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Carlyle Broadens Benefits | BDO Takes Industry’s Pulse | Apollo’s Powertrain Bid | Fire Alarm Deals
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Good morning on what some say is hump day, as in over-the-hump on the way to the weekend, which has always suggested to me that weekdays are to be endured rather than enjoyed. But I don’t see it that way. Wednesdays are just another day to get down to business and we have plenty of news on that front to get you going. Laura Kreutzer reports that Carlyle Group is changing its employee-benefit policy to expand fertility coverage, joining firms that are making efforts to create a more diverse workforce. Meanwhile, the WSJ Pro Private Equity editor also has an exclusive look at a new industry survey from BDO USA.
In other news, The Wall Street Journal’s Ben Dummett and Miriam Gottfried report that Apollo Global Management has offered to buy the automotive powertrain division of parts-maker Tenneco with a bid valued at $4.3 billion. And WSJ Pro Private Equity’s Luis Garcia unveils the details of a couple of deals in the fire-protection industry.
Finally we have short but insightful news items on Warburg Pincus, Colony Capital, Partners Group, Platinum Equity and many more, so please dig in before the end of the week slides any closer...
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Carlyle Group Widens Fertility Benefits for Employees
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Carlyle Group LP’s efforts to develop family-friendly employee benefits are getting a little bit friendlier. The Washington-based alternative asset manager is broadening coverage of fertility services and infertility treatments for employees, including for singles or same-sex partners, according to an internal employee memo sent around the firm Tuesday and viewed by WSJ Pro Private Equity’s Laura Kreutzer. The firm is working with fertility services provider Progyny Inc. to offer the expanded benefit, which takes effect in January, the document indicates.
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Apollo Made Bid for Tenneco’s Powertrain Unit
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Apollo Global Management Inc. has made an offer to acquire auto-parts supplier Tenneco Inc.’s powertrain division, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Apollo’s bid is valued at $4.3 billion, the people said. However, it includes several adjustments and doesn’t assume pension and other liabilities linked to the powertrain division, significantly lowering the bid’s overall value, according to some of the people. For that reason, Tenneco is likely to reject the bid, some of the people said.
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Private-Equity Firms Brace for Slump as Recession Concerns Persist
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Private-equity firms may not know exactly when the next downturn will hit, but many are taking steps to make sure they’re ready, according to a new survey from midmarket financial advisory firm BDO USA. The survey included responses from 200 firms split evenly between private equity and venture capital. Nearly three-quarters of the private-equity firms polled expect to see an economic downturn in the next two years, down from 89% in a similar survey a year ago, according to Scott Hendon, co-leader of global private equity at BDO.
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26%
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The percentage of private-equity firms that cited trade issues as their top geopolitical concern, according to a new survey published by financial advisory firm BDO USA.
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Apollo Clinches $5.1 Billion Tech Data Deal as Berkshire Backs Off
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Tech Data Corp.'s headquarters in Clearwater, Fla. PHOTO: DIRK SHADD/TAMPA BAY TIMES VIA ZUMA PRESS
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Apollo Global Management Inc. has succeeded in fending off Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. as the go-shop period for Tech Data Corp. ended without a new offer from the giant conglomerate, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Apollo, which early last month agreed to take Tech Data private at $130 a share, faced a $140-a-share counter offer from Berkshire and raised its bid to $145 a share, or about $5.1 billion. Berkshire declined to raise its bid. Tech Data, a Clearwater, Fla., distributor of information-technology products and services, said it expects the deal to close in the first half of next year.
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Lincoln Road Global Management and Peninsula Capital Partners scored two add-on deals for Republic Fire Protection Inc., as the midmarket private-equity firms continue to expand their jointly owned fire-safety business in the Southeast, WSJ Pro Private Equity's Luis Garcia reports. Gold Coast Fire Protection LLC and Florida Fire Systems LLC, two Fort Myers, Fla.-based providers of fire-alarm, suppression and sprinkler systems, have joined the Republic platform, Lincoln said.
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Warburg Pincus has acquired business process management services provider Arise Virtual Solutions Inc. alongside portfolio company Vivtera Global Business Services LLP, a New Delhi-based enterprise that the New York firm helped set up last year.
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Union Park Capital has acquired Earth Networks, a provider of weather data, including advanced lightning detection. The Germantown, Md.-based company will join Union Park’s Advanced Environmental Monitoring platform and work with current businesses in the group.
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Colony Capital Inc.’s Digital Colony Management unit said Digital Colony Partners has acquired telecommunications infrastructure provider Highline do Brasil II Infraestrutura de Telecomunicações S/A from Pátria Investments. Founded by Pátria in 2012, the company’s assets include wireless transmission towers across Brazil, serving all the major mobile phone companies.
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Suma Capital, a Barcelona-based private-equity firm, has acquired education company Implika Education in its first investment from its Suma Capital Growth Fund II, which had collected nearly €60 million ($66.6 million) by its initial close earlier this month and continues to raise capital with a €125 million target, according to a news release. Triago is acting as the firm’s placement agent.
