br />
HotPotato, among others.<br />
Greentech Capital Advisors— The firm<br />
hired mergers and acquisitions executive Damien<br />
Sauer as partner.<br />
Sauer previously headed M&A at the<br />
French nuclear group Areva. At Greentech<br />
Capital he will provide M&A and strategic advisory<br />
services to sector-leading companies,<br />
as well as raise expansion capital <strong>for</strong> private<br />
companies and project developers. He will<br />
work alongside Olav Junttila, also a partner,<br />
and a team of investment bankers.<br />
HSN, Inc.— The multi-channel retailer<br />
named Mitchell Hara as a senior vice president<br />
of corporate strategy and M&A. The newly<br />
created position reports to chief financial officer<br />
Judy Schmeling.<br />
Hara joins the Nasdaq-listed company<br />
from Peter J. Solomon Co., where he was a<br />
managing director. He previously led Citigroup’s<br />
specialty retail practice and also put in<br />
stints with Merrill Lynch & Co., Wasserstein<br />
Perella & Co. and Citibank, NA.<br />
Janney Capital Markets— The Philadelphia-based<br />
brokerage unit of Penn Mutual Life<br />
Insurance named Christopher White as the<br />
new head of its investment banking division.<br />
White arrives from Cowen Group, where he<br />
was most recently the chief operating officer.<br />
He is replacing Andrew Smucker, who is<br />
staying on at the firm as a managing director.<br />
White’s appointment comes as the firm is<br />
looking to build out its middle-market M&A<br />
and sponsor coverage.<br />
White, a Salomon Smith Barney vet, originally<br />
joined Cowen in 1999, soon after Societe<br />
Generale acquired the firm to <strong>for</strong>m SG Cowen<br />
Securities Corp. Throughout his tenure, White<br />
held a number of different positions be<strong>for</strong>e<br />
moving on to become COO, where he oversaw<br />
the spinout of Cowen as a public company in<br />
2006. More recently, he oversaw Cowen’s sale<br />
to Ramius LLC in late 2009.<br />
A spokeswoman <strong>for</strong> Cowen disclosed<br />
that John Holmes will take over <strong>for</strong> White at<br />
the New York-based investment bank.<br />
Lazard— Senior London-based banker Ken<br />
Costa has left the firm, a spokesman acknowledged<br />
in late March without elaborating.<br />
Costa, 62, is a 30-year City of London<br />
veteran. He was chairman of Lazard International,<br />
hired by Lazard’s chief executive at the<br />
time, the late Bruce Wasserstein. In one<br />
of Costa’s most noteworthy deals, he advised<br />
Mohamed al-Fayed on his sale of London department<br />
store Harrods to Qatar Holding <strong>for</strong> £2<br />
billion ($3.2 billion).<br />
A native of South Africa, Costa was previously<br />
vice-chairman at UBS Investment Bank.<br />
Separately, Lazard, earlier in March,<br />
brought on Yan Lan as a managing director<br />
and head of Greater China investment banking.<br />
Ms. Yan was <strong>for</strong>merly a partner in charge<br />
of Gide Loyrette Nouel’s Beijing office.<br />
L2 Capital Partners— Bob Levine<br />
launched the new private equity firm to target<br />
manufacturing, distribution and services deals<br />
in the small market. Levine recently left Milestone<br />
Partners, where he was a co-founder.<br />
According to a press release, L2 will look<br />
to write equity checks of as much as $10 million<br />
and will target transactions $10 million to<br />
$20 million in size.<br />
The firm, which has in excess of $50 million<br />
available at its disposal, notched its first<br />
deal in March when it acquired Landfill Service<br />
Corp. in an undisclosed deal.<br />
Moelis & Co.— Nick Saggese has<br />
joined the firm as a Los Angeles-based senior<br />
adviser, the firm announced in March.<br />
Saggese joins Moelis after more than 25 years<br />
with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom<br />
LLP, where he most recently was a partner and<br />
co-head of the law firm’s private equity practice.<br />
He represented clients in such corporate<br />
transactions as private equity, mergers and<br />
acquisitions, recapitalizations, securities offerings<br />
and corporate restructurings.<br />
Morgan Keegan & Co.— The Memphis<br />
investment bank named Dan Cornell as a<br />
managing director. The Jefferies & Co. veteran<br />
is joining Morgan Keegan’s security and<br />
defense investment banking group, where he<br />
will initiate its coverage in the aerospace and<br />
government services sectors.<br />
Morgan Keegan’s parent, Regions Financial,<br />
also <strong>for</strong>med a technology and defense<br />
banking group, tapping David Sozio to lead<br />
the new ef<strong>for</strong>t, which will focus on debt capital<br />
solutions.<br />
38 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
Cornell previously headed Jefferies’<br />
Washington, DC office. He previously put in<br />
stints with Quarterdeck Investment Partners,<br />
Legg Mason and Stifel Nicolaus.<br />
MorrisAnderson— The Chicago consultancy<br />
named Edward Bidanset, III, as a<br />
managing director at the firm. A 2008 hire,<br />
Bidanset is expected to help grow the firm’s<br />
Atlanta office, where he will manage client relationships.<br />
Bidanset, prior to joining MorrisAnderson,<br />
was a consultant and principal with crisis<br />
management firm CE Inc. and previously<br />
served in executive roles at Middle Atlantic<br />
Products, Scott Printing Corp. and Cardiovascular<br />
Diagnostics, among other companies.<br />
Nomura— The firm’s head of US investment<br />
banking, Glenn Schiffman, has left the firm<br />
after one year on the job, according to a person<br />
familiar with the matter.<br />
His departure was disclosed in an internal<br />
memo that was circulated by the company<br />
and obtained by sister publication Investment<br />
Dealers’ Digest.<br />
A spokesman <strong>for</strong> Nomura declined to<br />
comment.<br />
James DeNaut, who joined Nomura<br />
last August from Deutsche Bank, has replaced<br />
Schiffman, according to the person familiar<br />
with the matter.<br />
Schiffman came to Nomura through the<br />
Japanese bank’s acquisition of the overseas<br />
businesses of Lehman Brothers. Prior to becoming<br />
head of US investment banking, he<br />
was head of investment banking in the Asia-<br />
Pacific region.<br />
Piper Jaffray— The Minneapolis investment<br />
bank named Marc Steifman as a managing<br />
director and head of its West Coast tech<br />
group. Steifman, most recently a managing<br />
director with Jefferies, will join the firm in late<br />
June and be based in San Francisco.<br />
Prior to signing on with Jefferies, Steifman<br />
had stops at Bear Stearns and Prudential<br />
Securities. His focus, <strong>for</strong> the past 16 years, has<br />
primarily concentrated on the electronics and<br />
hardware sector.<br />
Robert W. Baird & Co.— The mid-market<br />
bank named Vinay Ghai as a managing director<br />
in its i-banking team in London, as part of<br />
the firm’s continued expansion in Europe.<br />
He joins Baird from the corporate finance<br />
adviser Hawkpoint. He will work alongside<br />
managing director Nick Sealy and work in the<br />
consumer and industrial sectors.<br />
Ghai spent eight years in the Hawkpoint<br />
corporate advisory team, focusing on the consumer,<br />
leisure, health care and industrial sectors.<br />
Previously he was vice president <strong>for</strong> European<br />
M&A at Goldman.<br />
Earlier he was a senior associate <strong>for</strong> European<br />
mergers and acquisitions at Deutsche<br />
Bank.<br />
TA Associates— The Boston growth and<br />
private equity investor named Patrick Sader<br />
as a senior vice president in London.<br />
