Rick Climan and his all-star M and A team move to Hogan Lovells

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In this episode of The M&A Moment, I talk with Rick Climan about his recent move to Hogan Lovells, LLP. Rick, along with his entire mergers and acquisitions all-star team of Keith Flaum, Jane Ross, John Brockland and their support staff all moved to Hogan Lovells to take advantage of the firm’s worldwide reach and resources. This is a powerhouse move in the technology M&A world designed to put Rick and his team in position to be the leaders in the increasingly global nature of multi-billion dollar deals. As Rick often discusses, both domestic and foreign corporations are looking for global targets and buyers for their M&A strategy and Rick and his team are now likely to be one of the go-to firms for one side of many of the biggest deals.


Rick Climan headshot
  
Hogan Lovells, LLP logo

Rick and I also take a look back at a deal announced in 2016, Broadcom’s acquisition of Brocade Network Solutions and see how the regulatory review, both foreign and domestic, has been progressing. We also discuss some recently announced divestitures, contingent of the deal closing, to see if this might be timed to appease regulators or perhaps be for some other strategic reason.

Finally, we look and the heating up tech IPO market and see if this means the M&A exits will be impacted by the availability of more liquidity in the equity markets..

 

This episode was recorded on Bay Area Ventures on SiriusXM Channel 111 Business Radio Powered by the Wharton School on May 22, 2017.

April 2017 M&A Moment – how to sell a publicly traded company

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In this episode of The M&A Moment, I talk with Rick Climan, a partner at Hogan Lovesll, LLP, about 2017 year to date mergers and acquisition numbers, San Francisco Bay Area involved deals and the mechanics of seller a publicly traded company.

Rick and I discuss MaxLiner’s (NYSE: MXL) $660Million takeover of the Bay Area’s Exar Corporation (NASDAQ: EXAR), a deal of particular interest to me because MaxLinear’s CEO, Kishore Seendripu, and their VP, Product Marketing were both classmates of mine in the MBA program at Wharton San Francisco.

In Bay Area technology M&A, we discuss Intel Corporation’s acquisition of Mobileye, the Israeli manufacturer of vehicle collision avoidance systems for $15 billion. This deal gives Intel a major leg up into the world of autonomous vehicles. Next we look at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise’s purchase of Nimble Storage for $1 billion.


Rick Climan headshot
  
Hogan Lovells, LLP logo
While we could not discuss specifics it is interesting to note htat on the day that this show was recorded, Rick’s company was involved with the just-announced $28 Billion takeover of C.R. Bard by Becton-Dickinson. His firm was involved in the recently announced PetSmart acquisition of Chewy.com for $3.35 Billion. The largest online buyout to date. Rick does review some of the publicly available information about about both deals though.

Finally, as mentioned, we take an in-depth look at the M&A “mating dance” from the perspecitve of a publicly traded selling company. We look at how sellers begin the process of validating whether its the right time to sell and, if so, how to set the ball in motion. We talk about the investment banker’s role and discuss the difference between the seller’s cost between an IPO or an outright sale of the firm.

 

This episode was recorded on Bay Area Ventures on SiriusXM Channel 111 Business Radio Powered by the Wharton School on April 24, 2017.

First quarter 2017 mergers and acquisitions review

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The first quarter of 2017 is in the history books and in this episode of The M&A Moment, Rick Climan, a partner at Hogan Lovells, LLP and I discuss the Q1 M&A results both world-wide and for the San Francisco Bay Area.

In Bay Area technology M&A, we discuss Intel Corporation’s acquisition of Mobileye, the Israeli manufacturer of vehicle collision avoidance systems for $15 billion. This deal gives Intel a major leg up into the world of autonomous vehicles. Next we look at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise’s purchase of Nimble Storage for $1 billion.

Hogan Lovells, LLP logo  Rick Climan headshot

 

Then we talk about the volume of global M&A in terms of both overall dollar value and the number of deals taking place in the first quarter of 2017. We look at trends in the currency of mergers and acquisitions such as cash or stock and the preferences for each from the buyer’s or seller’s perspective as the year 2017 unfolds. We close our first quarter review with a look at what lies ahead for the rest of 2017.

Finally, we take a look at the how M&A deals initiate. We discuss the “mating dance” of M&A from the buyer’s perspective. To do so we look at why buyers pursue M&A as a strategy. We discuss the teams they put in place to implement that strategy in order to select a target company and to initiate the talks. Who makes the first overture in an M&A deal, what do managers need to think about before doing so and who is the right person in the organization to make the initial call. Listen in to learn all about it. Note, next month we’ll take a look at the process from the target company’s perspective.

