Category: News

With BMC being taken private by a pair of private equity firms in a deal worth $6.9 billion or $46.25 per share in cash, one has to wonder what legacy IT vendor will be next to take this route.

Dell blazed the trail in February when it announced plans to take itself off the public market. That move, valued at $24.5 billion, was orchestrated by founder and CEO Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners. Critics said the price undervalued the company which remains a power in PCs and servers, and is navigating a shift into cloud computing. In the mobile space, Alltel was ahead of the trend, taking itself private in 2007, and was  scooped up by Verizon two years later for $5.9 billion.

Citing unnamed sources, Reuters first reported Sunday that a BMC take-out by an investment group comprising Bain Capital and Golden Gate Partners was under discussion. BMC is not a household name for consumers but in business it’s a pretty big deal for enterprise IT and database admins.

BMC brands include Remedy service management software; BladeLogic automated configuration management; and Track-IT  help desk and asset management. These are the kinds of non-glam tools that keep a data center running.  Dell bought Quest Software, probably BMC’s most direct competitor, in deal that was completed in September 2012.

Who’s next?

Industry watchers said whatever happens with this proposed BMC deal, be prepared for more action. “There’s a seismic shift afoot with enterprise software vendors as they  move from traditional pricing and distribution models to OpEx, SaaS and cloud models. This means a financial disruption for many of them, not just BMC Software,” said Dana Gardner, principal analyst with Inter-Arbor Solutions and GigaOM PRO analyst.

To be sure, Dell and BMC are not alone: HP, IBM, Oracle and Microsoft are face withering heat from shareholders who expect the old profitability models to hold up even as the world of computing changes dramatically.  As an example, IBM last month stunned the market by missing on profit and revenue expectations for its first quarter. As Forbes reported:

“Revenues from cloud computing and analytics initiative continued to see growth in Q1. However, its core software business had a lackluster performance in the quarter and revenues were $5.6 billion, flat year-over-year (y-o-y) and up 1% in constant currency.”

Cloud upsets the apple cart

Cloud is the disrupting force here. As more companies evaluate the economics of putting workloads on massive webscale infrastructure —  outside their walls — they will buy far fewer servers and routers themselves. And as more corporate applications are delivered via software-as-a-service models there are fewer huge upfront software licensing deals. Instead payments are spread out across a year or three. There is also pressure on the massive enterprise service and maintenance fees favored by companies like Oracle.

“There’s a bet to be made,” Gardner said. “Does Wall Street understand such transitions, or does it throw the baby out with the bath water?”

It’s unlikely that giants like Oracle, IBM, Microsoft would go private, but never say never to a flock of smaller companies like BMC that may be sick of dealing with Wall Street pressures. For those smaller enterprise software (and hardware) companies, it may make sense to revert to private control and then re-emerge on the public markets when the coast is clear, or at least less rocky.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• A near-term outlook for big data
• Infrastructure Q2: Big data and PaaS gain more momentum
• A field guide to cloud computing: current trends, future opportunities

Intel’s antivirus software company, McAfee, is acquiring Stonesoft. The company announced that it has executed a definitive agreement to initiate a conditional tender offer to do so.

Stonewall, if you’re unfamiliar, creates firewall products.

The deal is worth $389 million.

McAfee President Michael DeCesare said, “With the pending addition of Stonesoft’s products and services, McAfee is making a significant investment in next-generation firewall technology. These solutions anticipate emerging customer needs in a continually evolving threat landscape. Stonesoft is a leading innovator in this important market segment. We plan to integrate Stonesoft’s offerings with other McAfee products to realize the power of McAfee’s Security Connected strategy. Stonesoft products will benefit from the collective expertise of more than 7,200 McAfee employees. Leveraging McAfee’s cloud-based Global Threat Intelligence service will provide our combined customers with unparalleled security.”

