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Thoma Bravo's MedeAnalytics Weighs Sale | Disclosure's Downsides | Duff & Phelps Reunion
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Good morning! As the days slowly get longer and the U.S. presidential election campaign nears its first real test in Iowa, the deal scene is heating up. Our own Laura Cooper has an exclusive look at a sale process that’s under way for Thoma Bravo-backed MedeAnalytics Inc., a data analytics company in the increasingly active health-care sector.
Meanwhile, Preeti Singh reports on some top private-equity executives sharing their views on disclosure and transparency with Pennsylvania’s biggest public pension. And Luis Garcia and Laura Kreutzer put the $4.2 billion Duff & Phelps deal by Stone Point Capital and Further Global Capital Management in perspective. There’s a lot more below, including Blackstone’s Steve Schwarzman on climate change, so jump in...
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PHOTO: ISTOCK
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Health-Tech Deal: Health care-focused financial analysis business MedeAnalytics Inc. is weighing a possible sale, WSJ Pro Private Equity’s Laura Cooper reports, citing people familiar with the situation. Thoma Bravo-backed MedeAnalytics is being marketed to potential buyers based on around $27 million of 2019 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, the people said. Investment bank Jefferies & Co. has been retained to help shop the Richardson, Texas-based company, they added.
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Reconnecting: Call it a reunion, of sorts. Stone Point Capital and Further Global Capital Management’s agreement to acquire Duff & Phelps LLC for $4.2 billion promises to reconnect the valuation and advisory firm with two former backers, WSJ Pro Private Equity's Luis Garcia and Laura Kreutzer report. Duff & Phelps, which has a long history of private-equity ownership, was backed by Stone Point and Carlyle Group Inc. between 2013 and 2015, when Stone Point sold its stake. The company also has a historic connection to Further Global founder Olivier Sarkozy, who led the Carlyle unit that took the business private in
2013 alongside Stone Point and other investors.
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Disclosure downsides: Private-equity firms are willing to be more transparent about investments, but detailed public disclosures on portfolio companies could be problematic, some industry executives told the largest Pennsylvania public pension last week, WSJ Pro Private Equity’s Preeti Singh reports. A public meeting convened by the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System on Jan. 16 provided a forum for the executives to air their views on detailed public disclosure of investment agreements. It also gave the firm leaders a chance to respond to critics who vilify the industry as being focused on profits at all costs.
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$136.5 Billion
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The amount of venture capital invested in U.S. companies last year, according to PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association
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A chicken dish made with the meat produced in a laboratory in Emeryville, Calif. PHOTO: TERRY CHEA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Memphis Meats Inc., a food startup focused on lab-grown meat products, has raised a $161 million series B round led by investors that include SoftBank Group, Norwest Venture Partners and Singapore investment firm Temasek, Heather Mack writes for WSJ Pro Venture Capital. Other investors that participated in the round include Richard Branson, Bill Gates and restaurateur Kimbal Musk, as well as strategic investors Cargill Corp. and Tyson Foods Co.
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Health-care focused firm Frazier Healthcare Partners said it has acquired medical device equipment manufacturer EPTAM Precision Solutions and appointed Mark Kemp, an operating partner at the firm, as the company’s chief executive.
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Bookend Capital Partners, a consumer focused private-equity firm launched by former TSG Consumer Partners executive Alexander Panos is making a $50 million growth investment in Luxury Brand Partners. Luxury Brand Partners backs and incubates consumer brands in the beauty sector.
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Harrison Street, a Chicago-based investment firm focused on real assets, and property investor Trinity Investment Management, are partnering to acquire five life-sciences developments in the U.K. and plan to make more joint investments in the sector in the U.K. and Europe. The firms are also setting up a network of U.K. science parks called Knowledge Factory, according to a news release.
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Global asset manager Capital Dynamics said that its clean energy infrastructure arm has partnered with 8Minute Solar Energy, a developer of solar photovoltaic energy and storage projects to back the development of the Eland Solar & Storage Center, a solar and storage center project located in Kern County, California.
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H.I.G. Capital in Miami has invested in Greek property developer Dimand SA. The company is building hotels and offices in its hometown of Athens.
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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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Prophet Equity-backed Apex Environmental Resources Holdings II LLC has been combined with Action Environmental Group Inc. and will do business under the Interstate Waste Services Inc. brand. Greenwich, Conn.-based Littlejohn & Co. led the equity financing for the deal alongside O-Corp Investments, while Prophet retained a stake in the combined company. Southlake, Texas-based Prophet first invested in the Ohio company in 2015 and helped it expand into New Jersey. Summer Street Capital Partners, an original investor in IWS, also has retained an interest in the newly combined enterprise.
