🐄 Situational awareness: Dean Foods, America's largest milk producer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and said it will seek a buyer. It also secured $850 million of debtor-in-possession financing to maintain operations.
🐄 Situational awareness: Dean Foods, America's largest milk producer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and said it will seek a buyer. It also secured $850 million of debtor-in-possession financing to maintain operations.
Source: Giphy
Private equity soon may get more unwanted attention in the Democratic presidential primary, based on an AP report that former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is seriously considering a last-minute entry.
Patrick's Bain Capital experience is much different than Mitt Romney's, in terms of both type and tenure. But it might be a difficult distinction for Patrick to persuasively articulate, particularly given Warren's continuing efforts to paint the entire PE industry as engaged in "legalized looting."
The bottom line: We should know if this is real by Friday, as that's the deadline for candidates to file for New Hampshire's primary.
🔧 Damage control: Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is expected to address his comments to "Axios on HBO" about Saudi Arabia at the start of today's regularly-scheduled, all-hands meeting with company employees, reports Axios' Kia Kokalitcheva.
• SoftBank swap: Still trying to get more clarity on the prospect of John Legere being a top candidate for the WeWork CEO role. Both on what it would mean for WeWork, and for the pending T-Mobile/Sprint tie-up that Legere is supposed to lead. More on this tomorrow.
🎧 Pro Rata Podcast digs into the politics of a wealth tax. I'm joined by Axios CEO Jim VandeHei. Listen here.
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA) is moving forward with a secondary stock listing in Hong Kong that could raise upwards of $15 billion by the end of November, per multiple media reports.
• Workato, a Cupertino, Calif.-based automation platform for workflow management, raised $70 million in Series C funding. Redpoint Ventures led, and was joined by Norwest Venture Partners, Geodesic Capital, and return backers Battery Ventures and Storm Ventures. http://axios.link/hRh8
• Net Reviews, a French provider of customer review management SaaS for retailers, raised €32 million from Providence Strategic Growth. www.avis-verifies.com
• TruKKer, a Daubai-based digital freight platform, raised $23 million in Series A funding. Saudi Technology Ventures led, and was joined by IFC, Endeavor Catalyst Fund, MEVP, Riyad TAQNIA Fund, Oman Tech Fund, Iliad Partners, and Shorooq Ventures. http://axios.link/v0Sk
• iSee, a Cambridge, Mass.-based autonomous trucking startup, raised a $15 million Series A funding led by Founders Fund. www.isee.ai
• Loop Returns, a Columbus, Ohio-based retail post-purchase SaaS platform, raised $10 million in Series A funding. FirstMark Capital led, and was joined by Lerer Hippeau and Ridge Ventures. http://axios.link/R4cF
• Bryter, a German no-code automation platform for professional business apps, raised $6 million in new seed funding. Accel led, and was joined by Notion Capital and return backer Cavalry Ventures. www.bryter.io
• Nowaday, a luxury city tour experience startup, raised $3.5 million in seed funding from Greycroft, Pritzker Group VC, and Raine Group. www.nowaday.com
• Mapxus, a Hong Kong-based indoor mapping technology startup, raised $3 million from Beyond Ventures. www.mapxus.com
• CDH Investment, Citic, and Navis Capital are interested suitors for RM Williams, an Australian boot and clothing maker that’s being sold by L Catterton, per The Australian. A deal could fetch around A$500 million. www.rmwilliams.com
⛽ GIC and BlackRock agreed to buy Kellas Midstream, operator of gas infrastructure in the UK Central and Southern North Sea, from Antin Infrastructure Partners. http://axios.link/87op
• Interswitch, an Africa-focused integrated digital payments and commerce company majority owned by Helios Investment Partners, received a minority equity investment from Visa at a $1 billion valuation. http://axios.link/oTOT
• Reggeborgh, a Dutch investment firm, is seeking to buy the 36.5% stake it doesn’t already own in construction firm VolkerWessels (AS: KVW), at a 25% premium. http://axios.link/u7y3
• Sverica invested in Gryphon Networks, a Boston-based provider of sales performance management and compliance software. www.gryphonnetworks.com
