NEW FUNDS
X Marks the Spot: Kohlberg & Company Closes Fund Ten
Middle-market investor Kohlberg & Company has completed the final closing of its 10th private equity fund, Kohlberg Investors X LP (Fund X), securing $4.3 billion in commitments. Additionally, the firm
CenterOak Closes Fund III at $1.1 Billion
CenterOak Partners has held a final, oversubscribed, and hard cap close CenterOak Equity Fund III LP with $1.1 billion of capital. Limited partners in Fund III were primarily existing institutional
HarbourVest Closes Latest Secondaries Funds at Record $18.5 Billion
HarbourVest has held an oversubscribed, hard cap, and final closing of its eleventh private equity secondaries fund, Dover Street XI LP, with $15.1 billion of capital. In addition, the firm
Resurgens Closes $800 Million Third Fund
Resurgens Technology Partners, an investor in North American and European lower middle-market software companies, has closed its third fund with $800 million in capital commitments. Similar to its $500 million
Hidden Harbor Not So Hidden Anymore
Hidden Harbor has held a final closing of Hidden Harbor Capital Partners III LP with $800 million of limited partner commitments. Limited partners in Fund III include both existing and
Agellus Capital Closes Inaugural Fund at $400 Million
Agellus Capital has held a final and hard cap close of its debut fund, Agellus Capital Private Equity Fund I LP (Fund I), with total limited partner capital commitments of
NewSpring Mezzanine Raises New and Largest Fund
NewSpring has held a final and oversubscribed close of NewSpring Mezzanine Capital V LP with $390 million of capital commitments. NewSpring’s new mezzanine fund (NSM V) was backed by both
Kingswood Races to Oversubscribed Fund III Close
Kingswood Capital Management has held a final close its oversubscribed and above target third fund, Kingswood Capital Opportunities Fund III LP, with total capital commitments of $1.5 billion. Kingswood began
NEW PLATFORMS
Summit Park Soars with Latest Buy
Summit Park has acquired Thrust Flight, a provider of professional flight training services. In this transaction, Summit Park partnered with Thrust Flight’s founder and CEO, Patrick Arnzen, other senior management team members, and AltitudeX Aviation.
Bravo! Rotunda Invests in Mama Lycha Foods
Rotunda Capital Partners has acquired Mama Lycha Foods in partnership with the founding Padilla family. Mama Lycha provides branded Latin American foods and beverage products to over 750 retail customers across 37 US states and
Shore Launches Electrical Safety Platform
Shore Capital Partners has formed Guidant Power as a new electrical safety platform and has acquired its first two businesses with the buys of Rozel Electrical Safety Consultants and BCH Safety. Rozel provides arc flash
OceanSound Acquires PAR Excellence from Northlane
OceanSound Partners has acquired PAR Excellence Systems from Northlane Capital Partners. PAR Excellence delivers inventory management systems—encompassing hardware products and cloud-based software—tailored for government, non-profit, and private healthcare organizations. These systems automate inventory replenishment and
NEWS
NEW EXITS
Swander Pace Sells Reliance Vitamin to Impetus Wellness
Swander Pace Capital (SPC) has completed the sale of Reliance Vitamin to Impetus Wellness Group, a new platform company formed by AEA Investors. Reliance Vitamin was acquired in October 2017 by Branch Brook Holdings, a
Advent Closes Sale of CAES to Honeywell
Advent International has closed the sale of CAES Systems to Honeywell in an all-cash transaction for $1.9 billion. CAES provides advanced electronics components, including antenna systems and communication networks, used by aerospace and defense companies
Gridiron Sells Foundation Wellness to Bansk
Gridiron Capital has exited its investment in Foundation Wellness with the sale of the company to Bansk Group. Gridiron Capital acquired Foundation Wellness (then Remington Products Company) in April 2019. Remington Products was founded in
NEW ADD ONS
Aterian’s Medical Device Platform Adds Another
Vantedge Medical, a portfolio company of Aterian Investment Partners, has closed the add-on acquisition of Hobson & Motzer. Hobson is the fifth medical add-on acquisition for Vantedge, formerly Vander-Bend Manufacturing, since being acquired
Wynnchurch Keeps Stacking Up its Foam Platform
Foam Holdings (DBA Alleguard), a platform company of Wynnchurch Capital, has acquired Harbor Foam, a manufacturer of expanded polystyrene (EPS) products. Harbor Foam manufactures EPS products, which are lightweight, rigid cellular materials utilized
NEW FINANCINGS
Trinity Launches Sponsor Finance Vertical
Publicly traded Trinity Capital has formed a new sponsor finance vertical and added three new professionals to its team to staff the new strategy. Trinity Capital (NASDAQ: TRIN) is a
LongueVue Acquires Kingston Brass with Abacus Backing
LongueVue Capital (LVC) has acquired Kingston Brass, a designer and distributor of kitchen and bathroom fixtures, bathtubs, and accessories. Kingston designs and distributes water fixtures, bathtubs, kitchen and bathroom accessories,
Lineage Acquires Bellwether Media with Abacus Backing
Abacus Finance Group was the Senior Secured Credit Facilities Administrative Agent and Sole Lender for senior secured credit facilities used to back the acquisition of Bellwether Media by Lineage Capital.