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J.H. Whitney Capital Partners has sold Accupac Inc. to fellow private-equity company Palladium Equity Partners, Colin Kellaher reports for Dow Jones Newswires. Accupac, based in Mainland, Pa., provides manufacturing and packaging services to pharmaceutical and over-the-counter personal-care product makers. New Canaan, Conn.-based J.H. Whitney acquired Accupac from H.I.G. Capital in 2017.
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A group that includes BlackRock has made an initial $100 million commitment to help the giant asset manager raise a $500 million private-equity fund targeting investments in emerging-market infrastructure upgrades linked to climate change. Besides BlackRock, the group includes the governments of France and Germany as well as the Hewlett and Grantham foundations.
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GoldPoint Partners, a private-equity investment affiliate of New York Life Investment Management said it has closed its latest midmarket-focused fund of funds, GoldPoint Partners Select Manager Fund IV LP, with $678 million. However, the fund’s structure allows GoldPoint to commit up to 20% more capital than it has raised, to factor in the uneven nature of the private-equity investment cycle, according to a spokeswoman for the firm. GoldPoint has already committed some $658 million of the new fund to 29 funds and has invested $83 million into 17 direct equity co-investments, the firm said in a news release.
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Hollyport Capital has raised $1 billion for Hollyport Secondary Opportunities VII LP and related parallel vehicles, according to a regulatory filing. Hollyport, which has offices in London and New York, targets global secondary deals. The tally indicated in the filing is double the $500 million that the firm raised for its prior fund back in 2017.
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Health-care focused growth investor Questa Capital is seeking $300 million for Questa Capital Partners II LP, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The offering amount indicated in the filing marks a step up from the $199 million that Questa raised for its debut effort back in 2018. That fund was earmarked for investments in expansion-stage companies across medical devices, health-care services and technology-enabled health care sectors, according to a press release at the time. For its first fund, Questa
targeted equity investments of $10 million to $40 million per portfolio company, the release stated. Acalyx Advisors, which served as placement agent for the debut fund, is also placing Fund II, according to the SEC filing.
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Great Hill Partners has promoted Mary Kate Bertke to principal, head of investor relations, elevated Veda Eswarappa to vice president from senior associate, and moved up Bob Anderson, John Stanley and Greg Stewart to vice president from associate. Ms. Bertke, who joined the firm in 2012, previously served in a similar position at Providence Equity Partners.
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Levine Leichtman Capital Partners said it has expanded its investment team in Europe with the addition of Josh Kaufman as managing director and Luc Sandmann as associate director. Mr. Kaufman previously was a partner at U.K.-based Inflexion Private Equity Partners, although he had worked with Levine Leichtman earlier in his career. Mr. Sandmann joins from Amsterdam-based firm Active Capital Company.
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Blackstone Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman said it is clear that the climate is changing, and businesses need to take action. “You can’t watch the news literally anywhere without seeing giant fires and storms happening on a regular basis,” Mr. Schwarzman said at a Wall Street Journal event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “There’s little doubt that something very profound appears to be going on, and it ought to be addressed.”
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Pantheon, a private-equity arm of asset manager Affiliated Managers Group, is partnering with Kermony Capital in Paris to provide marketing for its funds in France, Elisângela Mendonça reports for sister publication Private Equity News. London-based Pantheon has $47 billion in assets under management and counts more than €1 billion in asset value of French companies in its portfolio.
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Private-equity firms have been slow to incorporate artificial intelligence into the management of their own businesses, according to a new survey from consulting firm Ernst & Young. Among 100 private-equity professionals surveyed, only half said they use or expect to use artificial intelligence to support their investment processes. However, usage or planned usage of AI is much more common among larger firms than smaller ones.
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New Jersey has become the first state in the nation to guarantee severance pay for mass layoffs, the Associated Press reports. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday signed legislation that requires companies with 100 or more full-time employees to give them a week's pay for each year of service during a mass layoff, plant closing or transfer resulting in 50 or more workers losing their jobs. Last year's closing of Toys R Us, which cost 2,000 workers their jobs in New Jersey, prompted the legislation. Two of the private-equity firms that owned the retail giant eventually established a severance fund.
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Financial regulators are wrapping up work on a proposal that would ease restrictions around relationships banks can have with hedge funds and private-equity funds, Reuters reported, citing a top bank regulator. A proposal to simplify current rules around how banks invest in those so-called “covered funds” is expected to emerge during the current quarter, according to U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting.
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U.K. asset manager Quilter could be a "good candidate" for a private-equity takeover, Numis says, citing reports that the company was approached by U.S. firm Warburg Pincus, although no talks are taking place, Adam Clark writes for Dow Jones Newswires. Numis says a period away from the public markets might be useful while Quilter restructures.
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Send us your tips, suggestions and feedback. Write to:
Ted Bunker, Laura Cooper, Chris Cumming, Luis Garcia, Laura Kreutzer, William Louch, Preeti Singh, Chitra Vemuri.
Follow us on Twitter: @wsjpe, @LCooperReports, @LHVGarcia, @LauraKreutzer, @william_louch.
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