News

First Avenue Continues to Expand North American Team

February 6, 2015 by John McNulty

Placement agent and investment advisory firm First Avenue Partners has added Mike Taylor to the firm’s North American distribution team as a Principal.

Founded in 2006, First Avenue is a placement and advisory firm active in raising capital for alternative asset managers across private credit, private equity, real assets and real estate. The firm has 46 employees and has offices in London, New York, San Francisco and Australia (www.firstavenue.com).

Mr. Taylor will be based in New York and will be responsible for limited partner relationships in the Northeastern US and Eastern Canada. Mr. Taylor has experience on both the distribution side having previously worked at Greenhill & Co. and also on the limited partner side serving as a consultant for PCG Asset Management.

“With proven global distribution capabilities and an impressive pipeline of offerings, I am excited to be joining the First Avenue team. This is a tremendous opportunity for me to use my experience to build existing and create new limited partner relationships,” said Mr. Taylor.

“The addition of Mike to our sales distribution team further expands the scope of our capabilities in North America,” said Mike Ireland, a Partner at First Avenue. “Mike’s experience and deep limited partner relationships will serve our clients well. I look forward to working closely with him.”

AlixPartners Names New MDs

February 6, 2015 by John McNulty

Business advisory firm AlixPartners has appointed three new managing directors. Shiv Shivaraman and Cosmo Takamatsu join the firm’s Enterprise Improvement team and Jeff Howe will head up the firm’s coverage of private equity firms.

“Shiv, Cosmo, and Jeff bring a wealth of international advisory and sector-specific know-how to the AlixPartners team,” said Fred Crawford, Chief Executive Officer of AlixPartners. “In Shiv and Cosmo we are adding outstanding operational expertise that will be invaluable to our manufacturing clients, while Jeff brings unparalleled experience in identifying and helping to address the unique needs of private equity firms and their portfolio businesses.”

Shiv Shivaraman has over 20 years of industry and consulting experience in engineering, product development, and operations in the automotive and process industries. Most recently he was as a partner at A.T. Kearney. Mr. Shivaraman has an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University and an MSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida.

Cosmo Takamatsu joins AlixPartners from global clothing retailer Fast Retailing, where he was Group Senior Vice President – Business Systems and IT. He previously held senior positions at Booz & Company and at A.T. Kearney. His experience includes advising clients in the automotive and manufacturing industries. He holds a BEng from the University of Tokyo and an MSc in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Jeff Howe previously held Managing Director positions at Jefferies and Credit Suisse, where he was active in directing efforts to deepen relationships with global private equity firms and hedge funds. While at Credit Suisse, he founded the firm’s Leverage Finance Origination Group, ultimately building a team of more than 50 professionals. He holds an MBA in finance from Columbia and a BA in Economics from Dartmouth.

AlixPartners is a business advisory firm with 10 offices in the US and 11 internationally. The firm was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in New York (www.alixpartners.com).

EIV Capital Closes Fund II Above Target

February 5, 2015 by John McNulty

Energy-focused EIV Capital has held a final closing of its second fund, EIV Capital Fund II, LP, with total committed capital of $267 million, beating the fund’s $200 million target. All limited partners from the firm’s first fund participated in Fund II. Fundraising began in June 2014.

Fund II limited partners include the normal combination of institutional investors including public and private pensions, fund of funds, consultants and family offices.

“Our inaugural fund’s strong performance and the continued support from our initial partners provided EIV with the momentum it needed to have such a successful fundraise,” said Patti Melcher, Managing Director of EIV. “We are tremendously excited and grateful for our new partners’ support and believe the current investment environment will leverage our team’s operating and financial expertise to identify and capitalize on opportunities to partner with great management teams seeking to grow through this cycle.”

Fund II invests from $10 million to $40 million of growth equity per transaction in three areas: (i) Midstream – infrastructure projects focused on gathering, processing, distribution, storage and marketing of oil, natural gas and refined products; (ii) Related Services – crude oil trucking, equipment leasing, oilfield water handling, and flare management; and (iii) Expanded Natural Gas Uses – small scale natural gas fired cogeneration projects, LNG as a transportation fuel and landfill gas recovery.

New York-based Champlain Advisors (www.champlainadvisors.com) was the exclusive placement agent for Fund II. “EIV’s track record and midstream operating background attracted a top-tier list of sophisticated investors for its first-time institutional fund in a process that took less than 6 months” said Terry Crikelair, Managing Partner of Champlain Advisors.

EIV Capital was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Houston (www.eivcapital.com).