Stonesoft CEO Ilkka Hiidenheimo added, “The combination of the two companies allows Stonesoft to benefit from McAfee’s global presence and sales organization of over 2,200 employees, best-in-class threat research and technology synergies. Combined, we believe we can offer our customers a world-class product portfolio with world-class support – all backed by Intel.”

The rationale for the acquisition, McAfee says, is based on network security being a vital component of a comprehensive security solution, and next-generation firewalls are one of the fastest growing segments of this. Stonesoft is considered a leader in the space, and McAfee expects to grow its network security business with a more complete offering.

Prepublication Now Available

America’s national parks provide a wealth of experiences to millions of people every year. What visitors see—landscapes, wildlife, cultural activities—often lingers in memory for life. And what they hear adds a dimension that sight alone cannot provide. Natural sounds can dramatically enhance visitors’ experience of many aspects of park environments. In some settings, such as the expanses of Yellowstone National Park, they can even be the best way to enjoy wildlife, because animals can be heard at much greater distances than they can be seen. Sounds can also be a natural complement to natural scenes, whether the rush of water over a rocky streambed or a ranger’s explanation of a park’s history. In other settings, such as the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, sounds are the main reason for visiting a park.

The acoustical environment is also important to the well-being of the parks themselves. Many species of wildlife depend on their hearing to find prey or avoid predators. If they cannot hear, their survival is jeopardized—and the parks where they live may in turn lose part of their natural heritage. For all these reasons it is important to be aware of noise (defined as unwanted sound, and in this case usually generated by humans or machinery), which can degrade the acoustical environment, or soundscape, of parks. Just as smog smudges the visual horizon, noise obscures the listening horizon for both visitors and wildlife. This is especially true in places, such as remote wilderness areas, where extremely low sound levels are common. The National Park Service (NPS) has determined that park facilities, operations, and maintenance activities produce a substantial portion of noise in national parks and thus recognizes the need to provide park managers with guidance for protecting the natural soundscape from such noise. Therefore, the focus of the workshop was to define what park managers can do to control noise from facilities, operations, and maintenance, and not on issues such as the effects of noise on wildlife, noise metrics, and related topics.

To aid in this effort, NPS joined with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and with the US Department of Transportation’s John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center to hold a workshop to examine the challenges and opportunities facing the nation’s array of parks. Entitled “Protecting National Park Soundscapes: Best Available Technologies and Practices for Reducing Park- Generated Noise,” the workshop took place October 3-4, 2012, at NPS’s Natural Resource Program Center in Fort Collins, Colorado. Protecting National Park Soundscapes is a summary of the workshop.

[Read the full report]

Topics: Engineering and Technology | Environment and Environmental Studies

Take a bike ride down the 27-kilometer Large Hadron Collider — thanks to a lucky Google Glass winner, whose ride-along video premiered Friday during TEDxCERN.

Andrew Vanden Heuvel always dreamed of being an astronaut; he ended up becoming a pioneering online physics teacher. So when he was selected to be one of the first to try out Google Glass, he knew exactly what he wanted to do: travel to Switzerland, go to CERN (aka the European Laboratory for Particle Physics), check out the Large Hadron Collider and beam the live footage back to a classroom.

More: Sergey Brin talked about the impetus for creating Google Glass, the tech giant’s new augmented-reality headset, at TED2013.

At TED2008, Brian Cox explained what the LHC is looking for: the elusive Higgs boson.

BMC Software said Monday it agreed to be acquired by a private investor group led by Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital for about $6.9 billion. The group also includes GIC Special Investments Pte Ltd and Insight Venture Partners. Terms of the deal call for the investor group to pay $46.25 a share for all outstanding BMC common stock. Morgan Stanley & Co. and BofA Merrill Lynch are advising BMC. Qatalyst Partners, Credit Suisse, RBC Capital Markets and Barclays are serving as financial advisors to the Investor Group.

