September 16, 2022 | Year 15 | Volume 9 | Issue 5 | |
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Good morning all and happy Friday –
Yes, it’s that time of year again! On Tuesday of next week, we will launch the 15th annual Carried Interest and Compensation Survey. It’s Ok if that gets you excited, after all, what’s more exciting than money? We had exactly 335 funds participate in last year's survey and with some luck, I hope to surpass that number this year. Is 400 funds a possibility? A man can dream.
Don’t forget, this survey is totally, absolutely, utterly, and completely confidential. I am the only person who will see your completed survey. No names of firms or individuals will appear in the published survey results. I've never violated this confidentiality in our 14 prior surveys, and I never will.
Survey invitations will go out to our members and other frequent readers on Tuesday. If you want to be sure you're included just shoot me an email with “survey participant” in the subject line. If you participate and complete the survey you will receive a free participant copy of the results.
Speaking of money, the raising of green to invest in green (get it?) continues with SER Capital closing its $475 million debut fund. Redwood City, California-based SER was founded in 2018 and is led by its four partners - Rahul Advani, Sara Graziano, Christopher Smith, and Rhem Wooten. The firm takes its name from its pursuit of sustainable, environmental, and renewable sector transactions. The new fund has already closed four transactions in the battery storage, EV charging infrastructure, energy efficiency, and solar sectors.
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Not to be forgotten, a big PEP congrats to Matt DelBello on his new gig as a deal origination associate with New York City-headquartered Soundcore. Matt’s hiring is the fifth new pro at Soundcore since April and he follows the addition of three new partners in April (Eric Korsten, Alex Bues, and Jeff Long) and one new partner in July (Jonathan Tanenbaum).
The big read… Technology investor Francisco Partners, which is of course headquartered in San Francisco, has acquired Kobalt, an independent music publisher with a portfolio that includes over 700,000 songs from more than 30,000 artists and 500 music publishers. Kobalt publishes over 40% of the top 100 songs and albums in the United States and the United Kingdom and in May, at the Clio Music Awards held in Nashville, Kobalt was named as its Music Publisher of the Year. Sadly, your favorite private equity publisher doesn’t recognize many of Kobalt’s artists, but a few do populate my Amazon Music playlist including the Foo Fighters, The B-52s, Paul McCartney, and Stevie Nicks. Matt Spetzler and Mario Razzini, artists in their own right, lead the transaction for Francisco Partners.
Still popular… AUA Private Equity has sold Water Lilies Food, a Long Island-based maker of frozen egg rolls, spring rolls, potstickers, and dumplings to Blue Point Capital. AUA acquired the family-owned company in December 2017 and over the next 4.5 years AUA took the company’s manufacturing footprint from 44,000 sq. ft. to 200,000 sq. ft. by relocating to a new facility in Bay Shore, New York. More impressively, under AUA’s ownership, Water Lilies' revenues and EBITDA grew organically by more than 3x. The AUA transaction team was led by David Benyaminy, Nicolas Pflaum, and Trip Ewig, while John LeMay led the Blue Point transaction team.
Be sure to check out Today’s Great Quote, sponsored by the private equity practice of advisory, tax and assurance firm Baker Tilly, with words of wisdom from the co-founder of General Motors and Chevrolet, William Durant.
