Archives for March 29, 2017

H.I.G. Bayside Exits Ready Pac Foods

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H.I.G. Bayside Capital, the special situations affiliate of H.I.G. Capital, has sold its portfolio company Ready Pac Foods to Bonduelle SA, one of the largest producers of canned and frozen vegetables in Europe.

Ready Pac Foods, acquired by H.I.G. Bayside in April 2007, manufactures a range of food products featuring fresh produce and protein sold under the company’s Bistro, Ready Snax, Cool Cuts and elevĀte brands. Products include fresh-cut salads, fruits, vegetables, snacking and complete meals that are sold through the retail grocery store and foodservice channels across North America. Ready Pac, with annual revenues of approximately $800 million and 3,500 full-time employees, has processing facilities in Florence, NJ; Swedesboro, NJ; Jackson, GA; and near Los Angeles in Irwindale, CA (headquarters) (www.readypac.com).

During Bayside’s ten years of ownership, the firm was active in supporting new product development, facility infrastructure and automation, procurement initiatives,
marketing and building out of the management team.

“We have been proud to partner with and support CEO Tony Sarsam and the Ready Pac team as they have transformed Ready Pac into a world-class company,” said Roman Krislav, a Bayside Managing Director. “Through numerous investments in people, processes and infrastructure, Ready Pac now leads the market in innovation, quality, food safety, branding, and overall value proposition to its customers. These achievements have resulted in a highly successful investment outcome for management, Bayside and its investors.”

“We appreciate Bayside’s support in the numerous investments we have made in the company over the years. They have been a great partner, and their guidance and support have enabled Ready Pac to become the market leader in our category and paved the foundation for continued growth for years to come,” said Mr. Sarsam.

H.I.G. Bayside invests in middle-market companies across a variety of industries, including business services, manufacturing, healthcare, retail, food/agriculture, and specialty finance. Typical investment size ranges from $10 million to $100 million. The firm has fifteen offices throughout the US and Europe and is based in Miami (www.bayside.com).

Bonduelle, the buyer of Ready Pac, is one of the largest producers of canned and frozen vegetables in Europe. Its vegetables, grown over 128,000 hectares all over the world, are sold in 100 countries under various brand names and through various distribution channels and technologies. The family owned company was founded in 1853 and is headquartered in the northern French city of Villeneuve d’Ascq (www.bonduelle.com/en).

© 2017 Private Equity Professional | March 29, 2017

Gauge Closes Fund II

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Gauge Capital has held a final closing of Gauge Capital II LP at the fund’s hard cap of $500 million. The new fund was oversubscribed and the partners of the firm – Drew Johnson, Tom McKelvey, and Whitney Bowman – are the largest investors in the oversubscribed fund.

Gauge Capital invests from $10 million to $40 million in North American-based companies that have $5 million to $30 million of EBITDA. Typical transaction types include buy-outs, recapitalizations, divestitures, privatizations, consolidations, and growth capital investments. Sectors of interest include healthcare services, business services, consumer and food. The firm will consider both majority and minority investments.

Gauge Capital currently has five portfolio companies: Miami Beach Medical Group, a provider of at-risk primary care through seven medical clinics located in Florida and based in Miami Beach, was acquired in January 2017 (www.miamibeachmedicalgroup.com); Infosoft Group, a provider of regulatory compliance and recruitment services based in Milwaukee, was acquired in December 2016 (www.localjobnetwork.com); Beauty Industry Group, a supplier of professionally installed hair extensions and other beauty and lifestyle products based in Salt Lake City, was acquired in June 2016 (www.beautyindustrygroup.com); Teachers of Tomorrow, a Houston-based provider of online and in-person training to individuals pursuing a career in teaching, was acquired in December 2015 (www.teachersoftomorrow.org); and Wireless Vision, the largest T-Mobile retailer in the United States with over 260 T-Mobile stores in 16 markets, was acquired in August 2015. The company is based in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills (www.wirelessvision.com).

Harken Capital (www.harkencapital.com) and Campbell Lutyens (www.campbell-lutyens.com) were the placement agents for this fundraise.

Gauge Capital was co-founded in 2013 by Managing Partners Drew Johnson and Tom McKelvey and is based near Dallas in Southlake, TX (www.gaugecapital.com). The firm’s inaugural fund, Gauge Fund LP, closed in October 2014 at its hard cap with $250 million of capital commitments.