Lincoln Road’s Newest Platform Corners Houston Landscaping Market
Lincoln Road has acquired Silversand Services and SLI Landscape, providers of commercial landscaping services in the Houston metropolitan area. Silversand’s and SLI’s services include landscaping, irrigation management, tree care, interior
O2 Sponsor Finance Backs Soundcore’s Paving Platform
O2 Sponsor Finance, a division of Old Second National Bank, provided the senior bank financing to back the acquisitions by Soundcore Capital Partners of ACI Asphalt & Concrete (ACI) and ACS Asphalt Concrete Solutions (ACS). Soundcore specializes in North America-based buy-and-build investments in the lower middle market. Target companies typically have revenues up to $150 million and are active in business and outsourced services, industrial services, specialty manufacturing, and value-added distribution sectors. New York City-headquartered Soundcore formed its ACI Holdings
Abacus Backs Eureka’s Buy of Advertiser Perceptions
Eureka Equity Partners has acquired Advertiser Perceptions with senior debt and an equity co-investment from Abacus Finance. Abacus was the Senior Secured Credit Facilities Administrative Agent and Sole Lender. Advertiser Perceptions is a provider of research-based data, market intelligence, and analysis to the media, advertising, and ad tech industries. The company was founded in 2002 by Ken Pearl and Randy Cohen and is headquartered in New York City. “Abacus provided us with tremendous support early on in this transaction and
Always Active Abacus Starts Fast
Abacus Finance is continuing its active support of private equity buyouts with the close of new transactions for Thompson Street Capital Partners, American Pacific Group, Pine Tree Equity, and WestView Capital. In December, Abacus provided $34.5 million of debt to support American Pacific’s acquisition of Media 1 Digital Imaging Solutions, a distributor and integrator of private label and third-party wide-format, digital textile printing products including consumable textiles and fabric, ink, paper, and solvent; equipment, accessories, and replacement parts. Media 1’s
FEATURED TRANSACTIONS
One Sweet Deal! Shore’s Sweetmore Buys Sweet Eddie’s
Sweetmore Bakeries, a portfolio company of Shore Capital, has acquired Sweet Eddie’s, a wholesale manufacturer of cinnamon rolls and other baked goods. Sweetmore Bakeries was launched by Shore through the September 2019 acquisition
Arsenal’s Sealing Platform Sold to Henkel
Arsenal Capital Partners has sold its portfolio company Seal For Life Industries to publicly traded Henkel AG & Co. Seal For Life is a supplier of protective coating and sealing products that are
CW Industrial Seals the Deal with Mantaline Buy
CW Industrial Partners has acquired Mantaline Corporation, an Ohio-based extruder of plastic and rubber products. Mantaline designs, prototypes, validates, and manufactures extruded elastomeric products including seals, protectors and insulations that are used in
Trinity Hunt Establishes Coker as New Platform
Trinity Hunt Partners has acquired Coker Group, a provider of healthcare advisory services. Coker provides performance transformation, transaction advisory, and compliance consulting services to hospitals, physician groups, private equity-backed platforms, and other healthcare
Patriot Pickle Acquires First Place Foods
Patriot Pickle, a maker and distributor of pickles and a portfolio company of Swander Pace Capital, has acquired First Place Foods. First Place Foods manufactures a wide variety of fermented (shelf stable) and refrigerated pickles, relishes, and other pickled vegetables that are sold to the restaurant, foodservice, institutional, and retail markets. Third-generation family-owned First Place Foods, led by President Pat Hunn, operates manufacturing and warehousing facilities near Dallas in Garland, Texas. “For more than 15 years, First Place Foods has
SK’s Canlak Coatings Buys Ceramic Industrial Coatings
Canlak Coatings, a portfolio company of SK Capital Partners, has acquired Ceram-Traz (DBA Ceramic Industrial Coatings). Ceramic Industrial Coatings is a manufacturer of custom and proprietary water and solvent-based wood coatings as well as other coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers (CASE) products. Ceramic Industrial, led by CEO Rob Laubscher, was founded in 1962 and operates a 90,000-square-foot facility in Osseo, Minnesota (headquarters) and a 52,000-square-foot facility in Kansas City, Kansas. “We are tremendously excited about our future partnership with Canlak
PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
Adam Klein Joins Paine Schwartz Partners
Vestar Gets a New VP
Media Banker Seth Rosenfield Joins BGL
Gridiron Hires Capital Markets Pro
Palladium Gets a New President
Kinderhook Names New Managing Directors
STRATEGIES & STUDIES
Janney Continues Acquisitive Ways with Buy of TM
Janney Montgomery Scott has agreed to acquire middle market investment bank TM Capital, a provider of M&A advisory services across the business services, industrials, healthcare, and consumer sectors. TM Capital is led by CEO James
Align Launches Independent Sponsor Strategy
Align Capital Partners (ACP) has announced the launched of a new independent sponsor-focused private equity strategy, Align Collaborate. ACP founded Align Collaborate in partnership with independent sponsor investors, Grant Kornman and Michael Kornman. Prior to
Bain & Company: Private Equity Finds a Footing
According to Bain & Company’s 2024 Private Equity Midyear Report, the two-year long slump in global private equity looks finally to be bottoming out with the industry finding a footing from which to climb back.
Life Outside the Forties: Navigating Political Risk
If you studied corporate finance or portfolio management 20 years ago, “political risk” tended to refer to a country’s stability in government and the transparency/integrity of its capital markets. Those considerations still matter, but the
Capstone: Middle Market Participants are Optimistic for a Recovery in 2024
Capstone Partners has released its 2023 Middle Market M&A Valuations Index which shows that while equity markets largely shrugged off the rapid succession of interest rate hikes in 2023, middle market merger and acquisition valuations
Lincoln Private Market Index Closes 2023 at a Record High
The Lincoln Private Market Index (LPMI), which tracks changes in the enterprise value of US privately held companies, increased by 0.6% during the fourth quarter of 2023, resulting in the index ending 2023 at another
Swander Pace Sells Reliance Vitamin to Impetus Wellness
Swander Pace Capital (SPC) has completed the sale of Reliance Vitamin to Impetus Wellness Group, a new platform company formed by AEA Investors. Reliance Vitamin
Summit Park Soars with Latest Buy
Summit Park has acquired Thrust Flight, a provider of professional flight training services. In this transaction, Summit Park partnered with Thrust Flight’s founder and CEO,
Bravo! Rotunda Invests in Mama Lycha Foods
Rotunda Capital Partners has acquired Mama Lycha Foods in partnership with the founding Padilla family. Mama Lycha provides branded Latin American foods and beverage products
More Private Equity News
Blasting Media Maker Acquired by Speyside in $45 Million Carveout
American Automation Group Launched by LFM
Turnspire Carves Pharmachem from Ashland
Montage Acquires Military Fasteners
Carlyle Carves Worldpac from Advance Auto
RF Launches Portable Sanitary Platform
Hammer & Steel Acquired by Argonaut
SFW Sells Micromeritics to Spectris
New Funds
X Marks the Spot: Kohlberg & Company Closes Fund Ten
Middle-market investor Kohlberg & Company has completed the final closing of its 10th private equity fund, Kohlberg Investors X LP (Fund X), securing $4.3 billion
CenterOak Closes Fund III at $1.1 Billion
CenterOak Partners has held a final, oversubscribed, and hard cap close CenterOak Equity Fund III LP with $1.1 billion of capital. Limited partners in Fund
HarbourVest Closes Latest Secondaries Funds at Record $18.5 Billion
HarbourVest has held an oversubscribed, hard cap, and final closing of its eleventh private equity secondaries fund, Dover Street XI LP, with $15.1 billion of
Resurgens Closes $800 Million Third Fund
Resurgens Technology Partners, an investor in North American and European lower middle-market software companies, has closed its third fund with $800 million in capital commitments.
People on the Move
Adam Klein Joins Paine Schwartz Partners
Vestar Gets a New VP
Media Banker Seth Rosenfield Joins BGL