PRESS RELEASE

BMC Software (NASDAQ: BMC) (“the Company”) has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by a private investor group led by Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital together with GIC Special Investments Pte Ltd (“GIC”) and Insight Venture Partners (collectively, the “Investor Group”).
Under the terms of the agreement, affiliates of the Investor Group will acquire all outstanding BMC common stock for $46.25 per share in cash, or approximately $6.9 billion, representing an attractive premium to the Company’s unaffected stock price. The agreement was approved by unanimous vote of those directors present.
“After a thorough review of strategic alternatives, the BMC board of directors is pleased to reach this agreement, which provides shareholders with immediate and substantial cash value, as well as a premium to our unaffected share price,” said Bob Beauchamp, chairman and chief executive officer at BMC. “BMC believes the opportunity to become a private company will provide additional flexibility and position us to invest more strategically to drive powerful innovation and deliver cutting edge customer solutions. We look forward to working closely with all parties to complete this transaction and enter into our next chapter of growth and industry leadership.”
Elliott Management, which owns 9.6 percent of the BMC common stock, has agreed to vote its shares in favor of the transaction. Jesse Cohn, portfolio manager, said: “Elliott applauds the BMC Software board and executive leadership for delivering this value-maximizing outcome for stockholders, which both contains a go-shop provision and reflects what we believe is a substantial premium to BMC’s unaffected stock price. Credit also goes to Bain Capital, Golden Gate Capital, GIC and Insight Venture Partners for recognizing this exciting investment opportunity. This deal represents a tremendous outcome for BMC’s employees, customers and stockholders.”
“BMC is the only enterprise software vendor that can go from mainframe to mobile, with solutions that help IT drive real business innovation and optimize operations management and employee productivity,” said Ian Loring, managing director at Bain Capital. “We and the rest of the Investor Group look forward to working with the management team and employees of BMC to execute additional growth strategies designed to expand the Company’s capabilities and enhance its relationships with customers and partners around the world.”
“BMC is an innovative leader in IT operations management and has strong leadership positions in growing segments such as cloud management, service management and workload automation,” said Prescott Ashe, managing director of Golden Gate Capital. “We are excited to work with the management team and employees to accelerate BMC’s growth and strengthen its position as the best-in-class provider of IT management software for heterogeneous environments.”There is no financing condition associated with the proposed acquisition. Credit Suisse, RBC Capital Markets and Barclays have agreed to provide debt financing in connection with the transaction.
The transaction, which is expected to close later this year, is subject to approval from BMC shareholders, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
Under the terms of the agreement, for a period of 30 calendar days, BMC may solicit alternative proposals from third parties. BMC does not anticipate that it will disclose any developments with regard to this process unless and until the BMC board of directors makes a decision with respect to a potential superior proposal. There are no guarantees that this process will result in a superior proposal.
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and BofA Merrill Lynch are serving as financial advisors, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is serving as legal counsel to BMC. Qatalyst Partners, Credit Suisse, RBC Capital Markets and Barclays are serving as financial advisors to the Investor Group. Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal counsel and PwC LLP is serving as accounting advisor to the Investor Group. Sidley Austin LLP is serving as legal advisor to GIC. Willkie Farr & Gallager LLP is the legal advisor for Insight Venture Partners.
BMC will release results for Q4FY13 on or before May 7, 2013.    Due to the pending transaction, BMC will not host an investor call.
Business Runs on IT. IT Runs on BMC Software. More than 20,000 IT organizations – from the Global 100 to the smallest businesses – in over 120 countries rely on BMC Software (NASDAQ: BMC) to manage their business services and applications across distributed, mainframe, virtual and cloud environments. With the industry’s broadest choice of leading IT management solutions, including the award-winning Cloud Management and MyIT offerings, BMC helps customers cut costs, reduce risk and achieve business objectives. For the four fiscal quarters ended March 31, 2013, BMC revenue was $2.2 billion. www.bmc.com
