|
Lexington's $14 Billion Secondaries Record-Breaker | Energy Capital Rounds Up $6.8 Billion
|
|
|
|
|
|
Good morning! Fundraising notched records last year and firms have well over $1.4 trillion in undeployed capital, but the influx of dollars rushing into the hands of private-equity general partners shows no sign of letting up. Today, Chris Cumming reports that Lexington Partners has raised the largest ever secondaries fund, while Luis Garcia notes that oil patch headwinds didn't stop Energy Capital Partners from rounding up almost $7 billion for fresh energy investments. Also, Stone Point Capital closed its eighth Trident fund with $7 billion for financial services industry investments.
All that and more is yours for the reading below...
|
|
|
|
|
Lexington Partners has its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, seen above. PHOTO: BRENDAN MCDERMID/REUTERS
|
|
|
Secondaries record: Lexington partners has raised the largest vehicle ever for investments in secondhand private-equity stakes. The firm closed its Lexington Capital Partners IX LP and its associated vehicles with $14 billion in commitments, WSJ Pro's Chris Cumming reports. The sum exceeds both the fund’s $12 billion target and a $10.1 billion predecessor vehicle, which closed in 2015. It also surpassed the former record holder, an $11.1 billion fund raised by Blackstone's Strategic Partners arm.
|
|
Undeterred by headwinds: Energy Capital Partners has amassed nearly $7 billion for its latest flagship fund and parallel co-investment pools targeting power plants and other energy-infrastructure assets, despite tepid interest from U.S. investors, WSJ Pro’s Luis Garcia reports. The fundraising overcame a depressed market for oil and gas assets, which has affected all energy sectors, not just the fossil-fuel industry, according to the firm's founder and senior partner Doug Kimmelman.
|
|
|
|
$139.5 Trillion
|
Yes, with a T—that's the amount of capital held by people with at least $100,000 of investible assets in 2016, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
|
|
|
|
|
MGM Resorts’ sale of the real estate of MGM Grand hotel and casino in Las Vegas is part of its strategy to shift cash out of real estate and focus on new business areas. PHOTO: DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG NEWS
|
|
|
Blackstone has gotten the gambling bug. In its second major deal involving Las Vegas casinos, the giant private-equity firm’s real-estate arm has agreed to deal itself in on MGM Resorts International‘s MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. Blackstone would own just under half of the equity in the properties, alongside publicly traded real-estate investment trust MGM Growth Properties, in a deal first reported by The Wall Street Journal’s Katherine Sayre, Miriam Gottfried and Cara Lombardo. Last year, Blackstone did a similar deal with MGM Resorts involving the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas.
|
|
L Catterton’s growth-equity arm has made a $60 million strategic investment in FlashParking, which provides technology used in smart meters for parking garages, along with other parking related technology and services.
|
|
Blackstone has recapitalized Altus Power America Inc. with an $850 million mix of equity and debt financing through the firm’s GSO Capital Partners and Blackstone Insurance Solutions groups. The infusion of capital is expected to help Greenwich, Conn.-based Altus expand its commercial and industrial solar-power operations.
|
|
Brookside Mezzanine Partners has financed the acquisition of Express Flooring by Valesco Industries LLC, HighGrove Cos. and Longhouse Partners. The Phoenix-based company provides commercial and residential flooring, including carpeting. Brookside facilitated the deal with subordinated debt and an equity co-investment, according to a news release.
|
|
TPG Sixth Street Partners has invested $40 million to fund the growth of Medsphere Systems Corp., a health-care information technology software and services provider. Lee Mooney, principal at TPG Sixth Street, will join the board of the Carlsbad, Calif.-based company.
|
|
Freeman Spogli & Co. has acquired a majority stake in pallet-management company Kamps Inc., based in Grand Rapids, Mich. The company was founded by Bernie Kamps, who remains an owner and chief executive.
|
|
|
|
Our add-on deal interactive tool allows you to sort and analyze volumes of add-on deal data compiled by WSJ Pro. View more.
|
|
|
|
Weinberg Capital Group has sold aircraft wheel maintenance services provider Aero 3 Inc., which does business as AeroRepair. The Cleveland-based private-equity firm first invested in the Manchester, N.H.-based business in 2012 and helped it expand from one New England location to a North American group with shops in Canada and across the U.S.
|
|
Lower midmarket firm Liberty Hall Capital Partners has sold Aircraft Performance Group LLC, a company that provides flight operations software for the commercial charter and private aviation industry. AFV Partners, a private investment firm founded last year by entrepreneur Tony Aquila, is the buyer.
|
|
|
Financial services specialist Stone Point Capital has wrapped up fundraising for its eighth Trident fund at $7 billion, the Greenwich, Conn.-based firm said Tuesday. Investors in Trident VIII LP included the Virginia Retirement System, which approved a $200 million last August and the California Public Employees' Retirement System, which pledged $400 million in March 2019.
|
|
Publicly traded Eagle Ride Investment Holdings Ltd. and Cornucopiae Asset Management have agreed to set up a private-equity fund with 1 billion Hong Kong dollars ($128.7 million) in initial capital, subject to regulatory approvals, P.R. Venkat reported Tuesday for Dow Jones Newswires. The fund will mainly invest across gold mining in China to biotechnology, focusing on companies in the pre-initial public offering stage, Eagle Ride Investment said in a regulatory filing.
|
|
|
Blackstone named Gilles Dellaert to run its insurance business as global head of Blackstone Insurance Solutions, a group that provides investment services to insurers. Mr. Dellaert most recently served as co-president and chief investment officer of Global Atlantic Financial Group Ltd., a provider of life insurance and annuities. Blackstone manages over $60 billion in assets for insurance companies.
|
|
Levine Leichtman Capital Partners has promoted Andrew Schwartz to partner at the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based private-equity firm, which also announced several other promotions on Tuesday.
|
|
|
A medical device maker backed by Goldman Sachs, Elliott Management and Senrigan Capital filed a prepackaged bankruptcy reorganization plan under chapter 11. The plan would divide REVA Medical Inc. into two organizations, both owned by the company’s current backers, WSJ Pro’s Andrew Scurria reports.
|
|
Novalpina Capital-backed NSO Group, a maker of software used by government security and intelligence agencies, could have its Israeli export license revoked if a court move by Amnesty International succeeds. The Israeli company’s Pegasus hacking tools have been tied to hacks of mobile phone technology to spy on handset users. Reuters reported Tuesday that Amnesty International sought to bar NSO exports as a way to prevent its products from becoming tools for repressive governments to violate the rights of people around the
world.
|
|
|
|
Send us your tips, suggestions and feedback. Write to:
Ted Bunker, Laura Cooper, Chris Cumming, Luis Garcia, William Louch, Preeti Singh, Chitra Vemuri.
Follow us on Twitter: @LCooperReports, @LHVGarcia, @LauraKreutzer, @william_louch.
|
|
|