Sader arrives from Argan Capital Advisors<br />
and also put in a stint with Terra Firma<br />
Capital Advisors. According to a statement,<br />
Sader will concentrate on growth companies<br />
on the continent with an emphasis on Frenchspeaking<br />
regions.<br />
Temasek Holdings— The Singapore investment<br />
giant named Ding Wei as the head<br />
of its China investment team.<br />
Wei was <strong>for</strong>merly the head at China International<br />
Capital Corp. He is reportedly replacing<br />
Gan Chee Yen, who will stay on with<br />
Temasek as a senior managing director covering<br />
special projects.<br />
Tiger Group— The advisory valuation and<br />
disposition firm brought in Billy Weinstein<br />
and Mark Stein to bolster its Boston office.<br />
Both were founding partners of the Ozer Group<br />
and also spent time at Gordon Brothers.<br />
The firm also announced the acquisition<br />
of The Daley-Hodkin Group, a Melville,<br />
NY-based appraiser of machinery and equipment<br />
and a fully integrated asset disposition<br />
services firm. Joseph Hodkin will retire, while<br />
Morris Hodkin, who serves as president of<br />
Daley-Hodkin, will spearhead the integration.<br />
Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.— The energy-focused<br />
investment and merchant banking<br />
firm named John Rice and George Ward<br />
as heads of the new power and utility group.<br />
The pair arrived from Berenson & Co., and will<br />
be joined by fellow Berenson vets Dave Saxena,<br />
Director, Ed Tirello, Senior Advisor and<br />
Jonathan Sherman, Associate.<br />
Rice, prior to joining Berenson, was the<br />
head of the energy investment banking group<br />
at Credit Lyonnais Securities. Be<strong>for</strong>e that, he<br />
was in the energy group of Credit Suisse First<br />
Boston and its predecessor firm, Donaldson,<br />
Lufkin & Jenrette. Ward, meanwhile, spent<br />
time at Credit Suisse and CIBC Oppenheimer<br />
be<strong>for</strong>e joining Berenson.<br />
The new team will be based in Todor,<br />
Pickering’s New York office.<br />
UBS— Jeffrey Berson has joined investment<br />
bank as a managing director in its technology,<br />
media and telecommunications group,<br />
according to an internal memo sister publication<br />
IDD obtained. He will work in New York<br />
and report to Aryeh Bourkoff, who was recently<br />
appointed head of investment banking in the<br />
Americas. Berson joins the firm from Oppenheimer<br />
& Co., where he was global head of<br />
communications. Be<strong>for</strong>e working at Oppenheimer<br />
he spent 14 years covering technology<br />
and telecommunications at CIBC and Barclays<br />
Capital.<br />
Warburg Pincus— The PE firm bolstered its<br />
tech and media segment, bringing on Andrew<br />
Prozes as a senior advisor. Prozes was previously<br />
the CEO of LexisNexis Group.<br />
Wynnchurch Capital— The private equity<br />
firm promoted Michael Teplitsky to vice<br />
president in March.<br />
Based in Wynnchurch’s Chicago office,<br />
Teplitsky joined the firm in 2008. Earlier stints<br />
<strong>for</strong> Teplitsky included stops at energy-focused<br />
PE shop Lime Rock Partners and investment<br />
bank UBS.<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong> MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS 39
THE PULSE<br />
Lessons Learned<br />
With Inter<strong>Growth</strong> <strong>2011</strong> now in the rearview, attendees share their key takeaways<br />
The breakout sessions were excellent.<br />
It is always great to learn how your peers<br />
and your market<br />
conduct business.<br />
We get better every<br />
year. As far as<br />
networking goes,<br />
after a dozen or<br />
so Intergrowths, I<br />
have learned that<br />
the first year you<br />
are a rookie, the<br />
Terry Fick<br />
second year you<br />
are a player, and<br />
after that you are a<br />
member of the “Club.”<br />
—Terry Fick, managing director,<br />
Westlake Securities, ACG Dallas/Fort Worth<br />
My biggest take away from the conference<br />
came at lunch with Stanley McChrystal.<br />
Stanley was a senior at West Point when I<br />
was a freshman. Although I did not know him<br />
personally, I was impressed after meeting<br />
him at Intergrowth. My sense of his leadership<br />
style is one of inclusion. His comments<br />
at lunch inspired me to continue my own similar<br />
path of leadership in deals. For example,<br />
in getting any deal completed, the management<br />
of the company must be enrolled in<br />
the transaction (whether selling a company<br />
or raising capital). One of the best ways to<br />
make that happen is including them in all<br />
aspects of the process. One risks exposing<br />
“how sausage is made,” but in the end I think<br />
it makes deals happen.<br />
—J.B. Dollison, managing director,<br />
Crutchfield Capital Corporation, ACG Houston<br />
Bring plenty of business cards and don’t<br />
<strong>for</strong>get to visit the Gaslamp District with<br />
friends and ACG acquaintances. Priceless.<br />
—Steve Cohen,<br />
Devine, Millimet & Branch, ACG Boston<br />
I have been involved with ACG <strong>for</strong> more<br />
than a decade and have attended seven Inter-<br />
<strong>Growth</strong>s and witnessed<br />
its steady<br />
evolution into the<br />
most important<br />
middle market<br />
dealmaking event.<br />
The beauty of Inter<strong>Growth</strong><br />
is that<br />
it offers something<br />
<strong>for</strong> everyone, from<br />
fascinating keynotes,<br />
to useful<br />
Bill Haynes<br />
breakout sessions,<br />
to a wealth of networking opportunities. With<br />
so many opportunities <strong>for</strong> learning, socializing<br />
and business development, the most difficult<br />
thing is to decide how to spend your time.<br />
The most valuable lesson I have learned<br />
about making the most of the Inter<strong>Growth</strong><br />
experience is to reach out to attendees in<br />
advance of the event and schedule meetings<br />
throughout the conference. Being an exhibitor<br />
is certainly helpful <strong>for</strong> meeting people circulating<br />
through the attendee lounge. Likewise,<br />
cycling through the hubbub of Capital Connection<br />
is a nice way to catch up with private<br />
equity clients and acquaintances. However, a<br />
targeted, personal pre-conference outreach<br />
to current clients, friends, potential clients<br />
and partners, is an important step <strong>for</strong> a successful<br />
event. At the most recent Inter<strong>Growth</strong>,<br />
BackBay Communications arranged a dozen<br />
meetings in advance. Most were only 20-30<br />
minutes, but that was enough time to gather<br />
key in<strong>for</strong>mation about potential clients’ business<br />
goals and needs and to follow up with<br />
some ideas after the event.<br />
Scheduled meetings are an important<br />
and efficient way to approach Inter<strong>Growth</strong>.<br />
It is also important, however, to leave time<br />
<strong>for</strong> spontaneous get-togethers. Inter<strong>Growth</strong><br />
attendees have an amazing web of connections,<br />
and I’ve deepened current relationships<br />
and <strong>for</strong>ged new ones through impromptu introductions<br />
over a beer in the hotel bar.<br />
—Bill Haynes, president,<br />
BackBay Communications, ACG Boston<br />
Attending my first ACG Intergrowth meeting<br />
was eye opening. As the President of the<br />
Orlando Chapter I<br />
thought it would<br />
be beneficial to<br />
learn how and why<br />
some of the largest<br />
ACG chapters<br />
are so successful. I<br />
walked away from<br />
the week with<br />
new ideas <strong>for</strong> our<br />
Steve Castino<br />
chapter, many new<br />