About Bain Capital, LLC Bain Capital, LLC is a global private investment firm that manages several pools of capital including private equity, venture capital, public equity, credit products and absolute return with approximately $70 billion in assets under management. Bain Capital has a team of over 300 professionals dedicated to investing and to supporting its portfolio companies. Since its inception in 1984, Bain Capital has made private equity, growth, and venture capital investments in over 450 companies around the world, including such leading technology and software companies as SunGard Data Systems, NXP, LinkedIn, SolarWinds, SurveyMonkey, SevOne, DynaTrace Software, WorldPay, Skillsoft, MYOB, Applied Systems, Archer Technologies and Cerved Group SpA. The firm has offices in Boston, New York, Chicago, Palo Alto, London, Munich, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Mumbai. www.baincapital.com
About Golden Gate Capital Golden Gate Capital is a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm with more than $12 billion of capital under management. Golden Gate Capital partners with world-class management teams to invest in change-intensive, growth businesses where there is a demonstrable opportunity to significantly enhance a company’s value. The principals of Golden Gate Capital have a long and successful history of investing with management partners across a wide range of industries and transaction types, including going-privates, corporate
divestitures, and recapitalizations, as well as debt and public equity investments. Golden Gate Capital is one of the most active investors in the software and IT sectors. Other notable software investments sponsored by Golden Gate Capital include Infor, Lawson, Attachmate, Novell, Ex Libris, Micro Focus and Aspect. www.goldengatecap.com
About GIC The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation Private Limited (GIC) is a sovereign wealth fund established in 1981 to manage Singapore’s foreign reserves. GIC’s mission is to preserve and enhance the international purchasing power of the reserves, with the aim to achieve good long-term returns above global inflation over the investment time horizon of 20 years. With a network of nine offices in key financial capitals around the world, GIC invests internationally in equities, fixed income, money-market instruments, real estate and special investments. GIC Special Investments Pte Ltd, the private equity arm of GIC, is one of the world’s largest private equity investors and manages a multi-billion dollar portfolio of fund investments and direct investments in companies. www.gic.com.sg/
About Insight Venture Partners Insight Venture Partners is a leading venture capital and private equity firm investing in eCommerce, Internet, on-premise and SaaS-based software and data-services companies. Founded in 1995, Insight has raised more than $6 billion and made more than 190 investments. Our mission is to find, fund and work successfully with visionary executives who are driving change in their industries. www.insightpartners.com
###
BMC, BMC Software, and the BMC Software logo are the exclusive properties of BMC Software Inc., are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or pending registration in other countries. All other BMC trademarks, service marks, and logos may be registered or pending registration in the U.S. or in other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2012 BMC Software
Additional Information and Where to Find It In connection with the proposed transaction, the Company will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and furnish to the Company’s stockholders a proxy statement. BEFORE MAKING ANY VOTING DECISION, THE COMPANY’S STOCKHOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT IN ITS ENTIRETY WHEN IT BECOMES AVAILABLE AND ANY OTHER DOCUMENTS TO BE FILED WITH THE SEC IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROPOSED MERGER OR INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE IN THE PROXY STATEMENT BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION AND THE PARTIES TO THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors and security holders may obtain a free copy of documents filed by BMC Software, Inc. with the SEC at the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. In addition, investors and security holders may obtain a free copy of BMC Software, Inc.’s filings with the SEC from BMC Software, Inc.’s website at http://investors.bmc.com/sec.cfm or by directing a request to: BMC Software, Inc., 2101 CityWest Blvd., Houston, Texas 77042-2827, Attn: Investor Relations, (713) 918-1805.

