On December 19th, a Republican-controlled Congress narrowly passed a tax reform bill. This bill represents the most significant tax overhaul since 1986 and has profound implications for the private equity industry. Although this administration is often chastised for being overly friendly to private equity barons, the reality of this bill is far more complicated.
Global asset manager Blackstone Group has just reached a deal to acquire China-based cosmetics packaging firm Shya Hsin Packaging on November 10th, 2017. The deal is reportedly worth around $800 to $900 million, although Blackstone is still lining up loan financing of up to $600 million to fund the transaction.
Locus Robotics Corporation, a robotics company that manufactures technology for e-commerce warehouses and distributors, has raised $25 million in a Series B funding round led by Scale Venture Partners. The 17 year-old VC firm based in northern Silicon Valley has approximately $1 billion in AUM and focuses on early-stage internet, cloud computing, and SaaS startups. The recent round of funding indicates support for the hardware industry behind warehouse and manufacturing automation technology.
A trailblazer in the Venture Capital space, CEO Chamath Palihapitiya of Social Capital is changing the way tech venture capitalists support innovation. His first big move came in September of this year when he created Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings, a massive blank check company. The process for tech companies valued at more than $1 billion (the so called “unicorns” of the world) to go public is extremely long and painful. Companies must work with investment banks to conduct an investor road show, incurring significant fees along the way. Social Capital Hedosophia can offer much faster liquidity for investors and employees, trimming the process of “going public” to roughly 60 to 90 days.