Commonfund Group, an institutional investment manager for endowments, foundations and pension funds, has named David Belmont as its chief risk officer. Belmont will also serve as a member of the Commonfund Investment Policy and Asset Allocation Committee, and will have risk management oversight of all investment programs. Belmont was previously global head of hedge fund credit for UBS Investment Bank.
3 min read · 18 April 2011
KSL Capital Partners paid $130 million to acquire The Royal Palm Hotel, in Miami’s South Beach district. The firm bought the hotel from publicly traded of Sunstone Hotel Investors. The hotel is managed by Denihan Hospitality Group who will remain in place following the acquisition. KSL Capital has offices in Denver and New York.
4 min read · 18 April 2011
Law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati has named Kefei Li partner. He joins the firm from Skadden Arps Slate Meagher and Flom, and will be based in China. Li specializes in capital markets transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate counseling. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati provides legal services for technology, life sciences, and growth companies.
3 min read · 18 April 2011
Buyout shop Avigo Capital Partners will pay 1 billion rupees ($22.5 million) for a 9.27% stake in Super Religare Laboratories, Reuters reported. The agreement is part of SRL's plan to raise 1.6 billion rupees via a pre-IPO private placement of 8 million shares, it said.
1 min read · 18 April 2011
Middle-market buyout shop Friedman Fleischer & Lowe has completed its acquisition of Midwest Dental, a dental practice management company. Financial terms of the deal were not released. Midwest Dental’s senior management team, which has worked together at the company for nearly 10 years, is investing alongside FFL, and will continue to manage the business, the company said in a written statement. Midwest Dental is based in Mondovi, Wisc.
3 min read · 18 April 2011
MTS Health Partners, a New York-based healthcare merchant bank, has named Peter Crowley senior managing director and operating partner. In addition to his new role at MTS, Crowley will remain an operating partner at JH Partners, a private equity firm managing close to $1 billion of institutional funds. Previously, Crowley spend 23 years at CIBC World Markets.
2 min read · 18 April 2011
A consortium of private equity firms will buy a $400 million Asia non-real estate private equity portfolio from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Reuters reported. Paul Capital leads the group, which also includes HarbourVest Partners Asia, LGT Capital Partners and Axiom Asia. The portfolio – about 20 assets – will become the holdings of a new private equity manager, NewQuest Capital Partners, which will focus on investment opportunities in Asia. The new fund will be called NewQuest Asia Fund I L.P, according to a statement issued by NewQuest on Monday, Reuters reported.
1 min read · 18 April 2011
Black River, the private equity unit of U.S. agribusiness company Cargill, is raising a $400 million fund to invest in companies that will benefit from rising Asian demand for meat and vegetables, Reuters reported. Black River Capital Partners (Food) Fund has inked about $200 million in commitments so far, and expects to invest about half the money in China, Reuters wrote.
2 min read · 18 April 2011
Bloom Energy, a clean tech start-up backed by more than $400 million in venture capital, is quadrupling the size of its Silicon Valley manufacturing operations, Reuters reported. The expansion will create 1,000 new jobs, the company said. Bloom Energy makes fuel cell boxes that can power buildings. Launched last February, the boxes convert air and a fuel such as natural gas into electricity through an electrochemical process. Bloom Energy is backed by investors including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Morgan Stanley, NEA, and Northgate Capital.
2 min read · 18 April 2011
TMS International Corp., which is majority owned by buyout shop Onex Corp., sold fewer shares than expected at a price below the proposed range in its IPO, Reuters reported. The company sold 11.2 million shares for $13 each, raising $145.6 million in the offering, Reuters reported. TMS and a group of its stakeholders had planned to sell 6.25 million shares each for $15 to $17 each.
1 min read · 18 April 2011
