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Charlesbank Makes Progress on Fund X | Golden Gate and L Catterton Eye Exits | New Energy’s Biden Hopes
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As we head into Thanksgiving week, the head of the General Services Administration said yesterday that she would provide Joe Biden federal resources to transition to the White House. The president-elect had already announced plans for some of his initial cabinet picks, starting with some national security posts and a special envoy for climate change. News is also trickling out about Mr. Biden’s intended choices for Secretary of State and head of the U.S. Treasury Department.
The private-equity industry is heading into what historically has been a busy time for fundraising as firms seek to lock in closings between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Whether this year follows that pattern remains to be seen. This morning, Preeti Singh has news of one midmarket firm, Charlesbank Capital Partners, that is steadily picking up commitments for its newest flagship fund. Meanwhile, two private-equity-backed companies, Golden Gate Capital-backed financial services provider Aperio Group and L Catterton-backed hot sauce brand Cholula, each are headed for potential exits. Finally, our own Luis Garcia writes about one renewable energy investor that sees potential benefits in a Biden presidential administration in the form of renewable-energy tax credits.
Dive in for more details on these and other stories...
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A view of the Charles River Esplanade and the skyline of Boston, where Charlesbank Capital Partners is based.
PHOTO: MADDIE MEYER/GETTY IMAGES
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Midmarket private-equity firm Charlesbank Capital Partners is picking up commitments for its 10th flagship vehicle and a related overage fund, after corralling almost $1.4 billion across its debut technology and second credit funds earlier this year, WSJ Pro Private Equity’s Preeti Singh reports. The Boston-based firm is seeking $3.25 billion for Charlesbank Equity Fund X LP, which has an upper limit of $3.75 billion, according to documents prepared for the Rhode Island State Investment Commission, which oversees an $8.68 billion state pension system.
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BlackRock has agreed to purchase financial-services firm Aperio Group LLC from private-equity firm Golden Gate Capital and the company’s employees for $1.05 billion, a little more than two years after Golden Gate invested in the company. Sausalito, Calif.-based Aperio offers customized index equity portfolios for clients of private banks and other wealth managers.
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Seasonings company McCormick & Co. is nearing a deal to buy hot-sauce brand Cholula from its private-equity owner L Catterton, seeking to capitalize on record demand for spicy condiments, the Journal’s Cara Lombardo reports. A deal, culminating an auction of the business, would value Cholula at around $800 million.
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New Energy Capital Partners, a private-equity firm that backs developers of solar-power and other renewable-energy projects, expects President-elect Joe Biden to give a boost to the sector by extending incentives as the firm invests a $500 million credit fund, Luis Garcia reports for WSJ Pro Private Equity. No matter which party controls the Senate, incentives will be significant, said Scott Brown, New Energy Capital’s chief executive and a managing partner. “What I expect to see would be an extension of the investment tax credit and the production tax credit,” he said.
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$4.97 Trillion
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The amount of assets under management in Asia private markets funds, including private equity, private credit, hedge funds and venture capital, according to Preqin Ltd., which said the total would rise by roughly 25% compounded annually from $1.82 trillion this year
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A Valet Living employee caring for a renter’s cat at The Hermitage Apartments in St. Petersburg, Fla., last year. GI Partners has acquired Valet Living from Ares Management Corp. and Harvest Partners.
PHOTO: SCOTT KEELER / ZUMA PRESS
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San Francisco-based investment firm GI Partners has acquired multifamily housing services provider Valet Living from Ares Management Corp. and Harvest Partners. The Tampa, Fla.-based company’s services to more than 1.6 million apartments in buildings across 40 states include waste collection, cleaning, fitness and pet care. Ares and Harvest recapitalized the company in 2015.
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Seth Klarman’s multi-strategy investment firm Baupost Group is acquiring a majority stake in privately-held watchmaker Timex Group. The Middlebury, Conn.-based company said the transaction is expected to close by year-end. Baupost, which has roughly $29 billion in assets under management, is investing in the company through its private corporate investments strategy.
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Metalmark Capital led a $65 million investment in Northeast Natural Energy LLC, which also received an extension on a credit facility provided by EIG Global Energy Partners. The Charleston, W.Va.-based company operates wells producing natural gas from the Marcellus shale formation in the U.S. Appalachian Basin. Private-equity firm Metalmark initially backed the company in 2010.
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A Chinese cosmetics company backed by Carlyle Group Inc. and Hillhouse Capital, Yatsen Holding Ltd., raised more than $616.8 million in an initial public offering of American depositary shares last week, selling more than 58.7 million of the shares at $10.50 each, a regulatory filing shows. The shares closed at $20.03 on their first day of trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. Carlyle backed the Guangzhou, China-based company in a September financing round through its CGI IX Investments strategy, a separate filing shows, though it is unclear how big the firm’s stake is. Hillhouse owned 13.8% of the company’s equity before the IPO. Yatsen’s products include
Perfect Diary brand lipsticks and eye shadows.
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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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A blank-check company backed by Apollo Global Management Inc. has slashed the amount of cash it expects to raise through an initial public share offering, saying it is now targeting $250 million instead of $400 million. Spartan Acquisition Corp. II is the second special purpose acquisition company tied to Apollo under the leadership of Geoff Strong, a senior partner and co-head of infrastructure and natural resources at the firm. Spartan plans to hunt for an acquisition in the renewable energy, energy-storage, mobility, advanced fuels and carbon-mitigation sectors, the latest filing shows. The filing doesn’t say why the IPO was cut back from the target in an October registration
statement.