relationships in the<br />
private equity field<br />
and I also had the opportunity to hear two<br />
extremely inspirational and accomplished<br />
speakers in Jim Collins and Stanley McChrystal.<br />
—Steve Castino, shareholder, executive<br />
committee, Vestal & Wiler CPAs, ACG Orlando<br />
40 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
THE PULSE<br />
This was my first ACG-Intergrowth Conference<br />
of my career, and the two biggest takeaways<br />
were (1) old relationships; and (2) new<br />
relationships.<br />
As <strong>for</strong> old relationships, I’ve worked at<br />
several firms on Wall Street over the years.<br />
It was really terrific to see <strong>for</strong>mer colleagues<br />
(most of whom had also moved on to other<br />
firms) who I hadn’t seen in years, as well as<br />
current and <strong>for</strong>mer private equity clients. I<br />
seemed to run into an old friend every few<br />
feet in the hotel. It was gratifying to compare<br />
notes on the last few years, and how we had<br />
all survived and intend to reconnect more often<br />
in the future.<br />
As <strong>for</strong> new relationships, I met several<br />
new corporate and private equity clients with<br />
whom I plan to meet in the near future, possibly<br />
<strong>for</strong> a live advisory assignment. A couple<br />
approached me after I spoke on a panel, and<br />
asked if we could talk. These potential leads<br />
are very valuable, and something I did not expect<br />
from ACG-Intergrowth. Terrific!<br />
—Randal Stephenson, managing director,<br />
investment banking, Duff & Phelps<br />
Securities, LLC<br />
The lessons learned are many. Plywood<br />
leadership, <strong>for</strong> example, glues average people<br />
together by true leadership. Also, what sets<br />
successful growth companies apart from mediocre<br />
companies is the humility of the management<br />
team and a ‘never give up’ mentality. And<br />
the key factors that differentiate a great company<br />
from a mediocre company are an ability to<br />
put the right people in the right positions and<br />
disciplined growth. (It’s better to grow by 10%<br />
to 20% per year <strong>for</strong> 20 years than witness extreme<br />
spikes either way.) Finally, demographic<br />
changes will influence the world.<br />
—Titus Schurink, CFO,<br />
Holland Private Equity, ACG Holland<br />
Appreciated having sessions on familyowned<br />
businesses, a market segment overlooked<br />
in the past, but very important, with<br />
their own set of expectations, needs, goals,<br />
etc. Also, the three keynoters were awesome,<br />
each in their own right.<br />
—Mike Trueblood, director,<br />
Family Business Council, Mihaylo College of<br />
Business and Economics, Cal State Fullerton<br />
On The Agenda<br />
<strong>May</strong> 3<br />
ACG New York - Emerging Markets Conference<br />
ACG Vancouver - Capital Connection <strong>2011</strong><br />
<strong>May</strong> 5<br />
ACG Detroit - 3rd Annual Texas Hold ‘Em Tournament<br />
ACG National Capital - <strong>2011</strong> <strong>Corporate</strong> <strong>Growth</strong> Awards Gala<br />
<strong>May</strong> 6<br />
ACG Richmond - Breakfast Series: Higher Ed Panel<br />
<strong>May</strong> 10<br />
ACG Arizona - Breakfast Series: Featuring Mike & Jamie Entzminger<br />
ACG Kentucky - Breakfast Series: Featuring James P. Campbell<br />
ACG Philadelphia - Networking & Wine Tasting Event<br />
<strong>May</strong> 11<br />
ACG St. Louis - Mid-America <strong>Corporate</strong> <strong>Growth</strong> Conference<br />
<strong>May</strong> 12<br />
ACG Silicon Valley - Tim Guertin, CEO, Varian Medical<br />
ACG Boston - Cupcakes and Cocktails with the Women’s Executive<br />
Forum<br />
ACG Silicon Valley - Tim Guertin, CEO, Varian Medical<br />
<strong>May</strong> 13<br />
ACG National Capital - John Rizzo, <strong>for</strong>mer General Counsel, CIA<br />
<strong>May</strong> 17<br />
ACG New York - 7th Annual M&A DealSource & ACG Capital<br />
Connection ®<br />
ACG Chicago - Winners Emerge: The Future of Private Equity<br />
ACG San Diego - Distressed M&A: Using 2nd Lien Financing as<br />
Risk Mitigation<br />
ACG Atlanta - ACG Golf Tournament<br />
<strong>May</strong> 18<br />
ACG Western Michigan - Agony to Ecstasy: No Sales to Equity Sale<br />
ACG Holland - Luncheon meeting<br />
<strong>May</strong> 19<br />
ACG Philadelphia - Breakfast Series: Middle Market Lenders Panel<br />
ACG National Capital - Greater D.C. Executive Women’s Event<br />
ACG Boston - Breakfast Series: Sam Kennedy of the Boston Red Sox<br />
<strong>May</strong> 24<br />
ACG National Capital - Seminar Series: The Sale of a Closely Held<br />
Business<br />
ACG Denver - <strong>Corporate</strong> Executive Series: Margaret Heffernan<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong> MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS 41
COMMUNITY COMMENTARY<br />
Reading Washington<br />
TheWadeGroup’s Robert W. Stewart discusses the regulatory issues in Washington that may<br />
keeping mid-market dealmakers up at night<br />
Robert W. Stewart<br />
While attention in Washington is<br />
riveted on critical budget talks,<br />
military action abroad and the<br />
unfolding nuclear nightmare in Japan, federal<br />
legislators and regulators are quietly considering<br />
several major policy initiatives that<br />
could have a profound effect on the private<br />
equity industry, especially on mid-market<br />
firms.<br />
The most significant policy issues facing<br />
mid-market firms this year – and beyond – fall<br />
into three broad categories:<br />
1. Regulatory issues stemming from the<br />
Dodd-Frank Act enacted last year;<br />
2. Tax issues related to the likely overhaul<br />
of the U.S. corporate tax code in the next<br />
two to three years;<br />
3. Accounting issues stemming from the<br />
Fair Value Measurement proceedings<br />
underway at the Financial Accounting<br />
Standards Board, or FASB.<br />
Dodd-Frank<br />
The most immediate threat facing the<br />
mid-market private equity community is the<br />
proposal by the Securities and Exchange<br />
Commission (mandated by the Dodd-Frank<br />
Act) to require registration and financial reporting<br />
under the Investment Advisers Act<br />
of 1940. The requirement would apply to<br />
advisers to private equity, hedge and liquidity<br />
funds (but not venture capital funds) who<br />
have $150 million or more in assets under<br />
management.<br />
Under the proposed rule, these asset managers<br />
would be required to register with the<br />
SEC and complete Form ADV, which includes<br />
extensive compliance requirements (production<br />
of compliance manuals, employee training,<br />
etc.). Covered investment advisers would<br />
have to file their first Form ADV by July. In<br />
addition, they would be required to annually<br />
complete a new <strong>for</strong>m, Form PF, that would<br />
compel them to provide monthly and quarterly<br />
reports on the net asset value and per<strong>for</strong>mance<br />
of each fund under management. The<br />
first such report would be due no earlier than<br />
March 31, 2012.<br />
Members of the private equity community<br />
who have studied the proposals believe they<br />
will impose significant burdens on mid-market<br />
firms without achieving their stated purpose<br />
– to identify and limit risks to the U.S.<br />
economy and financial system. Some believe<br />
the substance of these rules reflects a lack of<br />
understanding of the private equity business<br />
model among some regulators.<br />
Responding to that criticism, Rep. Robert<br />
Hurt (R-VA) recently introduced legislation<br />
that would rescind the Dodd-Frank requirement<br />
