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Firms Add a Touch of Show Biz | Excelsior Recasts an Oil Strategy | Mytheresa IPO Pops for Ares
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Good morning and TGIF! Learning the details of the movie-theater industry’s devastation by the coronavirus pandemic can seem like witnessing a cinematic tragedy in real life. But the way Hollywood is being reshaped can also be fascinating, and the Journal’s R.T. Watson lays out the details.
Many other aspects of life have also migrated to the small screen. Today we have an interesting look from our Preeti Singh at how private-equity firms have handled the sudden shift to virtual annual meetings with their investors, with some seeing a need to add a touch of show business as a way of fighting off “Zoom fatigue.” Next, Luis Garcia delves into the way a recently formed renewable-energy investment firm is repurposing an investment strategy used in the fossil-fuel industry. Finally, our colleagues from the Journal and WSJ Pro Bankruptcy report on the IPO from Ares-backed online retailer Mytheresa. All this and much more await, so please take a spin through…
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The small-screen format of many virtual meetings like this one in France can lead to fatigue for viewers. PHOTO: VINCENT ISORE / ZUMA PRESS
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Platinum Equity partner Mark Barnhill took some time to adjust during the firm’s first online annual investor meeting in November. “I was speaking into a laptop screen and didn’t have the normal faces in front of me offering both indirect feedback through body language, facial expression, nods or frowns and direct feedback through questions and comments online as the meeting unfolded,” Mr. Barnhill said. His experience reflects some of the challenges faced by general partners changing their annual meeting formats to virtual last year as the coronavirus pandemic prompted travel and in-person meeting restrictions, as Preeti Singh reports for WSJ Pro Private Equity.
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Excelsior Energy Capital is deploying its $504 million debut fund by investing in renewable energy assets in a strategy that has something in common with traditional-energy investing: consolidate acquisitions and hope to gain from selling the bundles to larger buyers, Luis Garcia writes for WSJ Pro Private Equity. “We have this strategy of acquiring and aggregating 25 to 40 middle-market solar and wind portfolios,” said Christopher Moakley, Excelsior’s managing partner. Each portfolio has an average total generating capacity of 10 megawatts to 80 megawatts.
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Online luxury-fashion retailer Mytheresa, which is owned by Ares Management Corp. and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, saw its shares jump in their trading debut Thursday, Carol Ryan reports for The Wall Street Journal. The shares climbed more than 19% from the offer price to close at $31 each. The deal served as a sort of vindication for Neiman Marcus creditors who fought to keep a grip on the retail chain's online unit, as Soma Biswas reports for WSJ Pro Bankruptcy.
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80%
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The drop in domestic box-office revenue last year from 2019 as the coronavirus pandemic crushed American cinemas, according to Comscore data
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Dallas, home of Continental Battery, presents a striking nighttime skyline. PHOTO: TOM PENNINGTON / GETTY IMAGES
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H.I.G. Capital has acquired electric utility vehicle power supplier Continental Battery Holding Corp. The Dallas-based business distributes batteries used in electric vehicles as well as in the automotive, marine and industrial markets through some 30,000 U.S. dealers. Investment bank Harris Williams advised seler Incline Equity Partners on the transaction.
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Oak Hill Capital is backing broadband infrastructure developer NetSpeed LLC. The Rochester, N.Y.-based company is building and operating fiber-optic systems in parts of Pennsylvania and Connecticut to provide high-speed internet services to homes and businesses and is expected to accelerate its activities with the fresh capital.
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Vistria Group and Excellere Partners have acquired SCA Pharmaceuticals LLC. The Little Rock, Ark.-based company is registered with the federal Food and Drug Administration as an outsourcing facility that serves more than 1,200 hospitals and health systems in the U.S. It provides compounded drugs that are otherwise not commercially available and has manufacturing plants in Little Rock and Windsor, Conn. The company was previously owned by Enhanced Healthcare Partners.
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Canadian pension fund investor Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has agreed to acquire a road project in the Indian state of Odisha from Bharat Road Network Ltd. and its partners in the development. The deal gives CDPQ full ownership of a 67 kilometer toll road between Bhubaneswar and Chandikhole through a 26-year concession that commenced near the end of 2011. The highway is called the Shree Jagannath Expressway.
