|
NYC Retirement Private Equity Chief to Leave | Mercury Exodus Continues | Endowment Legend Dies
|
|
|
|
|
|
It’s Friday and the week is ending on a sad note with news that David Swensen, longtime chief for the Yale University endowment, died earlier this week after a long battle with cancer. Early in my career as a journalist, I remember how landing an interview with Mr. Swensen felt a bit like you got time with a celebrity. His influence on both the limited partner and general partner community will be felt long after his death.
Also in today’s news, Preeti Singh has the scoop that David Enriquez is leaving the New York City comptroller’s office where he oversaw private-equity investments for the city retirement systems and Chris Cumming reports on an exodus of professionals from placement agent Mercury Capital Advisors this year, including most recently several executives that are joining rival Greenhill & Co.
Read on for more details...
|
|
|
|
|
Liberty Park in Lower Manhattan, near Mercury Capital’s New York headquarters.
PHOTO: DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
|
|
|
Mercury Capital Advisors has lost four employees to the investment bank Greenhill & Co., the latest in a string of departures from the executive ranks of the placement agent, Chris Cumming reports for WSJ Pro Private Equity. New York-based Greenhill said late last month that its global private capital advisory business will be led by Thomas Donovan, who was Mercury’s head of North American private equity through March, according to his LinkedIn profile and information from Wall Street self-regulatory body the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. Mr. Donovan will be joined by Paul Tam, formerly a partner in distribution for Mercury, who will be a managing
director at Greenhill. Verena Jung, a principal at Mercury, and Amani Teshome, a vice president, are coming to Greenhill in those capacities.
|
|
David Enriquez is leaving the New York comptroller’s office, where he leads private-equity investing for the city’s public pension plans, to start a new job, Preeti Singh writes for WSJ Pro Private Equity. Mr. Enriquez’s last day with the comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management is Friday, according to an email viewed by WSJ Pro Private Equity. He joined the bureau in 2016 and was promoted to lead its $15.65 billion private-equity portfolio in 2018. The bureau manages $250.96 billion of pension assets.
|
|
David Swensen, the pioneering Yale University endowment chief who changed the course of institutional investing, died Wednesday evening at age 67 after years of battling cancer, Juliet Chung and Dawn Lim write for The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Swensen grew Yale’s endowment from $1 billion when he started in 1985 to $31.2 billion in 2020 through an embrace of a diversified investment portfolio. He inspired a generation of investors with his approach and groomed protégés who went on to run the endowments of major universities and foundations.
|
|
|
|
|
$681 Billion
|
The value of 65 megadeals valued at at least $5 billion announced this year through April world-wide, including $246 billion last month, according to Refinitiv data
|
|
|
|
|
Kathy Bolhous of Charter Next Generation said her decision to partner with KKR was driven in large part by the ability to have employee ownership. PHOTO: SAVAGE SOLUTIONS
|
|
|
KKR & Co. is investing in packaging materials company Charter Next Generation Inc., joining fellow private-equity firm Leonard Green & Partners as an equal owner of the make of specialty films and pledging to give all of the company’s employees stock too, Miriam Gottfried reports in The Wall Street Journal, citing officials at the firms. People familiar with the matter said the deal values Charter at more than $4 billion, including debt. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is also backing the Milton, Wis., maker of package liners.
|
|
Advent International led a $220 million investment in insurance software company Shift Technology SAS, investing through its Advent Tech strategy and valuing the company at more than $1 billion. Existing investors Accel, Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst and Iris Capital also participated, as did Avenir, according to a news release. Paris-based Shift’s software uses artificial intelligence to help insurers manage claims and detect fraud, and is used for risk underwriting and compliance.
|
|
General Atlantic led a $110 million investment in healthcare company Vida Health Inc., joined by Centene, AXA Venture Partners and Ardea Capital Partners as well as existing investors in the San Francisco company. Vida Health concentrates on the provision of care for chronic conditions by a network of clinicians, mental health coaches, dietitians and licensed therapists through telemedicine other virtual means. The company said its revenue has more than tripled since the start of last year as its network expanded and the coronavirus pandemic curtailed in-person healthcare appointments.