reporting and registration requirement<br />
<strong>for</strong> all private equity fund advisers. The bill,<br />
which has picked up some Democratic support,<br />
is expected to be reported out of the<br />
House Financial Services Committee in early<br />
<strong>May</strong> and is likely to be approved by the full<br />
House. The bill’s prospects in the Senate remain<br />
uncertain.<br />
Critics argue that determining monthly<br />
and quarterly per<strong>for</strong>mance <strong>for</strong> private equity<br />
funds, which by their nature involve investments<br />
in largely illiquid assets, would cause<br />
a severe financial burden on private equity<br />
firms of all sizes, but especially on smaller<br />
firms. In practice, the rule would require each<br />
firm to value on a monthly basis each company<br />
in which their funds invest, using a variety<br />
of valuation methods sanctioned by the<br />
Financial Accounting Standards Board.<br />
Some in the industry believe that legal<br />
counsel would insist on hiring outside accountants<br />
to certify the legitimacy of the<br />
valuation and the valuation methodology.<br />
For even a small firm, the expense of providing<br />
these monthly fund per<strong>for</strong>mance reports<br />
reasonably could reach $500,000 or more. For<br />
larger firms, the cost could top $1 million, according<br />
to estimates.<br />
In addition to the reporting issues raised<br />
by Form PF, certain requirements contained in<br />
Form ADV have drawn criticism<br />
Among these issues are:<br />
Third-party custody of securities – Part<br />
2 of Form ADV requires firms to store their<br />
securities with a third-party “qualified custodian.”<br />
However, securities in companies in<br />
which private equity firms invest are private<br />
and unlisted and cannot be traded in public<br />
markets. Many believe that it makes no sense<br />
to require that they be held in custody by third<br />
parties at considerable expense.<br />
Compliance and disclosure to investors<br />
– Part 2 of Form ADV also contains extensive<br />
compliance and disclosure requirements, including<br />
creation and adoption of a code of<br />
ethics, that will be costly to carry out and<br />
which do not enhance or improve upon any<br />
42 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
COMMUNITY COMMENTARY<br />
of the disclosures required in Limited Partner<br />
Agreements.<br />
Trading practices – Critics argue that<br />
requirements regarding trading practices,<br />
including procedures by which the adviser<br />
satisfies its best execution obligation and<br />
allocates aggregated trades among clients,<br />
make no sense <strong>for</strong> private equity firms that<br />
do not trade any public securities <strong>for</strong> their clients’<br />
accounts.<br />
Restrictions on proprietary trading – Others<br />
point out that Requirements regarding<br />
proprietary trading by the adviser and the<br />
personal trading activities of the people the<br />
adviser supervises have no bearing on private<br />
equity firms, which do not engage in trading<br />
public securities <strong>for</strong> clients.<br />
Portfolio management processes – Portfolio<br />
management processes, including allocation<br />
of investment opportunities among clients<br />
and consistency of portfolio investments<br />
with clients’ investment objectives, make<br />
little sense <strong>for</strong> private equity firms, opponents<br />
say, as these issues are all covered by Limited<br />
Partner Agreements.<br />
The SEC also has proposed a new rule<br />
that would apply to all investment advisers<br />
with AUM of $1 billion or more that would<br />
institute a new reporting regime related to<br />
incentive-based compensation, which many<br />
believe would include carried interest.<br />
Tax Issues<br />
Equally important is the major tax re<strong>for</strong>m<br />
debate that has already begun – and that may<br />
result in sweeping tax legislation being enacted<br />
by Congress in 2012 or 2013. The two<br />
issues of most importance relate to the tax<br />
treatment of partnerships and other so-called<br />
“pass-through” entities and the deductibility<br />
of interest on loans used to finance portfolio<br />
company acquisitions.<br />
Both President Obama and Treasury Secretary<br />
Geithner are on record as favoring a<br />
decrease in the nominal corporate income tax<br />
rate, which currently stands at 35 percent.<br />
However, both have said that any ef<strong>for</strong>t to reduce<br />
the corporate tax rate should be revenue<br />
neutral, suggesting that Congress’ tax writers<br />
will have to find offsetting revenue to make<br />
up <strong>for</strong> that lost from lowering the overall corporate<br />
rate.<br />
Geithner said as recently as April 5 that<br />
the Administration is preparing a comprehensive<br />
proposal <strong>for</strong> corporate tax re<strong>for</strong>m in an<br />
ef<strong>for</strong>t to kickstart the legislative process in<br />
Congress. According to Reuters, “Given the<br />
country’s fiscal challenges, Geithner said the<br />
proposal would have to be revenue neutral,<br />
so that a cut in the corporate tax rate would<br />
have to be offset by new revenue from the<br />
elimination of special preferences.”<br />
Privately, many in Washington expect that<br />
the ef<strong>for</strong>t to find offsetting revenue streams<br />
will focus largely on the tax treatment of the<br />
“pass through” entities, principally partnerships<br />
and S-corporations, largely because the<br />
number of these entities has exploded during<br />
the past ten years. In a “pass-through” entity,<br />
income flows into the partnership or S-Corp<br />
untaxed. Once it is distributed to the partners<br />
of S-Corp owner, it is taxed as individual rates.<br />
Some believe that Congress could move to<br />
impose a corporate tax on partnerships at<br />
the partnership level, be<strong>for</strong>e the partnership<br />
income being distributed to partners. Once<br />
distributed, the income would be taxed again<br />
at the individual rate.<br />
Fueling concerns about the issue, Geithner<br />
said during a recent Senate hearing: “Congress<br />
has to revisit this basic question about<br />
whether it makes sense <strong>for</strong> us as a country to<br />
allow certain businesses to choose whether<br />
they’re treated as a corporation <strong>for</strong> tax purposes<br />
or not.”<br />
Another possible result of passage of<br />
omnibus corporate tax re<strong>for</strong>m would be to<br />
limit or eliminate the deductibility of interest<br />
paid on debt used to acquire companies.<br />
Such an idea has long been championed by<br />
<strong>for</strong>mer Fed Chairman Paul Volcker and was<br />
referenced in terms of home mortgages by<br />
the President’s Commission on Fiscal Responsibility.<br />
If the ef<strong>for</strong>t to reduce nominal corporate<br />
tax rates takes hold, and signs suggest that<br />
it will, it could result in imposition of a corporate<br />
tax on partnerships at the partnership<br />
level and the end to deductibility of interest<br />
<strong>for</strong> acquisitions, both of which would create<br />
major challenges <strong>for</strong> private equity firms of all<br />
sizes, but especially <strong>for</strong> the smaller firms.<br />
FASB and IASB<br />
The Financial Accounting Standards<br />
Board, in cooperation with its international<br />
counterpart, the International Accounting<br />
Standards Board, in the next few weeks is<br />
scheduled to release a new set of rules governing<br />
fair value accounting practices. These<br />
rules could have a profound effect on the<br />
small and mid-sized alternative asset management<br />