This episode was recorded on Bay Area Ventures on SiriusXM Channel 111 Business Radio Powered by the Wharton School on March 27, 2017.

First look at M&A for 2017 – Cisco acquires AppDynamics and two health insurance mergers crater

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In this episode of the M&A Moment, Rick Climan of Hogan Lovells, LLP, joins me to look at how the year 2017 is starting off in the Mergers and Acquisitions arena. We discuss the dollar volume for January 2017 and how that compares to the same period in 2016. We then discuss whether or not the January figures are a good indicator of how the whole year will fare.

The year started off with a couple high flying tech companies being purchased for a fraction of their peak valuations and look at how that might portend for the so call “unicorns” – privately held companies valued over $1 billion. January was also a month where the US government blocked two very large deals that were announced in 2015. Rick talks about those deals and how the Trump administration may or may not act in similar situations going forward. We end the conversation by talking about one very large deal just announced where the target company was simultaneously pursuing an IPO and an acquisition.

Rick Climan  Hogan Lovells logo

 

All this plus Rick’s usual analysis of the legal, financial and strategic thinking behind the M&A markets and these specific deals.

This episode was recorded during my Bay Area Ventures show on SiriusXM Channel 111 Business Radio Powered by the Wharton School on February 13, 2017. Be sure to check out my Bay Area Ventures show page by clicking on the show link at the top of this page. For more information on Rick Climan you can go to Rick Climan on HoganLovells.com or go to www.MandAMoment.com.

2016 Mergers and Acquisitions Year in Review and 2017 Forecast

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In this special extended addition of the M&A Moment we take a look back at the highlights and final numbers for mergers and acquisitions for the year 2016. We will also take a look ahead at what 2017 might hold in store. Rick Climan of Hogan Lovells, LLP joins me to talk about how 2016 compared to 2015 and discusses some of the biggest deals announced, as well as some of the biggest deals to crater in 2016. Not only does Rick tell us the numbers but he gives us tremendous insights into what’s behind all the strategy, negotiation and legal decisions that led to the results.

Rick Climan
2016 was a stellar year but, was it as strong as 2016? Will 2017 be stronger still? What sectors had the most activity? How did US activity compare to global M&A. Were US companies an attractive target for foreign investment and, if so, what countries were the biggest investors? How will the Donald Trump administration impact US and foreign M&A transactions going forward? Will CFIUS reviews be stepped up and will cyber-crime or information leaks impact any major deals?

 

Rick and I cover all of this and take calls from listeners, as well. It’s a jam packed episode that will be invaluable for your understanding of M&A and your decision making going forward.

This episode was recorded during my Bay Area Ventures show on SiriusXM Channel 111 Business Radio Powered by the Wharton School on January 23, 2017. Be sure to check out my Bay Area Ventures show page here on Spreaker. For more information on Rick Climan you can go to Hogan Lovells, LLP.

M&A Moment December 2016 – Golden Gate Capital and Neustar Merger

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In this, the final M&A Moment for 2016 Rick Climan of www.weil.com joins me to talk about the recent Golden Gate Capital acquisition of Neustar Inc. (NYSE: NSR) signaling a continued resurgence of private equity firms making financial acquisitions in 2016. This deal is interesting because of some of the foreign capital involved in the deal, as well, which will mandate careful review by US’ Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). CFIUS also comes into play as Rick discusses President Obama’s veto of a proposed merger of the German semiconductor company Aixtron by a Chinese company Fujian Grand Chip based on national security concerns. It an unusual reach for a US president to get involved in a CFIUS matter.

We also take a brief look at 2016 as a whole but will be doing a full review of M&A Activity for 2016 and will be taking a look ahead at trends and prospects for 2017 on our next episode which will be an extend addition.

Here is a direct link to Rick Climan

San Francisco Bay Area mergers and acquisitions update for October 2016

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Donald and Rick Climan of Weil, Gotshall and Manges, LLP discuss M&A activity for the first three quarters of 2016 and drill down on one specific deal, Micro Focus International PLC’a (MCRO.L) purchase of the software business of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) for $8.8Billion.

2016 is a strong year but also one where some of the big deals of 2015 have fallen through. Rick talks about how revisions to the overall deal volume and value for 2015 no longer make it the strongest year on record. M&A deal flow from Asia is on the rise in 2016 and the tech sector remains one of the strongest areas of all.

Finally, Rick makes his pick for Major League Baseball’s 2016 World Series and discusses his “Futility Index” which he devised in 1998 for ranking the worst performing sports teams.

This M&A Moment was recorded on Bay Area Ventures on SiriusXM’s channel 111, Business Radio Powered by the Wharton School on October 24, 2016.