Cut and paste

16 May 2017 By Lauren Silva Laughlin Follow @TheRealLSL

David Bonderman’s investment firm has taken a 4 pct stake in the $1.6 bln online marketplace. A few funds are poking around while Etsy shakes itself up. But passive equity stakes aren’t TPG’s core competence. With LBOs hard to find, managers will test their creativity.

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TPG Capital, the private-equity firm headed by David Bonderman and Jim Coulter, has taken a 4.3 percent stake in online craft dealer Etsy. The company disclosed its stake in a 13-D filing on May 15. TPG has invested in Etsy with Dragoneer Investment Group, another firm run by TPG alum Marc Stad. Together the two funds have an 8 percent stake. The two previously invested together in a $1 billion convertible-debt deal in private music company Spotify. Etsy issued a statement the same day saying it was reviewing “strategic and operational plans.”

On May 2 Black-and-White Capital, a fund with a 2 percent stake in Etsy, released two letters it had previously sent to the board, criticizing the company for poor governance and urging it to explore strategic alternatives.

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