Author: Luisa Beltran

3scale closed a $4.2 million funding round from Javelin Venture Partners and Costanoa Venture Capital. 3scale, which has offices in San Francisco and Barcelona, is a API Management solutions provider.

PRESS RELEASE
3scale (http://www.3scale.net), the San Francisco and Barcelona-based API Management solutions provider, today announced $4.2 million of new funding in a round from Javelin Venture Partners and Costanoa Venture Capital.
APIs are a key infrastructure component for online businesses – powering mobile applications, partnership programs and innovation. Increasingly, as many businesses become more software driven, having a well-managed API available to customers and partners is becoming key to success in the marketplace. The growth of the number of APIs is exponential and forecasted to reach into the millions over the next 5 years.
In order to meet this need, during the past two years 3scale has grown into one of the leading solution providers in the sector. The company’s API Management solution provides infrastructure to manage the technical and business operations required to run a successful API program simply and at scale.
In contrast to other solutions, 3scale’s flexible platform is immediate, self-service and no cost to adopt, enabling any size business to run an API program and scale from free entry-level services all the way to Enterprise grade APIs on a single platform. The solution platform lets businesses build a solid foundation for their API program and scale confidently to serving 10’s and 100’s of Millions of API transactions per day.
The 3scale API Management solution already powers APIs for over 200 customers serving over 85,000 Application Developers, with API traffic monitored and managed by 3scale more than doubling in the last 6 months. Customers range from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses and technology start-ups, including: Skype, FlightStats, Wine.com, 1WorldSync, SITA, PagesJaunes.fr (French YellowPages), FullContact and Yummly.
“As products and services we rely on for our daily lives—from travel info to e-commerce, thermostats to elevators—increasingly connect to internet applications through machine-to-machine interfaces, the need for robustly managed API’s becomes critical,” noted Noah Doyle, Managing Director of Javelin Venture Partners. “We are proud to lead this new round of funding for 3scale because it will bring high grade solutions to a wide market, which no provider has done before.”
The new investment will help broaden 3scale’s set of services and bring it to a global audience, enabling even more valuable APIs and API delivery by its customers.
More information about 3scale can be found at http://www.3scale.net/. The company is also looking to fill new positions in both its San Francisco and Barcelona offices.
About 3scale:
Founded in 2007, 3scale provides a Plug & Play SaaS API Management platform and infrastructure enabling developers and companies to securely open, control, manage, operate and monetize their API to 3rd parties (e.g. developers, business partners, etc). 3scale’s API Management solution is flexible, secure and web scalable enabling the distribution of a company’s data, content or services to multiple devices or mobile/web applications as well as the productization of its APIs. For more information visit www.3scale.net

About Javelin Venture Partners
With $200 million under management, Javelin Venture Partners is an early stage venture capital firm specializing in technology-based start-ups that leverage key innovations to create scalable, high-growth companies. Javelin Venture Partners’ investment professionals are proven new-technology entrepreneurs who focus on identifying exceptional businesses and management teams, and helping them achieve great success. The firm operates with the culture of a start-up and with an emphasis on being a true partner to entrepreneurs. Javelin Ventures Partners is located in San Francisco, CA., but invests in start-ups throughout the world. For a list of active portfolio companies, or to submit a business plan, visit Javelin’s website: http://www.javelinvp.com.

About Costanoa Venture Capital

Costanoa Venture Capital is an early stage investor focused on cloud-based services solving real problems for businesses and consumers by leveraging data and analytics. The firm’s name originates from the first inhabitants of Silicon Valley, the Costanoans, and harkens back to the origins of entrepreneurship and venture capital in Silicon Valley. Costanoa provides early stage entrepreneurs with a combination of “right-sized” amounts of capital and value-added support from a high-quality institutional partner. Current investments include: Datalogix, DemandBase, Guardian Analytics, Inflection, Intacct, iSocket, Lex Machina, LinkSmart, Return Path, and Risk I/O. The firm is headquartered in Palo Alto, Ca. For more information, visit http://costanoavc.com/
read our blog and follow us @costanoavc and @gsands.

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CIT Group said Wednesday that it arranged a $220 million loan to help finance Elior SCA and Charterhouse Capital Partners‘ buy of TrustHouse Services Group. Charlotte, N.C.-based TrustHouse provides contract food services to the healthcare, education and corrections sectors.

PRESS RELEASE

CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) cit.com, a leading provider of financing and advisory services to small businesses and middle market companies, today announced that it arranged a $220 million senior secured credit facility to help finance the acquisition of TrustHouse Services Group by Elior SCA and Charterhouse Capital Partners. TrustHouse Services is a national U.S. provider of contract food services to the Healthcare, Education and Corrections sectors. Based in Paris, France, Elior is a premier global provider of con! tract food services and food concessions. Charterhouse Capital Partners is a leading UK- based private equity firm.
CIT Corporate Finance served as Sole Lead Arranger and Administrative Agent for the transaction. Financing was provided by CIT Bank, the U.S. commercial bank subsidiary of CIT.  Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“This transaction demonstrates the commitment CIT has to providing comprehensive financial solutions to private equity firms as they complete acquisitions,” said Eric Toizer, Managing Director of CIT Sponsor Finance. “We are pleased to continue our relationship with Mike Bailey and his world class management team.”
Mike Bailey, CEO at TrustHouse Services, said, “Our long term relationship with CIT facilitated the smooth and efficient closing of this transaction.  CIT was able to arrange flexible financing that will allow us to partner with Elior, as it expands into the U.S. market.”
Gilles Cojan, Director at Elior, said, “TrustHouse provides a compelling value proposition and is well positioned to capitalize on market fragmentation. With its national scale, tailored solutions and first class customer service, we believe this acquisition will allow us to build market share and expand our global footprint in the food services sector.”
Jamie Arnell, Partner of Charterhouse, said, “We are pleased to continue our growth strategy for Elior as it partners with TrustHouse to create a world-class food services business. We selected CIT to lead the financing of this transaction because of their relationship with TrustHouse Services and their expertise in underwriting and syndicating senior loans in the U.S. market.”
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Watch the CIT corporate overview video (cit.com/corporatevideo) that showcases its support of the small business, middle market and transportation sectors.

Follow us on Twitter: @citgroup, on LinkedIn: LinkedIn.com/company/cit, on YouTube: YouTube.com/citgroupvideo, and on Facebook: facebook.com/citgroup. Individuals interested in receiv! ing corporate news releases can register at cit.com/newsalerts or subscribe to the RSS feed at cit.com/rss.
About TrustHouse Services
TrustHouse Services Group is a leader in the Healthcare, Education, and Corrections-focused food services space and manages over 675 client accounts across more than 45 states. TrustHouse is headquartered in Charlotte, NC, and was founded by Michael J. Bailey. trusthouseservices.com
About Elior SCA
Founded in 1991, Elior is a market leading catering and facilities management group with operations throughout Western Europe, USA, Mexico and Latin America. Elior is the #4 contract caterer and the #3 concession caterer globally, with €4.48 billion revenue and €359 million EBITDA for its fiscal year ended 30 September 2012. Elior provides personalized catering and service solutions within the Education, Business & Industry and Healthcare & Seniors sectors as well in Leisure, Culture and Travel, as well as cleaning services and facilities management. Elior is owned  by Charterhouse Capital Partners and operates over 14,350 restaurants and outlets around the world, serving 3 million customers daily in 14 countries. elior.com
Charterhouse Capital Partners
Charterhouse is a leading private equity investment firm focused on leveraged buyouts of established and substantial businesses. Charterhouse focuses on a variety of industrial and commercial sectors. With over 135 transactions, worth in excess of €50bn in transaction value, and with 86% of those investments realized, the firm’s track record and experience combine to make them one of the most successful private equity firms in Europe. charterhouse.co.uk
About CIT Corporate Finance
CIT Corporate Finance provides lending, leasing and other financial and advisory services to the small business and middle market sectors, with a focus on specific industries, including: Chemicals, Commercial Real Estate, Communications, Energy, Entertainment, Gaming, Healthcare, Industrials, Information Services & Technology, Restaurants, Retail, and Sports & Media.
cit.com/CorporateFinance
About CIT Bank
Founded in 2000, CIT Bank (Member FDIC) is the U.S. commercial bank subsidiary of CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT). It provides lending and leasing to the small business, middle market and rail sectors. Through its online bank, BankOnCIT.com, CIT Bank offers a suite of savings options designed to help customers achieve a range of financial goals. It is regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Utah Department of Financial Institutions. As of March 31, 2013, it had $10.6 billion of deposits and $13.3 billion of assets. CIT Bank makes loans without regard t! o race, color, religion, national origin, sex, handicap, or familial status. cit.com/CITBank

About CIT
Founded in 1908, CIT (NYSE: CIT) is a bank holding company with more than $35 billion in financing and leasing assets. A member of the Fortune 500, it provides financing and leasing capital and advisory services to its clients and their customers across more than 30 industries. CIT maintains leadership positions in small business and middle market lending, factoring, retail finance, aerospace, equipment and rail leasing, and vendor finance. CIT also operates CIT Bank (Member FDIC), its primary bank subsidiary, which, through its online bank BankOnCIT.com, offers a suite of savings options designed to help customers achieve a range of financial goals. cit.com

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Silverpop said Wednesday it received $25 million in new funding from Escalate Capital Partners and Silicon Valley Bank. Silverpop, which provides digital marketing technology, has over $50 million in funding.

