With the deal market drying up, private equity firms need to find unique niches. One player that has been quite successful at this is Silver Lake Partners, which focuses primarily on tech deals. Some of its transactions include Flextronics, Avaya, Sabre Holdings and SunGard Data.
Silver Lake is now expanding its franchise. The firm recently hired Charles Giancarlo, the former Chief Development Officer at Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO). Keep in mind that he was apparently a candidate for the CEO spot.
Then today, Silver Lake announced big news -- the firm has entered a "long-term strategic partnership" with the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS). The transaction calls for a 9.9% stake in Silver Lake and there will likely be more investments in future funds.
No doubt, we will see other private equity firms move into the tech space. However, this is far from easy -- especially since Silver Lake is continuing to improve its platform.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