community.<br />
The new FASB and IASB rules are likely to<br />
require investment fund managers to spend<br />
much more time, energy and money justifying<br />
the valuations they place on their funds and<br />
fund investments (meaning portfolio companies).<br />
Among other things, the rules are expected<br />
to require fund managers to run socalled<br />
“alternative scenarios” under a variety<br />
of valuation methods and justify the method<br />
chosen - all of which most likely will require<br />
additional hours from the firm’s outside financial<br />
auditors.<br />
In addition, four separate regulatory<br />
agencies are dealing with rules attempting<br />
to regulate investments by banks in private<br />
equity funds. Although there is a specific<br />
expectation contained in the Dodd-Frank Act<br />
<strong>for</strong> Small Business Investment Companies,<br />
these rules must be implemented in a manner<br />
that does not restrict or retard investments in<br />
SBICs. In addition, some have proposed increasing<br />
the limits on the size of companies<br />
in which SBICs may invest, which would open<br />
a broader window of investment <strong>for</strong> these<br />
specialized firms.<br />
Robert W. Stewart is a senior vice president,<br />
financial services, TheWadeGroup, Inc.<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong> MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS 43
COMMUNITY COMMENTARY<br />
Who Killed the Electric Car<br />
Tom Gage, CEO of AC Propulsion, provides customer testimonial <strong>for</strong> SAP Business ByDesign<br />
Tom Gage<br />
No one as it turns out. Although GM<br />
recalled and crushed its famous EV1<br />
electric car in 2003, electric transportation<br />
is now heading <strong>for</strong> commercialization.<br />
For two of the lead engineers on the<br />
program that developed the prototype <strong>for</strong> the<br />
EV1 in 1989, the promise of electric propulsion<br />
was the “call to action” <strong>for</strong> creating AC<br />
Propulsion, Inc. Driven by a passion <strong>for</strong> efficiency,<br />
high per<strong>for</strong>mance and new technology<br />
(and wary of the slow pace of change in big<br />
companies), Alan Cocconi and Wally Rippel<br />
founded their own company in 1992. Their<br />
goal then was to create electric vehicles that<br />
people actually wanted to drive.<br />
Over the intervening 19 years, AC Propulsion<br />
has experienced the roller coaster ride<br />
that paralleled the developments within the<br />
EV (Electric Vehicle) industry. I joined the<br />
company early on (1996), after extensive and<br />
varied automotive engineering experience<br />
that included an 8-year stretch with Chrysler<br />
in Detroit. Even with the ups and downs, our<br />
company has become a recognized leader in<br />
proprietary EV technology <strong>for</strong> drive systems<br />
and vehicle integration. Opportunities <strong>for</strong><br />
commercialization were limited, until now.<br />
The long journey and lessons we learned.<br />
With just over 100 employees, AC Propulsion<br />
has a strong position in the still small EV market<br />
as the technology supplier <strong>for</strong> the original<br />
Tesla Roadster, BMW MINI E, Luxgen MPV_E<br />
(Taiwan), and one of the top prizewinners in<br />
the $10 million 2010 Progressive Automotive<br />
X-Prize competition (the MonoTracer E electric<br />
cabin motorcycle).<br />
Today, AC Propulsion stands alone as the<br />
only EV-focused company in the world with<br />
no debt, no cumulative losses, and positive<br />
cash flow. But things weren’t always looking<br />
this way. AC Propulsion has been run largely<br />
as an R&D shop by a dedicated group of engineers<br />
that has not wavered from its conviction<br />
that electric vehicles can be fast, convenient,<br />
and fun to drive. These same engineers<br />
endured periods with no paychecks in the<br />
early years, and thus ran the company with<br />
an eye toward minimal overhead. Even so, at<br />
one point the company was down to only 5<br />
employees. Funding provided by an angel investor<br />
in late 2005 enabled the company to<br />
expand development ef<strong>for</strong>ts at a time when<br />
the auto industry was returning its attention<br />
to the advantages and strategic value of electric<br />
propulsion<br />
More recently, the revenue from key commercial<br />
development contracts sustained our<br />
company through the past couple of years,<br />
while the country experienced a deep recession.<br />
Our commercial success and the positive<br />
cash flow that came with it was due more<br />
to the strong technology content of our products<br />
than to smart marketing or savvy strategic<br />
planning. All four of the game-changing<br />
events <strong>for</strong> AC Propulsion – the Tesla license<br />
in 2004, the angel investment in 2005, and<br />
the BMW MINI E contract in 2008, and the<br />
Luxgen business in 2010 – resulted from engineers<br />
talking to engineers – not from more<br />
conventional marketing and sales initiatives.<br />
Specifically:<br />
1. The Tesla license evolved from the desire of<br />
Martin Eberhard to own a tzero electric sports<br />
car which had been produced as a prototype<br />
by AC Propulsion and outper<strong>for</strong>med several<br />
European exotics (Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini)<br />
in short races. Our company wanted to<br />
build drive systems, not cars - so we loaned<br />
the tzero to Martin and offered to license him<br />
our technology if he could find someone to<br />
build the car. Martin raised the funding to establish<br />
his own company to build high-per<strong>for</strong>mance<br />
roadsters – and that company, Tesla<br />
Motors, went on to go public in 2010 with a<br />
market cap in excess of $2 billion.<br />
2. The angel investment stemmed from the<br />
personal interest of a seasoned battery engineer.<br />
Believing that the company’s IP had<br />
tremendous potential, he brought in a series<br />
of his friends as potential investors, one of<br />
whom decided to invest the necessary seed<br />
capital (and pay the back wages).<br />
3. The BMW MINI E contract <strong>for</strong> a pilot fleet<br />
(500 cars total) resulted from a technical conference<br />
where I was presenting the results of<br />
our V2G research study, along with a demo<br />
car on display. There were BMW engineers<br />
in the audience who took note that we had<br />
functional technology (vs theoretical), and<br />
in<strong>for</strong>med senior management in Munich. The<br />
result was an order that seemed almost impossible<br />
at the time: build 500 drive systems<br />
in 6 months. That got the attention of the entire<br />
global automotive community.<br />
4. Luxgen has become ACP’s largest customer,<br />
and in this case, the business resulted<br />
from a combination of our engineers and<br />
board member’s active pursuit of Luxgen, and<br />
Luxgen’s strategic decision to include EVs as<br />
part of their product portfolio.<br />
As a result of the above events, at the<br />
end of 2010, the Tesla Roadster, MINI E, and<br />
Yulon MPV E represented a significant majority<br />
of new EVs on the road and so ACP could<br />
44 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
COMMUNITY COMMENTARY<br />
honestly claim that upwards of 80% of all EVs<br />
in the world contained our drive system technology.<br />
But few people knew the “backstory”<br />
behind how that all came about.<br />
Going <strong>for</strong>ward, we decided to take control<br />
of our own destiny and adopt a proactive<br />
marketing approach where WE approach our<br />