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JMI Equity has led an $80 million investment in marketing company SOCi Inc., joined by existing investor Ankona Capital. The San Diego-based company provides local marketing services for national retail and service chains such as Ace Hardware and Hertz Corp.
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Partners Group AG has acquired a collection of U.K. industrial properties and an office building in Japan, its first direct real-estate investment there in five years, in two separate deals. The Swiss private-equity firm paid Paloma Capital £253 million (or about $345.4 million) for the 27 U.K. light industrial properties and plans to spend another £200 million to expand the portfolio over the next two years. Partners said the eight-story office building in Japan is near Tokyo and is 100% occupied.
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Riverside Co. is backing Australian health services company Altius Group Holdings Pty Ltd, agreeing to acquire a 75% interest in the business from insurance brokerage AUB Group Ltd. The seller expects to net about 57 million Australian dollars (equivalent to about $44.2 million) in proceeds from the sale, after taxes and transaction costs, according to a news release. The Sydney-based company provides services such as occupational rehabilitation case management, return-to-work support and employee counselling from 30 offices nationwide.
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Ardian is backing a maker of software asset management firm Elée. The Paris-based company’s tech-enabled offering helps more than 100 clients hold down costs and minimize compliance risks involving software publishers while making management of their software and cloud assets more efficient.
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Corlex Capital in Atlanta led a refinancing of gym franchise operator Bandon Holdings, arranging a senior secured credit facility to cover existing loans and provide financing for future acquisitions by the Austin, Texas-based operator of Anytime Fitness franchise locations.
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Vestar Capital Partners has invested in plant-based burger maker Dr. Praeger's Sensible Foods Inc. The growth investment in the Elmwood Park, N.J. company expand markets for its frozen and refrigerated foods.
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Ridgemont Equity Partners has invested in content-management applications provider Softdocs Inc. to fuel its growth. The Columbia, S.C.-based company’s programs are used to manage and automate workflows in schools and universities.
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Boyne Capital has acquired a majority interest in e-commerce company Surge Marketing LLC, which does business as CarCovers.com. The Pittsburg, Calif.-based company develops and sells vehicle covers to fit a variety of models.
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City Capital Ventures is backing Burger King and Popeyes franchise operator Rackson Restaurants. The Bridgewater, N.J.-based company runs more than 55 locations across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions.
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Impact investor HCAP Partners has invested in health-care company 83Bar LLC through an infusion of mezzanine debt. The Austin, Texas-based company helps drug and medical device developers find patient subjects for clinical tests and trials.
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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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Baird Capital has sold a majority interest in biopharmaceuticals consulting business Prescient Healthcare Group to Bridgepoint Group, Elisângela Mendonça reports for sister publication Private Equity News in London. Baird plans to retain a minority stake in the business, which provides industry clients with pharmaceutical intelligence, insights and product strategy. Baird initially backed the company in July 2017, according to the firm's website.
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Bain Capital has concluded its partnership with workforce development organization Penn Foster, which it acquired in 2018 through its Double Impact strategy. The Scranton, Pa.-based company said Thursday that it had received a significant investment from private investment firm BayPine and hedge fund Two Sigma’s impact investing arm, noting at the same time that the deal followed “a successful partnership” with the Bain Capital unit.
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Swander Pace Capital has sold over-the-counter medications and dietary supplements company Clarion Brands LLC to strategic buyer Bridges Consumer Healthcare LLC, backed by Charlesbank Capital Partners. Swander Pace initially backed the Trevose, Pa.-based company when it was created in 2014.
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Gores Group founder Alec Gores is leading the seventh in a series of eponymous blank-check companies to register for initial public offerings of shares since 2015, as Gores Holdings VII Inc. filed plans to raise $400 million through an IPO to finance the acquisition of a private business and take it public. Mr. Gores is chairman of the special purpose acquisition company, while Gores Group executives Mark Stone and Andrew McBride fill out the SPAC’s leadership team, a regulatory filing shows.
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A blank-check company backed by private-credit firm Crescent Cove Advisors aims to raise $200 million through an initial public offering of shares to finance the purchase of a private company operating in Southeast Asia’s technology, media and/or telecommunications sectors, a regulatory filing shows. The special purpose acquisition company, Crescent Cove Acquisition Corp., is led by Crescent founder Jun Hong Heng.