PRESS RELEASE
SilverpopTM, the only digital marketing technology provider that unifies marketing automation, email, mobile and social, today announces it has received $25 million in new funding.  With these additional funds, Silverpop will continue to accelerate its growth and customer success across the globe.

“The world of marketing is undergoing a fundamental shift with customers now more discerning, more educated and more selective than ever before and no longer willing to be part of an audience or locked into a single channel,” said Bill Nussey, CEO of Silverpop. “Our solution uniquely lets marketers engage each customer or prospect as an individual resulting in a customer experience that is unmatched in today’s world of audiences and segments. In 2012, we dramatically stepped up our investment in sales and marketing and drove record-setting growth. This new funding allows us to invest even more aggressively in 2013 and beyond, giving an ever wider set of marketers access to our game-changing solution.”

Silverpop finished 2012 with impressive new business growth of 40 percent as compared to 2011. Last year the company added 380 new customers, a third of which turned to the company for its marketing automation offerings and 60 percent of them specifically looking to drive revenue by focusing on buyer behavior.
Silverpop’s unique focus on behavioral marketing automation is best demonstrated by the company’s commitment to three key areas:
Being a Marketing Database of Record: Silverpop Engage can serve as the single source of data across a marketing department, helping to provide the most comprehensive profile of customers and prospects possible by capturing and storing demographic and psychographic data as well as online and offline behaviors.
Allowing for a Consistent Digital Identity: Engage uniquely collects valuable buyer information from all channels (Web, email, mobile and social) and across multiple devices and platforms, creating a single identity that leads to a consistent digital experience reflecting preferences declared and inferred based on behavior across channels.
Automating Interactions: To efficiently individualize digital interactions and deliver the optimal marketing experience, marketers must automate their interactions. Silverpop Engage allows customers to leverage massive amounts of collected data in order to deliver highly individualized interactions that deliver an unmatched customer experience that drives engagement, loyalty and revenue, one customer at a time.
The company, which launched in 1999, now employs more than 500 people in offices in the U.S., the UK and Germany and has a presence in Australia/APAC, Africa, South America (including Mexico and Brazil), and Eastern Europe (Turkey and Czech Republic) via  strategic reseller relationships. It supports more than 1,800 customers representing 5,000 brands worldwide.

About Silverpop
Silverpop is the only digital marketing technology provider that unifies marketing automation, email, mobile, and social. Its customers achieve superior Return on Relationship by uniquely engaging each individual based on their behaviors and then automating personalized experiences that increase revenue, improve ROI, and deepen brand loyalty. Silverpop’s commitment is to offer a platform that is complete, not complex-so that marketers from any size organization can easily achieve digital marketing success. The company offers a world-class services team, 24/7 customer support and a network of partners to ensure that every client gets the right mix of solutions for their specific digital marketing needs. Silverpop is trusted by more than 5,000 brands around the globe.  Visit us at silverpop.com.

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Mike Beltz has joined Satori Capital as an operating partner. Beltz will assist Satori with identifying and investing in sustainably run companies within the payments sector.

PRESS RELEASE
Satori Capital, a Dallas-based private equity firm, proudly introduces new operating partner Mike Beltz, a seasoned executive in the payments processing sector. Beltz joins Satori with more than 25 years of leadership experience in the financial technology and payments processing industry, including board and executive positions with companies such as First Data Corporation, Alliance Data Systems, and ChoicePay.

Beltz will assist Satori with identifying and investing in sustainably run companies within the payments sector, typically with enterprise values ranging from $25 million to $75 million. Satori plans to leverage Beltz’s extensive operating experience and broad network of industry relationships to help accelerate the growth of its portfolio companies in the payments sector.
Beltz began his career at First Data Corporation where he spent 14 years leading a variety of sales, marketing, and merger and acquisition initiatives, including the pursuit, negotiation, and acquisition of Signet PLC, Europe’s largest association of credit card processors. After the acquisition of Signet, Beltz was instrumental in creating the Merchant Alliance Program, which created strategic partnerships between eight of the nation’s largest merchant acquirers and First Data Corporation. Beltz was then recruited to Alliance Data Systems where he led major corporate development strategies that grew revenue from $100 million to $500 million.
“In a rapidly evolving industry with emerging payments technologies, I’m thrilled to share my experiences with others as they attempt to navigate this dynamic market,” said Beltz. “From my experience, a strategic capital partner can significantly assist middle-market companies in their evolution to the next echelon. Satori’s team of former CEOs and executives provides an operational mindset that helps it better collaborate with a management team to accelerate the growth of a business. I am enthusiastic about the opportunity to work with Satori, a firm with a long-term partnership philosophy that is unique in the private equity landscape.”
Managing Partner Sunny Vanderbeck added, “Mike’s deep payments processing proficiency coupled with Satori’s strategic, operational, and financial resources offer business owners a compelling partnership opportunity. Mike has a unique ability to leverage his experience leading multi-billion dollar enterprises in a way that addresses the challenges and opportunities facing emerging middle-market businesses. We are thrilled to work with Mike to invest in and build businesses with enduring value.”
For businesses interested in partnering with Satori Capital, please contact Mike Beltz or Randall Hunt directly.
Mike Beltz

Randall Hunt
Operating Partner

Vice President
[email protected]

[email protected]
(214) 909-3100

(214) 390-6288

About Satori Capital
Dallas, Texas-based Satori Capital is the preferred capital partner for companies building significant long-term value through a sustainable approach. Satori’s team has a long and successful track record as private equity investors and founders and CEOs of both private and public companies. Satori partners with talented management teams to accelerate the growth of companies that are “built to last” and meet a set of criteria described as “sustainability.” These businesses deliver strong returns by operating with a long-term perspective, committing to their mission or purpose, and focusing on creating value for all stakeholders.
For more information, please visit www.satoricapital.com.

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Z Capital Partners filed an investor presentation supporting its nomination of two candidates to the Affinity Gaming Board. Z Capital currently owns more than 30% of Affinity Gaming. Z Capital Partners hasd offered to buy all the outstanding shares of Affinity Gaming that it doesn’t own. UPDATE: Z Capital has since rescinded the offer, a spokesman says.