|
|
KKR & Co. is in talks to acquire U.K. investor and infrastructure project manager John Laing Group, Dow Jones Newswires’ Ian Walker reports for sister publication Private Equity News in London. Shares of the publicly traded company jumped as much as 19% on news of the discussions. The company had a market capitalization of around £1.57 billion (equivalent to about $2.18 billion) based on the 317.60 pence closing price of its shares on Wednesday.
|
|
Hellman & Friedman clinched its deal to take private retailer At Home Group Inc. in a cash deal valued at about $2.8 billion. The private-equity firm agreed to pay $36 a share, or 17% more than its closing price on Tuesday before The Wall Street Journal reported that a deal was near.
|
|
KPS Capital Partners has agreed to acquire industrial aluminum manufacturer Metra Holding S.p.A. and Metra S.p.A., with the sellers retaining a 25% stake in the businesses. The firm is investing in the extruded products maker based in Rodengo Saiano, Italy, through its KPS Special Situations Mid-Cap Fund and marks the vehicle’s first investment in the European region.
|
|
Harvest Partners has agreed to back a minority investment in cybersecurity and automation software provider HelpSystems, joining the ranks of the company’s existing private-equity backers. They include TA Associates, and Charlesbank Capital Partners, which invested in HelpSystems 18 months ago, and HGGC, which originally took a controlling stake in the company back in 2018.
|
|
Insight Partners led a $80 million investment in clinical research company Florence Healthcare Inc., joined by existing investors Fulcrum Equity Partners, Bee Partners and Flashpoint. Atlanta-based Florence provides workflow management systems that connect research and study sites to pharmaceutical companies, while also strengthening compliance.
|
|
Bow River Capital has recapitalized content management software maker Xyleme Inc., acquiring a majority stake in the Denver-based company. Bow River invested through its Software Growth Equity Fund.
|
|
|
|
Our add-on deal interactive tool allows you to sort and analyze volumes of add-on deal data compiled by WSJ Pro. View more.
|
|
|
|
Amplitude Healthcare Acquisition Corp. plans to take Jasper Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company focused on hematopoietic cell transplant therapies, public in a deal that would give it an initial market capitalization of about $490 million, Chris Wack reports for Dow Jones Newswires. The special purpose acquisition company, backed by Avego Management and Metalmark Capital, said the combined company would be renamed Jasper Therapeutics Inc. with its shares trading on the Nasdaq stock market under the JSPR ticker.
|
|
Shares of newly renamed Beauty Health Co. rose 2.9% to close at $12.85 in their Nasdaq trading debut Thursday after a blank-check company led by Barry Sternlicht as chairman brought the HydraFacial purveyor public. Linden Capital Partners remains the biggest investor in the company, formerly called Edge Systems LLC, which is based in Long Beach, Calif. Edge investor DW Healthcare Partners also retains a significant stake. The special purpose acquisition company, Vesper Healthcare Acquisition Corp., brought $460 million to the deal from money it raised from an initial public offering last year,
while a private investment in public equities transaction provided $350 million in additional financing. The deal valued the company at about $1.1 billion.
|
|
|
One Equity Partners is selling utility contractor Intren LLC to strategic buyer MasTec Inc. for $420 million, including a contingent earnout. Union, Ill.-based Intren’s roughly 2,000 workers provide design, construction and management services for gas and electric utility infrastructure in 14 states. One Equity initially backed the company in July 2017, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
|
|
Accel-KKR is selling Australian workplace software company Pegasus Safety & Training Pty Ltd. to Avetta LLC, a supply-chain safety software maker backed by Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe, Technology Crossover Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners. Accel-KKR is rolling its Pegasus stake into Avetta, according to a news release. Accel-KKR initially invested in Newcastle, New South Wales-based Pegasus last year.
|
|
Ambina Partners and Atalaya Capital Management have sold medical software company PeriGen Inc. to strategic buyer Halma PLC. The firms initially invested in PeriGen in 2016. The Cary, N.C.-based company’s software is used in more than 300 U.S. hospitals where more than 500,000 children are born each year.