prospective customers, instead of the other<br />
way around. Our angel investor is keenly interested<br />
in the China market potential and<br />
invested an additional $12 million in 2010<br />
toward a new and bigger factory in Beijing,<br />
but expressed a desire <strong>for</strong> a financial partner<br />
to further develop the company’s potential. In<br />
mid-2010, we undertook to raise additional<br />
capital – with the understanding that further<br />
R&D ef<strong>for</strong>ts would be curtailed until more<br />
funding was in place.<br />
Like the pioneers of social media, AC Propulsion<br />
is now poised at the <strong>for</strong>efront of a<br />
global emerging market. And, as is sometimes<br />
the case, our company does not fit within<br />
any of the typical investment profiles – too<br />
far along in the growth cycle <strong>for</strong> the venture<br />
capital funds, too early in the growth cycle<br />
<strong>for</strong> private equity funds, and not quite right<br />
<strong>for</strong> certain strategic investors. We concluded<br />
internally that we needed to take a different<br />
approach to raising money, so that we would<br />
not lose our competitive edge in technology.<br />
Our business model also raised questions,<br />
since it centers around providing a key component<br />
of the car on an outsource basis – a<br />
practical approach that enables car companies<br />
to participate in the EV market quickly<br />
and cost-effectively, but one that is contrary<br />
to the traditional method of building key components<br />
in-house. AC Propulsion is now exploring<br />
different financing options with a select<br />
group of strategic investors, designed to<br />
leverage the company’s leading edge in V2G<br />
(Vehicle-to-Grid) technology that provides a<br />
solution and economic benefits <strong>for</strong> integrating<br />
electric vehicles with the power grid .<br />
From the business management angle, AC<br />
Propulsion’s internal organization is a mix of<br />
mature technology processes and start-up<br />
level infrastructure that was workable <strong>for</strong><br />
years while EVs were just a topic of conversation.<br />
The introduction of the Nissan Leaf<br />
and the Chevy Volt in <strong>2011</strong> signaled that EVs<br />
are finally hitting the mainstream. Now that<br />
the commercialization of the EV industry is<br />
becoming a reality, our projected growth demands<br />
require a different approach to how<br />
we conduct our day-to-day business.<br />
So what did we do In mid-2010, we assessed<br />
what was needed to respond to the<br />
changing dynamics within the marketplace:<br />
• Hired an investment banker to help us<br />
explore the capital markets, with intent<br />
to go public within two or three years;<br />
• Developed a plan <strong>for</strong> expanded marketing<br />
ef<strong>for</strong>ts in China and ROW (Rest of World)<br />
designed to go TO the customers rather<br />
than wait <strong>for</strong> them to find us;<br />
• Lived by the motto that “cash is king,”<br />
watching every dollar spent and<br />
negotiating cash advances with<br />
prospective customers;<br />
• Trans<strong>for</strong>med our existing leadership<br />
model into a split model (one exec<br />
handling inside operational decisions<br />
while I focused on external marketing<br />
and fundraising) ;<br />
• Established contract relationships with<br />
financial and legal professionals, who<br />
identified and resolved certain tax and<br />
legal issues that could have become<br />
high-cost mistakes, and<br />
• Set out to increase production capacity<br />
and upgrade manufacturing processes to<br />
meet projected demand growth.<br />
In hindsight, we should have taken these<br />
same steps years ago. It quickly became clear<br />
that our historical style of intuitive management,<br />
lack of strong command and control<br />
systems from the legacy QuickBooks instance,<br />
and manual processes would no longer<br />
be adequate to deal with the anticipated<br />
hockey-stick EV market or the requirements of<br />
outside investors. Nor would these methods<br />
provide the controls or documentation required<br />
to obtain the ISO and UL certifications<br />
demanded by automotive OEMs.<br />
AC Propulsion reviewed a number of solutions,<br />
looking <strong>for</strong> an integrated and scalable<br />
ERP system that could handle the expected<br />
growth without crippling the company with a<br />
lengthy, costly implementation process. We<br />
sought the expertise and experience from Tatum<br />
LLC and after considerable review and internal<br />
discussion, we selected SAP Business<br />
ByDesign and began implementation in late<br />
February <strong>2011</strong> under the direction of the Tatum-led<br />
project management team. A fast implementation,<br />
af<strong>for</strong>dable price tag, high level<br />
of functionality in project management and<br />
MRP and the ability to scale to meet expected<br />
growth were among the considerations.<br />
As we approach the “last 5 yards” of the<br />
implementation in the US, AC Propulsion is<br />
already experiencing in<strong>for</strong>mation benefits<br />
from the collaboration between various functional<br />
departments.<br />
Looking to the future, AC Propulsion is<br />
positioned to supply automakers around the<br />
world with innovative drive system technology.<br />
We are also focused on the enormous<br />
$15 billion market potential within China.<br />
From the perspective of the C-suite, the decisions<br />
made now will determine whether AC<br />
Propulsion remains a small company or joins<br />
the ranks of the tier-one automotive suppliers.<br />
It is no longer enough to have leadingedge<br />
technology; our company must develop<br />
strategic partnering relationships across all<br />
facets of the EV industry – car companies,<br />
battery suppliers, contract manufacturers (to<br />
offset capacity shortages), utility companies,<br />
grid operators and governmental agencies.<br />
As CEO, this requires me to play a dual<br />
rule: from the inside, to enlist collaboration<br />
and encourage continued innovation; from<br />
the outside, to serve as an ambassador <strong>for</strong><br />
AC Propulsion.<br />
We recognize that to emerge on top requires<br />
every single person in our company to<br />
run faster and smarter than the competition<br />
– but the prize is to be “the last man standing”<br />
in the design and manufacture of drive<br />
systems (with substantial market share), and<br />
that is where we aim to be by 2015.<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong> MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS 45
BARRIERS continued from page 16<br />
the “network effect” represents one of the highest barriers to entry.<br />
This is why Google was willing to pay upwards of $6 billion <strong>for</strong><br />
Groupon, but upon being rejected, opted against picking up one of<br />
the company’s many clones <strong>for</strong> significantly less.<br />
“It is a powerful advantage and it’s very hard to find,” observes<br />
Brilliant.<br />
Indeed, who can <strong>for</strong>get the ascension of Blu-Ray as the next<br />
generation optical disc <strong>for</strong>mat It ultimately came down to a race<br />
between Sony and Pioneer and Toshiba and NEC to build the strongest<br />
network as fast as possible. Sony and Pioneer succeeded, which<br />
made the HD DVD <strong>for</strong>mat Toshiba and NEC were pushing effectively<br />
the next generation Betamax.<br />
Among the phantom barriers, size or marketshare probably do<br />
more to lull investors into a sense of com<strong>for</strong>t than actually provide<br />