• Ares Management agreed to sell DevaCurl, a New York-based line of professional hair-care products, to Henkel. http://axios.link/eOy8
• Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, acquired Quixel, a Swedish library of real-world photo assets for use in animated films and video games. Quixel raised a small amount of VC funding from GP Bullhound and Back in Black. http://axios.link/Brpe
🚑 Invitae (NYSE: NVTA) agreed to buy Clear Genetics, a San Francisco-based developer of genetic counseling chatbots, for $50 million. Clear Generics backers include Compound and YC. http://axios.link/STiL
🍺 Anheuser-Busch Inbev agreed to buy the 68.8% stake it doesn’t already own in Portland, Ore.-based Craft Brew Alliance (Nasdaq: BREW), whose brands include Redhook, Cisco, and Omission. The $16.50 per share offer price is more than double where BREW shares closed trading yesterday. http://axios.link/GsR6
• ForeScout Technologies (Nasdaq: FSCT), a San Jose, Calif.-based cybersecurity company with a market cap of around $1.5 billion, is exploring strategic options that could include a sale, per Bloomberg. http://axios.link/0Rah
• Hyundai Development was picked as preferred bidder for a control stake in South Korea’s Asiana Airlines, in a deal expected to be worth over $1.7 billion. http://axios.link/v2lv
⛽ Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) is seeking to raise upwards of $700 million for oil and gas properties in Wyoming and Colorado that it acquired via its purchase of Anadarko Petroleum, per Reuters. http://axios.link/3hIx
• Open Text (Nasdaq: OTEX) agreed to buy Carbonite (Nasdaq: CARB), a Boston-based data protection company, for $1.42 billion, or $23 per share (78% premium to where company traded before initial sale reports). http://axios.link/BnH0
⛽ SunPower (Nasdaq: SPWR) said it will spin off most of its solar panel manufacturing unit into a separate, publicly-traded business. http://axios.link/xETg
• Yageo (TSEC: 2327), a Taiwanese electronic component maker, agreed to buy Florida-based rival Kemet (NYSE: KEM) for $1.8 billion, or $27.20 per share (18% premium on yesterday’s closing price). http://axios.link/YsV9
• Angular Ventures, a European “deep tech” VC firm led by Gil Dibner (ex-DFJ Esprit), raised $41 million for its debut fund. http://axios.link/RXsP
• Balderton Capital, a London-based VC firm focused on early-stage European startups, raised $400 million for its seventh fund. http://axios.link/MUaw
• Inspired Capital, an early-stage VC firm co-led by Alexa von Tobel (LearnVest founder) and Penny Pritzker (ex-U.S. Commerce Secretary), raised $200 million for its debut fund. http://axios.link/Ep4W
• Primavera Capital Group raised $3.4 billion for its third fund, per PE International. It’s the second-largest fund ever raised by a domestically-focused China private equity firm. http://axios.link/1Qzt
• SK Capital Partners raised $400 million for a new fund focused on control investments of lower middle-market chemical, pharma, and specialty materials companies. www.skcapitalpartners.com
• Yves de Balmann, former co-chair of Bregal Investments and BT Alex. Brown, joined Bridge Growth Partners as an executive partner and member of the firm’s investment committee. www.bridgegrowthpartners.com
• Cerberus Capital Management is pushing for Deutsche Bank to oust chairman Paul Achleitner, per the FT. Cerberus holds around a 3% stake in the struggling German lender. http://axios.link/uRub
• Credit Suisse named David Miller, current global head of credit, as head of investment banking and capital markets. http://axios.link/i2U0
• Vijay Karnani is retiring as co-head of India for Goldman Sachs, after 21 years with the firm, per Bloomberg. http://axios.link/1QU1
• Ryan Levitt is joining Intermediate Capital Group as a managing director in charge of North American private equity fund investments, per PE International. He previously was with Pomona Capital. http://axios.link/qD8b
• Andrew Oddo is joining Silicon Valley Bank as a New York-based director on its startup banking team. He previously was with Bowery Capital. www.svb.com
• Andreas Utermann is stepping down as CEO of Allianz Global Investors, to be succeeded by current global distribution chief Tobias Pross. http://axios.link/Y0os
🙏 Thanks for reading Axios Pro Rata. Please ask your friends, colleagues, and New Hampshire primary voters to sign up here.