The post Bain, Golden Gate-Led Group to Buy BMC Software for $6.9 Bln appeared first on peHUB.

The Wii U’s controller has a touch screen that seems like it was made for the simple touch-controlled games that populate smartphones. The only problem is getting those games on the system. Nintendo may be working to address that issue if recent rumors are to be believed.

Anonymous sources speaking to The Japan Times say that Nintendo is working on conversion software that would help smartphone developers easily port their titles to the Wii U. The push is part of a larger focus on getting more software on the system to help boost console sales.

If true, the push for smartphone titles falls into line with Nintendo’s recent initiative to get indies on its platform. It can’t readily rely on traditional game publishers to provide a steady stream of games for the system so it has to rely on these indies to bring a number of unique experiences to the console.

Such a move begs the question – will people buy a Wii U to play games that they can already play on a smartphone or tablet? Nintendo apparently thinks they will. It’s a sharp change of course for the company as it has previously derided smartphone games as devaluing games.

Software certainly sells hardware, but will smartphone games do the trick? Maybe not, but Nintendo also has a strong first-party lineup of software coming out later this year. There’s even talk of a new 3D Mario game coming out in October. Such a release, combined with Pikmin 3, Wind Waker HD and others, could potentially see Nintendo selling more than its fair share of units this holiday season.

Of course, Nintendo will have to watch out for the likes of Sony, and possibly even Microsoft, as both will be appealing to indies as well. Sony has been especially aggressive in this area, and even chose to highlight an indie game at its PS4 reveal event. Nintendo may have to start getting that aggressive about indie titles if it wants to bring the best the indie development scene has to offer to the Wii U.

[h/t: ZDNet]

We had a chance to check out Samsung’s Graduation Pool Party commercial this past weekend, and now we have two more spots. It’s all about the features for Samsung, and these two spots are no exception. Both of these spots are offshoots from the pool party spot. The first one takes place at the pool party and is about Easy Mode, which I think might be the most underrated feature. It allows people who aren’t tech savvy to feel very comfortable with the Galaxy S 4. The second spot deals with Eraser Shot, and takes place during the graduation ceremony, before the pool party. Hit the break for the videos and be sure to check out our Galaxy S 4 guides for tips and tricks as well as our full review.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Come comment on this article: Samsung releases two more graduation-themed commercials showing off Easy Mode and Eraser Shot

Planned upgrades for the Miami Dolphins‘ Sun Life stadium have been cancelled following the failure of a bill meant to provide public funds for the venue. According to a report from Miami’s CBS 4, the Florida house adjourned without taking up the bill, which would have raised the state’s hotel bed tax to fund the stadium repairs.

Dolphins CEO Mike Dee appeared on the news station on Sunday, stating that the Dolphins organization and team owner Stephen Ross in particular were not prepared to fund the proposed $350 million in renovations themselves.

“From the get-go we had looked at this as a comprehensive modernization, not a band-aid, not a quick fix,” said Dee. “I wouldn’t want to prognosticate what the future holds, but it’s clearly bleak.”

Dee went on to blame Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford for failing to bring the bill up for a vote. He characterized Sun Life stadium’s state as “desperate” and intimated that, though Ross isn’t interested in moving the Dolphins, a future sale could mean Miami losing its NFL team.

Comedian Zach Galifianakis hosted the most recent episode of Saturday Night Live, and a number of the show’s segments are generating a fair amount of buzz on Monday morning.

We already looked at the Google Glass sketch from Weekend Update, in which Fred Armisen played tech blogger Randall Meeks, trying to convince Seth Meyers that the device is cool, and makes life easier. Spoiler alert: it did neither (though the jury’s still out in real life).

Another one of the most-talked about sketches from the episode features Galifianakis on a game show called “Game of Game of Thrones”.

It seems that not a day goes by that the Internet doesn’t produce some type of Game of Thrones parody, so it’s no surprise to see SNL take on the show. Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage actually appeared on Weekend Update a few weeks back.

API Heat Transfer, a portfolio company of Wellspring Capital Management, has completed a recapitalization. The deal includes a new $300 million first-lien credit facility. The loan will enable API to pay a dividend to its investors, Wellspring says.  Buffalo, N.Y.-based API is a supplier for the design and manufacture of industrial heat exchangers.

PRESS RELEASE

Wellspring Capital Management LLC (“Wellspring”) announced today that its portfolio company API Heat Transfer (“API” or the “Company”) has completed a recapitalization, including a new $300 million first-lien credit facility.  The new credit facility will provide API with additional financial flexibility to invest in its business and enable the Company to pay its investors a dividend.