protection against competitive threats. And when companies aren’t<br />
scaleable, it can leave them even more exposed when business either<br />
plateaus or plummets. General Motors provides a case study to that<br />
effect.<br />
Technology could be considered another phantom barrier. As<br />
Morningstar identifies in its research, “what one smart engineer can<br />
invent, another can improve upon.”<br />
It was exactly ten years between the launch of the first Palm PDA<br />
and Apple’s introduction of its iPhone. Memories of trying to master<br />
Palm’s “graffiti input zone” probably seem further removed.<br />
ROADMAP FOR DISSENT continued from page 19<br />
trust blowback. It’s no secret that Microsoft, which had previously<br />
attempted a hostile takeover of Yahoo, was opposed to the deal. Coincidentally,<br />
AT&T was also a vocal opponent, as Michael Crowley,<br />
the chief marketing officer of the company’s Yellowpages.com division,<br />
was among the critics to testify at a Senate Judiciary Committee<br />
hearing. Weiner wouldn’t comment on the transaction, but as a New<br />
York Times story at the time identified, momentum turned when<br />
lobbying ef<strong>for</strong>ts spread beyond Microsoft and AT&T to groups that<br />
seemingly had no dogs in the fight. For instance, the Times identified<br />
that various farm groups, including the National <strong>Association</strong> of<br />
Farmer Elected Committees and the National Latino Farmers and<br />
Ranchers Trade <strong>Association</strong>, were among those who helped <strong>for</strong>m an<br />
unlikely opposition.<br />
John Taylor, a spokesman <strong>for</strong> Sprint, seems to suggest that the<br />
company’s public opposition is being driven in part to motivate consumer<br />
action. He also instinctively aligns Sprint’s interests with the<br />
consumers, and bills its opposition to the deal as “David vs. Goliath,”<br />
when commenting on the relative muscle each company enlists<br />
in Washington.<br />
“Obviously, the case is going to be decided by the FCC and the<br />
antitrust [regulators] and it’s going to be based on facts and record,”<br />
he says. “But it’s difficult to ignore the public opinion and if you’re<br />
AT&T and T-Mobile, and you’re trying to sell this, it’s hard to argue<br />
that eliminating a low cost carrier is in the public interest.”<br />
Taylor also sounds as confident as his counterparts at AT&T,<br />
identifying that Sprint is not interested in any possible concessions.<br />
“We believe it should be rejected entirely,” he says.<br />
The next test will be whether the consumer groups pick up the<br />
same message over the next 12 months, as legislators and other industry<br />
observers weigh in.<br />
HEALTHCARE continued from page 27<br />
being uninsured until the cost of being sick is more than the cost of<br />
insurance,” he describes. A corollary is that only sick individuals will<br />
seek to buy insurance, causing premiums to climb.<br />
Lane says he has also seen some unintended consequences emerge<br />
as it relates to M&A. He cites the “36-Month Rule,” which applies<br />
to home health agencies that participate in Medicare. A home health<br />
agency is required to wait 36 months following its initial enrollment<br />
in Medicare be<strong>for</strong>e it can sell a majority-stake if it intends to<br />
maintain its status in the Medicare program. The clock then resets<br />
following a change-of-control <strong>for</strong>cing the HHA to wait another 36<br />
months be<strong>for</strong>e it can be sold again and maintain its accreditation.<br />
The Centers <strong>for</strong> Medicare and Medicaid have tweaked the rule to<br />
provide some flexibility, and allows an exemption, <strong>for</strong> instance, if an<br />
owner dies. Lane, though, says the rule still creates some significant<br />
roadblocks that may seem counter productive to the administration’s<br />
stated goals.<br />
Beyond restricting the scale lawmakers sought to encourage through<br />
re<strong>for</strong>m, Lane observes, “Why would a lender even finance an HHA if<br />
they couldn’t <strong>for</strong>eclose on a business and sell it to someone else.”<br />
Still, he remains bullish about the sector’s prospects, calling it one<br />
of the few industries in which unit volume growth is inevitable. He<br />
adds the caveat that the growing end market is offset somewhat “by<br />
the headwinds in price,” alluding to the pressures facing federal and<br />
state budgets. “Pricing is going to be more erratic, because it’s the<br />
one area the government can actually control.” He adds that buyers<br />
would be wise to keep leverage multiples in check.<br />
Leerink’s Boylan is perhaps more optimistic. He describes that he<br />
is running across more examples in which the “winning bidders paid<br />
significant premiums over the next highest bids,” a sign that companies<br />
are assuming a ‘must buy’ urgency amid the altered universe.<br />
He adds that while he has run across processes in which books are<br />
sent out to 50 or more possible suitors, the tendency increasingly is<br />
to run a narrower process -- a sign that the winners amid the frenzied<br />
environment are becoming easier to identify.<br />
“The biggest threat to dealflow,” Boylan identifies, “is if the transactions<br />
we’re seeing today, don’t pan out.”<br />
46 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
McCHRYSTAL continued from page 29<br />
have to establish relationships -- personal relationships -- and you<br />
have to build trust. Until you do that, you won’t be able to gain any<br />
traction. From there you have show reliability and guidance. You<br />
need to provide a firm direction, but at the same time maintain some<br />
flexibility because you’re dealing with such a diverse group -- it’s not<br />
just the varying cultural backgrounds, but you also have different<br />
military capabilities and varying numbers in terms of the size of the<br />
<strong>for</strong>ce. And you can’t be judgmental. It’s your job to take all of the<br />
pieces available and use them in a way that best maximizes the resources<br />
and serves the end goal.<br />
In the case of the Afghan <strong>for</strong>ces, we were trying to help them<br />
build out their security infrastructure, which had been torn asunder.<br />
The ef<strong>for</strong>t was challenged not only by the insurgency, but also by an<br />
immature government. You had your day-to-day operations and in<br />
the background still had to work toward the long-term development<br />
of the <strong>for</strong>ces; you had to focus on both at once.<br />
What we tried to do was partner with the them and work side by<br />
side, so our <strong>for</strong>ces could benefit from their passion and cultural expertise,<br />
and they would benefit from the professionalism of the coalition<br />
and technology. It had to feel like an equal partnership in order<br />
to work. You don’t deny the differences, but you have to find a way<br />
to integrate the elements other <strong>for</strong>ces can provide and ensure that<br />
you’re using the maximum capabilities. And when we put American<br />
regiments in the North, they were put under <strong>for</strong>eign <strong>for</strong>ces. You have<br />
to show that kind of faith.<br />
Mergers & Acquisitions: In terms of investing, I imagine a lot of<br />
our readers would want to get your take on the defense budget<br />
and the possible cuts. Are there any insights you can provide<br />
McChrystal: Not really. I personally support the need <strong>for</strong> reductions<br />
to the budget, but there is a trade-off at some point, which<br />
means you have to accept certain risks in some areas. But the crown<br />
