|
|
|
|
|
Private Equity's M&A Deluge | Aldrich Backs Telehealth Company
|
|
|
|
|
|
Happy Friday, Pro PE readers! The week is ending on a potentially promising note for infrastructure investors out there as a bipartisan group of senators have come to an initial agreement on a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure plan. The plan still has to navigate some complicated negotiations to win over other members of Congress, as our colleagues at the Wall Street Journal report. One interesting tidbit that seems to be back on the table as a mechanism for helping to fund the plan is the public-private partnership, or PPP. We’ll have more to come on this topic as the details unfold.
Meanwhile, in other private-equity related news, as many parts of the world continued to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic in the first half of the year, deal activity has returned with a vengeance, putting fresh pressure on dealmakers and the bankers who work with them, as our own Laura Cooper reports. Also, Preeti Singh has news of an investment by Aldrich Capital Partners in a company that helps doctors track cardiac patients remotely.
Enjoy the weekend! Now on to the news...
|
|
|
|
|
|
For private-equity firms, the deluge of deals has led to sponsors being both overwhelmed and picking their spots.
PHOTO: ISTOCK BY GETTY IMAGES
|
|
|
|
A Covid-muted 2020 gave way to a tidal wave of potential mergers and acquisitions this year that has private-equity firms, their advisers and investment bankers racing to keep up with the crush of deals, WSJ Pro Private Equity’s Laura Cooper writes. A confluence of factors including the pent-up demand following last year’s pandemic-driven deal slowdown and the continued growth of private-markets assets—in step with a rising tide of capital to put to work—have spurred a rush in deal making.
|
|
Growth-investor Aldrich Capital Partners is betting on the expanding use of remote monitoring as patients and doctors explore options beyond in-person appointments after the Covid-19 pandemic, Preeti Singh writes for WSJ Pro Private Equity. Aldrich is investing $34 million in Rhythm Management Group Corp., a provider of remote monitoring services for cardiac patients, according to Mirza Baig, a managing partner of the firm. The deal represents the first institutional investment in the company.
|
|
|
|
|
|
$75.56
|
The highest settlement price per barrel for a Brent crude front-month contract on the ICE Futures Europe market since October 2018, according to Dow Jones Market Data
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Goat has expanded beyond sneakers into luxury apparel and accessories.
PHOTO: GOAT
|
|
|
|
Goat Group, parent company of an online marketplace for sneakerheads, said it has raised $195 million from private investors to continue its push into international markets, Charity Scott reports for the Wall Street Journal. Park West Asset Management led the latest investment round, which valued the company at some $3.7 billion.
|
|
Spectrum Equity-backed Lucid Software Inc. has been valued at about $3 billion by secondary investors in a more than $500 million deal that included growth investor Alkeon Capital Management, Tiger Global Management and Steadfast Capital Ventures, according to a news release. The South Jordan, Utah-based company’s software is used to develop visualizations of ideas, processes, systems and architecture.
|
|
Thoma Bravo led a $225 million investment in Illumio that valued the cybersecurity technology provider at $2.75 billion, according to a press release. Illumio offers technology that helps companies prevent cybersecurity breaches in one part of their information technology system from spreading throughout their entire networks. Other investors that participated include Hamilton Lane Inc. and Blue Owl Capital Inc.
|
|
Bain Capital has agreed to invest about $66.1 million to acquire nearly 5.7 million shares of Icelandair Group, giving the Boston private-equity firm a roughly 16.6% stake in the airline operator. Bain Capital will also get a warrant to purchase more shares at a later date.
|
|
Blackstone Group Inc. raised its offer to take private St. Modwen Properties PLC to £1.27 billion in cash and clinched the deal with the development company, Ian Walker reports for Dow Jones Newswires, citing a regulatory filing. Blackstone agreed to pay 560 pence a share, or 3.3% more than the firm’s 542 pence bid on May 20. The company’s directors support the offer. St. Modwen shares rose about 1.3% to close at 558 pence in London.
|
|
European healthcare firm ArchiMed said it has acquired Stragen Pharma, a Swiss drug developer focused on complex generic drugs for difficult-to-treat conditions. The investment marks ArchiMed’s fourth main portfolio company the firm has backed out of its €1 billion (the equivalent of $1.19 billion) MED Platform I fund.
|
|
Riverside Co. has acquired a controlling interest in cybersecurity company Cryptomathic A/S, investing alongside the Danish company’s founder and management. Cryptomathic’s software includes key management, e-signature and authentication programs used in banking, government and industrial settings, according to an emailed news release.