William F. Dawson, Jr., a Managing Partner of Wellspring, said, “API’s ability to secure this new credit facility reflects the Company’s strong performance under Wellspring’s ownership.  The Company’s enhanced capital structure enables it to return capital to investors while pursuing a range of attractive growth opportunities.”

John E. Morningstar, a Partner of Wellspring, added, “The combination of API Heat Transfer and ThermaSys created a premier supplier of heat exchangers that is well positioned to provide its customers with the industry’s best products and service.  We are excited to continue our operational and financial support of API as the management team executes its business strategy.”

UBS Securities LLC, RBC Capital Markets and GE Capital Markets acted as Joint Lead Arrangers and Joint Bookrunners for the credit facility.  UBS Securities LLC acted as Syndication Agent, RBC Capital Markets acted as Documentation Agent and General Electric Capital Corporation acted as Administrative Agent.

About Wellspring Capital Management
Wellspring Capital Management, founded in 1995, is a leading middle-market private equity firm that manages more than $3 billion of private equity capital. The firm’s objective is to bring partnership, experience and value creation to each investment. By teaming up with strong management, Wellspring is able to unlock underlying value and pursue new growth opportunities through strategic initiatives, operating improvements and add-on acquisitions. The firm functions as a strategic rather than tactical partner, providing management teams with top-line support, M&A experience and financial expertise, and access to resources. For additional information, please visit www.wellspringcapital.com.

About API Heat Transfer
API Heat Transfer is one of the world’s premier suppliers for the design and manufacture of industrial heat exchangers.  API is comprised of six business units that together provide premium brands customers know and trust while providing industry-leading quality and reliability as well as the broadest heat transfer product offering in the market.  The company is strategically positioned to serve nearly every end market with responsive, local, personalized service.  Its range of heat transfer solutions includes innovative designs, performance engineering, and the industry’s best product development and testing capabilities.  For more information, please visit www.apiheattransfer.com.

The post Wellspring Recaps API appeared first on peHUB.

This is one of those rare cars that has a reserved spot in my fantasy garage. It’s a 1970 Buick Skylark GS and to me, it’s the perfect example of a gentleman’s muscle car. From the bucket seats, to the beautiful center console with eight-track deck, air conditioning and fully-optioned factory dash, this is a car that I’d probably turn into a daily driver. The one you are viewing here is currently for sale on eBay Motors and looks to be in fantastic condition with 65,000 miles on the clock, AND the original build sheet. These cars are becoming harder and harder to find, so make sure to check out the eBay ad at the link below or click through for more pics.

Source: eBayMotors.com

The Jordan Co. said Monday it has agreed to sell Reinhold Holdings to HEICO Corp. Financial terms weren’t announced. Reinhold makes advanced custom composite components and complex composite assemblies for commercial aviation, defense and space applications. Lazard advised Reinhold.