PRESS RELEASE

Z Capital Partners, L.L.C. (“Z Capital”), a Chicago-based private equity firm and the largest shareholder in Affinity Gaming (the “Company” or “Affinity”), with over 30% of outstanding shares, today filed an investor presentation supporting its nomination of two highly qualified, independent candidates to the Affinity Gaming Board. The presentation is available on the “Media Room” tab of Z Capital’s web site at www.zcap.net and will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) later today.
The presentation includes information regarding Z Capital’s proposal for a new Affinity Board consisting of seven members, including nominees from investors Z Capital and Silver Point Capital L.P. (“Silver Point”).  Z Capital believes that a proper, balanced Board reflecting a range of perspectives from shareholders, industry experts and management is in the best interests of all Affinity shareholders. In particular, the presentation provides details of Z Capital’s operational, financial, corporate governance and industry experience, as well as its deep pool of resources that will be a catalyst for maximizing shareholder value. Additionally, the Board proposed by the Company and Silver Point, which does not include nominees from Z Capital, will effectively mean that Silver Point is taking control of the Company.  Leaving the Board in the hands of a single shareholder is a decision Z Capital believes is unwise and does not ensure that all shareholders’ interests are protected.
Specifically, the presentation illustrates the following key points:
•    The Affinity Board has failed to demonstrate the skill, expertise, or governance best practices that Affinity’s shareholders deserve and has not acted in the best interests of shareholders.
•    A Silver Point dominated Board is not in the best interest of all shareholders.
◦    Silver Point was influential in seating the current Board, including Chairman Don Kornstein , and the Company’s four new “independent” nominees were all selected by Silver Point.
•    Z Capital is nominating two highly qualified, independent candidates that offer necessary balance and perspective to round out the Board.
◦    Z Capital has been the most vigilant and vocal shareholder in protecting ALL shareholder rights and in scrutinizing the Board’s actions.
◦    Z Capital has a long and successful track record of working collaboratively with fellow board members and management at portfolio companies in developing a unified, value-maximizing strategy for all.
◦    Z Capital’s nominees have had extensive interaction with Affinity’s state gaming regulators (Nevada, Iowa, Missouri, and Colorado) and Z Capital, along with James J. Zenni, Jr. , have been “found suitable” in those states.  Additionally, Mr. Zenni has nearly two decades of experience investing in gaming companies both large cap and small cap.
◦    Z Capital’s nominees have the operational, corporate governance and financial skills and experience needed by the Board at this time.
Z Capital believes that if the slate of directors nominated by the Company and Silver Point, with Mr. Kornstein as the Chairman, obtains control, then significant shareholder value will continue to be hindered. Z Capital further notes that now is the time for a well-balanced, highly qualified Board to be elected to protect shareholder value.
Z Capital urges all shareholders to vote the gold proxy card today to maximize their investment in the Company and ensure that the Board and management act in the best interest of shareholders.
About Z Capital Partners
Z Capital Partners, L.L.C. is a leading Chicago-based private equity firm that specializes in making investments in distressed middle market companies utilizing the restructuring and/or bankruptcy process, opportunistic acquisitions and special situations. Z Capital utilizes its operational and restructuring expertise to work with management on enhancing enterprise value and achieving superior risk-adjusted returns for its investors. Z Capital’s investors include prominent global endowments, financial institutions, pension funds, insurance companies, foundations, family offices, and wealth management firms. For more information, please visit www.zcap.net
Additional Information
The Z Capital Group (whose members are identified below) has nominated James J. Zenni, Jr. and Martin J. Auerbach, Esq.   (the “Z Capital Nominees”) as nominees to the board of directors of the Company and is soliciting votes for the election of the Z Capital Nominees as members of the board. The Z Capital Group has sent a definitive proxy statement, GOLD proxy card and related proxy materials to stockholders of the Company seeking their support of the Z Capital Nominees at the Company’s 2013 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Stockholders are urged to read the definitive proxy statement and GOLD proxy card because they contain important information about the Z Capital Group, the Z Capital Nominees, the Company and related matters. Stockholders may obtain a free copy of the definitive proxy statement and GOLD proxy card and other documents filed by the Z Capital Group with the SEC at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. The definitive proxy statement and other related documents filed by the Z Capital Group with the SEC may also be obtained free of charge by contacting Innisfree M&A Incorporated by mail at 501 Madison Avenue, 20th Floor, New York, New York 10022 or by telephone at the following numbers:  stockholders call toll-free at (888) 750-5834 and banks and brokers call collect at (212) 750-5833.
The Z Capital Group consists of the following persons: Z Capital Partners, L.L.C.; Zenni Holdings, LLC; James J. Zenni, Jr. ; Z Capital Special Situations Adviser, L.P.; Z Capital Special Situations GP, L.P.; Z Capital Special Situations UGP, L.L.C.; Z Capital Special Situations Fund Holdings I, L.L.C.; Z Capital HG, L.L.C.; Z Capital Special Situations Fund Holdings II, L.L.C.; Z Capital CUAL Co-Invest, L.L.C.; and Z Capital HG-C, L.L.C. The members of the Z Capital Group and the Z Capital Nominees are participants in the solicitation from the Company’s stockholders of proxies in favor of the Z Capital Nominees. Such participants may have interests in the solicitation, including as a result of holding shares of the Company’s common stock. Information regarding the participants and their interests may be found in the definitive proxy statement of the Z Capital Group, filed with the SEC on April 23, 2013 and first disseminated to stockholders on or about April 23, 2013.
Certain information contained herein constitutes “forward-looking statements,” which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “seek,” “should,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “project,” “estimate,” “intend,” “continue” or “believe” or the negatives thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance or activities. Due to various risks and uncertainties, actual events or results or actual performance may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in such forward-looking statements.

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Don Birchenough is joining Deutsche Bank as a Managing Director and Americas Head of Media and Telecom Mergers & Acquisitions. He joins from Credit Suisse where he was most recently Co-Head of the Technology, Media and Telecom M&A group in the Americas.

PRESS RELEASE

Deutsche Bank today announced that Don Birchenough will join as a Managing Director and Americas Head of Media and Telecom Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A). He joins Deutsche Bank from Credit Suisse where he was most recently Co-Head of the Technology, Media and Telecom M&A group in the Americas. Birchenough was previously Americas Head of Telecom and Media M&A at Deutsche Bank. He will be based in New York.
The Bank also announced the formation of a global Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) group within its Investment Banking Coverage & Advisory (IBC&A) business. Chris Colpitts and Gavin Deane have been promoted to Global Co-Heads of TMT Investment Banking Coverage. Colpitts is based in San Francisco and Deane in London.
“The creation of a unified and coordinated TMT group is a natural step for these businesses that operate in close partnership and can offer our clients interconnected business opportunities,” said John Eydenberg, Co-Head of IBC&A, Americas.
“These changes reflect our continued commitment to promote from within and selectively hire from the market to develop industry-leading teams,” said Tony Whittemore, Co-Head of M&A, Americas.

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Michael Barry and Robert Hutchinson have joined Sterne, Agee & Leach’s depositary investment banking group. Barry will be based in New York and Hutchinson in the Boston office. Barry joined Sterne Agee as MD and head of M&A for depository investment banking. Most recently, he was with Stifel Nicolaus Weisel where he was head of FIG M&A. Hutchinson joined Sterne as MD and head of Northeast coverage for depository investment Banking. He is also from Stifel Nicolaus Weisel where he spent more than 15 years in depositary investment banking.

PRESS RELEASE

Sterne, Agee & Leach, Inc., one of the oldest and largest privately-owned investment banking and brokerage firms in the country, recently announced the expansion of its Depository Investment Banking Group with the addition of Michael F. Barry, based in Sterne Agee’s New York Office and Robert P. Hutchinson, based in the Boston office.

Barry joined Sterne Agee as Managing Director and Head of M&A for Depository Investment Banking. Most recently, he was with Stifel Nicolaus Weisel where he was Head of FIG M&A. Before Stifel, Barry spent more than 13 years at Merrill Lynch where he was head of the US Depository Group. He has also held senior M&A positions in the Financial Institutions Groups of both Banc of America Securities, managing the overall M&A effort related to depository institutions, and Lehman Brothers.

Hutchinson joined Sterne Agee as Managing Director and Head of Northeast Coverage for Depository Investment Banking, also from Stifel Nicolaus Weisel. He has spent more than 15 years in depository investment banking, serving as the head of the depository practice for Sterne Agee, as well as Managing Director for Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. Hutchinson also worked as an associate at RBC Capital Markets where he worked in an investment banking capacity on financial institutions.

“Michael and Bob represent the latest in the build out of Sterne Agee’s depository investment banking practice. The depth of their individual experience and success with providing strategic advice and raising capital for the financial sector will be a great benefit to our existing and future clientele,” said Ryan Medo, Executive Managing Director of Equity Capital Markets.

“Michael’s more than 25 years of M&A experience in the depository space makes him ideal to spear head our efforts in that area. Meanwhile, Bob brings the requisite leadership, experience and wide range of relationships in the Northeast to round-out our commitment to depository investment banking,” said Daryle DiLascia, Senior Managing Director and Head of Depository Investment Banking. “In addition, Michael and Bob will also partner on Northeast coverage, and will assist on our larger cap relationships around the country.”

With decades of experience calling on depository institutions, advising on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, restructuring and recapitalizations, defense and public and private debt, as well as capital raising transactions, Barry has advised on more than 80 announced depository M&A transactions with a total value north of $165 billion. In addition, he has worked on more than 70 public and/or private debt or equity transactions, raising more than $55 billion in the aggregate. He holds an AB (Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Princeton University and an MBA (With Distinction) from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Hutchinson brings more than 15 years-experience specializing in M&A, equity offerings, debt offerings and mutual to stock conversions. He served four years as an Officer in the United States Marine Corps and holds an MBA with a concentration in finance from the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University. He earned a BA in English Literature from Boston College.

Along with the addition of Barry and Hutchinson are two new vice presidents, Andrew Stager and Lorenzo Zefferino. Stager joined Sterne Agee as a vice president for investment banking in the financial institutions group. Prior to his position with Sterne Agee, he served as both an associate with Stifel/Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and an analyst with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. Zefferino also joined Sterne Agee as a vice president for investment banking in the financial institutions group. Preceding Sterne Agee, he was a vice president with Stifel/Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

Speaking about Stager and Zefferino, DiLascia offered additional comments, saying, “Andrew and Lorenzo represent a crop of talented professionals with an unmatched understanding of the financial services industry; we couldn’t be more excited to have them in our financial institutions group.”

About Sterne Agee

Founded in 1901, Birmingham, Alabama-based Sterne Agee is one of the oldest and largest privately-owned investment banks in the nation. The firm offers comprehensive financial services to a diverse client base, including corporations, municipalities and high-net worth individuals. Through its family of wholly-owned subsidiaries, Sterne Agee custodies over $21 billion in client assets, and has more than 1,500 employees in 59 offices across 22 states. The Sterne Agee family of companies has prospered for more than 100 years by always putting client interests first and consistently delivering excellent financial services. Sterne Agee is the trade name used by Sterne Agee Group, Inc. and affiliates, including Sterne, Agee & Leach, Inc., member of NYSE, FINRA and SIPC. Visit www.sterneagee.com.

