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Calpers Seeks to Limit Private-Debt Disclosures | Sycamore Partners Nears Victoria's Secret Deal | Former TPG Pro Sets Up Shop
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Good day! It might seem counterintuitive that Calpers, with public pension money invested in hundreds of private-equity funds, would ask lawmakers to put new limits on what it can disclose about private-debt deals. After all, the Golden State has been a leader in public disclosure of pension investments. But Calpers' overseers make the point that the lack of limits can hinder access to this asset class, which has grown rapidly in recent years, and they need all the returns they can get. WSJ Pro's Preeti Singh has the details.
In other developments, Laura Cooper has an exclusive look at a new fund firm in San Francisco formed by former TPG Growth investment professional John Bailey. And Sycamore Partners plans to take Victoria's Secret private. Read on...
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The headquarters of Calpers, the $404 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System, whose overseers agreed on Wednesday to push for new limits on public disclosure of details of private debt investments. PHOTO: MAX WHITTAKER/REUTERS
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Calpers seeks to rein in private-debt disclosures. Overseers of the biggest U.S. public pension agreed Wednesday to press for legislated limits on public disclosures concerning private-debt investments as a way to retain access to the burgeoning asset class, WSJ Pro's Preeti Singh reports. The board of administration of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System will back a bill to establish disclosure parameters on private-debt investments by all the state’s public pensions. Private credit and debt investing has taken off in recent years, with funds bringing in $580 billion over the past five years through 2019, according to Preqin Ltd.
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Victoria's Secret to go private. L Brands Inc. is near a deal to sell 55% of the lingerie brand to Sycamore Partners in a transaction that values the company at about $1.1 billion, Khadeeja Safdar and Cara Lombardo write for WSJ, citing people familiar with the matter. L Brands is expected to keep a 45% stake in the separate company, which will include the Pink chain. After shedding several brands in recent years, L Brands’ operations would be reduced to running the Bath & Body Works chain. Leslie Wexner, the embattled billionaire who has run the retail company for more than 50 years, will step down from his roles as CEO and chairman, the people said.
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Former TPG Growth consumer head launches new firm. John Bailey, a former investment professional at TPG Growth, has launched Knox Lane, a San Francisco-based firm focused on investments in consumer-facing companies, Laura Cooper reports for WSJ Pro. Knox Lane plans to invest $30 million to $150 million in founder and family-owned companies.
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$263 Billion
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The amount of dry powder held by funds focused on natural resources at the end of last year, up 14% from the amount at the end of 2018, according to Preqin Ltd. data.
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Private equity-backed Duo Bank of Canada has agreed to buy lender Fairstone, which is based in Montreal, shown above. PHOTO: BRENT LEWIN/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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J.C. Flowers & Co. and Värde Partners have agreed to sell Fairstone Financial Holdings Inc. to Centerbridge Partners-backed Duo Bank of Canada, Colin Kellaher reports for Dow Jones Newswires. J.C. Flowers and Värde acquired the Montreal-based institution then known as CitiFinancial Canada from Citigroup Inc. in 2017, renamed it Fairstone and helped it expand it as a nonbank lender to borrowers who lack prime credit ratings. Fairstone has about 3 billion Canadian dollars ($2.26 billion) in assets and 239 branch offices. Toronto-based Duo is also backed by Canadian banker Stephen Smith and the
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
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Verdane, a European growth equity investor, has acquired Confirmit, a software provider for customer experience, employee experience and market research. Verdane will merge Confirmit with its data visualization reporting firm, Dapresy AB.
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777 Partners, a Miami-based investment firm, has acquired Uown Leasing, a lease-to-own company based in Tampa, Fla. Uown partners with retailers to offer lease-to-own financing, with a focus on furniture, bedding and appliances. The business will be combined with 777 Partners’ existing lease-to-own product, Mollie Financial, and will operate under the Uown name.
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Motive Partners led a carve-out of Fiserv Inc.’s investment services business, buying a 60% stake to provide Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv with $510 million in net after-tax proceeds. Fiserv retained a 40% interest in the business, which provides software used by wealth and asset managers.
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Vopne Capital, a San Francisco-based private-equity firm focused on the lower midmarket, has invested in ColorCoat Inc., which applies coatings for vinyl window and door manufacturers.
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Wave Equity Partners has invested alongside Chevron Technology Ventures and Marubeni Corp. in Carbon Clean Solutions Ltd., a U.K.-based developer of carbon dioxide capture and separation technology. The $16 million equity capital infusion will finance product development, including “containerized” techniques to bring the cost of carbon capture to $30 per metric ton by next year.
