There is a battle being played out in Ann Arbor and throughout the rest of Michigan. No, it has nothing to do with the Michigan Wolverines lackluster start to the football season. This battle is about beer! To be more specific, this battle is about the rapid growth of the craft beer industry in North…
Year: 2014
Top Private Equity Firms Settle Lawsuit
Private equity firms usually have money on the mind. They aim to make money for their investors by buying companies and selling them at a profit, while pocketing management and performance fees for themselves. In the competitive world of Wall Street, performance is critical – but for some of the biggest private equity funds in…
Online Gambling in the United States
Gambling, and especially online gaming, in the United States has a long and complicated past. Recently, three states, Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey, have passed legislation allowing for online gambling within their state borders. This blog post reviews a history of online gaming in the United States, examines recent areas of legalization for online…
Divergent Incentives in Secondary Buyout Transactions Cause Limited Partners to Shoulder Downside Risk Alone
Over the past year secondary buyout transactions have become the increasingly common move of primary private equity fund managers seeking to exit their portfolio company investments in Europe and the United States. Secondary buyouts, also referred to colloquially as “pass the parcel” deals, occur when one private equity firm sells its stake in a portfolio…
The Intersection of Private Equity and ERISA after Sun Capital
In July 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled in Sun Capital Partners III, LP v. New England Teamsters & Trucking Industry Pension Fund that a private equity fund was considered a “trade or business” under the rules of the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”).1 Under this standard, a private equity fund…
(Jump)start Our Business Startups: The JOBS Act 500+ Days Later (Part 2)
Two years, one month, and three days have passed since President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act into law. A product of rare bipartisanship, the JOBS Act was praised on both sides of the aisle as improving access to capital for US small business, which would in turn drive economic growth.1 While…
Will King Meet the Same Fate as Zynga? I.P.O. in the Mobile Gaming Industry
The stock price of King Digital Entertainment fell over 15% on its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange, despite the great success this mobile game maker has enjoyed from Candy Crush Saga, one of the biggest hits in the social mobile gaming industry.1 The drop was not surprising, however, as investors expressed fears…
Lenovo’s Deals with IBM and Google Likely to Survive CFIUS Review
The Chinese leading PC maker, Lenovo, has been ambitiously using acquisitions to fuel its growth since the beginning of this year. The company announced two deals valued at over $5 billion, total, in January, both with U.S. firms. On January 23, 2014, Lenovo entered into an agreement with IBM to acquire the latter’s x86 Server…
Private Equity Investment in Farmland
“Buy land, they’re not making it anymore.” – Mark Twain Financiers have been investing in farmland for centuries, from the Roman empire being fed by farms in North Africa to American fruit companies buying plantations in Central America.1 Now, nearly 200 private equity firms are expected to have almost $30 billion in private capital invested…
Increased Interest in Co-Investment Rights: Justified or Not?
Since the Economic Recession of 2008, it has been more difficult for private equity firms to secure capital commitments from institutional investors and other wealthy individuals for prospective funds. One of the ways firms spark their fundraising efforts is allowing co-investment rights, normally to large institutional investors, which typically allow the institutional investors to directly…