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A consortium has completed its buy of Duff & Phelps Corp. in a deal valued at about $665.5 million. The group includes The Carlyle Group, Stone Point Capital LLC, Pictet & Cie, on behalf of certain of its clients, and funds managed by Edmond de Rothschild Group. Duff & Phelps is a financial advisory and investment banking firm.

PRESS RELEASE

Duff & Phelps Corporation (“the Company”) today announced the completion of its acquisition by a consortium comprising The Carlyle Group, Stone Point Capital LLC, Pictet & Cie, on behalf of certain of its clients, and funds managed by Edmond de Rothschild Group in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $665.5 million.

As previously disclosed, the transaction was approved by the Company’s stockholders at a special meeting of stockholders held April 22, 2013. Pursuant to the terms of the merger agreement, the Company’s Class A stockholders are entitled to receive $15.55 per share of Class A common stock in cash without interest. As a result of the merger, the Company’s Class A common stock will no longer be listed for trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Stockholders of record will receive a letter of transmittal and instructions on how to surrender their shares of the Company’s Class A common stock in exchange for the merger consideration. Stockholders of record should wait to receive the letter of transmittal before surrendering their shares.

Advisors

Duff & Phelps:
· M&A: Centerview Partners
· Legal: Kirkland & Ellis LLP

The Consortium:
· M&A: Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P. (Lead Advisor), Credit Suisse, Barclays, RBC Capital Markets
· Financing: Credit Suisse, Barclays, RBC Capital Markets
· Legal: Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

* * * * *
About Duff & Phelps

As a leading global financial advisory and investment banking firm, Duff & Phelps leverages analytical skills, deep market insight and independence to help clients make sound decisions. The firm provides expertise in valuation, M&A and transaction advisory, restructuring, alternative asset advisory, disputes, taxation and transfer pricing – with more than 1,000 employees serving clients from offices in North America, Europe and Asia. Investment banking services in the United States are provided by Duff & Phelps Securities, LLC; Pagemill Partners; and GCP Securities, LLC. Member FINRA/SIPC. M&A advisory services in the United Kingdom and Germany are provided by Duff & Phelps Securities Ltd. Duff & Phelps Securities Ltd. is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. For more information, visit www.duffandphelps.com.

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Charles Jolley has joined Battery Ventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence in its Menlo Park office. Most recently, Jolley was Facebook’s Mobile Platform Head of Product and co-founder of  Strobe, a mobile software company that was acquired by Facebook.

PRESS RELEASE

Battery Ventures today announced that Charles Jolley, most recently Facebook’s Mobile Platform Head of Product, and co-founder of mobile software company Strobe (acquired by Facebook), has joined as an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) in its Menlo Park office. Jolley is a well-known and seasoned technologist and entrepreneur, who will bring his deep background in mobile, software and tablet engineering to work alongside the Battery investment team.

Jolley will collaborate with the team on its research into the enterprise tablet space, to help further define the most compelling opportunities for investment. Battery’s fundamental premise is that as business users go tablet-centric, the workflows and business-critical applications must follow suit, and they are scrambling to catch up.

“Demand is exploding as tablets like the iPad Mini fall in price,” said Jolley.  “Just like companies had to quickly adapt as employees abandoned their company-issued Blackberries for personal smartphones, they will face a similar challenge as people drop their PCs in lieu of tablets.”

Jolley has a unique and important intersection of skills and perspective in the mobile universe:  He has hands-on experience with both iOS (during his tenure at Apple) and Android (during his tenure at Facebook), combined with direct involvement on companies’ move to mobile through Strobe, a mobile application development framework company he founded and sold to Facebook.  Jolley’s complete bio can be found here.

“Few people have spent more time in mobile than Charles, and he is particularly insightful around how users’ adoption of tablets differs from smartphones,” said Mike Dauber, Battery Ventures principal.  “We’ve been intently watching the rapid move of tablets from fun consumer gadgets to go-to devices in the enterprise, and agree with Gartner’s recent prediction that they will overtake laptops within a few years*.  We have believed for some time that this spells opportunity, and are thrilled to bring Charles on board to help catalyze our work here.”

Battery’s EIR program is designed to combine forces with unique individuals who bring complementary skills sets and can work closely with the team to see over the horizon.  EIRs may go on to found new companies, or take on roles within established companies in which Battery invests.  Examples of Battery EIRs who have founded companies include Vijay Manwani (Bladelogic, IPO then acquired by BMC Software) and Todd Papaioannou (Continuuity, a current Battery investment).  Read more about Battery’s EIR program here and meet the team of EIRs here.

*Gartner report titled, “Forecast: Devices by Operating System and User Type, Worldwide, 2010-2017, 1Q13 Update.”
About Battery Ventures
Since 1983, Battery has been investing in category-defining ideas and high potential companies and management teams worldwide. The firm views its investment as a true partnership, and works hard to help its companies carve out unique positions, dominate markets and reach business goals. Battery funds companies in technology and related markets at the Seed, Early, Growth and Buyout stage.  For a full list of Battery’s companies go to: http://www.battery.com/our-companies/list/
The firm has offices in Boston, Silicon Valley and Israel, and has raised more than $4.5B since inception.  For more information, visit www.battery.com and follow @BatteryVentures.

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Trilantic Capital Partners and Riverstone Holdings have invested in Trail Ridge Energy Partners II. Financial terms weren’t announced. Trail Ridge is a newly-formed oil and gas exploration and production company focused primarily in the Permian Basin in West Texas.  Stifel Nicolaus advised Trail Ridge in regards to financing.

PRESS RELEASE

Trilantic Capital Partners (“Trilantic”) and Riverstone Holdings (“Riverstone”) today announced an investment in Trail Ridge Energy Partners II (“Trail Ridge” or the “Company”), a newly-formed oil and gas exploration and production company focused primarily in the Permian Basin in West Texas.  Trail Ridge will be led by CEO Ron D. Wade, a petroleum engineer and experienced oil & gas entrepreneur with a track record of shareholder value creation.  Ron has assembled a management team of highly experienced and skilled energy professionals to help the Company pursue its growth strategy.  Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Commenting on the announcement, Ron Wade said, “On behalf of the team at Trail Ridge, we are delighted to be partnering with Trilantic and Riverstone, two leading investors in the energy sector.  I look forward to working together closely to execute on our shared vision for the Company and grow Trail Ridge into a leading player in the Permian.”

On behalf of the investors, Chris Manning, a Partner of Trilantic, added, “We are very excited to partner with Ron, the highly talented management team, and Riverstone to realize the growth potential in Trail Ridge and the exceptional opportunities in the Permian basin.”

Stifel Nicolaus acted as exclusive financial advisor to Trail Ridge with respect to this financing.

# # #

About Trilantic Capital Partners
Trilantic Capital Partners is a private equity firm focused on control and significant minority investments in North America and Europe with primary investment focus in the consumer, energy, financial and business services sectors.  Trilantic currently manages four institutional private equity funds with aggregate capital commitments of $5.3 billion.

The firm and its principals have committed approximately $1.5 billion of equity capital across the energy and natural resources sector, with investments in oil and gas exploration and production, midstream, oilfield services, coal mining and mining equipment, and energy merchants, among others. Trilantic and its principals have managed significant investments in leading companies including Antero Resources, Enduring Resources, Pacific Energy Partners, Peabody Energy, TLP Energy, and Velvet Energy, among others.  For more information, visit www.trilanticpartners.com.

About  Riverstone
Riverstone is an energy and power-focused private equity firm founded in 2000 with approximately $23 billion of equity capital raised across seven investment funds, including the world’s largest renewable energy fund. Riverstone conducts buyout and growth capital investments in the midstream, exploration &  production, oilfield services, power and renewable sectors of the energy industry. With offices in New York, London and Houston, the firm has committed approximately $21.7 billion to 98 investments in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.riverstonellc.com.

Media Contact:

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Honeywell has agreed to buy RAE Systems, a Vector Capital portfolio company, for $340 million. San Jose-based RAE Systems provides gas and radiation detection systems for safety and security threat detection. The deal is expected to close in second quarter. Citigroup advised RAE/Vector. Shearman & Sterling was their attorney.

PRESS RELEASE

RAE Systems, Inc. (“RAE Systems” or “RAE”), a Vector Capital portfolio company, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Honeywell, for $340 million in cash.

RAE Systems, Inc. is a global provider of rapidly-deployable connected, intelligent gas and radiation detection systems that enable real-time safety and security threat detection. RAE will be integrated into Honeywell Analytics, a part of Honeywell Life Safety in Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions, to create a leading global manufacturer of fixed and portable instrumentation and sensing technologies.

In June 2011, Vector Capital partnered with the RAE Systems management team to take the company private. As a private company, RAE was able to focus on building long-term value, and has emerged as a rapidly growing global instrumentation and systems business by expanding product offerings and focusing on solutions to better serve customer needs.

