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Image Credit: Jonathan Marino

Shares of Oslo-listed Opera, coveted for its advanced mobile phone software technology, jumped as much as 26 percent, valuing the firm at over $800 million.

Opera’s mobile technology, along with 170 million Opera Mini users, give the firm extensive commercial relationships with mobile phone manufacturers and operators.

Facebook has struggled to convert its rapidly increasing traffic from mobile platforms to revenue, and purchasing Opera would be a faster solution than building its own platform or browser, analysts added.

“Opera would be sensible for Facebook on several levels as it would enhance the now limited mobile experience of Facebook, improve Facebook’s mobile monetization problem, help Facebook retain online game developers leaving the social network over a lacking mobile platform and further improve Facebook’s ability to target ads,” Arctic Securities said.

It would be such a perfect fit for Facebook, analysts said it would have to pay a hefty premium.

DNB, Norway’s top bank, said the price would have to be double Friday’s closing level, or 68.6 crowns, valuing the firm at $1.35 billion, while Danske Bank predicted a price between 50 and 60 crowns a share, or between $1 billion and $1.2 billion.

At 1021 GMT, the stock traded up 16.9 percent at 40.1 crowns a share, valuing the firm at around $800 million.

Opera officials have repeatedly declined to comment.

Still, several obstacles remain.

Opera founder and top shareholder Jon S. Von Tetzchner said the firm should focus on organic growth.
“I want Opera to focus on growth and delivering good results; there are big opportunities for Opera,” Tetzchner, who holds 10.9 percent of Opera told Reuters. “We have been promised 500 million users by 2013 and I think that’s a good goal and the firm should keep going for it.”

“I personally think that an ARPU (average revenue per user) goal of $1 is even modest,” he said. “I am not pushing for a takeover.”

Tetzchner said he was not aware of a bid and had not decided how he would react to one but added it would be “undemocratic” for him to try to block it if others supported it.

Another obstacle could be Google, which has extensive relationships with Opera.

“A takeover by Facebook will likely send cold water down Google’s spine,” Arctic Securities said.

Google is Opera’s default search partner for Opera Mini and Opera Mobile worldwide outside Russia/CIS, making the firm a key relationship for Google.

If the firm continued to grow organically, it would be able to maintain several parallel relationships with firms like Facebook and Google so if one of them wanted full control, the premium would have to be hefty, analysts added.

(By Joachim Dagenborg and Balazs Koranyi; editing by Hans-Juergen Peters and Helen Massy-Beresford)

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There were 373 global announced mergers this week, valued at roughly $60.7 billion. The total is the lowest number of deals so far this year, according to preliminary data from Thomson Reuters. But deal value more than doubled from last week when 574 deals collected $28.5 billion, TR said.

We had some notable transactions this week led by Eaton Corp.’s $11.46 billion deal for Cooper Industries.

The number of private equity-backed deals was also low. According to TR, there were 51 PE-backed deals valued at $8.4 billion. This compares to 80 deals last week that totaled $8.6 billion.

One caveat, though. The number of deals and their value could change (up or down) as Thomson Reuters get more information on transactions. Here’s the week’s top PE deals, according to Thomson Reuters.

Photo of snails courtesy of Shutterstock

[slideshow]

[slide title="5. Tarami Corp"]
Dydo Drino this week announced it would pay 11 billion yen (US$138 million) to buy jelly maker Tarami Corp, according to Bloomberg.

In 2009, Sun Capital Partner sold Tarami, a Japan-based maker of fruit and fruit-flavored gelatin cups, to a private equity subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Company Ltd.

[slide title="4. Global Blue"]
Silver Lake and Partners Group yesterday agreed to buy Swiss-based tax-free shopping business Global Blue for 1 billion Euros ($1.3 billion) from rival Equistone, Reuters reported.

Nyon, Switzerland-based Global Blue, a duty free shopping group, helps overseas travelers in Europe reclaim sales tax on their shopping.
Equistone, formerly Barclays Private Equity, bought Global Blue in 2007 in a deal valuing the business at 360 million euros.