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Rotunda Capital Partners has collected more than $195 million for its Rotunda Capital Partners Fund II LP private-equity fund, the first it has raised from institutional investors, according to a news release. The Bethesda, Md.-based firm focuses on investing in lower middle-market companies that are founder or family owned in the value-added distribution, asset-light logistics and industrial or business services sectors.
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Quaero Capital has wrapped up raising its second private equity infrastructure fund with €600 million (equivalent to about $726.5 million), Elisângela Mendonça reports for sister publication Private Equity News in London. The Geneva-based firm said commitments to the fund exceeded its initial €500 million target and is more than twice the size of its predecessor, which closed in 2017 with €275 million.
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Pan-European firm Agilitas Private Equity has raised nearly $113.6 million so far for its Agilitas 2020 Private Equity Fund SCSp, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday. The firm run from London reported nine investors making commitments to the fund, starting Dec. 23. Agilitas reported that its Agilitas 2015 Private Equity Fund LP had assets valued at about $302.7 million in a regulatory filing in June.
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Tax credit specialist Monarch Private Capital has raised $30 million for its Monarch Federal Historic Preservation Fund II, which has been closed to new investors. The Atlanta firm will use the capital to invest in rehabilitation projects that will generate five-year federal historic tax credits in 2021 and 2022 while preserving the properties involved and revitalizing surrounding neighborhoods.
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Halifax Group has promoted Thomas High to chief financial officer from controller, succeeding Michael Marshall, who remains with the firm in his senior partner role. Mr. High joined the firm in 2006. Also, Halifax raised Davis Hostetter to principal from vice president. He came aboard in 2017.
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Flexpoint Ford in Chicago has promoted Michael Fazekas and Dominic Hood to managing director. They joined the financial services-focused firm in 2007 and 2010, respectively. Flexpoint Ford also elevated Dan Grigorescu, Vilas Nair and Thomas Shi to principal.
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ATL Partners has made a number of promotions, elevating Kirby Fine to partner, Michael Kramer to principal, Andrew Blay to vice president and Lauren DiBartolomeo to chief administrative officer for the New York-based firm.
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While ‘Tenet’ got a theatrical release last year, Warner Bros. films this year will simultaneously appear on HBO Max. KUNAL PATIL / HINDUSTAN TIMES / GETTY IMAGES
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Streaming hit Hollywood fast. In its wake, the industry is racing to find a new way of doing business, rethinking who’s in charge, how contracts are set up and how stars get paid, R.T. Watson writes for The Wall Street Journal. Studios are overturning their management ranks, empowering executives with backgrounds in business development, technology and strategy. Producers, filmmakers and actors such as Will Smith and Tom Hanks are trying to protect their interests in new contracts that aren’t built around ticket sales in movie theaters.
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Centerbridge Partners and satellite communication company Speedcast International Ltd. have won court approval of a debt restructuring intended to propel the business out of bankruptcy under Centerbridge ownership, Jonathan Randles reports for WSJ Pro Bankruptcy. The plan for the Sydney-based company includes a $500 million equity investment from the firm and cuts about $634 million in debt.
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Energy-focused European private-equity firm HitecVision has begun exclusive negotiations with ExxonMobil for the acquisition of the U.S. oil major’s upstream assets in the central and northern portions of the North Sea. The talks are aimed at closing a deal by the end of the quarter, the Stavanger, Norway-based firm said Thursday. HitecVision, which manages about $6.6 billion across six funds, is negotiating the deal with portfolio company NEO Energy, a U.K.-based offshore well operator.
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Advent International-backed InPost has set a price range for its initial public offering at €14 to €16 ($16.95 to $19.37) per share, implying a valuation of €7 billion to €8 billion, Reuters reported Thursday. The Polish parcel locker business widely used for e-commerce transactions in its home country.
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Investment firm Argosy Capital has set up a private-equity unit to invest in smaller health-care companies and hired Paul Barrett as a managing partner to lead the unit, called Argosy Healthcare Partners. The Wayne, Pa.-based firm intends to acquire controlling stakes in businesses with adjusted pre-tax earnings of $1 million to $3 million. Mr. Barrett was most recently a managing director with BelHealth Investment Partners in New York.
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