FINANCE,BUSINESS STRATEGY
M&T Bank | July 01, 2022
M&T today announced plans to open its Multicultural Small Business Innovation Lab in Bridgeport, Connecticut. This seven-week program is intended to assist local multicultural business owners in flourishing, growing, and pursuing new ideas by providing guidance and skills to expand and operate their businesses. Up to 50 entrepreneurs will be accepted into the program.
M&T will collaborate with the Innovation Center at the University of Bridgeport. Classes will be held at the John J. Cox Student Center at the University. The Innovation Lab will cover topics such as creating a business plan, credit fundamentals, marketing, legal entity formation, and pitch tips, among others. The program will conclude with a pitch competition, with M&T funding grants of up to $6,000.
Entrepreneurs who wish to participate in the program must submit an online application by August 5th, 2022, and must meet the following eligibility requirements:
Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, or Asian American;
No more than three years in business; and
Annual business revenue of $150,000 or less.
The M&T Bridgeport Multicultural Small Business Innovation Lab will begin on September 21, 2022 and conclude on November 2, 2022 with a pitch competition.
"This program will have a positive impact not only on local businesses, but on the entire community, benefitting the area's multitude of talented and diverse entrepreneurs, Through our conversations with state and local officials, community leaders, academic institutions and many local business owners, we have worked together to deliver a proven approach that can help these businesses thrive and grow."
-Frank Micalizzi, M&T Regional President and Head of Commercial Banking for Bridgeport, CT
The Connecticut Multicultural Small Business Innovation Lab is part of M&T's bank-wide mission to create a culturally fluent bank that understands and addresses the needs of the communities it serves. M&T established the Multicultural Banking & Diverse Market Strategy segment in 2020 to specifically address the needs of multicultural communities, businesses, and individuals.
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MANAGEMENT,TECHNOLOGY
Intuit | June 30, 2022
On July 5, Intuit QuickBooks will launch a new campaign to encourage Latino business owners to think like a "negocito" — a small business — and instead focus on the tools that will help them become a "negociote," with a big business mindset. Intuit, the global technology platform that produces QuickBooks, TurboTax, Mint, Credit Karma, and Mailchimp, will feature soccer legend Javier "Chicharito" Hernández in a new commercial. The commercial and campaign aim to reach both English- and Spanish-speaking Latino-owned small businesses, who are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the United States, having grown by 34% in the last decade.
Chicharito has become a cultural icon in many Latino communities due to his achievements on the soccer field. Chicharito embodies what it means to work hard and achieve great things.
Access to private funding is one of the most significant barriers that Latino small businesses face. Businesses can use QuickBooks to automate and streamline their financial processes, pay employees, get paid quickly, and gain access to capital.
Almost 60% of QuickBooks Capital customers would not have qualified for a loan anywhere else. Furthermore, entrepreneurs who applied through QuickBooks Capital saw a threefold increase in approval rates.
“The rapid growth of Latino-owned small businesses has accelerated our efforts to drive more awareness of our financial tools, Knowing the many challenges that they are facing on a daily basis, we believe that it’s a critical time for QuickBooks to be a partner to Latino entrepreneurs and help them prosper.”
-Dan McCarthy, senior vice president and chief business officer at Intuit
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MANAGEMENT
SMART Global Holdings, Inc. | June 30, 2022
SMART Global Holdings, Inc. (“SGH” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: SGH) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with affiliates of Siris Capital Group, LLC, to acquire Stratus Technologies (“Stratus”), a global leader in simplified, protected, and autonomous computing solutions in the data center and at the Edge. Under the terms of the agreement, SGH will pay $225 million in cash at closing and an earn-out payment of up to $50 million, based on the gross profit performance of the Stratus business during the first full 12 fiscal months of Stratus following the closingConsistent with the Company’s existing lines of business, Stratus delivers differentiated technology solutions to specialty end markets. In particular, the addition of Stratus’ high-availability, fault-tolerant computing platforms, software, and services will expand the Company’s Intelligent Platform Solutions (“IPS”) business to better serve Stratus and IPS customers worldwide.