Best – John
John P. McNulty
Publisher
Private Equity Professional
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Questions, comments, complaints? Call me at 847-868-8807 or email me at [email protected]. | |
Today's News and Transactions | | |
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Audax Acquires DISA Global from Court Square
DISA and Audax are seeking add-on acquisitions that expand the company's geographical footprint, provide entry to new end-markets, or grow its services
Audax Private Equity has acquired DISA Global Solutions, an outsourced provider of employee screening services, from Court Square Capital Partners. Court Square acquired DISA in 2014 from The Riverside Company. DISA specializes in providing employee testing, screening, and compliance management services to companies that operate in a range of sectors. The company’s services include drug and alcohol testing, background screening, occupational medicine and testing, safety training and transportation compliance. DISA, led by CEO John Petersen, was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Houston... Read More
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Victor’s SLIPNOT Steps Up with Buy of Amstep
Victor acquired SLIPNOT in December 2020 with industry executive Larry Wash, Allstate Investments, and the founding Molnar family
SLIPNOT, a portfolio company of Victor Capital Partners and a provider of slip-resistant surfaces, has acquired Amstep Products. Amstep specializes in standard stair treads and nosings (the front of the tread which protrudes beyond the riser) that use an epoxy coating to prevent skidding and reduce slips and falls. The company’s products are often used in the healthcare, commercial, retail, municipal, and marine sectors. SLIPNOT is a provider of specialized safety flooring products and surface technologies for walkways, entryways, stairs, rails, and ladders. The company’s products and technologies incorporate... Read More
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Green Focused SER Capital Closes Debut Fund
SER’s new fund has invested nearly $220 million in four companies in the battery storage, EV charging infrastructure, energy efficiency, and solar sectors
SER Capital has held a final closing of SER Capital Partners I LP with an aggregate $475 million of capital. SER’s inaugural fund closed above target and is backed by a range of limited partners including endowments, state pensions, insurers, health systems, and family offices. SER is a middle-market private equity firm that invests in sustainable industrial, environmental, and renewable businesses that are headquartered in North America. In fact, the firm’s name stands for sustainable, environmental, and renewable... Read More
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Soundcore Adds Deal Origination Pro
Soundcore has been active in 2022 expanding its team having and added three partners in April and another partner in July
Soundcore Capital Partners has added another team member with the hiring of Matt DelBello as an associate on its deal origination team. Mr. DelBello will be active at Soundcore supporting the partners of the firm in developing investment theses and building relationships with business owners. “We are very glad to have Matt on the team. He shows industriousness, which we value greatly here at Soundcore,” said Alex Bues, a partner at Soundcore. “His relationship management, sales and marketing, and... Read More
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Francisco Partners and Kobalt Start Jamming Away
Co-investing in the transaction alongside Francisco Partners is MUSIC and Dundee Partners
Francisco Partners has acquired Kobalt, an independent music publisher, in partnership with the company’s current owners and senior management team. Kobalt was founded in 2000 by Swedish entrepreneur Willard Ahdritz, the company’s current chairman, to improve efficiency, accuracy, and transparency across the billions of micro-payments collected in the music industry. In 2000, the music industry was being disrupted by online file-sharing companies, such as Napster, which were later found to be violating music copyrights... Read More
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American Securities Acquires Meridian Adhesives Group
Arsenal formed Meridian in 2018 as a platform in the adhesives sector and will maintain a minority equity interest
American Securities has acquired a majority equity interest in Meridian Adhesives Group, a portfolio company of Arsenal Capital Partners. Both Arsenal and the senior management team of Meridian remain as investors in the company. Meridian is a producer of custom and complex specialty adhesives and sealants used by more than 5,000 customers that operate in the electronics, infrastructure, flooring, packaging, and product assembly markets. Houston-headquartered Meridian has more than 560 employees and... Read More
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River Associates Buys The Rubber Group
The company's capabilities include prototyping, low-volume manufacturing and complete production runs
River Associates has acquired Humphrey’s Industrial Products (DBA The Rubber Group), a manufacturer and distributor of compression and injected molded rubber products. The Rubber Group’s products include grommets, bellows, bumpers, seals, and hoses that are typically used in high-cost of failure applications in the medical, oil and gas, general industrial, and transportation sectors. The company also provides molded custom rubber products such as rollers and drive wheels, rubber profiles, tubing, and cord... Read More
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Altas Builds Investment Team with New Partners
The two new partners join Altus from Hellman & Friedman and Cinven and will be based in New York City
Altas Partners has added two new partners to its investment team with the hirings of Paul Emery and Michael Korzinstone. Altas makes equity investments of $400 million to $1 billion and typically owns its portfolio companies over a longer term than other private equity firms. The firm manages more than $10 billion of capital and its investing partners include large family offices, insurance companies, pension funds, endowments, and foundations. “Altas’ strategy is distinctive in that we look to acquire only... Read More
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Houston-based private equity firm The Sterling Group, steward to such companies as Bad Boy Mowers and Frontline Road Safety, seeks to hire a post-MBA vice president to join its mid-market investment team. The firm would also like to hire a first-year MBA student for a summer 2023 internship.