Commenting on the transaction, Robert Chen, CEO of RAE Systems, said: “With the full support of Vector Capital, we have broadened our product offerings, expanded our global presence, and optimized our internal operations. Our range of products, innovation in photo-ionization detection and wireless technology are highly complementary to Honeywell. As part of Honeywell, we will enjoy the scale and global presence to expand the reach of our portfolio, including in high growth markets like Brazil and Russia. This transaction will also be beneficial to our customers and distribution partners, providing them access to an expanded portfolio of gas and sensing technologies and a comprehensive range of additional life-safety solutions. Most importantly, Honeywell shares our commitment to saving lives.”

David Fishman, a Managing Director at Vector Capital, agreed, “We have had a very successful investment in RAE and partnership with the founders and management team.  We are pleased to have selected a buyer for RAE that will continue to invest in the company and its products to further grow the business. RAE Systems is the most recent example in Vector’s long history of partnering with management to realize significant value by growing and transforming technology companies.”

The closing of this transaction is expected to occur in the second quarter of 2013. Until that time, RAE Systems will operate as an independent company and will continue to serve its customers, distribution partners and markets.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc. is acting as financial advisor to RAE Systems and Vector Capital, and Shearman & Sterling LLP is acting as RAE and Vector Capital’s legal advisor.

About Vector Capital
Vector Capital is a leading global private equity firm specializing in spinouts, buyouts and recapitalizations of established technology businesses. Vector identifies and pursues these complex investments in both the private and public markets. Vector actively partners with management teams to devise and execute new financial and business strategies that materially improve the competitive standing of these businesses and enhance their value for employees, customers and shareholders. Among Vector’s notable investments are Aladdin Knowledge Systems, Cambium Networks, Certara, Corel, Gerber Technologies, Register.com, SafeNet, Technicolor, Teletrac, Tidel, WatchGuard Technologies, and WinZip.

About RAE Systems
RAE Systems, Inc. innovates, designs and manufactures gas sensors and radiation detectors. The company offers a full line of fixed and portable gas detection solutions, including handheld and personal chemical, compound and radiation detection instruments. RAE Systems’ real-time safety and detection systems have been deployed by organizations in the oil and gas, fire and hazmat, industrial safety, national security and environmental markets, helping save lives and maintain safety in 120 countries. The company’s industry-leading gas sensors and radiation detection solutions are widely recognized for their performance and reliability. Learn more at raesystems.com.

Contacts
RAE Systems, Inc. (“RAE Systems” or “RAE”), a Vector Capital portfolio company, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Honeywell, for $340 million in cash.

RAE Systems, Inc. is a global provider of rapidly-deployable connected, intelligent gas and radiation detection systems that enable real-time safety and security threat detection. RAE will be integrated into Honeywell Analytics, a part of Honeywell Life Safety in Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions, to create a leading global manufacturer of fixed and portable instrumentation and sensing technologies.

In June 2011, Vector Capital partnered with the RAE Systems management team to take the company private. As a private company, RAE was able to focus on building long-term value, and has emerged as a rapidly growing global instrumentation and systems business by expanding product offerings and focusing on solutions to better serve customer needs.

Commenting on the transaction, Robert Chen, CEO of RAE Systems, said: “With the full support of Vector Capital, we have broadened our product offerings, expanded our global presence, and optimized our internal operations. Our range of products, innovation in photo-ionization detection and wireless technology are highly complementary to Honeywell. As part of Honeywell, we will enjoy the scale and global presence to expand the reach of our portfolio, including in high growth markets like Brazil and Russia. This transaction will also be beneficial to our customers and distribution partners, providing them access to an expanded portfolio of gas and sensing technologies and a comprehensive range of additional life-safety solutions. Most importantly, Honeywell shares our commitment to saving lives.”

David Fishman, a Managing Director at Vector Capital, agreed, “We have had a very successful investment in RAE and partnership with the founders and management team.  We are pleased to have selected a buyer for RAE that will continue to invest in the company and its products to further grow the business. RAE Systems is the most recent example in Vector’s long history of partnering with management to realize significant value by growing and transforming technology companies.”

The closing of this transaction is expected to occur in the second quarter of 2013. Until that time, RAE Systems will operate as an independent company and will continue to serve its customers, distribution partners and markets.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc. is acting as financial advisor to RAE Systems and Vector Capital, and Shearman & Sterling LLP is acting as RAE and Vector Capital’s legal advisor.

About Vector Capital
Vector Capital is a leading global private equity firm specializing in spinouts, buyouts and recapitalizations of established technology businesses. Vector identifies and pursues these complex investments in both the private and public markets. Vector actively partners with management teams to devise and execute new financial and business strategies that materially improve the competitive standing of these businesses and enhance their value for employees, customers and shareholders. Among Vector’s notable investments are Aladdin Knowledge Systems, Cambium Networks, Certara, Corel, Gerber Technologies, Register.com, SafeNet, Technicolor, Teletrac, Tidel, WatchGuard Technologies, and WinZip.

About RAE Systems
RAE Systems, Inc. innovates, designs and manufactures gas sensors and radiation detectors. The company offers a full line of fixed and portable gas detection solutions, including handheld and personal chemical, compound and radiation detection instruments. RAE Systems’ real-time safety and detection systems have been deployed by organizations in the oil and gas, fire and hazmat, industrial safety, national security and environmental markets, helping save lives and maintain safety in 120 countries. The company’s industry-leading gas sensors and radiation detection solutions are widely recognized for their performance and reliability. Learn more at raesystems.com.

Contacts

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GroundMetrics has closed a second round of financing at $1.5 million led by the Tech Coast Angels. GroundMetrics said its “other Southern California syndicates” consisted of the Rady Venture Fund, La Costa Investment Group, Crescent Ridge Partners Ventures, and Rancho Santa Fe Partners. San Diego-based GroundMetrics was founded in 2010 to commercialize a new class of electromagnetic sensing technologies for geophysical applications.

PRESS RELEASE

GroundMetrics, Inc. (GMI) has successfully raised its second round of financing, following a successful proof-of-concept test conducted on an operating oilfield undergoing enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the United States. Despite the fact GMI raised the ceiling by 50% near the end of the round due to greater than expected participation, the round was still oversubscribed at final closing.

Since its previous round of financing closed in December of 2011, GroundMetrics has exceeded goals and built tremendous value based on innovation, intellectual property, and industry collaboration. The investors recognized this increase in value with a 2.5x growth in valuation.

This second round of financing was led by the Tech Coast Angels (TCA), as was the first. The TCA ACE Fund “focuses on companies with early exit potential providing investors with early liquidity” and participated heavily alongside many individual TCA members. Other Southern California syndicates consisted of the Rady Venture Fund, La Costa Investment Group, Crescent Ridge Partners Ventures, and Rancho Santa Fe Partners. This round of financing also attracted international interest with investors coming from Cyprus, Dubai, Great Britain, and India.

Investor and TCA deal lead Jonathan Moss said, “A disruptive technology in the oil and gas space attracted me to GroundMetrics. Combining solid management, excellent IP, and a good business plan, the conclusion after due diligence was a definite ‘buy.’” “GroundMetrics is a great example of what we look for, a fantastic team taking a disruptive technology to market,” said Navid Alipour, Principal of La Costa Investment Group and Managing Partner at Analytics Ventures.

The purpose of this second round of financing is to enable GroundMetrics to complete product engineering and initiate commercialization. GroundMetrics management reports that a number of energy firms are asking the company to bid jobs even though GroundMetrics’ technology is still at the prototype stage and additional engineering is necessary before it can provide commercial surveys.

GroundMetrics CEO George Eiskamp said, “I’m pleased but not surprised by the success of this round because real pull-through demand drove the formation of GroundMetrics. Our technology was not a solution in search of a problem. It was created in response to the world’s largest oil and mining companies paying us to develop and demonstrate prototypes.”

An investment arm of a major oil company wants to participate as part of a larger syndicate, to be led by a credible financial institution that is or has been active in this space. The company’s business plan includes putting a $5M deal together in approximately a year from now via these types of institutions or a boutique investment bank.

Eiskamp continued, “We are in a special place in that we have a unique technology, an outstanding team, good financial backing, and strong interest from the market as well as the financial community. GroundMetrics is in the enviable position to select which investors to partner with in the future in order to maximize success. I’m looking forward to finding the right financial partner to enable us to scale up and quickly saturate the market with outstanding services powered by proprietary technology.”

About GroundMetrics

GroundMetrics (www.GroundMetrics.com) was founded in 2010 to commercialize a new class of electromagnetic sensing technologies for geophysical applications and to provide advanced survey and monitoring services directly to oil, gas, mining, geothermal, and environmental companies. Our sensor systems can provide high quality data while operating in challenging environments such as the desert, frozen tundra, and solid rock in addition to extremely hot and cold temperatures. Our low power transmitter can penetrate reservoirs at depth and enable imaging between and beyond oil wells without deploying instrumentation in the oil well, which decreases costs and increases safety and survey speed. Together these technologies expand existing markets and unlock new applications.

