Lower Middle Market Weekly Outlook

The Treasury Department has had enough of these so-called tax inversion deals. Last week, the Department announced an action that “eliminates certain techniques inverted companies currently use to gain tax-free access to the deferred earnings of a foreign subsidiary, significantly diminishing the ability of inverted companies to escape U.S. taxation. It also makes it more difficult for U.S. entities to invert by strengthening the requirement that the former owners of the U.S. company own less than 80 percent of the new combined entity.”

While the steps may cause some change of future strategies — and a reconsideration of current deals — some are skeptical that the Treasury Department really has the power to prevent the inversions at all.

In other news, the SEC has charged Lincolnshire Management with fee violations and CEOs think their buyout owners are too “short-termist.”

Transactions:

• Gores Group sells Sage Automotive Holdings to Clearlake Capital
• CohnReznick mergers with Watkins Meegan
• Symphony Technology Group to acquire McGraw Hill Construction
• Monroe Capital invests $37 million in a digital media company
• Atlas Southeast acquires Roses Southeast Papers
• Renovo Capital closes $132 million fund
• Vital Capital backs WaterHealth
• Ultra Petroleum Corp. closes Pinedale acquisition
• Ford Financial acquires majority stake in Ford Financial
• Tower Arch Capital completes recap of Hard Rock Directional Drilling

Events:

• Tuesday: Axial Concord 2014
• Tuesday Webinar: Best Practices for Effective Fund Life Cycle Management: Maintaining Alignment in Mature Funds for GPs and LPs
• Tuesday: International Exit Planning Conference
• Wednesday: ACG Richmond Virginia Capital Conference

Opinions:

• As dealflow hits 2007 highs, here are some hot spots
• There are rumors of an AOL-Yahoo merger
• How corporate finance got its groove back
• PE investments in India to reach $12 billion in 2014
• PE firms invest record amount in China
• Blackstone is the most active PE firm this year
• Entrepreneurs who cash out look for meaningful second acts
• Your company failed to sell — Here’s why
• Why you need a small business exit plan
• Why it’s a seller’s market
• The 5 biggest M&A deals of Q3’14
• The epic year in IPOs
• Behind the venture capital boom: Public pensions
• Jumbo M&A borrowers urged to spread financing across markets
• Dishing out assists in retail buyouts
• Do MBAs have what it takes to work in investment banking now?

This week in history… The Ford Model T is released (1908).