[slide title="3. Formula One"]

CVC Capital Partners recently sold a $1.6 billion stake in the Formula One racing business to a group of investors, including the investment management firm BlackRock. After the sale, CVC owns about 42 percent of Formula One.

The sale is an attempt by CVC to reduce its risk before Formula One goes public, the New York Times said.

[slide title="2. Motel 6"]

This week, Accor agreed to sell its troubled U.S. budget hotel business to the Blackstone Group for $1.9 billion.

The sale includes Accor’s Motel 6 and Studio 6 chains and comprises 1,102 hotels in Canada and the United States.

[slide title="1. AMC Entertainment"]

The week’s biggest deal comes from China.

Dalian Wanda Group, a Chinese conglomerate, has agreed to buy movie chain AMC Entertainment for $2.6 billion, including debt, Reuters said. AMC is owned by an investment group that includes Bain Capital, CCMP Capital Advisors and Spectrum Equity Capital.

[/slideshow]

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This morning, Benihana said it has agreed to sell itself to Angelo, Gordon & Co. in a deal valued at about $296 million. The private equity firm is paying $16.30 a share, a near 23% premium to Benihana’s closing share price of $13.30 on Monday.

The deal includes a go-shop that allows Benihana and its advisors to actively solicit and consider alternative proposals from third parties until July 1. Angelo, Gordon has the right to respond to any proposals. “There can be no assurances that this process will result in a superior proposal or alternative transaction,” Benihana said in the statement.

News of the transaction caused Benihana shares to soar more than 20%, or $2.81, to $16.11 in morning trading.

Miami-based Benihana, a restaurant chain known for its hibachi-style cooking, expects the deal to close in the second half of this year. In March, Benihana put itself up for sale for a second time, hiring Jefferies. The restaurant chain, which generates EBITDA in the low-to-mid-20 millions, was expected to find a PE buyer since same-stores sales have been solid for several quarters, peHUB has reported. Benihana, in April, said total restaurant sales increased year-over-year by 5.3% to $343.2 million. Benihana’s stock has also more than doubled since hitting a 52-week low of $6.76 over the summer.

The auction may not be over, says one PE exec. “Lots of people have looked at this over the years so it’s possible someone resurfaces,” the source says. Russell Glass, founder and head of New York investment firm RDG Capital, reportedly offered to buy Benihana for $7 a share in March 2010.

But another PE exec says Angelo, Gordon is paying “a full price” and thinks the “deal likely sticks.”

New York-based Angelo, Gordon has made other restaurant investments. In 2011, the firm acquired Firebird International, which operated 18 fired grill locations. Angelo, Gordon is reportedly investing out of a $650 million fourth buyout fund that is more than half invested.

Restaurants have been a very active sector for PE. Earlier this year, Centerbridge Partners agreed to buy P.F. Chang’s in a deal valued at $1.1 billion. In January Olympus Partners bought NPC International, the largest Pizza Hut franchisee. Tilman Fertitta, in February, completed his buy  of Morton’s Restaurant Group for $6.90 a share. Castle Harlan owned 27% of Morton’s.

Last year Golden Gate Capital acquired California Pizza Kitchen for $470 million and Roark Capital acquired Arby’s Restaurant Group for about $130 million. Benihana is also not the only restaurant firm up for sale. Palladium Equity Partners has put Taco Bueno on the block, according to sister news service Reuters. Houlihan’s Restaurants, which is backed by Goldner Hawn Johnson Morrison, is also up for sale.

John Tibe and Abid Rizvi of Jefferies advised Benihana on the sale.

Photo courtesy of Benihana

The purchase price was undisclosed.

Black, a co-founder of True, said the firm was Syncplicity’s primary backer and invested nearly $7 million in the company, which was founded in November 2007. Black declined to reveal the return on the investment to True Ventures, but he told peHUB via email: “The good news here is that all shareholders are making good money. Founders, employees, friends and family and VC investor all can count this as a ‘win.’”