© 2017 Private Equity Professional | March 29, 2017

Genstar Buys Bracket from Parthenon

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Genstar Capital has acquired Bracket, a provider of clinical trial technology and other specialty services, from Parthenon Capital Partners. Parthenon acquired Bracket in August 2013 from publicly-traded Express Scripts.

Bracket’s services are used by pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations to maximize the integrity of clinical data in order to achieve greater certainty in clinical trial outcomes. The company has nine offices and more than 700 employees worldwide. Since founding, Bracket has worked on more than 1,100 trials across 47 therapeutic areas with a particular emphasis on the central nervous system. Bracket is headquartered near Philadelphia in Wayne, PA (www.bracketglobal.com).

Bracket was created in 2011 through the merger of the Specialty Clinical Services and Clinical Technologies Group business units of United BioSource Corporation.  United BioSource was acquired by pharmacy benefit manager Medco Health Solutions in September 2010, which was then acquired by Express Scripts in April 2012.

Bracket’s services are used in more than 90 countries to a base of global customers which includes 15 of the top 20 biopharma companies. “Bracket has built a strong reputation with its customers to help them increase efficiency and outcomes of their clinical trials, with a focus on complex therapeutic areas,” said Jeff Kinell, Chief Executive Officer of Bracket. “We were impressed with Genstar’s deep understanding of our mission and our value and we are excited to work with Genstar to further execute on growth investments and strategic acquisitions to expand our product capabilities, enter new therapeutic areas, and continue building on our partnerships with our customers.”

“Bracket is a premier technology solutions provider for pharmaceutical and biotech companies looking to improve the outcomes of their clinical trials,” said David Golde, a Director at Genstar who leads the firm’s pharmaceutical services investing efforts. “We are excited to support Jeff Kinell and his team as we share a similar desire to actively pursue growth initiatives and strategic acquisitions to provide increased value to Bracket’s customers.”

Genstar, which had a final close earlier this week of its eighth fund with $3.95 billion in commitments, invests from $50 million to $400 million in middle-market companies that have enterprise values from $50 million to $1 billion and EBITDAs greater than $15 million.  The firm targets investments in the financial services, software, industrial technology, and healthcare industries.  Genstar was founded in 1988 and is based in San Francisco (www.gencap.com).

“The addition of Bracket to our portfolio of companies reinforces our commitment to investing in high quality healthcare companies with strong growth drivers that can be further transformed by our active involvement with best in class industry leaders. We are proud and excited to help Bracket navigate its next chapter in its journey of success,” said Jean-Pierre Conte, Chairman and Managing Director of Genstar.

Jefferies was the lead financial advisor to Bracket and Cain Brothers acted as co-advisor.

© 2017 Private Equity Professional | March 29, 2017

Twin Bridge Hires Matt Klinger

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Twin Bridge Capital Partners has hired Matt Klinger as a Principal of the firm. Mr. Klinger will support all investment underwriting and fundraising activities for Twin Bridge.

“As Twin Bridge enters its next phase of growth, we are expanding the scale and depth of our senior investment team. We are fortunate to have Matt join the firm, as his expertise in leveraged finance, private equity co-investments and fundraising will be instrumental assets to Twin Bridge,” said Patrick Lanigan, a Partner at Twin Bridge.

Mr. Klinger has over two decades of principal investing and leveraged finance experience.  Prior to joining Twin Bridge, he served as a Senior Vice President at iCapital Network, an investment platform focused on providing high net worth investors and their advisors access to alternative investments.  Prior to that, Mr. Klinger spent nearly a decade as a Principal with Stockwell Capital, a Chicago-based private equity firm focused on co-investments. Mr. Klinger began his career with National City Bank, where he provided senior debt financing for private equity sponsor led transactions and middle-market companies. He earned his MBA from the University of Chicago and graduated from Miami University (Ohio) with a BS in Business.

Twin Bridge invests from $25 million to $35 million in leveraged buyout funds and $10 million to $25 million in non-control equity co-investments across a range of industries. The firm was founded in 2005 and currently manages over $2.2 billion in committed capital across several investment vehicles. Twin Bridge is headquartered in Chicago (www.twinbridgecapital.com).

© 2017 Private Equity Professional | March 29, 2017