Kleiner investors blindsided by discrimination suit

Kleiner Perkins blew its response to lawsuit.

FORTUNE -- "You're kidding. Send me a copy of the complaint."

That was the 10-word email I received earlier today from a limited partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, after I asked for his reaction to the VC firm being sued by one of its partners for gender discrimination and retaliation related to sexual harassment.

In other words, Kleiner Perkins didn't tell its own investors MORE

Kleiner Perkins sued for gender discrimination, retaliation

FORTUNE -- Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has been sued by one of its own partners, Ellen Pao, for gender discrimination and retaliation.

In a complaint filed in California Superior Court, Pao accuses the firm of discriminating against female employees, particularly in terms of compensation and promotions, due to their gender.

She also alleges sexual harassment by a former Kleiner Perkins employee, Ajit Nazre, and that the response by MORE

Hey Chicago: Let's Get Liquid!

We're coming to The Windy City.

FORTUNE -- I'm pleased to announce Term Sheet will be hosting its next Liquidity Event in Chicago, on Tuesday, June 12 (that's 3 weeks from tonight). Tickets are now available by going here.

No content, just cocktails and conversation with the area's top deal-makers, deal-breakers, entrepreneurs and assorted hangers-on. Plus yours truly. And, yes, it's an open bar.

The venue is Rockit Bar & Grill, located on MORE

M&A

Bridgepoint has hired Morgan Stanley to advise on the sale of Aenova, a German maker of vitamins and generic prescription drugs, according to Reuters. The asking price is reported to be around €400 million.www.aenova.de

Catterton Partners has agreed to sell MonoSol LLC, a Merrillville, Ind.–based manufacturer of water-soluble films used in consumer applications, to Japan's Kuraray Co. Ltd. (Tokyo: 3405). No financial terms were disclosed. www.monosol.com

EMC (NYSE: EMC) has acquired Syncplicity Inc., a Menlo Park, Calif.-based provider of cloud-based file MORE

Private equity deals

The Blackstone Group has agreed to acquire Accor's budget hotel business, including the Motel 6 and Studio 6 chains, for $1.9 billion. www.blackstone.com

Avail-TVN, a Reston, Va.-based provider of digital media services, has raised $100 million in private equity and debt funding. The Carlyle Group led the equity tranche, and was join by return backers Columbia Capital, Valhalla Partners, Novak Biddle and Pioneer Ventures. Debt was provided by Silicon Valley Bank, RBS Citizens and Bank of MORE

Venture capital deals

Sunrun, a San Francisco-based residential solar company, has raised $60 million in new equity funding. Madrone Capital Partners led the round, and was joined by return backers Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital and Foundation Capital. It previously raised around $95 million in VC funding, plus around $190 million in debt financing.  www.sunrunhome.com

L2C Inc., a New York-based provider of analytical solutions for the consumer credit industry, has raised an undisclosed amount of venture funding MORE

Wake up, Europe! It's time for a real fix.

European leaders have solid ideas on the table to help solve the eurozone crisis, but nothing will work without full fiscal and monetary integration.

By Cyrus Sanati

FORTUNE -- The eurozone crisis is on the verge of spinning out of control. For over two years, European leaders and the European Central Bank have been both unwilling and unable to address the real structural issues that plague the common currency. But with MORE

Even with a High Court win, Obamacare won't work

A new study shows that the basic requirements of President Obama's health care plan have been tried, and failed, in many states in the past two decades.

FORTUNE -- The Obama administration maintains that its Affordable Care Act is a complex construct that's endangered if the Supreme Court finds its central feature -- the requirement that all Americans buy health insurance -- unconstitutional. It's certainly true that eliminating the "individual mandate" MORE

3 reasons VCs can get IPOs very wrong

By Glenn Solomon, contributor

In 2010 and 2011, the four hottest pre-IPO Internet companies amongst venture capitalists were Facebook, Zynga, Groupon and Twitter – the "Four Horsemen" of the Internet, as they were commonly called.  To wit, demand to get into the action on these four companies was so strong that venture capital firms starting doing things they hadn't done before – buying secondary stakes of common shares, paying multi-billion valuations MORE

Steve Rattner and Bain: It's complicated

Stop the presses: A private equity exec supports private equity!

Memo to political journalists: Stop being so surprised that Steve Rattner defended Mitt Romney and Bain Capital from President Obama's attacks. Seriously. You're looking ridiculous.

Here's what I'm talking about: Last Monday, the Obama campaign launched its opening salvo on Mitt Romney's business background with Bain Capital. On Tuesday, Rattner was a guest on MSNBC's Morning Joe and, when asked, said he felt MORE