Syncplicity announced the acquisition on its blog in a post signed by co-founders Leonard Chung and Ondrej Hrebicek and CEO Karen White. The post says Syncplicity will be a “wholly owned subsidiary of EMC” and that the Syncplicity team “remains intact” and will be part of EMC’s Information Intelligence Group.

The trio also wrote: ”We’d like to take this opportunity to thank our investor, True Ventures, for being a vital part of our journey and success. Their spirit of entrepreneurship, community of founders, endless support and unique thought leadership has been an inspiration.”

Image credit: Cloud computing concept photo by ShutterStock

Let’s go back to Scott Thompson. As you all know by now, the biography for Thompson (who unfortunately just announced he has thyroid cancer) on file with the SEC states he has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and computer science however it was determined by Dan Loeb, the activist investor with impressive due diligence skills, that Thompson’s degree was actually only in accounting and that computer science, as a major, was not offered at Thompson’s alma mater until after he left. Having run a premiere background check organization for over 20 years, let me tell you this is an extremely common type of embellishment.

In our own case history of conducting background checks on management teams, we have seen everything from stark resume fraud (an MBA from Harvard that never existed; employment at a large company that has no record of the individual’s name or Social Security number) to nuanced exaggerations (licensed Certified Public Accountant in one of the three states listed on the resume; got the degree from Cornell but did not graduate magna cum laude as listed on the bio). Once you know where the fraud exists, it is easier to know how to uncover it.

To confirm education credentials (everything from matriculation to graduation in both undergraduate and graduate programs), most colleges and universities have handed their records to National Student Clearinghouse (a third-party) to deal with verifications. National Student Clearinghouse has an easy website that guides you through the degree verification process. Some schools still retain their records and a simple call to the registrar of the school should yield results however some schools do require a signed release in order to verify any enrollment or degrees. And, confirming professional accreditations, such as Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), is just as important as these accomplishments are often misrepresented as well. CPA certifications can be confirmed by the individual state that licenses accountants and the CFA Institute maintains records of all CFA designations.

But confirming (or denying) these representations on a resume or CV is just the beginning of the necessary steps in a comprehensive background check. To ensure there are no underlying risks associated with hiring or investing in C-suite execs, a background check should also include reviewing criminal records, regulatory actions, civil lawsuits, bankruptcy filings, corporate records and media articles. It is also quite useful to contact former employees of the company and references and business associates of the executives to yield more information that may not necessarily be in the public domain; e.g. a former employee might have been exposed to sexual harassment but never actually filed a lawsuit.

Using creative search strategies and thorough information analysis when searching these public record documents, background checks ensure you will know about any issues an executive is involved in that may impact your deal such as being sued by former investors or partners; maintaining multiple business interests that would conflict with your interests; articles or social networking sites that are inflammatory or problematic; or, a criminal past that questions the integrity of the executive (like when we uncovered a few founders of a tech firm spent time behind bars for running a national drug ring).

Being informed is crucial and background checks are the easiest and most comprehensive means to this end. The information unearthed in a background check may not necessarily kill a deal but it will give you leverage and understanding before moving forward so you can properly assess the risks. And, in light of the Scott Thompson/Yahoo! scandal, who doesn’t want to be a little more prepared?

Joelle Scott is the Director of Business Intelligence for Corporate Resolutions Inc. Opinions expressed here are entirely her own.

Image Credit: Shutterstock.com

1. Mark Boslet takes a look back at some hot ’07, ’08 vintages
2. Alastair Goldfisher keeps an eye on Accel Partners, which was named the top VC for online businesses
3. Luisa Beltran breaks the story on Providence Equity, which may still wrap up its seventh fund (albeit short)
4. Guest contributors Victor Belfor and Ben Smith opine that, perhaps, what you really need is a college dropout!
5. Gregory Roth writes on why Vista Equity really likes the view—for its latest fund
6. Mark Boslet writes on Psilos’ big return on the Extend Health exit
7. Bernard Vaughan cracks the case on TA Associates’ latest fundraise
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9. Connie Loizos chats with one stock picker who picks Facebook’s stock to take a ride—down
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Image Credit: Shutterstock.com