About Tech Coast Angels

The Tech Coast Angels is the largest angel investment organization in the U.S., with over 300 members in 5 regional Networks covering all of Southern California. TCA members have invested over $120 million in more than 200 companies, and these companies have gone on to attract over $1 billion in additional investment capital. More information at www.techcoastangels.com.

About the ACE Fund

The ACE Fund is managed by the Tech Coast Angels. ACE has invested in twenty-one early stage companies in the medical and technology arenas since its inception in 2010. Information is available at www.techcoastangels.com/ace-fund.

About Rady Venture Fund

The Rady Venture Fund is a student-assisted VC investment fund at The Rady School of Management at UC San Diego. Rady is a business school at the confluence of business, science, and technology. Our MBA program encourages students to be visionaries who pursue the extraordinary, incubate new ideas, reinvent existing businesses, and establish new companies. To find out more about the Rady School visit www.rady.ucsd.edu.

About Crescent Ridge Partners Ventures

Crescent Ridge Partners Ventures (CRP Ventures) is a venture fund that provides seed capital to early stage start-ups. CRP Ventures actively invests in entrepreneurs developing disruptive technologies across all industries who have the passion, vision, and experience to build successful and sustainable companies, visit www.crpartnerinc.com.

About La Costa Investment Group

La Costa Investment Group looks to bridge the gap between angel investors and big venture capital funds. They provide capital and support to disruptive, emerging-growth companies looking to challenge the status quo in their respective industries. The firm has headquarters in San Diego, CA. For more information, visit www.lacostainvestmentgroup.com.

About Rancho Santa Fe Partners

Rancho Santa Fe Partners is a strategic advisory firm that supports emerging growth companies through investments and advisory services and provides capital raising, business formation, and strategic planning advisory services. RSFP has advised companies in industry verticals that include Internet commerce, mobile marketing, life sciences/biotech, medical devices, payment solutions, entertainment distribution, aerospace and defense, airport security, and consumer/retail. www.ranchosantafepartners.com

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Tim Kilgallon has joined Polaris Partners‘ West Coast office as CEO-in-Residence. He will explore healthcare services and technology, including consumer-directed digital health opportunities. Kilgallon serves as director of Polaris-backed Athletes’ Performance; he previously led Free & Clear.

PRESS RELEASE

 

Polaris Partners, a venture capital firm supporting successful Technology, Healthcare and Consumer companies, announced today that veteran company CEO Tim Kilgallon has joined the firm’s West Coast office as CEO-in-Residence. Mr. Kilgallon will explore healthcare services and technology, including consumer-directed digital health opportunities.

“Having led several successful companies working in and across healthcare, consumer and technology sectors, Tim has a rare depth of knowledge that will be tremendously valuable as we invest in and help build important companies,” said Partner Brian Chee, who manages Polaris Partners’ West Coast office. “We are delighted to have Tim—the former CEO of Polaris-backed Free & Clear—join our community of repeat entrepreneurs and CEOs.”

“Polaris has a rich history of supporting pioneering companies that offer meaningful impact to individuals and businesses,” said Tim Kilgallon, CEO-in-Residence, Polaris Partners. “I look forward to working with the firm’s partners and portfolio company CEOs as they work to achieve their goals.”

Mr. Kilgallon currently serves as director of Polaris-backed Athletes’ Performance. Previously he led Free & Clear, now owned by Alere, which specializes in web-based learning and phone-based cognitive behavioral coaching to help employers, health plans, and state governments improve the overall health and productivity of their covered populations.

Prior to Free & Clear, Kilgallon was president of Applied Discovery, a leader in providing business services to the legal industry, until its acquisition by LexisNexis. Before Applied Discovery, Tim was CEO of Pointshare Corporation, a provider of online services to the health care industry, until its acquisition by Siemens Medical Solutions.

Prior to Pointshare, Kilgallon served successively as general counsel, chief financial officer, and division president at Medaphis, a leader in providing receivables management services to the healthcare industry.

Before Medaphis, Mr. Kilgallon practiced law at King & Spalding in Atlanta, Ga. Kilgallon holds a Juris Doctor from Washington and Lee University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Philosophy from Boston College.

About Polaris Partners

Polaris Partners invests in and helps build successful Technology, Healthcare and Consumer companies. The firm has $3.5 billion under management and makes investments across all company lifecycle stages. Polaris Partners operates from offices in Boston, San Francisco, and Dublin, Ireland. www.polarispartners.com

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Eventbrite said Monday that it raised $60 million in financing led by Tiger Global Management. T. Rowe Price also took part, a statement says. San Francisco-based Eventbrite, an online ticketing company, has raised $140 million in funding. Other investors include Sequoia Capital, DAG, and Tenaya.

PRESS RELEASE

Eventbrite, the leading self-service ticketing company, today announced it has raised $60 million in financing, led by Tiger Global Management, and including a new investment partner, T. Rowe Price. After this round, the company’s total funding is $140 million.
The additional capital will be used to continue innovating, building and changing the landscape of ticketing. This includes accelerating international growth, mobile, event discovery and innovation, as well as attracting and retaining top talent.
This investment news crowns a year of rapid growth. Last month, Eventbrite announced that it had processed over 100 million tickets across 179 countries, totaling more than $1.5 billion in gross ticket sales. One-third of those ticket sales had occurred within the previous 9 months. The company also announced in March that it had doubled the total number of tickets processed — to 100 million — since February 2012. These milestones confirm the large, underpenetrated and global market for ticketing as well as the universal need for an easy-to-use and scalable platform for event organizers and consumers alike.
“Live experiences are the new luxury good — from large festivals and concerts to conferences and political rallies, people are increasingly looking to share live experiences with people of similar interests and passions. We’re pleased to be able to work with existing as well as new investors who truly understand the opportunities that these kind of occasions represent, as well as the power of the platform we have built to make them happen,” said Kevin Hartz, CEO of Eventbrite. “This funding round is the most efficient way to scale our business around the world, while remaining totally focused on our users.”
“Eventbrite remains a superb investment,” said Lee Fixel, Partner at Tiger Global. “Kevin and his team have built a sustainable business that not only captures real value, but also uncovers new sources of revenue at very low cost. We are pleased to increase our investment in Eventbrite to help the company further expand its tools and platform.”
Henry Ellenbogen, Portfolio Manager at T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., added: “We believe Eventbrite has a strong underlying financial model that will continue to scale, and its valuation will be well supported by traditional financial metrics in the future. When we look at private companies, we look for companies that possess the capabilities and mindset to build a much larger and durable company. We believe that the Eventbrite team has the track record and skills to achieve that status.”
In addition to Tiger Global and accounts managed by T. Rowe Price, other Eventbrite investors include Sequoia Capital, DAG, and Tenaya.
About Eventbrite:
Eventbrite enables people all over the world to plan, promote, and sell out any event, and has sold over 100 million tickets and registrations worldwide. The online event registration service makes it easy for everyone to discover events, and to share the events they are attending with the people they know. In this way, Eventbrite brings communities together by encouraging people to connect through live experiences. Eventbrite’s investors include Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, DAG Ventures, and Tenaya Capital. Learn more at www.eventbrite.com.
About Tiger Global Management, LLC
Tiger Global Management, LLC is an investment firm that deploys capital globally through its private investment and hedge fund partnerships. The firm’s private investment funds have ten-year investment horizons and focus on growth-oriented private companies in the global Internet and technology sectors. Tiger Global’s private investments include SurveyMonkey, Facebook, Linkedin, Square, Yandex, Mail.ru Group, Ctrip, New Oriental, 360buy, Flipkart, Makemytrip, Justdial, Netshoes, Despegar, MercadoLibre, Trendyol, and Eventbrite. The firm’s fundamentally oriented hedge funds invest primarily in public equities with an emphasis on long-term trends in the global technology, telecom, media, and consumer sectors. Tiger Global Management, LLC was founded in 2001 and is based in New York with affiliate offices in Beijing and Singapore.
About T. Rowe Price
Founded in 1937, Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. (troweprice.com) is part of a global investment management organization with $576.8 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2012. The organization provides a broad array of mutual funds, sub-advisory services, and separate account management for individual and institutional investors, retirement plans, and financial intermediaries.

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Gizmox said Monday it closed a $7.5 million round of financing led by Atlas Venture with participation from existing investors Citrix, IVC, Consolidated Investment Group, and others. Gizmox also named Eugene Kuznetsov as ITS CEO.

PRESS RELEASE

Gizmox, a leader in enterprise-class HTML5 for new and existing business applications, has closed a $7.5M round of financing and named a new CEO to accelerate its sales and marketing efforts. The round was led by Atlas Venture with participation from existing investors Citrix, IVC, Consolidated Investment Group, and others. Jeff Fagnan and Christopher Lynch of Atlas Venture will join the Gizmox Board of Directors. The funds will be used to build and staff the company’s headquarters in Boston.

