Middle Market Deals and how to buy, sell and raise capital from $5 to $500 million

• innovation in platforms, batteries, displays, power/thermal and graphics.
• 4G networks, roaming, settlement
• service, digital audio, DVBH, etc.

I ran into a couple of partners from vSpring, Dinesh Patel and Paul Ahlstrom, last evening.  They had big smiles on their faces.  Thursday vSpring announced that one of their portfolio companies, LanDesk, would be acquired by Alabama based Avocent Corp (Nasdaq: AVCT) for $416 million, about 11 times the valuation when vSpring bought control of LanDesk in 2002.  Big Smiles.

A press release posted on vSpring's web site notes, in part:

The agreement, which is expected to close within 60 to 75 days, provides for total consideration of $416 million, including $200 million in stock, $200 million in cash and $16 million in assumed options. The transaction value may be increased by up to $60 million if LANDesk meets certain financial targets specified in the agreement.

“This agreement will greatly increase LANDesk’s ability to execute its business strategy, preserve organizational identity, and become part of a well-capitalized enterprise with excellent prospects for accelerated growth,” said Joe Wang, president and chief executive officer of LANDesk. “Because our companies share a similar vision, our combined organization will be able to quickly deliver increased business value to customers seeking better IT management.”

Today I took a client to talk to three different venture funds.  While none of the funds told us to hit the road and not let the door hit us on the way out, only one (thank heavens for the one) was genuinely encouraging about moving to "next steps."

This evening I read the Business Week Deal Flow blog post on Bessemer Venture Partners' recent addition to its web-site--its "anti-portfolio"--the companies it had the opportunity to invest in and didn't.  Their list includes little successes like:

• Apple Computer
• eBay
• Federal Express
• Google
• Intel
• Intuit
• Paypal

Let's all remember to take a little comfort in the knowledge that even smart people sometimes guess wrong.  When an entrepreneur hears "no" from a venture capitalist, she's in good company!