A More Deal-Friendly Mood at Sun

Sun Microsystems Inc. has promoted Jonathan Schwartz to SVP of corporate strategy and planning, in the process making the 34-year-old executive the youngest-ever member of the company’s executive strategy group. He had been the head of Sun’s venture capital and strategic planning group, where among other activities he oversaw Sun’s $400 million venture capital fund. In his new job he is retaining his venture capital and business development responsibilities and is taking on the additional task of evaluating m&a opportunities. “Whether it’s from venture capital or an acquisition, what we are trying to do is to identify the next generation of Internet innovators and position Sun to take advantage of their skills,” he says. With his appointment, Schwartz says that Sun is moving away from its traditional take on dealmaking, which he summarized as “we don’t write checks, we write code” to a more deal-friendly atmosphere. “We are looking at acquisitions in a more methodical and disciplined way. Our venture capital activities have shown us that there are a lot of great investment opportunities out there,” he notes. However, he cautions that this doesn’t necessarily mean that Sun will participate in mega-billion-dollar deals. He says that any acquisitions or capital infusions that Sun does undertake will fit its strategic goals rather than financial ones. The Sun executive comments that one effect of the Nasdaq stock dive last spring was to increase competition for quality deals. He points to sectors like optical networks and storage devices as niches in the tech business where companies are being snapped up. Prior to joining Sun, Schwartz had been CEO of Lighthouse Design Ltd., which was acquired by Sun in 1996. In addition to heading the venture and strategic investment group, Schwartz has held a variety of executive positions at Sun, principally focused on software development. Most recently, he headed Sun’s developers’ tools group, where he worked on the acquisitions of Forte Software Inc. and NetBeans Inc. Some of Sun’s acquisitions have been outside of the open source model that is at the center of the company’s technologic and philosophic credo. Open source is software code that is freely distributed and modified across the Internet. Schwartz says that Sun wouldn’t rule out acquisitions of companies that make proprietary code products, and referred to the purchase of NetDynamics two years ago as an example of a deal strategy that Sun might use again. “You have to look at the difference between long-term goals and where you are at the time of the purchase. We plan to open up the NetDynamics products over time, but when we bought them, they were the only ones with the skill set we needed,” he says. NetDynamics was a maker of application server software. However, the Sun executive reiterated that any acquisitions Sun might make would have to fit into its strategic plans. “If I run the math, I could find 30 companies with a coherent financial rationale. But if Sun is to continue to create opportunities for its core business, it can’t lose sight of the company’s overall goal: to develop the infrastructure that enables the Internet.”r Filling a New M&A Position at Duke Richard B. Bates was named to the newly created position of managing director of mergers and acquisitions at Duke Energy Corp. in late June. In that post, he is responsible for negotiating acquisitions that cross business lines or represent new endeavors for the company. “Individual business units at Duke have their own m&a people, but we thought it would be wise to have someone with overall responsibility, especially for the larger, complex transactions,” Bates says. His appointment, he adds, won’t change the economic discipline that characterizes Duke’s dealmaking strategy. “We want to make sure that deals aren’t evaluated in isolation.” One of his contributions is to allow the company to look at transactions from a more sequential point of view. Bates says that Duke will continue to manage its assets on a portfolio basis, a strategy that will include sales as well as acquisitions as the power industry reconfigures due to deregulation. Commenting on the progress of dere-gulation, Bates says that even though there have been a number of utility industry megadeals, deal flow will increase once the regulatory background becomes clearer. Before coming to Duke, Bates held executive positions at Sonat Inc. Service Appointments Advest Group Inc. – James P. Jenkins has joined the financial services firm as senior managing director, head of investment banking. Chase Manhattan Inc. – Robert Kindler has taken a position as a telecom banker at Chase. The former Cravath Swain & Moore partner had been involved in a number of deals, notably serving as one of the two lead Cravath partners who structured the America Online/Time Warner deal. Dechert – Joining the law firm as a partner is Carl A. de Brito. He is based in New York and is a member of the firm’s mergers and acquisitions and corporate and securities practice groups. First Union Securities – Mark W. Mealy has been promoted to head of the company’s mergers and acquisitions group. He had been a managing director in the m&a group. Goldman, Sachs Group Inc. – Michael J. Carr has been tapped to head investment banking for the Asian market, excluding Japan. He had been co-head of m&a for the Americas. Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin – Ray-mond Kane was named SVP in this Los Angeles-based investment firm’s New York office. He had been a director at UBS Warburg. Merrill Lynch & Co. – Karl Will has been picked to head the firm’s West Coast technology m&a practice. He had been the head of technology m&a at Deutsche Bank. Paine Pacific LLC – Anthony Azar has joined this Portland, Ore., m&a firm as a principal. He manages the company’s new El Paso, Texas office. He had owned and run a contract manufacturing operation in Juarez, Mexico and El Paso. Rothschild North America – Edwin Wells Jr. and Richard Ennis were named managing director and director, respectively. Both were hired from UBS Warburg’s global energy group. Tucker Anthony Capital Markets – Diane Woolf has been appointed a principal at this investment banking firm. She heads the company’s private capital group. Veronis Suhler – This New York-based media investment bank has formed a London affiliate to pursue m&a and private equity opportunities in Europe. New hires are: Nigel Stapleton, chairman and co-head; Marco Sodi, managing director and co-head; Stephen Warshaw, managing