TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (NasdaqGM: TSYS) Swinging for the Fences. Once upon a time there was a struggling little government contractor in Annapolis, headed by a larger-than-life Naval Academy officer who had to be out of his depth thinking that he could convert his modest foothold in the government market into a major public company. I […]
The AES Corporation—Did Anybody Notice This Little Investment? Because AES is a power generation company with worldwide projects and operations, it does not really play in the local sandbox. Nevertheless, with revenues of over $14 billion and a market cap over $9 billion, it is easily one the largest companies headquartered in the region. And […]
Coastal Sunbelt and MCG Capital—A Sign of Tough Times? Here is a follow-the-trail story. At the end of November, I noticed an SEC filing of a private placement of $20 million for something called “Coastal Acquisition Corp.” That is a sizeable capital raise. No press release. No indication of who this company was. So, we […]
The Death of Black & Decker [This commentary is based on public filings concerning the proposed merger of The Stanley Works and Black & Decker Corporation as well as other publicly available information on the two companies. It was first published by Citybizlist.com on December 18, 2009. A companion piece to this commentary entitled “Black […]
October 2009 Mid-Atlantic Deal Review Trial Edition from Chessiecap, Inc. Editor’s Note: Welcome to the 2nd Edition of the Mid-Atlantic Deal Review, a monthly review of transaction activity in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia-West Virginia region. This edition is a Free Trial, which we hope will begin to add great value to your work and knowledge of the […]
October Private Placements knocked the ball out of the park ($289M) with several major investments in Telecom and Biotech. Meanwhile, both M&A and the struggling local market for Public Offerings fell off the table. Private Placements: October was dominated by several gigantic placements that blur the line between buyout and venture investment
TEOCO Brings Home Huge Investment from TA Associates. 10/6/09 Private Placement. At $60M, it is hard to find a larger first-time minority tech investment than the one made by TA Associates of Boston– at least locally. Awkwardly named TEOCO of Fairfax really means The Employee Owned Company—not too catchy but clearly successful. The company provides […]
United BioSource Opens Sluice Gates for Berkshire Partners. 10/8/09 Private Placement. In a transaction that has similarities with the TEOCO one, United BioSource Corporation of Bethesda took in a massive $125M “growth equity” investment from Berkshire Partners. United BioSource plays an interesting and potentially lucrative role in the Pharma industry by helping develop and commercialize […]
Command Information Slips in a Small “Expansion” Round. 10/11/2009 Private Placement. Command Information of Alexandria burst onto the local scene in 2006 with an eye-popping $32M from Novak Biddle, Paladin, Carlyle and Blue Water. It announced an ambitious program, starting from scratch, to become the leader in spreading the new IPv6 Internet protocol throughout government […]
IXI Corporation Wins Big for Investors through Sale to Equifax. 10/28/2009 Sale of Company. Every now and then, an investment works the way it is supposed to. Core Capital, ECentury, and Blue Chip put $7.75M into IXI in 2004, followed the next year by a much smaller ECentury top-off round in 2005. Then, IXI management […]
Allied Capital–End of an Era, End of a Local Institution. In October, Allied Capital Corporation (NYSE:ALD) announced that it was selling to Ares Capital Corporation in NYC (NASDAQ:ARCC). Thus ends one of the most storied finance companies in the region—a company whose origins pre-date almost all of us who have benefited from having this expertise […]
TEOCO, GlycoMimetics and United BioSource—Private Placement or Acquisition? It is an issue that has interested us for years. When is an investment a buyout and when is it a venture investment? The line used to be very clear. Buyout funds absolutely had to have control, and control was defined as over 50% of the voting […]
NEA, One of the First Mega-Funds. Will Smaller Funds Survive? NEA, for as long as most of us can remember, has been an elite leader in the venture capital industry. It comes as no surprise that NEA was listed at the top of all venture funds in terms of number of investments for the three […]
Black & Decker: How Our System Rewards Failure Black & Decker Corporation (NYSE: BDK), based in the Baltimore suburb of Towson, announced in early November that it was merging with The Stanley Works (NYSE:SWK) based in Connecticut. As per the usual script, this “merger” was hailed as a great step forward for Black & Decker. […]
September 2009 Mid-Atlantic Deal Review from Chessiecap, Inc. Editor’s Note: Welcome to the Inaugural Edition of the Mid-Atlantic Deal Review, a periodic review of transaction activity in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia-West Virginia region. Measure real activity in the region. Entertain and Inform. Pull no punches. Get beneath the surface of deals, news and trends. Participate. Stat Notes: […]