|
|
RedBird Capital Partners has joined with Emerging Media to acquire a minority stake in the Rajasthan Royals cricket franchise in India. The deal will give RedBird a 15% stake in the Royals, while Emerging Media will increase its ownership to 65% from 51%, according to an emailed news release.
|
|
Oxbow Industries, a St. Louis Park, Minn.-based investment firm, said it has created Oxbow Sports and Entertainment Group LLC, a portfolio holding company that will make investments in the sports and entertainment sectors and companies that offer services to those sectors, according to a press release.
|
|
Apax Partners has agreed to invest in educational technology company Revolution Prep LLC in Santa Monica, Calif. Apax is investing in the company through its Apax Digital Fund, a roughly $1.1 billion fund focused on growth equity and buyout investments in enterprise software, consumer internet, and technology-enabled services companies.
|
|
Boston-based Artemis Capital Partners has acquired Maury Microwave Inc., an Ontario, Calif.-based company that designs and manufactures radio frequency (RF) calibration, measurement, and modeling technology for use in wireless communications.
|
|
Lower midmarket private-equity firm LongueVue Capital said it has backed Traco Manufacturing LLC alongside the Orem, Utah-based packaging manufacturer’s founder and management team.
|
|
Harbert Growth Partners and co-investor Piper Sandler Merchant Banking have led an $18 million growth funding round for Graylog, a technology company that helps organizations log and analyze data.
|
|
Growth investor Level Equity is investing in Sunwave Health Inc., a Delray Beach, Fla.-based provider of software used by behavioral health providers, particularly ones that treat substance use disorder. Level Equity joins San Diego-based private-equity firm Blueprint Equity as an investor in Sunwave.
|
|
High Street Capital is investing in video data storage company BCD International Inc., according to an emailed news release. The Buffalo Grove, Ill.-based company provides technology to collect and store data from video surveillance systems. High Street invested alongside the company’s founder.
|
|
|
|
Our add-on deal interactive tool allows you to sort and analyze volumes of add-on deal data compiled by WSJ Pro. View more.
|
|
|
|
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’ asset management arm and Altor Equity Partners have agreed to sell marine electronics company Navico Inc. to strategic buyer Brunswick Corp. for $1.05 billion. The Egersund, Norway-based business makes sonar, radar and other marine sensors and displays used in yachts, fishing boats and other watercraft. Navico had revenue of about $470 million in the 12 months through May, Brunswick said. Goldman and Altor acquired Navico in 2016.
|
|
New York-based private-equity firm CI Capital Partners said it has agreed to sell sales and marketing agency Impact Group to Acosta, a sales and marketing services provider focused on the consumer packaged goods industry. CI Capital acquired the company in 2016.
|
|
|
Avesi Partners, a private-equity firm launched earlier this year, is seeking $827 million for Avesi Partners Fund I LP and related parallel funds, according to a regulatory filing. Avesi’s team includes Managing Partner Chris Laitala and Partners Chris Williams and Peter Erickson. Mr. Laitala previously worked at midmarket firm HIG Capital while Mr. Williams co-founded midmarket bank Harris Williams and Mr. Erickson had a lengthy career with merchant bank Triple Tree. Avesi plans to target investments of between $50 million and $100 million in companies with between $10 million and $30 million of earnings
before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, according to the firm’s registered investment adviser filing.
|
|
|
Data provider Preqin Ltd. has hired Jaclyn Bouchard as head of environmental, social and governance as it increases efforts to gather and process ESG information for private markets, according to an emailed news release. She joins from S&P Global Inc. where she most recently led development of the financial information company’s ESG product development.
|
|
|
KKR & Co. said it earned more than $900 million in gross realized carried interest and realized investment income during the current quarter through Thursday, nearly two-thirds of it in the form of gross carried interest and 35% in realized investment income. The New York firm said most of the income derives from strategic and secondary sales of investments, as well as dividends and interest. But the firm said it doesn’t include fee income, losses or expenses.
|
|
Former Carlyle Group Inc. executive Glenn Youngkin is flexing his financial muscle in his first political race by bankrolling a $2 million broadcast advertising campaign in his bid to reclaim the Virginia governor’s office for the Republican Party, the Washington Post reports. The newspaper described the ad blitz as early and aggressive. Mr. Youngkin faces Democrat Terry McAuliffe, a former governor of the commonwealth and adviser to President Bill Clinton.
|
|
Private-equity firm Lone Star is walking away from an effort to take private Senior PLC, after the U.K. aerospace and automotive industry supplier rejected multiple proposals by the Dallas firm. But Lone Star left the door open to returning to the table, saying in a regulatory filing that it reserved the right to make a new approach if another bidder should emerge within the next six months or under certain other conditions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|