PRESS RELEASE

The Resolute Fund, L.P., an affiliate of The Jordan Company, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Reinhold Holdings, Inc. (“Reinhold”) to HEICO Corporation (NYSE: HEI.A and HEI). Reinhold is a leading manufacturer of advanced custom composite components and complex composite assemblies for commercial aviation, defense and space applications. Financial details of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, were not disclosed.
Acquired by The Jordan Company in 2006 and headquartered in Santa Fe Springs, California, Reinhold produces high-quality, heat resistant, advanced custom composite components and assemblies. Reinhold provides its customers with product integrity, weight reduction and resilience in highly- demanding environments. Its commercial aviation products are primarily composite passenger seating solutions for existing and next-generation large and regional jet aircraft. Its defense and space products serve fail-safe, mission-critical roles for the rocket-propulsion industry.
“It has been a privilege to partner with the Reinhold management team in building a premier manufacturer of complex composite components and assemblies for safety-critical commercial aviation, defense and space applications,” said Jonathan F. Boucher, Managing Partner at The Jordan Company. “Reinhold provides exceptional service to its expanding list of customers. As part of HEICO, Reinhold is well positioned to further penetrate its growing markets.”
The Jordan Company worked in partnership with the management team to grow its competitive position through investments in operations and customer relationships. These organic activities have been supplemented by the strategic acquisition of Enpro Engineered Products, Inc. which further expanded the Company’s product portfolio and capabilities.
“The Jordan Company has been a great partner in supporting the growth and expansion of Reinhold,” said Clarence Hightower, CEO of Reinhold. “Jordan has confidently supported Management by providing the necessary resources and operational guidance, M&A expertise and strategic planning support. With the full support of The Jordan Company, Reinhold has demonstrated significant growth, market share gains and customer satisfaction in its growing Commercial Aircraft and Defense (Domestic and Foreign Military Sales) markets.”
Lazard acted as exclusive financial advisor to Reinhold. Mayer Brown LLP acted as legal advisor to The Jordan Company.
About The Jordan Company
The Jordan Company, founded in 1982, is a leading middle-market private equity firm with approximately $5 billion of capital under management and a successful track record of investing in and growing businesses across a wide range of industries. The firm’s partners have been investing together for more than two decades, establishing The Jordan Company as one of the most experienced and stable investment teams in private equity. The investment team is supported by the firm’s OperationsManagement Group, which initiates and supports operational improvements in portfolio companies. The firm generates deal flow through a well-developed network of sourcing relationships. Headquartered in New York, The Jordan Company also has offices in Chicago and Shanghai. For more information, please refer to www.thejordancompany.com
About Reinhold Industries, Inc
Reinhold Holdings, Inc. (“Reinhold”) is a leading manufacturer of advanced custom composite components and complex composite assemblies for commercial aviation, defense and space applications. Its commercial aviation products are primarily composite passenger seating solutions for existing and next-generation large and regional jet aircraft. Its defense and space products serve fail-safe, mission-critical roles for the rocket-propulsion industry.

The post Jordan Co. Inks Sale of Reinhold appeared first on peHUB.

We have been hearing a lot about Google Babel in recent weeks, which means it will probably be unveiled at Google I/O. The Verge was able to get their hands on a working version of it, and according to them it will be called Hangouts and it will of course have the Holo design. One other interesting tidbit is that it will not have support for SMS/MMS messages, so technically this won’t be a unified messaging system. It might be for Google services, but not as a whole. The last thing that was mentioned was that the icon looks similar to messenger, but it will be green.

I’m sure Google will unveil lots of new stuff next week with Android 4.3, but it appears that Gmail will get the Holo design and location based reminders is coming to Google Now. These are much needed additions, and I am looking forward to what else Google has up their sleeve.

source: TheVerge

Come comment on this article: Google Babel to be called Hangouts and might not have SMS/MMS support

The first time I died in Don’t Starve it was at the hands of a pig, who apparently has a number of homes in the woods, and it was mainly my fault: I did not yet understand the fact that I needed to click once for each swing of my axe.

This game is not about success or even about progress, this is an experience about pure survival, about using the environ… (read more)

Defense Distributed, Cody Wilson’s controversial startup that aims to create the first fully 3D printed gun, has finally achieved its goal. In a video released over the weekend, Wilson shows off a test firing of the Liberator.

The Liberator doesn’t look all that impressive or intimidating, but it’s not meant to. It’s meant to fire bullets, and the above video demonstrates that it does just that. According to Forbes, the Liberator is made entirely out of ABS plastic except for a nail used as the firing pin. The gun also contains a small stip of steel so as not to run afoul of the Undetectable Firearms Act.

What may have some people concerned, however, is that not every Liberator will include this strip of steel. Wilson has already published the blueprints for the Liberator at Defcad so anybody with a 3D printer can now print a handgun. The Liberator’s blueprints also include multiple barrels so the gun can fire different calibers of ammunition.

