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Update-Apalooza It’s already CalPERS: The long-awaited strategic review of CalPERS’ alternative investment management program is complete, and was presented to the CalPERS Investment Committee on Monday. You can get the full report here, but the general gist is: You’re not quite the Investor of Choice that you set out to be following your last strategic review in 2000, but you’re within spitting distance. Some key insights/recommendations include:
A pension system spokesman said that the AIM staff will analyze the recommendations over the next couple of months. In semi-related news, CalPERS approved fund commitments to Birch Hill Equity Partners III, ICV Partners II, Pinnacle Ventures II and the WLR Recovery Fund III. Refco: Dubai Investment Group led a $1 billion offer for the entire troubled company, but was rejected (the rejection was just reported by Bloomberg). This means, of course, that the J.C. Flowers-led deal/negotiations can continue. Also, Refco shareholder Thomas H. Lee Partners held a conference call with its limited partners last Thursday, but answered many of the more probing questions with variations on “no comment.” An LP I spoke with about the call said that he understood the reticence, given potential litigation against TH Lee. He also expressed obvious displeasure with the whole mess, although he joins every LP I’ve spoken with in saying that Refco will not sink TH Lee’s upcoming fund-raising drive (or even hamper it). AIG: The firm said in an SEC filing that it has secured $182 million for its AIG Asian Opportunity Fund II, which is targeted at $750 million. Recently-terminated GP Stephen Tseiu is not listed on the document.
ShopKo Stores Inc. (NYSE: SKO) has terminated its acquisition agreement with Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison, instead accepting an $877 million offer from Sun Capital Partners. GHJM had raised its offer price multiple times over the past several months, and actually ended up with a final offer identical to that of Sun Capital ($29 per share). ShopKo chose Sun Capital, however, which means that it will be required to pay GHJM a $13.5 million break-up penalty. Leverage for the Sun Capital acquisition will be provided by Wachovia Bank, National Association, Wachovia Capital Markets LLC and Ableco Finance LLC. www.shopko.com Vernier Networks Inc., a Mountain View, Calif.-based provider of enterprise network access management products, has raised $21 million in Series E funding. Venrock Associates led the deal, with Venrock managing general partner Ray Rothrock joining the Vernier board of directors. Return backers include Foundation Capital, DCM-Doll Capital Management, Allegis Capital, UV Partners, Masthead Ventures and Weber Capital. The company has raised over $65 million in total VC funding since its 2001 inception, plus a recent $5 million in debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank and Gold Hill Capital. www.verniernetworks.com Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) announced a $1.1 billion investment initiative in
Xencor Inc., a Monrovia, Calif.–based developer of protein therapeutics and antibody drugs, has raised $20 million in Series D funding round led by Zen Investments LLC. Xencor has raised more than $85 million in total VC funding since its 1997 inception. www.xencor.com Kika Medical SA, a Paris, France–based clinical trial knowledge management and services company, has raised 7.5 million euros in Series B funding. NGN Capital led the deal with a 7 million euros infusion. www.kikamedical.com Numatech Industries Inc., an PolarLake Ltd., a ProNAi Therapeutics Inc., a Kalamazoo, Mich.-based drug company focused on cancer and other complex genetic diseases, has raised $2.25 million in Series A funding from Apjohn Ventures, the Grand Angles and the ThingMagic Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based RFID startup, has raised $5 million in additional Series A funding from The Tudor Group. The round is now closed with $15 million, based on a $10 million first close from firms like Exxel Group, Inventec Appliances, Morningside Technology Ventures and Top Line Growth Capital. www.thingmagic.com Transoma Medical Inc., an Arden Hills, Minn.-based maker of implantable wireless vital sign monitors, has raised over $12.72 million in Series B funding, according to a regulatory filing. Affinity Ventures was joined on the deal by return backers Canaan Partners and Polaris Venture Partners. www.transomamedical.com Harkness Pharmaceuticals Inc., a San Diego-based drug company focused on anti-obesity therapeutics, has raised over $1.15 million in Series A funding from Sanderling Ventures, according to a regulatory filing.