“There is an enormous platform shift of mission-critical business applications from traditional Microsoft client-server to mobile, web and HTML5. While this is well understood and underway for horizontal or consumer applications, the problem for complex business applications is still largely unsolved. Gizmox has a unique solution informed by years of technology development and many successful customer deployments, to facilitate this shift,” said Jeff Fagnan, Partner, Atlas Venture.

Gizmox provides an enterprise-class HTML5 platform for building rich UI business applications. Its two components are VisualWebGUI, a widely adopted web and mobile HTML5 framework for enterprise apps, and InstantCloudMove, which easily migrates from client-server to pure HTML5 and the cloud. Gizmox is the enterprise HTML5 platform for native-quality user interfaces. Differentiated from consumer-grade technology, Gizmox software was built from the start to provide the security, management and rich functionality required for mission-critical business applications.

Chris Lynch, Partner at Atlas Venture, added “Atlas Venture has led this investment in Gizmox to take advantage of the multi-billion dollar opportunity in enabling the transition to mobile HTML5 with the industry’s leading solution. With Eugene at the helm, having previously driven the shift to XML-based applications in the enterprise, we are thrilled to be part of this team.”

More than 50% of all enterprise applications, in most cases the core critical mission ones, are still client server, representing over 55 Billion lines of code.

In conjunction with the financing, Gizmox has named Eugene Kuznetsov as CEO. Kuznetsov was founder and President of DataPower, a SOA appliance company acquired by IBM, an IBM executive, and more recently co-founder and CEO of Abine, the leading online privacy company. Atlas Venture was an investor in DataPower and is the founding investor of Abine.

Michael F. O’Connor, Consolidated Investment Group, said “As demonstrated by its success with major customers, Gizmox’s technology is unique in the rapidly-growing enterprise mobile market. We are excited to participate in this financing to support the next stage of Gizmox’s growth.”

Guy Rosen, Maayan Ventures Chairman, said,”We are happy to complete this significant investment round in Gizmox, which has been led by an experienced VC such as Atlas Venture, with the participation of Gizmox’s existing shareholders. This round marks a great milestone for the company in materializing its vast technological and economic potential.”

About Gizmox
Gizmox is leading the transformation to enterprise-class HTML5 business applications. For more information visit www.gizmox.com.

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Skimlinks has closed a growth financing round led by Greycroft Partners. Existing investors also participated in the round. Financial terms were not announced. London-based Skimlinks calls itself a content monetization platform that rewards publishers for the role their content plays in creating purchase intent.

PRESS RELEASE

Skimlinks, the leader in native monetization, announced today it has completed a growth financing round led by Greycroft Partners. Skimlinks will use the capital to further develop its revolutionary suite of content monetization solutions, and continue its geographic expansion across the U.S., Asia, and Europe.

New York-based Greycroft Partners is the VC behind other ad tech and online publishing startups such as Buddy Media, Collective, Klout, Huffington Post, and many more. Also joining the round are Japan-based angel investors, Hiro Maeda and Ryota Matsuzaki , as well as Forum Foundry, a Texas-based network of blog and forum communities. Existing investors also participated in the round. Ian Sigalow , Co-Founder and Partner at Greycroft Partners, will join the Skimlinks Board of Directors as an Observer.
“Hyperlinks are the core building block of the Internet and they exist on virtually every web page,” said Sigalow. “Skimlinks pioneered the concept of optimizing hyperlinks to create more revenue for publishers, and today the company is a leading Internet utility. This year, Skimlinks will be responsible for over $500 million of e-commerce sales globally. They are the most effective way for publishers to link content to commerce.”
Skimlinks generates revenues of seven-figures every month from its network of 140,000 active publishers, which has been growing 100-200% year-over-year for four consecutive years. Skimlinks processes 300 million clicks per month, resulting in a retailer transaction every four seconds. The company is planning to build upon the rich data it collects to help publishers earn even more revenues from the purchase intent generated by their content.
“Publishers and merchants alike are excited by the potential of native monetization, but it can be challenging to scale such solutions. Skimlinks is a scalable monetization solution that is inherently native, as it monetizes product links and product references seamlessly, with industry-leading accuracy and yield optimization,” said Skimlinks CEO and Co-founder, Alicia Navarro . “Our goal is to help every type of publisher, on every device, in every geography to monetize their commerce-related content without affecting the user experience. By bringing on Greycroft, we can tap their vast industry knowledge and contacts to further cement our position as the leaders in content monetization.”
Headquartered in London, Skimlinks has 55 employees with additional offices in San Francisco and New York. The company will expand operations to Asia this year.
Skimlinks was advised by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.
About Skimlinks: Founded in 2007, Skimlinks is the leading content monetization platform that rewards publishers for the role their content plays in creating purchase intent. Skimlinks processes 300 million clicks a month on over 140,000 sites around the web, including Conde Nast , Gawker, AOL Europe, WordPress, Hearst Digital, Haymarket Consumer Media, Telegraph Media Group, and many more. Skimlinks is a team of 55 with offices in London, San Francisco, and New York. Sign up to be a publisher here.
About Greycroft Partners: Greycroft Partners is a leading early stage venture capital firm focused on investments in digital media. With offices in the two media capitals of the world – New York and Los Angeles – Greycroft is uniquely positioned to serve entrepreneurs who have chosen us as their partners. Greycroft leverages an extensive network of media and technology industry connections to help entrepreneurs gain visibility, build strategic relationships, successfully bring their products to market, and build successful businesses. Greycroft manages $400MM and has made over 75 investments in leading companies including Babble, Buddy Media, Collective, Huffington Post, Klout, M5 Networks, Maker Studios, Paid Content, Pulse, and Trunk Club. For more information please visit the Greycroft Partners website at www.greycroft.com.

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MarketShare said Monday it received a $38 million investment led by FTV Capital. Elevation Partners and other investors also joined in the deal. Los Angeles-based MarketShares is an analytics company.

PRESS RELEASE

MarketShare, the industry’s leading cross-media predictive analytics firm, today announced an investment led by growth equity firm FTV Capital and joined by existing investor Elevation Partners and other investors. The financing will be used to further enhance the company’s state-of-the-art technology platform as well as to accelerate growth in markets worldwide.
Privately held MarketShare helps CMOs of Global 1000 companies, including many of the world’s most recognizable brands, tangibly improve marketing performance. The company has an unparalleled suite of software tools and solutions deploying its AOA Analytics™ (Attribution > Optimization > Allocation), unique in its ability to effectively evaluate all forms of marketing and sales investments, including paid media (i.e., TV, print, display, search, video, and social media, trade funds), owned media (i.e., website traffic), and earned media (i.e., word-of- mouth, social media, and PR), as described in a recent feature article in Harvard Business Review (March, 2013).
MarketShare’s co-CEOs, Wes Nichols and Jon Vein , said, “Our new partners will bring a wealth of experience and wisdom to MarketShare so we, in turn, can bring richer insights and better decision-making to our clients and to the marketing community at large.” MarketShare’s COO Ivan Markman concluded, “We are confident our new partners will bring critical strategic value to fuel our continued investments in technological innovation, global expansion and acquisitions.”
“As part of a successful, long-term theme, FTV continues to look for innovative, high growth companies at the cutting edge of analytics and digital marketing,” stated Eric Byunn , FTV Capital partner and new MarketShare board member. “We are highly enthusiastic about the advanced analytics capabilities MarketShare’s platform delivers. Enterprises in the FTV Global Partner Network, including some of the largest US financial institutions, have validated that MarketShare has built an essential navigation solution for CMOs.”
Ted Meisel , Senior Advisor at Elevation Partners, former CEO of Overture Services and President of Search Marketing at Yahoo! said, “We invested in MarketShare five years ago with the goal of combining the world’s most sophisticated marketing models, cloud-based technology, and easier-to-use product interfaces.” Adam Hopkins , Managing Director at Elevation Partners, added, “We increased our investment because we think the team has nailed it, enabling marketing to be accountable for business results and manifesting itself in the form of rapid growth at the company.”
Terence Kawaja and Brian Andersen of LUMA Partners served as advisors on the transaction.
About MarketShare
MarketShare is an analytics company that enables businesses to grow efficiently by uncovering which actions really drive results. Founded in 2005, MarketShare has a track record of ground-breaking innovations in data, modeling and software and has worked with over half of the Fortune 50. MarketShare’s platform provides a combination of technology, data, modeling and business intelligence solutions that lead to improved decision-making, next- generation attribution and optimization for businesses. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in San Francisco, New York, London, Tokyo and Bangalore. For more information, please go to: http://www.marketshare.com; follow us on twitter @MarketShareCo
About FTV Capital
FTV Capital is a growth equity firm with over $1 billion under management that invests in high-growth companies offering a range of innovative solutions in four sectors: business services, financial services, payments/transaction processing, and technology. FTV’s experienced team leverages its domain expertise and proven track record in each of these sectors to help motivated management teams accelerate growth. FTV also provides companies with access to its Global Partner Network, a group of the world’s leading enterprises and executives who have helped FTV portfolio companies for more than a decade. Founded in 1998, FTV Capital has invested in 79 portfolio companies across four funds, and has offices in San Francisco and New York. For more information, visit www.ftvcapital.com.
About Elevation Partners
Elevation Partners is a $1.9 billion private equity firm that makes large-scale investments in market-leading media, entertainment, and consumer-related businesses where it can partner with management to enhance growth and profitability through a combination of strategic capital and operational insight. Its investment team has a unique combination of media, entertainment, and technology expertise and relationships; investing experience; and operating knowledge. For more information, please visit http://www.elevation.com.