Click HERE for more details on the vice president position, or click HERE for more details on the internship.
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AUA Sells Water Lilies to Blue Point
AUA acquired Water Lilies in 2017 and organically grew revenues and EBITDA by more than 3x
AUA Private Equity has closed the sale of Water Lilies Food, a manufacturer of Asian-inspired food products, to Blue Point Capital Partners. Water Lilies is a manufacturer of Asian appetizers and entrees including frozen egg rolls, spring rolls, potstickers, dumplings, and a variety of noodle products with vegetarian, meat, natural, organic, and gluten-free options. The company’s customers include major retail private label and foodservice customers nationwide. Water Lilies, led by second-generation family member and CEO Peter Lee, was founded in... Read More
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Pfingsten Measures Up with Buy of Fowler
The acquisition of Fowler is the 14th platform for Pfingsten's $382 million fifth fund which closed in March 2016
Pfingsten has acquired family-owned Fowler High Precision, a manufacturer and distributor of inspection, control, and calibration equipment. Fowler is a provider of dimensional metrology (the science of measurement) equipment and related repair and calibration services to customers across the aerospace, medical, automotive and general industrial markets. Fowler’s extensive inventory of products includes micrometers, calipers, depth gauges, bore gauges, height gauges, levels and protractors. Fowler, led by CEO Dave Francis, was founded in 1946 and is headquartered... Read More
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Avante Closes Oversubscribed Third Fund
Fund III will invest between $7 and $45 million in the form of one-stop debt, mezzanine debt, and minority equity
Avante Capital Partners has held a final closing of two new funds, Avante Capital Partners SBIC III LP and Avante Capital Partners SBIC III-A LP (together Fund III). Women and minority-owned Avante’s new fund received support from both new and existing investors including pension funds, insurance companies, endowments, family offices, and banks. Fund III was oversubscribed by 50% and closed with a total of $450 million of capital commitments, including Small Business Administration... Read More
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Industrial Services Specialist KLH Buys Thorpe
KLH Capital has a long history of investing in the industrial maintenance services sector
KLH Capital has acquired Thorpe Specialty Services, a provider of industrial maintenance services, from The CapStreet Group. Thorpe provides refractory, corrosion, scaffolding, and insulation services to North American-based companies that utilize assets that operate in high-temperature, high-abrasive, and highly corrosive environments. Many of Thorpe’s customers are active in the chemical, petrochemical, power, natural resources, pulp and paper, metals, and... Read More
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Gridiron Buys Magneto & Diesel from Warren Equity
Gridiron is actively investing through its fourth and largest fund which closed in December 2020 at its hard cap of $1.35 billion
Gridiron Capital has acquired Magneto & Diesel (M&D), a distributor and remanufacturer of aftermarket parts for diesel engines, from Warren Equity Partners. M&D’s product portfolio includes new and remanufactured cylinder heads, blocks and rods, fuel injectors, turbochargers, filtration products, and other engine parts. The company supports all diesel vehicle types, ranging from light and medium-duty vehicles to heavy-duty commercial trucks and industrial equipment used in the trucking, infrastructure, agriculture, marine, and transportation... Read More
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Arcline Acquires Kings III from Rockbridge
Rockbridge acquired Kings III in June 2017 and added on with the 2019 buy of ESRM Communications, a Florida-based competitor
Kings III of America, a provider of emergency monitoring equipment and services for elevators and pools and a portfolio company of Rockbridge Growth Equity and Thayer Street Partners, has been sold to Arcline Investment Management. Kings III provides turnkey emergency monitoring services for building owners and property managers including hardware, installation, monitoring and maintenance services for its on-site emergency phones. Kings III’s 24/7 emergency dispatch center is staffed with certified emergency responders that have higher certification... Read More
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Private Equity Professional has been serving the private equity industry since 2007 and is published by Sun Business Media, LLC. Questions or comments? Email our publisher John McNulty at [email protected]. | | | | | |