Maranon Capital Expands Team

February 5, 2015 by John McNulty

Maranon Capital has added Theresa Mozzocci as a new Principal and has promoted Andrew Eshelman to Vice President.

Ms. Mozzocci has over 20 years of experience in business development and alternative investment strategies. At Maranon, she will focus on fund raising and investor relations. Before joining Maranon she was with Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors, Crestline Investors, William Blair & Company, and Duff & Phelps Investment Management. Ms. Mozzocci earned an MBA from DePaul University and a BBA from the University of Wisconsin.

“We are excited to add Theresa to our team. Her experience with institutional investors and investment consultants will be important as we expand the credit and equity co-investment strategies under management at Maranon,” said Tom Gregory, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Maranon Capital.

Mr. Eshelman joined Maranon as an Associate in 2012 from Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s investment banking group. He is responsible for evaluating new transaction opportunities and portfolio monitoring. Mr. Eshelman earned a BS in Finance and Accounting from Indiana University.

“Andrew’s promotion to Vice President recognizes the value he contributes to Maranon’s investment underwriting team and his exceptional work with our private equity clients and portfolio companies,” said Mr. Gregory.

Maranon Capital provides senior financing, mezzanine debt and equity co-investments for private equity-backed and non-sponsored middle market transactions. The firm is currently managing over $1 billion of committed capital and has offices in Chicago, IL; Birmingham, MI (near Detroit) and South Bend, IN (www.maranoncapital.com).

Private Equity Outperforms S&P 500, Again

February 4, 2015 by John McNulty

Private equity returns continued to outperform the S&P 500 over the long term, according to the most recent quarterly Performance Update Report from the Private Equity Growth Capital Council (PEGCC). According to the PEGCC, as of June 30, 2014, returns from private equity funds (net of fees) beat the S&P 500 (including dividends) for the 10-year horizon by 6.5 percentage points.

“As this latest report shows, private equity is the best option for pension funds for a secure long-term investment,” said PEGCC President and CEO Steve Judge. “Our research has consistently found that over a 10-year horizon, private equity outpaces the S&P 500 and all other asset classes.”

Returns to public pension funds on private equity investments for the 10-year horizon also beat the S&P 500, by 5.9 percent.

The PEGCC’s measure for private equity fund performance is based on the median of publicly available benchmarks. This median measure indicates that private equity funds returned an annualized 14.3 percent, 17.7 percent, 14.5 percent, and 22.4 percent during 10-year, 5-year, 3-year and 1-year periods, respectively.

PEGCC calculates the excess returns from private equity by comparing the median values from third party data providers to the S&P 500 Total Return index. The research was compiled using data as of June 30, 2014, the most current data available. For a PDF copy of the latest Performance Update Report from the PEGCC click HERE.

The Private Equity Growth Capital Council is an advocacy, communications and research organization and resource center established to develop, analyze and distribute information about the private equity and growth capital investment industry. Founded in 2007 and formerly known as the Private Equity Council, the PEGCC is based in Washington, DC (www.pegcc.org).

Crestview Closes Fund III Above $3 Billion Target

February 3, 2015 by John McNulty

Crestview Partners has closed its latest fund, Crestview Partners III, LP surpassing its $3 billion target. The new fund is the largest the firm has ever raised and includes over $3 billion of third-party limited partner capital commitments and $250 million in general partner participation.

“We are extremely thankful for the loyalty of our limited partners and the support of both new and existing investors,” said Co-Founder and CEO Barry Volpert. “We very much appreciate their confidence and trust in Crestview’s entire investment team. We look forward to continuing to invest in great companies in Fund III, especially those going through dislocations, and working with our outstanding management teams to build value and generate strong returns.”

The new fund will pursue the same investment strategy on which Crestview was founded in 2004 and has closely followed ever since—namely identifying and investing in companies with a contrarian, value orientation. Crestview has found that such opportunities arise from market dislocations or through proprietary relationships. The firm typically invests from $100 million to $400 million of equity in companies with enterprise values of up to $2 billion. Since 2005, following the close of its first fund, Crestview has invested in 25 companies across its three funds, principally in media, energy, financial services, healthcare and industrials.

“We have great limited partners, and we are honored by their commitment to Fund III,” said Co-Founder Tom Murphy. “We believe our limited partners value our strategic focus, investment discipline, alignment of interests and management continuity. Of course, our prior funds returned over $2 billion last year…which was very popular, too!”

Crestview Partners is headquartered in New York (www.crestview.com).