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Atlas Pipeline Partners has agreed to buy TEAK Midstream for $1 billion. The transaction is expected to close in May. TEAK, which is backed by Natural Gas Partners, is a Dallas-based midstream natural gas company. Evercore Partners acted as TEAK’s financial adviser.

PRESS RELEASE

TEAK Midstream, L.L.C., a Natural Gas Partners-sponsored company, announced the company has signed a definitive agreement with a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlas Pipeline Partners, L.P. whereby Atlas will acquire 100 percent of TEAK’s equity interests for $1 billion in cash. The transaction is expected to close in May 2013 subject to certain regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

TEAK’s assets include an interest in 265 miles of primarily 20-to-24-inch diameter natural gas gathering and residue delivery pipelines and all of the adjoining Silver Oak 200 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) cryogenic gas processing plant in the heart of the liquids-rich Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas play in South Texas. In addition, Silver Oak II, a second 200 MMcf/d cryogenic gas processing plant, is expected to be delivered for installation in May 2013 and operational during the first quarter of 2014.

“We are extremely gratified that TEAK is being acquired by such a well-respected midstream company as Atlas. Their go-forward strategy, vision for growth and business values complement what we have built in the Eagle Ford Shale since we established the company in 2009,” said A. Chris Aulds, TEAK Co-Chief Executive. “We want to assure our existing and potential customers that TEAK is partnering with Atlas to offer the same top-quality services and solutions we always have. We are working together to ensure all customers’ needs are met. I know that Atlas is as committed as we are to making customers their first priority.”

“Our objective was to build a significant midstream company operated primarily in the prolific Eagle Ford Shale play and surrounding area. We thank our loyal and highly skilled employees for helping us accomplish this goal. The TEAK team has always done an outstanding job of assisting our customers with their growing midstream needs by providing value-added solutions, and they will continue to do so. Atlas has displayed the same entrepreneurial spirit and company culture we enjoy, so we are extremely pleased that TEAK employees will become an important addition to and integral part of the Atlas team,” said TEAK Co-Chief Executive Jim Wales.

TEAK’s assets also include the 275-mile low-pressure Texana gathering system in South and East Texas, which the company acquired in July 2010.

Evercore Partners acted as TEAK’s financial adviser and Thompson & Knight LLP acted as TEAK’s legal adviser for the transaction.

About TEAK Midstream

TEAK Midstream, L.L.C., a Dallas-based midstream natural gas company, provides gathering, transmission, treating, processing, compression and marketing services in key gas producing areas of the United States. TEAK was founded in October 2009 and currently has operations throughout South and East Texas. TEAK Midstream is a portfolio company of Natural Gas Partners. For more information on TEAK Midstream, visit www.teakmidstream.com.

About Natural Gas Partners

Founded in 1988, Natural Gas Partners (NGP) is a family of private equity investment funds organized to make investments in the energy and natural resources sectors. NGP is part of the investment platform of NGP Energy Capital Management, a premier investment franchise in the natural resources industry, which together with its affiliates has managed $13 billion in cumulative committed capital since inception. www.naturalgaspartners.com

About Atlas Pipeline Partners, L.P.

Atlas Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE: APL) is active in the gathering and processing segments of the midstream natural gas industry. In Oklahoma, southern Kansas, northern and western Texas, and Tennessee, APL owns and operates 13 active gas processing plants, 18 gas treating facilities, as well as approximately 10,600 miles of active intrastate gas gathering pipeline. APL also has a 20 percent interest in West Texas LPG Pipeline Limited Partnership, which is operated by Chevron Corporation. For more information, visit the Partnership’s website at www.atlaspipeline.com or contact [email protected].

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Blackstone said Monday it had agreed to buy Strategic Partners, Credit Suisse’s dedicated secondary private equity business. Financial terms weren’t announced. The sale is part of Credit Suisse’s strategic divestment plans that it announced in July. Strategic Partners has $9 billion in assets under management.

PRESS RELEASE

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) today announced an agreement with Credit Suisse to acquire Strategic Partners, Credit Suisse’s dedicated secondary private equity business with $9 billion in assets under management. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close by the end of the third quarter 2013. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Tony James, President and Chief Operating Officer of Blackstone, said, “We are thrilled that the people of Strategic Partners are joining Blackstone. Many of us here at Blackstone were once colleagues of the Strategic Partners team, and this gives us high confidence that it will be a seamless cultural fit here at the firm. Strategic Partners complements Blackstone’s existing businesses, and we expect to be able to grow its franchise and help it enter new product areas.”

Alastair Cairns, Co-Head of Credit Suisse’s Legacy Asset Management business, added, “Strategic Partners is a leader in the secondary private equity space. We are pleased to have reached this agreement and are confident that with Blackstone, Strategic Partners will continue to build on its excellent track record.”

The sale is part of Credit Suisse’s strategic divestment plans that were announced on July 18, 2012.

Strategic Partners seeks capital appreciation through the purchase of secondary interests in high quality private equity funds from investors seeking liquidity on a fair, timely and confidential basis. From its start in 2000, it has raised over $11 billion of capital commitments, completed over 700 transactions, and acquired over 1,400 underlying limited partnership interests. Its performance has been top quartile among its peers. Strategic Partners’ team of twenty-six dedicated secondary investment professionals is headed by Stephen Can and Verdun Perry.

About Blackstone

Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment and advisory firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, the companies we advise and the broader global economy. We do this through the commitment of our extraordinary people and flexible capital. Our alternative asset management businesses include the management of private equity funds, real estate funds, hedge fund solutions, credit-focused funds and closed-end funds. Blackstone also provides various financial advisory services, including financial and strategic advisory, restructuring and reorganization advisory and fund placement services. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow us on Twitter @Blackstone.

Credit Suisse AG

Credit Suisse AG is one of the world’s leading financial services providers and is part of the Credit Suisse group of companies (referred to here as ‘Credit Suisse’). As an integrated bank, Credit Suisse is able to offer clients its expertise in the areas of private banking, investment banking and asset management from a single source. Credit Suisse provides specialist advisory services, comprehensive solutions and innovative products to companies, institutional clients and high net worth private clients worldwide, and also to retail clients in Switzerland. Credit Suisse is headquartered in Zurich and operates in over 50 countries worldwide. The group employs approximately 47,400 people. The registered shares (CSGN) of Credit Suisse’s parent company, Credit Suisse Group AG, are listed in Switzerland and, in the form of American Depositary Shares (CS), in New York. Further information about Credit Suisse can be found at www.credit-suisse.com.

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Sun Capital Partners said Monday it completed its buy of BTX Group from EQT. Financial terms weren’t announced. Brande, Denmark -based BTX is a Scandinavian wholesaler of branded apparel that targets the mature female demographic.

PRESS RELEASE

We are pleased to announce that an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc. has completed the acquisition of the BTX Group from EQT.

BTX Group, headquartered in Brande, Denmark, is a leading Scandinavian wholesaler of branded apparel selling to approximately 4,000 retail partners. The Company is positioned in the value-for-money segment targeting the mature female demographic. BTX brands include Brandtex, Jensen Women, Signature, Imitz and Ciso. These brands have built on the long-lasting heritage of the original Brandtex brand, which was established in 1935.

Sun Capital Partners, Inc. has significant retail and branded retail experience and counts among its affiliated portfolio companies a number of other leading businesses in similar niches and geographies including: Bonmarché, one of the U.K.’s largest women’s only value retailers; Jacques Vert Group Ltd., a U.K. womenswear clothing retailer, and Scotch & Soda, a designer, marketer, wholesaler and retailer of contemporary casual apparel.

About Sun Capital: Sun Capital Partners is a leading private investment firm focused on leveraged buyouts, equity, debt and other investments in market-leading companies that can benefit from its in-house operating professionals and experience. Sun Capital affiliates have invested in more than 315 companies worldwide since its inception in 1995, with combined sales in excess of $45 billion. Sun Capital has offices in Boca Raton, Los Angeles and New York, and affiliates in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Luxembourg, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

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