Interesting CFO statistic (from CFO.com)

24% of Fortune 1000 CFOs have neither a CPA nor an MBA. In 2003, many more — 41 percent — lacked either qualification.

Corporate Venture Capital On The Rise (NVCA - .pdf)

Ten Trends to Watch (McKinsey Quarterly)

Some notable excerpts ...

From now to 2015, the consumer's spending power in emerging economies will increase from $4 trillion to more than $9 trillion.

We are forming communities and relationships in new ways (indeed, 12 percent of US newlyweds last year met online). More than two billion people now use cell phones. We send nine trillion e-mails a year. We do a billion Google searches a day, more than half in languages other than English.

As businesses expand their global reach, and as the economic demands on the environment intensify, the level of societal suspicion about big business is likely to increase. The tenets of current global business ideology—for example, shareholder value, free trade, intellectual-property rights, and profit repatriation—are not understood, let alone accepted, in many parts of the world.

Oil demand is projected to grow by 50 percent in the next two decades…
Water shortages will be the key constraint to growth in many countries.

… the emergence of robust private equity financing is changing corporate ownership, life cycles, and performance expectations. Winning companies, using efficiencies gained by new structural possibilities, will capitalize on these transformations.

Long gone is the day of the "gut instinct" management style. Today's business leaders are adopting algorithmic decision-making techniques and using highly sophisticated software to run their organizations.

Knowledge production itself is growing: worldwide patent applications, for example, rose from 1990 to 2004 at a rate of 20 percent annually. Companies will need to learn how to leverage this new knowledge universe—or risk drowning in a flood of too much information.

Second-Round Valuations Soar 70 Percent From 2005 (LocalTechWire.com)

"The value rose to $23 million in the second quarter of this year, according to the latest statistics compiled by Dow Jones VentureOne. That’s the best since the fourth quarter of 2000 - at the height of the dot-com and telecommunications investment frenzy – when the median value reached $29 million.

The $23 million median average is an increase of $7 million, or 70 percent, from the same time period in 2005. The increase in second- and later-round deals especially in healthcare and information technology is driving the increased valuations as more investors see opportunities for profitable exits increasing, according to Dow Jones VentureOne."

Pushing the Cushion (The Deal.com)

"The total dollar value of outstanding second-lien credits has exploded in the past few years, going from $570 million in 2002 to over $16 billion in 2005. Through May of this year, total second-lien loan volume was $9.9 billion, according to Dealogic, an 83 percent increase over last year. Over the same period, the average size of second-lien transactions jumped 43 percent to $142 million."

"Second-lien borrowing is an attractive alternative for CFOs because it typically offers better terms than subordinated debt and allows companies to tap an unused portion of its assets for use as collateral. At the same time, it is attractive to lenders because it is a secured asset, making it less risky than standard mezzanine finance positions."

How Strategic Buyers are Competing in a Changing M&A Market (BofA CapitalEyes)

"How times have changed. "A few years ago, in an auction situation, the seller's investment bank would typically say, 'Here are the strategic buyers,' and almost as an afterthought, 'Here are the financial buyers--we'll never get the same price from them,'" says John LeClaire, chairman of the private-equity practice at Goodwin Procter LLP. Today, private-equity buyers are competing far more aggressively for acquisitions. "

Private Equity Firms Chasing Small-Caps (CFO.com)

"Of $76 billion in high-yield debt issued so far this year, $22 billion financed mergers and acquisitions, a trend that is likely to continue as small company IPOs take a back seat to private equity purchases."

Buybacks Set Record High (CFO.com)

Companies are now spending as much on stock buybacks as they are on capital expenditures.