The Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board’s investment committee approved a request for proposals for a private equity consultant at its meeting on Tuesday, spokesman Michael Sherry told Buyouts.
1 min read · 23 July 2014
A report from Ernst & Young Global Ltd found that improving economic conditions in North America last year fueled the highest level of volume and values for private equity exits since 2006. Additionally, with the initial public offering (IPO) market reaching record levels in 2013, IPOs helped drive much of this exit activity. The report found that due to increased public market demand and a return of corporate buyers, IPOs accounted for 61 percent of aggregate private equity entry value of exits. The study also indicated that exits achieved last year showed an increase in buy-and-build investment strategies and a move away from cost-reduction strategies.
6 min read · 23 July 2014
Canadian specialty finance firm Difference Capital Financial recently agreed to sell more than 11 million shares of portfolio company Benev Capital Inc (TSX-V: BEV). Gross proceeds of the disposition were estimated at about $22 million. According to a report by The Financial Post, Difference Capital has since sold its entire holdings in the company. Over the past few weeks, the firm and Benev have publicly feuded over board representation and Benev's plan to buy royalties from Franworks Franchise Corp for $103 million. Difference Capital also recently announced changes to its board of directors and an internal reorganization.
3 min read · 23 July 2014
With its latest fundraise, Aquiline Capital Partners may have a harder time convincing investors that financial services is an underpenetrated private equity market. But the firm appears to have a strong case that it has navigated the field successfully over the last decade. That is not something every specialist can claim.
5 min read · 23 July 2014
Shareholders of Spectral Diagnostics Inc (TSX: SDI) have approved a previously announced non-brokered private placement of up to $18.2 million. The financing was arranged with certain of the company's existing investors, including Japan's Toray Industries Inc. Other leading investors in Spectral include Canadian private equity firm Birch Hill Equity Partners and Medwell Capital Corp, a Birch Hill portfolio company. The Toronto-based Spectral said it would use funding to support its EUPHRATES clinical development program for PMX, its lead theranostics product for the treatment of severe sepsis with septic shock, and for other business purposes.
3 min read · 23 July 2014
Adams Street Partners Chief Executive Officer T. Bondurant French will remain at the advisory firm in a full-time capacity through at least 2017, when he turns 65, according to a letter distributed to limited partners.
2 min read · 22 July 2014
Roark Capital Group has found a buyer for Fastsigns International.
2 min read · 22 July 2014
Succession Capital, the U.S. investment arm of Canadian private equity firm Lynx Equity, has bought H.J. Sherman Co Inc, a designer, manufacturer and distributor of religious gifts and jewelry. The financial terms of the transaction were not published. Based in Van Nuys, California, H.J. Sherman has served the religious gifts market throughout North America for more than 65 years. The company's acquisition is the 10th by Lynx and Succession since the beginning of 2014. The Toronto-based Lynx is focused on acquiring small to medium-sized businesses from owners looking to retire.
3 min read · 22 July 2014
The New York State Teachers’ Retirement System committed $225 million across three private equity funds in April and May, suggesting an appetite for technology buyouts, senior debt and Brazilian deals.
2 min read · 22 July 2014
The fees and expenses charged by sponsors became a far bigger issue this year after an official of the U.S. Securities and Exchange said in May that early exams of sponsors had found widespread examples of their being mishandled. And that raises a question: How much do investors actually pay in fees and expenses?
3 min read · 22 July 2014