Sun Capital Partners has paid $198 million to acquire Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp. from Centre Partners, Fairmont Capital, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. and company management. Garden Fresh is a San Diego-based operator of restaurants under the Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes names. Centre Partners led a going-private acquisition of the company in 2004. www.gardenfreshcorp.com Permira and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. have completed their acquisition of SBS Broadcasting SA. (Nasdaq: SBTV). The total deal is valued at approximately 2.09 billion euros, or 46 euros per share, including 1.69 billion euros in cash. Leverage was provided by Barclays Capital, Lehman Brothers and Royal Bank of Seibu Railway Co. of Japan said that it will receive approximately 160 billion yen ($1.38 billion) in funding from Cerberus Group and Nikko Principal Inv*stments Japan Ltd.
Emergency Medical Services Corp., a Greenwood Village, Colo.-based provider of ambulance and outsourced emergency department staffing services, has set its proposed IPO terms to 7.8 million common shares to be offered at between $15 and $17 per share. It plans to trade on the NYSE under ticker symbol
IBM (NYSE: IBM) has acquired DataPower Technology Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based company focused on improving the security and processing speed of computer transactions. The deal reportedly is valued at approximately $100 million. DataPower had raised around $26 million in VC funding since its 1999 inception, from firms like Mobius Venture Capital, Seed Capital Partners, Venrock Associates and Atlas Venture. www.ibm.com www.datapower.com QLogic Corp. (Nasdaq: QLGC) has agreed to acquire Troika Networks Inc. for $36.5 million in cash. Troika is a Westlake Village, Calif.-based storage virtualization company whose shareholders include Anthem Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Dynafund Ventures, Hamilton Apex Ventures, New Enterprise Associates and Windward Ventures. It raised nearly $90 million in VC funding since its 1998 inception, including a $41 million Series C round in 2000 at a post-money valuation of approximately $170 million, and a summer 2005 Series B deal (there had been a 2004 recap) at a post-money valuation of around $31.5 million. www.qlogic.com www.troikanetworks.com
Altos Ventures of
Thomas Weisel Partners Group Inc. has filed to go public. The San Francisco-based I-banking firm plans to raise $65 million via the offering, after which it would trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol TWPG. Thomas Weisel Partners and Goldman Sachs are serving as lead underwriters. Significant shareholders include company management, CalPERS and Nomura America Inv*stment Inc.
Gerard Moufflet has been named CEO of Kika Medical SA, a Paris, France–based clinical trial knowledge management and services company. He previously served as a managing director with Advent International and, before that, as a corporate vice president with Baxter International. www.kikamedical.com Deryck Maughan has joined Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. as both a managing director and as chairman of KKR Asia. He most recently served as vice chairman of Citigroup Inc., and as chairman and CEO of Citigroup International. www.kkr.com Ellen Pao, a former executive with BEA Systems, has joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, according to the firm’s website. www.kpcb.com
Farhad Patel has joined Chapman and Cutler LLP as a Chicago-based partner in the firm’s corporate finance practice. He previously was with Skadden, Arps, Meagher& Flom. www.chapman.com
Jonathan Lowenberg has joined ThinkEquity Partners as a New York-based managing director of I-banking. He previously served as an executive director of UBS Inv*stment Bank, where he was a senior member in the Global Private Equity Placement Group. www.thinkequity.com Flextronics Corp. (Nasdaq: FLEX) announced that Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital and Patrick Foley of DHL Corp. have resigned from its board of directors. They will be replaced by Ajay Shah, managing partner of Shah Capital Partners, and Raymond Bingham, former executive chairman of Cadence Design Systems Inc. Also joining the board is Michael McNamara, current Flextronics COO and incoming CEO. www.flextronics.com Perry Wu is leaving the partnership of ComVentures, according to Private Equity Insider. He has been with the firm for five years. www.comventures.com Bowman Cutter, a managing director with Warburg Pincus, has been named co-chair of The Committee for Economic Development, a nonprofit and nonpartisan research and policy organization comprised of business leaders and university presidents. Roderick Hills, a partner with Hills & Stern LLP, will serve as the other co-chair. www.ced.org Ezra Felker has been named an entrepreneur-in-residence with BioAdvance, a life sciences incubator in Samuel Gerace is leaving his entrepreneur-in-residence position with JumpStart Inc., in order to become chairman and CEO of Cleveland-based golf course product company Charitee LLC. www.jumpstartinc.com Bill Cadogan, CEO of Mahi Networks and a senior managing director with Vesbridge Partners, has joined the board of Ecora Software Corp., a Portsmouth, N.H.–based provider of change and configuration management software solutions supporting IT control, compliance, and security. Ecora also added --------------------
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October 19, 2005 
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