director; Gerhard Weissschaedel, managing director; Christopher J. Russell, director; Martin W. Gruschka, director; and Morgan Callagy, associate. Buyout Appointments American Capital Strategies – Jeri J. Harman has joined the firm as a principal and head of the firm’s newly opened Los Angeles office. Bessemer Venture Partners – The venture capital firm appointed Robert Stavis as a venture partner in the New York office. Linsalata Capital Partners – Jeffrey J. Echko and Gregory L. Taber have been named VPs. Echko had been president of Horsburgh & Scott Co, a former Linsalata portfolio company that makes custom engineered gearing products. Taber had been manager of reorganization services at Deloitte Consulting. Corporate Appointments Angiotech Pharma-ceuticals Inc. – Jeanne Bertonis has joined the company as VP of corporate development. She had performed a similar job at Gen-zyme Corp. Angiotech produces drugs, medical devices, and surgical implants. Brodia – Richard Thompson has joined the company as SVP of corporate development. Brodia develops online payment card technology. Liz Claiborne Inc. – Richard Zannino has been promoted to SVP of finance and administration, in which capacity he has executive oversight of the CFO function as well as mergers and acquisitions. He had been CFO. Excite@Home – Christopher Wofford was named SVP of corporate development by this broadband online service provider. He oversees all m&a strategy, integration, and execution activities. He had been an officer in Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette’s communications and media m&a team. Flash Electronics Inc. – Bob Dean was appointed to the post of VP of business development and oversees various strategic business activities, including m&a. Flash is a contract electronics manufacturing company. General Electric Co. – Francis S. Blake was named GE’s SVP of corporate business development. He had been VP of business development at GE Power Systems since 1998. Gilman + Ciocia Inc. – This provider of financial planning and tax preparation services has promoted Steve Sacher to head of the company’s acquisitions initiatives. He had been CFO. Heath!Quest Global Communication Partners – Michael B. Connolly has been named EVP and director of corporate development in which capacity he leads m&a activities for this marketing service network. Connolly had been CFO at NeoVision HyperSystems. Hughes Electronics Corp. – Kenneth Heintz has been named to head up Hughes’ m&a activities. He had been CFO at PanAmSat Corp., a Hughes unit. i2Go – David Murphy has joined this developer of interactive audio technology as VP of finance and CFO and oversees the corporate finance and m&a functions. Integrated Electrical Services – The company has appointed William W. Reynolds as EVP and CFO. Integrated Electrical provides electrical contracting and communication services. Internosis – Anthony M. Corbi was named CFO at this provider of e-business services. He had been CFO of Panurgy Corp. Ironmax.com – The company has hired Brian Brohman as VP of business development, in which capacity he oversees m&a, strategic partnerships, and JVs. Throughout his career, which includes positions at NationsRent and Johnson & Johnson, Brohman has participated in more than 100 strategic deals. Ironmax.com is an Internet-based B-to-B marketplace for construction equipment. NerveWire Inc. – Michael Lambert has been chosen to lead accounting and finance activities, including m&a, at this at this B-to-B Internet professional services company. He joins NerveWire from Lucent Technologies, where he had been CFO and VP of InterNetworking Systems, Lucent’s data networking unit. PacketVideo Corp. – Vern Stevenson has been named VP of corporate development. He had been VP of Siemens Mustang Ventures, where he directed venture capital investments. In his new role at PacketVideo, a producer of equipment for wireless media, he is responsible for m&a and strategic alliances. PCTEL Inc. – Vikas Agrawal was named director of business development. He had been manager of corporate development at Intuit Inc. His responsibilities include identifying and executing mergers, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships at this software communications company. PhotoWorks Inc. – The company has appointed Stephen Brown as VP of business development, in which capacity he is responsible for strategic alliances and m&a. PhotoWorks is an Internet-based photo services company. Register.com – Ronald Fried joined this domain name registrar as VP of m&a. He had been VP of business development at eGlobe, a provider of telephony services. Scientific Learning Corp. – Michael A. Cippoletti has been promoted to VP of business development, responsible for acquisitions and strategic partnerships. He had been director of business development. Sensormatic Electronics Corp. – R. James Assaf was named to the newly created position of m&a director at this supplier of electronic security systems. He had been at the Cleveland law firm of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. Simulation Sciences Inc. – Michael Rowland has been promoted to director of business development at this supplier of software for the chemical process industries. He had been director of the company’s online business unit. In his new role he is responsible for m&a, strategic alliances, and channel partnerships. SiteSmith Inc. – Frank Slattery has been named VP of business development, in which capacity he oversees m&a and strategic alliance activities. He had been a partner and general counsel at marchFIRST (formerly USWeb). SiteSmith provides outsourced Internet site operations. Solant Inc. – Robert Ford has been named VP of business development, in charge of strategic alliances and m&a. Solant (formerly Novazen Inc.) is a software provider specializing in electronic bill payment and customer care applications. Sony Corp. – Robert Wisenthal has been successfully recruited by Sony to serve as chief strategy officer at its newly created Sony Broadband Entertainment unit. He had been a managing director at Credit Suisse First Boston. At Sony, he will seek out deals, including acquisitions. Suntory Water Group – The bottled water company has appointed Rick D. Puckett as CFO, in which capacity he oversees financial management and corporate planning operations, including m&a. TradeOut – Mark Ullman has been named VP of business development and strategy at this B-to-B marketplace for surplus inventory. He had been with McKinsey & Co., where he assisted clients with m&a and other transactions.