This transaction builds upon our successful track record of M&A at SGH, The high-availability and fault-tolerant capabilities of Stratus will expand our IPS offerings in Edge, Core, and Cloud, and will enable us to more comprehensively address our combined customers’ needs. We look forward to welcoming the Stratus team to SGH.
Strategic and Financial Benefits
Diversified solutions in the data center and at the Edge: Stratus’ high-availability and fault-tolerant platforms, software, and services expand IPS’ technology offerings.
Large-scale global customer base: Stratus has a strong global customer base, including more than half of the Fortune 100 companies.
Differentiated technology: Stratus offers differentiated products and services, consistent with SGH’s focus on providing value-add solutions for specialty end markets.
Comprehensive services: Stratus’ services capabilities and infrastructure will result in adding more than $80M of higher margin, recurring revenue for IPS.
Strong financial profile expected to be immediately accretive: The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to gross margin, non-GAAP EPS, and free cash flow.
“By joining SGH, we significantly expand our customer reach and capabilities to deliver data center and Edge solutions and services, enabling our customers to run their most important mission-critical applications, We are excited to join SGH, and look forward to contributing to the company’s growth. Their operating model and acquisition strategy offer tremendous opportunity to our customers, partners, and employees.”
-Dave Laurello, President and CEO of Stratus.
Transaction Terms and Financing
Under the terms of the agreement, which has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies, SGH will make an initial cash payment of $225 million upon closing. Additionally, Stratus equity holders have the potential to receive an earn-out payment up to $50 million based on the gross profit performance of the Stratus business during the first full 12 fiscal months of Stratus following the closing of the transaction, payable in cash, ordinary shares of SGH, or a mix of cash and ordinary shares of SGH (at SGH’s election). The transaction is subject to requisite regulatory approvals and satisfaction of customary closing conditions. The transaction is not subject to any financing contingency. SGH exited its third fiscal quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $387 million and an additional $250 million revolving credit facility available for use.
Following the close of the transaction, which is expected to occur in the second half of calendar year 2022, SGH expects to incorporate the Stratus brand and trademarks into the SGH portfolio of businesses and will operate Stratus under its Intelligent Platform Solutions Group. For more information about this transaction, please visit https://www.sghcorp.com/stratus/.
About Stratus
For leaders digitally transforming their operations to drive predictable, peak performance with minimal risk, Stratus ensures the continuous availability of business-critical applications by delivering zero-touch Edge Computing platforms that are simple to deploy and maintain, protected from interruptions and threats, and autonomous. For 40 years, we have provided reliable and redundant zero-touch computing, enabling global Fortune 500 companies and small-to-medium sized businesses to securely and remotely turn data into actionable intelligence at the Edge, Cloud and Data Center – driving uptime and efficiency.For more information, please visit https://www.stratus.com/.
About SGH
At SGH, our companies are united by a drive to raise the bar, execute with discipline and focus on what’s next for the technologies that support and advance the world. Across computing, memory, and LED lighting solutions, we build long-term strategic partnerships with our customers. Backed by a proven leadership team, we operate with excellence around the globe while unlocking new avenues of growth for our business and industry.Learn more about us at SGHcorp.com.
About Siris
Siris is a leading private equity firm that invests primarily in mature technology and telecommunications companies with mission-critical products and services, facing industry changes or other significant transitions. Siris' development of proprietary research to identify opportunities and its extensive collaboration with its Executive Partners and Advisors are integral to its approach. Siris' Executive Partners and Advisors are experienced senior operating executives that actively participate in key aspects of the transaction lifecycle to help identify opportunities and drive strategic and operational value. Siris is based in New York, Silicon Valley and West Palm Beach, and has raised nearly $6 billion in cumulative capital commitments.
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