Heeter to cover activists, M&A for The Information

The Information finance editor Nate Becker sent out the following to the staff:

All,

I’m ecstatic to announce that Maria Heeter is joining the Finance team to cover activist investors and M&A. Maria is a familiar face in our New York newsroom, having spent the past year breaking news on Stripe’s $7 billion-plus fundraise, Tonal’s sale process, PE firms circling Sumo Logic ahead of a $1.7 billion Francisco Partners buyout, and lenders attempting to buy Silicon Valley Bank’s deposit claims in the wake of the bank’s collapse.

Now she’ll turn her attention to the resurgence of activist investors, who are climbing all over each other to extract value from their newest investment targets. Activists have a history of triggering thunderous moves at companies, from CEO departures to outright sales of entire public firms. Maria’s remit will also sometimes stretch to other parts of the buy side, like heavy-hitting hedge funds and sovereign wealth.

And as we’ve written and read a million times, there’s plenty of anticipation about a wave of M&A on the horizon. So it makes sense that Maria, a natural deal hound, will also source up in that space.

Maria’s energy is unparalleled, her ceiling is high and I’m stoked to have her on our team. Her hiring continues our push to field a Finance team that I hope will become among the best-sourced, smartest and hardest-working in business journalism, bolstering and buttressing the top-notch technology coverage we’ve done at The Information for years.

Nate