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ACON Investments LLC said one of its Latin America-focused funds has acquired a majority stake in Salesland, S.L., which provides direct sales and marketing services to corporations across Latin America and the Iberian peninsula.
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Dallas-based midmarket firm Highlander Partners said it has acquired Romanian food company SanoVita, which offers a range of healthy food products, including snacks, cereals, rice cakes, tofu and mueslis, as well as nut and seed mixes.
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Our add-on deal interactive tool allows you to sort and analyze volumes of add-on deal data compiled by WSJ Pro. View more.
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Parthenon Capital has sold fragrance-marketing solutions provider ScentAir Holdings Inc. after five years of ownership. The private-equity arm of CITIC Capital Holdings Ltd. led the new investment in Charlotte, N.C.-based ScentAir.
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Palatine Private Equity has sold health-care products maker Vernacare Ltd. to H.I.G. Capital. Chorley, England-based Vernacare focuses on infection prevention. Palatine invested in the company in 2015.
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Align Capital Partners has closed its second private-equity pool with $450 million in capital commitments. The firm, based near Cleveland in Shaker Heights, Ohio, said its Align Capital Partners Fund II LP had targeted $400 million when marketing began in November and is about 38% larger than its predecessor, raised in 2016. The fund’s strategy focuses on growth investing in lower middle-market companies.
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Lower middle-market specialist Serent Capital has raised $750 million for its fourth flagship fund, including commitments made to its Serent Capital IV LP and Serent Capital Associates IV LP vehicles, regulatory filings show. The San Francisco firm listed $1.33 billion in assets under management at the end of 2018 and focuses on growth investments in technology and services businesses. It targeted as much as $550 million for its third fund, when it began raising money for the vehicle in 2017.
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New Mountain Capital has collected at least $337.25 million so far for New Mountain Strategic Equity Fund I, LP, a fund targeting minority stakes in companies across sectors that the firm backs through its flagship funds, according to regulatory filings.
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TRP Capital Partners has collected at least $83.2 million for its latest flagship fund, TRP Capital Partners V LP, a regulatory filing by the Michigan firm shows. TRP targets investments in the transportation industry, according to its website.
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Technology-focused True Wind Capital has hired John Gray as a vice president. He joins from Audax Private Equity, where he held a similar position and focused on health care and consumer goods.
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Omers Private Equity, the buyout arm of one of Canada's largest-defined benefit pension plans, has appointed Michael Graham as its new head, Selin Bucak reported for sister publication Private Equity News. Mr. Graham, previously head of the North American private equity business at Omers, will replace Mark Redman, who the firm said "made a personal decision to leave the organisation" on March 31.
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Will Riedlinger has launched WHR Capital, a new placement agent focused on emerging managers, according to Private Equity Career News. Mr. Riedlinger previously served as head of institutional sales, Americas, at Global Founders Capital, although his career also includes stints with placement agents MVision Private Equity Advisers, Atlantic-Pacific Capital and Probitas Partners.
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Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination recently. A spokesman said Tuesday he would sell his eponymous company, but not to private equity buyers. PHOTO: BILL PUGLIANO/GETTY IMAGES
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Billionaire presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg has put private equity on a par with foreign buyers of his eponymous company, should he win the White House in November. An adviser to the self-financed candidate for the Democratic nomination told the Associated Press that if elected, the former New York mayor would sell his company—but not to a foreign buyer or private-equity firms. The adviser, Tim O’Brien, wasn’t quoted by the news service on why private equity would be excluded as a buyer.
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Olympus Partners portfolio company Liqui-Box Inc. must sell certain DS Smith operations in the U.S., including manufacturing sites in Indianapolis and Union City, Calif., that it would acquire with London-based DS Smith’s plastics division, under an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department. The department said the assets that must be divested include all of DS Smith’s dairy, post-mix, smoothie, and wine bag-in-box product lines, as well as its Rapak brand and other assets, to preserve competition for those products.
Liqui-Box Chief Executive Ken Swanson welcomed the agreement, saying it was a way to move the plastics deal to a conclusion. The agreement stipulates Michigan packaging supplier TriMas Corp. as the proposed buyer.
The Justice Department’s antitrust division sued to block the deal in federal court in Washington and simultaneously filed the settlement agreement with Liqui-Box and Olympus Growth Fund VI LP, which acquired the company in 2015. A federal judge must still approve the settlement for the deal to move forward. Richmond, Va.-based Liqui-Box would more than double its revenue with the addition of the plastics unit, based on 2018 results. The department said the company had sales of $177 million that year, while the plastics unit’s revenue came to $479 million.
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