People are stilling buzzing about the fee bonanza expected from the Facebook IPO.
If the deal eventually fetches $10 billion--the firm will likely increase the size of the offering from the current $5 billion as demand soars--and the underwriters take a 1.5 percent cut, the deal would generate $150 million in fees. That’s a bundle. But there’s another deal that also looms as a gravy train for top investment banks.
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Goldman Sachs recently made it known that it was serious about hiring Richard “Jake” Siewert Jr., a former counselor to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, to manage the bank’s communications department. That raised immediate questions about the fate of Lucas van Praag, 62, who has been the top communications partner for years.
Read more »We noted recently that Bank of America’s market share of residential mortgage originations had slipped, which helped Wells Fargo make some huge gains and overtake the top spot.
Now comes word from Inside Mortgage Finance that Bank of America has also lost the title of biggest mortgage servicer to Wells Fargo.
Read more »The more compelling testimony in the Congressional hearing that featured two chief risk officers of the disgraced MF Global came from Michael Roseman, who appears to have been ousted by Jon Corzine and his cronies because of his concerns about the firm’s exposure to European sovereign debt.
Roseman raised issues with the overexposure as early as September 2010 when the exposure rose significantly to about $2 billion.
Read more »Ron Peele was named chief operating officer of Surefire Social. He is also an investor in Surefire Social, an Internet marketing platform. Peele was a founding investor and CFO of Revolution Health. Prior to that, he helped launch and build the AOL/Time Warner venture capital group.
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Read more »ORIX Venture Finance has made an equity investment in Kemp Technologies alongside Edison Ventures and Kennet Partners. peHUB reported in January that Kemp had raised $16 million in new funding, which included $7.5 million from Edison Ventures. Kemp makes server load balancer appliances.
PRESS RELEASE
Read more »Polaris Venture Partners has invested $4 million in Aria Retirement Solutions. Aria Retirement, a provider of guaranteed retirement income services, will use the funds to expand its tech platform for independent RIAs.
PRESS RELEASE
Aria Retirement Solutions (Aria), a premier provider of guaranteed retirement income solutions, today announced that it has received a significant capital infusion from Boston-based Polaris Venture Partners, a leading investor in seed, early-stage and middle-market businesses.
Read more »There’s a reason why the top private equity companies have been bent on diversification away from core buyouts.
The conventional wisdom holds that the heyday is over--that the glorious returns of the previous era aren’t coming back. At the Blackstone Group, the biggest chunk of assets under management now belongs to the funds of hedge funds group, an industry that has also been hit hard in recent times. Blackstone Group will always be a bellwether for the core private equity industry, however.
So how’s it doing?
Read more »Brokers and wealth advisors face a tough situation with the Facebook offering.
The fact is that no one knows whether it will be another Google or Microsoft, or just another tech company IPO that tanks in the aftermarket. Given its size and influence, most people would put it in the former category. But high net worth individuals still may not necessarily want to own the stock at the IPO price.
Read more »Wall Street continues to buzz about Morgan Stanley’s big win in the Facebook IPO sweepstakes--and Goldman Sachs’ big loss.
Recall that the latter bank didn’t even come in second. That honor went to JPMorgan Chase. The other banks in the top tier are Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays and Allen & Co.
Read more »In the rush of Facebook IPO news, many media outlets noted that the initial prospectus did not mention where the stock will be traded.
That decision may not be made for a while, and Facebook will no doubt hear some pretty amazing pitches from NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX. Heck, it might even hear a token pitch from BATS, which is getting into the listing game and can boast that it now lists eight iShares ETFs. Facebook looms as a great prize for any exchange.
Read more »We noted recently that Bank of America seems to be shrinking its footprint in the national mortgage market.
If you take into account correspondent lending, which the bank has exited, the numbers continue to be eye-catching. As noted by Bloomberg, FBR analysts report that Bank of America’s share of residential originations dropped to 5.6 percent in the fourth quarter from 10 percent in third quarter, yet another sign that the big bank is reeling from its Countrywide purchase.
Read more »Vancouver-based yoga and wellness company YYoga has raised $9 million in fresh capital from by Fiore Capital Corp. and Beedie Capital Partners. The lead investors were joined by undisclosed private investors. The money will be used for expansion, specifically into the Toronto market.
Read more »Santa Monica, Calif.-based TigerText Inc., maker of secure mobile messaging technology for healthcare enterprises, has raised $8.2 million in financing, bringing its total raised to $10 million. The Series A investment was co-led by Easton Capital and New Science Ventures. As part of their investment, John Friedman, Managing Partner of Easton Capital; and Somu Subramaniam, Managing Partner of NSV, join the company’s board.
Read more »Atlanta-based RentWiki Inc. has added $3.6 million in fresh capital, according to a regulatory filing. The company, which operates a peer review and recommendation website to help people find housing, previously raised capital from Antares Capital Corp.
Read more »ANDalyze Inc., a maker of products for testing water contamination, has raised $1.57 million of a planned $2.57 million round, according to a regulatory filing. The company, which uses catalytic DNA technologies for water testing, is backed by investors including the Illinois Emerging Technologies Fund II L.P. and Illinois Ventures LLC. The company’s board includes John Regan a senior director for Illinois Ventures.
Read more »Orlando-based PlanSource Holdings Inc. has raised $12 million in new funding led by Lemhi Ventures. The company, which makes a cloud-based HR and healthcare software-as-a-service, will use the money for growth.
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Hercules Technology Growth Capital said Wednesday that it has completed the sale of BÂRRX Medical to Covidien. The deal, announced in November, was valued at about $325 million. Hercules, in connection with the sale, expects to realize a net gain of approximately $2.2-$2.3 million in first quarter 2012 and to fully repay Hercules’ loan to BÂRRX Medical.
Read more »Bloomberg reports that Goldman Sachs is in talks to hire Richard “Jake” Siewert Jr., a former counselor to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, to manage the bank’s communications department.
This would appear to be a significant hiring, given Siewert’s impressive resume. This certainly raises immediate questions about the fate of Lucas van Praag, 62, who has been the top communications partner for years. At the height of the crisis, van Praag himself became part of the story, which is never a good position to be in.
Read more »A research firm has issued a new ranking the most valuable banking brands in the world, and there’s a new leader. HSBC has overtaken Bank of America and Wells Fargo to become the most valuable global bank brand. Bank of America fell from first to third, while Wells Fargo held steady in second place. Chase held steady in fifth place. Citi moved up to sixth from ninth. Not faring as well was Goldman Sachs, which feel to nineteenth from sixteenth. Article
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