jewel of the military is the quality of people, and something that sets<br />
the US apart is the country’s ef<strong>for</strong>ts to support them and take care<br />
of their families.<br />
Mergers & Acquisitions: As a final question, how do you see<br />
warfare evolving<br />
McChrystal: What we’ve seen in the last few years is that people are<br />
going to look <strong>for</strong> ways to negate the superiority of other <strong>for</strong>ces. They’re<br />
going to look <strong>for</strong> ways to take the advantages off of the table. They<br />
will try make it difficult <strong>for</strong> aircraft, <strong>for</strong> example, or attack net centric<br />
capabilities. If they can reduce the level of technology at our disposal,<br />
it becomes a different fight, so that’s where I think we’re going.<br />
We also need to think long-term about developing capabilities to<br />
work in any geographic region. We haven’t completely developed the<br />
cultural knowledge and acuity yet. You have to do that homework<br />
up front, and if you understand a particular region be<strong>for</strong>e going into<br />
it, you have a significant advantage.<br />
I also think we have to establish tighter relationships with <strong>for</strong>eign<br />
governments and militaries. We should focus on <strong>for</strong>ming tighter<br />
personal relationships, and bring people to the US to study and our<br />
leaders can go study overseas. These relationships are anything but<br />
irrelevant.<br />
STRATEGIC POWER SHIFT continued from page 30<br />
the focus on growth, but he noted that domestic acquisitions still<br />
accounted <strong>for</strong> the bulk of the company’s overall capital commitment.<br />
Participants on the panel also noted that strategics have shown<br />
more aggression than in past eras, at least in terms of starting conversations<br />
with potential targets.<br />
“We’ve seen strategic buyers be much more proactive in calling<br />
private equity groups and even other strategics to pre-empt or get<br />
ahead of a potential sale process,” McDonagh says. “They didn’t do a<br />
lot of that in past upcycles; they were content to wait <strong>for</strong> properties<br />
to come to market.”<br />
The arrival of strategic buyers won’t necessarily shut out private<br />
equity, which drove much of the activity in the middle market in<br />
the fourth quarter. In fact, McDonagh adds that PE firms are actually<br />
gaining market share in terms of middle market activity, and<br />
McDonagh cites that given the liquidity of the debt markets, “PE<br />
groups can compete with strategics.”<br />
But Marc Wolpow, co-founder of Boston PE firm Audax Group,<br />
notes that the line distinguishing corporate from financial buyers has<br />
blurred in recent years.<br />
“Our articulated strategy is growth through acquisition; we’ve<br />
acquired roughly 50 to 55 plat<strong>for</strong>m companies and through those<br />
completed roughly 150 add-ons,” Wolpow describes.<br />
Still, as AT&T’s T-Mobile deal underscores, when strategics want<br />
an asset, little can stand in their way.<br />
“Corporations are going to stay strategic and focused, but at the<br />
end of the day, if they want to own an asset, they’re going to own it,”<br />
McDonagh said.<br />
SBA continued from page 33<br />
blind to the factors behind the program’s recent popularity either.<br />
He is aware that the traditional fundraising markets are more challenging<br />
and that in the small market, dealmakers at times can still<br />
struggle to find debt. But he also believes that the recent converts<br />
will help tell the story.<br />
“The bottom line is that the risk/reward of our program is very<br />
attractive,” Greene says. “From our perspective, the last challenge is<br />
making sure everyone knows this capital is available.”<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong> MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS 47
Deal Flow<br />
March’s Key Deals<br />
Target<br />
Price<br />
Acquirer Target Date Industry ($mil)<br />
AT&T Inc T-Mobile USA Inc 3/20 Telecommunications 39,000<br />
BRE Retail Holdings Inc Centro Properties Group-US 3/1 Real Estate; Mortgage Bankers and Brokers 9,400<br />
Berkshire Hathaway Inc Lubrizol Corp 3/14 Chemicals and Allied Products 8,793<br />
Valeant Pharm Intl Inc Cephalon Inc 3/29 Drugs 5,602<br />
Western Digital Ireland Ltd Viviti Technologies Ltd 3/7 Computer and Office Equipment 4,250<br />
Terumo Corp CaridianBCT Inc 3/7 Measuring, Medical, Photo Equipment; Clocks 2,625<br />
Gibraltar Acquisition Corp GSI Commerce Inc 3/28 Miscellaneous Retail Trade 2,279<br />
Investor Group LDH Energy Asset Holdings LLC 3/22 Electric, Gas, and Water Distribution 1,925<br />
Investor Group Lawson Software Inc 3/12 Prepackaged Software 1,899<br />
KNOC Anadarko Petroleum-Maverick 3/21 Oil and Gas; Petroleum Refining 1,550<br />
Undisclosed Joint Venture Highland Hospitality-Hotel(28) 3/10 Hotels and Casinos 1,277<br />
The Renco Group Inc Severstal North America-Ops 3/2 Metal and Metal Products 1,192<br />
AIG Maiden Lane II-RMBS 3/10 Investment Firms, Dealers, Exchanges 1,099<br />
Walter Investment Management Green Tree Servicing LLC 3/28 Credit Institutions 1,045<br />
Charles Schwab Corp optionsXpress Holdings Inc 3/21 Investment Firms, Dealers, Exchanges 1,030<br />
TMM Holdings LP Taylor Woodrow Hldg (USA) Inc 3/31 Construction Firms 955<br />
Legend Natural Gas IV LP Range Resources Corp-Barnett 3/1 Oil and Gas; Petroleum Refining 900<br />
Investor Group 99 Cents Only Stores 3/11 Retail Trade-General Merchandise and Apparel 896<br />
White Tiger Gold Ltd Century Mining Corp 3/14 Mining 763<br />
Spark Acquisition Corp Celera Corp 3/18 Business Services 657<br />
Galaxy Dream Corp RC2 Corp 3/10 Miscellaneous Manufacturing 604<br />
El Paso Pipeline Partners LP Southern Natural Gas Co 3/7 Electric, Gas, and Water Distribution 587<br />
CreXus Investment Corp Barclays Capital RE Inc-Coml R 3/21 Real Estate; Mortgage Bankers and Brokers 586<br />
WGR Asset Holding Co LLC Wattenberg Processing Plant 3/22 Oil and Gas; Petroleum Refining 576<br />
Kirby Corp K-Sea Transp Partners LP 3/13 Transportation and Shipping (except air) 574<br />
Vanguard Natural Resources LLC Encore Energy Partners LP 3/25 Oil and Gas; Petroleum Refining 568<br />
Catalyst Health Solutions Inc Walgreens Health Initiatives 3/9 Insurance 525<br />
Cephalon Inc Gemin X Pharmaceuticals Inc 3/21 Drugs 525<br />
Station GVR Acquisition LLC Green Valley Ranch Gaming LLC 3/10 Hotels and Casinos 500<br />
NetApp Inc LSI-Engenio External Storage 3/9 Computer and Office Equipment 480<br />
James River Coal Co International Resource 3/6 Mining 475<br />
Warburg Pincus LLC Rural/Metro Corp 3/28 Transportation and Shipping (except air) 438<br />
Cals Refineries Ltd Hardt Group GmbH-Cenco Asts 3/16 Oil and Gas; Petroleum Refining 417<br />
Dover Subsidiary Inc drugstore.com Inc 3/24 Miscellaneous Retail Trade 414<br />
Reynolds Group Holdings Ltd Dopaco Inc 3/11 Paper and Allied Products 400<br />
Capital Power Corp Bridgeport Energy LLC 3/8 Electric, Gas, and Water Distribution 355<br />
Bondholders DirecTV Holdings LLC 3/11 Radio and Television Broadcasting Stations 353<br />
Harbinger Capital Partners Old Mutual (US) Holdings Inc 3/7 Holding Companies, Except Banks 350<br />
Mood Media Corp Muzak Holdings LLC 3/24 Advertising Services 340<br />
Industria de Diseno Textil SA Kushner Cos-666 Fifth Avenue 3/4 Retail Trade-General Merchandise and Apparel 324<br />
Host Hotels & Resorts Inc New York Helmsley Hotel,New 3/24 Hotels and Casinos 314<br />
Newfield Exploration Co Uinta Basin Oil & Gas Assets 3/22 Oil and Gas; Petroleum Refining 308<br />
<br />
48 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS <strong>May</strong> <strong>2011</strong>