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Private-equity firm Acorn Growth Companies has invested in Aerospares 2000 Ltd., a U.K. distributor of aircraft parts, alongside the company’s senior management. The Watford, England-based company has more than 350 customers worldwide, including airlines, cargo carriers and aircraft leasing firms.
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Restaurant investment specialist CapitalSpring has invested in restaurant operator Connor Concepts Inc. Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn. Connor Concepts operates two restaurant brands: The Chop House and Connors Steak & Seafood. The investment will facilitate expansion in the Southeast and Midwest.
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Health-care focused private investment firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson as invested in dental services group Endo 1 Partners, alongside four co-founders, according to a news release. The Houston-based company supports endodontists, including through shared administrative services.
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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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Partners Consortium's Sale Values Project at $2.2 Billion
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A European offshore wind energy installation. PHOTO: JENS DRESLING/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Partners Group, the largest owner of the 396-megawatt Merkur Offshore wind-energy installation, has agreed to sell the fully functioning project in a deal that gives it an enterprise value of $2.2 billion. The buyers of the project, in the North Sea off Germany, include Dutch pension investor APG and the Renewables Infrastructure Group, the London-listed investment company advised by project co-owner InfraRed Capital Partners. Other owners are DEME Concessions, GE Energy Financial Services and ADEME, Partners said Tuesday in a news release. The group invested in the ready-to-build project
in 2016, at the time saying it planned to invest more than €250 million ($277 million) to build out the installation, which has 66 6-megawatt turbines with the capacity to power a half-million average homes.
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Platinum Equity-backed Veritv Holdings LLC has agreed to be taken public through a blank-check company formed by David Cote, the former Honeywell International Inc. chairman and chief executive, and an affiliate of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The deal with GS Acquisition Holdings Corp., expected to close next year, gives Vertiv an enterprise value of about $5.3 billion, or almost nine times Vertiv’s pro-forma 2020 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of about $595 million, according to a news release. Mr. Cote will become executive chairman of Vertiv, whose current CEO, Rob Johnson, will remain in
that position.
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Kantar, the market-research firm that Bain Capital agreed to acquire in July, said Tuesday that Chief Executive Eric Salama will step down next year, spurring an immediate search for a successor. Mr. Salama has been Kantar’s CEO for 17 years and will remain in his role until his successor is found and then will become a nonexecutive director. Bain Capital agreed to buy a 60% Kantar stake from global advertising company WPP PLC in a deal that would raise around $3.1 billion for the
seller.
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Growth investor Aspen Capital Group has added John Gordy and John Haesler as principals, joining founder Steven C. Jones in Naples, Fla. Mr. Gordy joined from family office Pritzker Private Capital, where he served on both the investment team and the operations group. Earlier he was a Citigroup investment banker. Mr. Haesler was previously with Technology Crossover Ventures, a tech-focused growth-equity firm where he specialized in software investments. Earlier he worked for Jefferies in its investment banking unit.
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Colony Books $1.2 Billion in Warehouse Sale But Retains a Piece
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A recently built warehouse has unusual amenities, including a Boce court. PHOTO: AMENT COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHY/RYAN COMPANIES
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Colony Capital Inc. has collected about $1.2 billion in net proceeds from the $5.7 billion sale of a sprawling warehouse portfolio to Blackstone Group Inc.’s Blackstone Real Estate Partners IX, the Los Angeles-based private-equity firm said Tuesday. The sale was framed as a big step in Colony's transition to a digital strategy and away from real estate assets. But the transaction ended up leaving Colony with a 51% stake in its bulk industrial logistics portfolio, reducing its declared value by about $200
million, the firm said, without explaining why the assets were excluded from the deal.
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Taking a page out of KKR & Co.’s industrial playbook, life and health insurance distributor Integrity Marketing Group LLC has given ownership stakes in the company to all of its eligible employees, who must have been with the business for at least a year. Ultimately the plan will give all of the company’s 750 employees a chance to own a piece of the enterprise, which is backed by private-equity firms HGGC and Harvest Partners, according to a news release. The company also retroactively distributed almost $50 million to workers to recognize their contribution to a strong gains in revenue and earnings over the past three years.
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Apollo Global Management Inc.-backed University of Phoenix has agreed to pay $191 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it used deceptive marketing to recruit students by touting relationships with high-profile companies.
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Private-equity backed Polish online commerce site Allegro faces regulator claims that it uses its technology to boost its own sales over those of other sellers on the site and could face a penalty equivalent to 10% of revenue, Reuters reported Tuesday.
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An Alaska oil company has agreed to buy Furie Operating Alaska LLC out of bankruptcy with a $15 million offer that is just $9 more than a lender’s credit bid, WSJ Pro's Aisha Al-Muslim reports. Energy Capital, one of Furie’s private-equity owners and lenders, was named the alternative bidder for Furie. Another of Furie’s private-lending firms, Melody Capital Partners, on Tuesday objected to the sale to Hex. A hearing on the sale was pushed back to Dec. 20.
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