|
|
|
Secondary specialist Landmark Partners has collected $915 million for its Landmark Infrastructure Partners II fund, which the firm closed on April 30. The vehicle is Simsbury, Conn.-based Landmark’s first fund dedicated to investing in infrastructure through secondary transactions, according to an emailed news release. The firm, which is being acquired by Los Angeles-based Ares Management Corp., has already committed more than half the new fund’s capital across six deals.
|
|
CarVal Investors in Minneapolis has raised $490 million for its CVI Clean Energy Fund, which it invests through a credit strategy focused on the clean energy sector. The firm said the fund collected nearly twice its initial target.
|
|
Private credit provider Shenkman Capital Management, has closed its first drawdown vehicle, Shenkman Tactical Credit Fund LP, with more than $325 million in commitments. The fund’s structure makes it more flexible and lets the firm make longer-term investments, according to an emailed news release.
|
|
|
Impact investor Lafayette Square Management has hired Fernando Lamas as a managing director with its distribution team to work on business development and capital formation. He joins the New York firm from Ohana Real Estate Investors, a real estate-focused private-equity firm where he was a partner.
|
|
Multistrategy investment firm Coeli Wealth Management AB in Stockholm named Johan Anbo as head of wealth management in the Uppsala region of Sweden. He most recently worked for Swedbank in its markets and private banking units.
|
|
Atlantic Street Capital has hired Johnny Conklin as a partner, overseeing deal sourcing and business development. He joins from middle-market M&A advisory firm BlackArch Partners, where he was a managing director.
|
|
Los Angeles-based midmarket investment firm Pacific Avenue Capital Partners LLC said it has added David Kreilein as an operating partner. Mr. Kreilein previously served as an operating partner with other midmarket firms and also held executive roles at private-equity backed portfolio companies, according to a press release.
|
|
|
Private-equity firms are expected to raise incentive compensation this year as deal-making and fundraising rebound from last year’s coronavirus pandemic-driven slowdown, consulting firm Johnson Associates predicts. Funding for bonuses is expected to rise 10% to 15% this year at private-equity firms from last year’s levels, Johnson said in an emailed trend report. Investment banks’ underwriting and trading groups are expected to see the largest pool increase, at as much as 40%. Trends suggest incentives may jump by more than 20% in private equity by year-end.
|
|
BlackRock Inc. voted for two shareholder proposals that would require Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. to publish disclosures on how it manages climate risk and diversity efforts across its many businesses, Dawn Lim and Geoffrey Rogow write for The Wall Street Journal. Berkshire’s two shareholder-led proposals didn’t pass, but around a quarter of votes cast were in favor of the two proposals, Berkshire said during its annual meeting Saturday.
|
|
Publicly traded Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP reported a 60% jump in first quarter net income, to $190 million from $119 million in the year-earlier period, saying the results reflected internal growth as well as acquisitions. The Bermuda-based company is part of Brookfield Asset Management Inc. in Toronto.
|
|
Three out of five secured bonds issued by private-equity owned companies in the first quarter included a borrower-friendly concession that lets issuers redeem bonds early without a penalty, up from 26% in the previous decade, Moody's Investors Service says, adding that the presence of a private-equity sponsor typically helps create such exceptions. The credit-rating agency says investors are increasingly gobbling up loans, as they seek higher yields amid optimism with economic recovery, Paulo Trevisani writes for The Wall Street Journal. The resulting increased demand gives high-yield bond issuers more leverage to obtain the early-payment concession.
|
|
Brazilian private-equity and venture-capital firms invested 10.7 billion reais (or about $2.03 billion) across 70 first-quarter deals, 88% more than the 5.7 billion reais they deployed across 59 transactions in the year-earlier period, WSJ Pro Private Equity’s Luis Garcia reports, citing the Brazilian Association of Private Equity and Venture Capital. Increased private-equity investments reflect Brazil's high merger and acquisition activity in general, said Alexandre Pierantoni, a managing director at Duff & Phelps. He added, however, that M&A activity could slow down if Brazil's political and economic scenarios don't improve.
|
|
|
|
|
|