With that in mind, the Liberator is going to make some people rather uncomfortable. Senators are probably going to draft legislation that’s intended to stop the creation of 3D printed weapons, and may even target 3D printers themselves. Even if that did happen, it really wouldn’t do anything as the blueprint is now on the Internet. It will be incredibly hard, if not impossible, to keep the Liberator out of 3D printer/gunsmith enthusiasts’ hands.

It should be noted that the Liberator in its current form isn’t going to start arming every man, woman and child with their own handgun. For starters, the gun is still incredibly fragile. A separate Forbes report that covered the initial firing test says that the gun exploded upon an attempt to fire a rifle cartridge. Even when firing compatible bullets, the gun can only fire one round at a time.

Still, this is a big step forward for Defense Distributed and 3D printing. Something that many, myself included, thought was years away is now here, albeit in a limited form. It will be interesting to see where Wilson and Defense Distributed do next.

LinkedIn turned ten years old on Sunday. It’s hard to believe it’s been a decade, but believe it or not, the professional social network launched all the way back in 2003. It has come a long way in the meantime.

The company has put together an interesting visual timeline that you can peruse here. It begins in 2002 when Hoffman recruited a team of old colleagues from SocialNet and PayPal to work on the idea that would eventually become LinkedIn. In the early days, they were sometimes getting as few as 20 signups a day.

In 2009, Jeff Weiner joined as President, and would then become CEO, a title he currently holds. Two years later came the IPO.

Reid Hoffman writes on the LinkedIn blog:

Ten years ago, I co-founded LinkedIn in my living room with the mission of connecting the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. Inspired by the invaluable role relationships played in our own careers, we launched LinkedIn with the tagline “Relationships matter.”

At the end of our first month, we had 4,500 members in the network. 10 years later, we’re honored and humbled that so many of you have made LinkedIn a part of your daily professional lives.

Today, hundreds of millions of professionals around the world are turning to LinkedIn to connect with each other, manage their identities, get insights they need to be great at what they do, and find their dream jobs. I’m continually inspired by our members’ career aspirations and achievements.

LinkedIn currently boasts 225 million members, and says it is growing by a rate of two members every second.

The company’s stock is up 0.23% in pre-market trading.

Cloudera announced the general availability of Cloudera Impala, an open source, interactive SQL query engine for analyzing data stored in Hadoop clusters in real time. Cloudera worked closely with customers and open source users to develop the platform, designed from the ground-up for enterprise workloads.

“With Impala, Cloudera has decisively planted the stake in bringing the worlds of Hadoop and enterprise SQL together,”  said Tony Baer, principal analyst, Software and Enterprise Solutions at Ovum. “And it has done so in a way that addresses the expectations for performance that are taken for granted in the enterprise SQL world. For Hadoop to cross over to the enterprise, it must become a first class citizen with IT, the business and the data center. A large part of making Hadoop a first-class citizen in the enterprise is making it accessible to the large base of SQL developers and applications that already exist.”

Cloudera says that adoption of its platform has been strong, with over 40 enterprise customers and open source users are using Impala today, including 37signals, Expedia, Six3 Systems, Stripe, and Trion Worlds. With its 1.0 release, Impala extends Cloudera’s unified Platform for Big Data, which is designed specifically to bring different computation frameworks and applications to a single pool of data, using a common set of system resources.

With Impala, users can query data stored in HDFS and HBase directly. The framework supports all standard file and data formats available, so users can choose the format that best suits their use case. The Impala framework is optimized for use with CDH, Cloudera’s 100-percent open source distribution of Hadoop and related applications.

“Impala represents a major advance for Cloudera and the Hadoop ecosystem as a whole,”  said Mike Olson, CEO at Cloudera. “Cloudera was first to recognize that Apache Hadoop would be a catalyst for business transformation in the 21st century. We have worked tirelessly to support the rapid development of the platform to form a viable and open enterprise solution, with a rich and vibrant ecosystem to support it. We will continue to be a primary driver behind the evolution of a 100-percent open source Hadoop platform by setting a high bar that pushes the boundaries of what’s possible to exceed the high expectations of our enterprise customers.”