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A blank-check company tied to Frazier Healthcare Partners plans to raise $100 million through an initial public offering to finance the buyout of a private company that would then be taken public, a regulatory filing shows. Frazier Lifesciences Acquisition Corp. is led by James N. Topper, a Frazier Healthcare managing general partner, as chairman and chief executive and David Topper, a Frazier Healthcare senior advisor, as chief financial officer, the filing shows. The special purpose acquisition company aims to buy a biotechnology business that is developing “transformative therapies” and has the potential to deliver significant returns to investors.
Seattle-based Frazier had about $4.05 billion in assets under management at the end of last year, according to a separate regulatory filing.
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A blank-check company tied to multi-strategy investor Revolution LLC plans to raise $250 million through an initial public offering to provide capital to buy and take public a private company, a regulatory filing shows. Revolution Acceleration Acquisition Corp is led by finance executive John Delaney as chief executive. He is also the co-founder of the special purpose acquisition company’s sponsor with Steve Case, the America Online Inc. founder who is also chairman and CEO of Revolution. Mr. Case is a director of the SPAC, which intends to purchase a company that uses technology at its heart in the health-care, media and entertainment, financial services,
consumer or clean-energy sectors.
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Centre Lane Partners has agreed to sell appliance maker Capital Brands Holdings Inc. to strategic buyer De’Longhi SPA for $420 million, Joshua Kirby reports for Dow Jones Newswires. The Los Angeles-based company owns the Nutribullet and Magic Bullet blender brands and is expected to generate about $290 million in revenue this year, according to the Italian buyer. In a news release, De’Longhi said the price represented a roughly eight times multiple of forecast adjusted pre-tax earnings of the appliance maker.
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Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has rounded up around $1.85 billion so far from outside investors for its latest flagship private-equity fund West Street Capital Partners VIII LP, regulatory filings indicate. The amount raised for the fund does not include investable capital from Goldman Sachs and its employees, according to a footnote in the filings. The firm did not specify a target in the filings, although Reuters News reported earlier this year that it plans to raise $8 billion.
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Carlyle Group Inc. has raised more than $1.42 billion for its second Carlyle International Energy Partners fund, and may have surpassed $2 billion for the vehicle, regulatory filings show. The firm reported collecting over $1.42 billion for Carlyle International Energy Partners II SCSp from 113 investors so far in a filing dated Thursday, but also reported raising more than $596.2 million from 33 investors for its Carlyle International Energy Partners II - EU SCSp vehicle, without specifying whether the sums overlap. A firm spokeswoman
declined to comment. The State of Michigan Retirement System pledged $150 million to the fund in June 2019, saying that the fund would invest in international energy opportunities across the value chain, according to pension records. On its website, Carlyle says its International Energy Partners strategy dates to 2013 and has raised $2.5 billion to invest in oil and gas opportunities outside North America.
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Growth Catalyst Partners, a midmarket firm focused on investments across marketing, information and tech-enabled services, said it has closed its debut fund GCP Fund I with $130 million in commitments. The firm was founded by Jim TenBroek, a former managing director at midmarket firm Wind Point Partners, and Scott Peters, previously co-president of investment bank JEGI.
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President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, an economist at the forefront of policy-making for three decades, to become the next Treasury secretary, our colleagues at The Wall Street Journal report, citing people familiar with the decision.
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Sun Capital Partners has hired Elizabeth de Saint-Aignan as a New York-based managing director with the Boca Raton, Fla.-based firm’s transactions team, focusing on technology sector deals. She joins from Jump Capital, where she was a founding partner of the growth equity group. Previously, she worked for TA Associates.
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Health-care investment firm Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe has hired Mike Butler as an operating partner. Mr. Butler was previously president of the Providence St. Joseph Health, a not-for-profit health-care provider based in the Seattle area with operations across the Pacific Northwest and California.
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Private-equity firm Siris has hired Prosper Vignone as an investment principal for the technology- and telecommunications-focused investment manager. He joins from International Business Machines Corp., where he was most recently head of business development for IBM Global Markets.
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At least 10 top executives of private-equity firms and related businesses, including from KKR & Co., Apollo Global Management Inc.,Blackstone Group Inc. and Carlyle Group Inc. added their names to a letter asking the Trump administration to make an immediate determination that Joe Biden is the president-elect so that an orderly transition can begin. The open letter from the Partnership for New York City was signed by more than 160 business leaders and said getting the process started through a formal designation by the General Services Administration is necessary to keep the country focused on fighting the coronavirus, helping those
in need and preventing further business disruption and job losses. “There is not a moment to waste in the battle against the pandemic and for the recovery and healing of our nation to begin,” the letter concluded.
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Guitar Center Inc. has filed for bankruptcy, planning to cut about $800 million in debt to ensure the nation’s largest seller of musical instruments can withstand the economic turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Jonathan Randles writes for WSJ Pro Bankruptcy. Guitar Center had been planning to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and signed a restructuring agreement with its controlling owner, Ares Management Corp., as well as Brigade Capital Management LP, Carlyle Group and a separate group of investors that own company bonds. Ares, Brigade and Carlye have offered to inject $165 million in new equity investments into Guitar Center and would
own the reorganized business after it exits bankruptcy.
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Stephen Toy and Nadim Qureshi, former senior executives at W.L. Ross & Co. and Invesco Private Capital have launched a new firm called BroadPeak Global LP to focus on investments across sectors that span industrials, materials and chemicals. Mr. Toy previously served as co-head of WL Ross & Co. LLC and global head of private equity at Invesco Private Capital, while Mr. Qureshi was managing partner and head of industrials and chemicals at W.L.Ross and Invesco Private Capital.
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Five investment firms have joined forces to launch the One Planet Private Equity Funds (OPPEF) initiative, in a bid to accelerate the fight against climate change and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, Elisângela Mendonça writes for sister publication Private Equity News. The five firms include Ardian, The Carlyle Group, Global Infrastructure Partners, Softbank Investment Advisors and Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets.
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