Private Equity
Praesidian Capital has promoted Glenn Harrison to the post of managing director, and James Heyer to vice president. Harrison has been with the firm for three years, and has worked on investment sourcing, due diligence, structuring. Previously, he was vice president at Merrill Lynch Middle Market Finance. Heyer joined Praesidian two years ago, and has focused on financial analysis, due diligence and execution of new investments. Based in New York City, Praesidian has more than $400 million under management.
2 min read · 03 December 2010
Foster City, Calif.-based venture capital firm Scale Venture Partners has promoted three members of its technology investment team. Stacey Curry Bishop and Andy Vitus have been promoted partner. Ben Fu has been promoted to the post of principal. Bishop joined the firm in1999 and focuses on software-as-a-service, consumer Internet and digital media investments. Vitus joined 2003 and focuses on enterprise software and datacenter technologies. Fu joined in 2006, and focuses on Internet, mobile, and enterprise software investments.
4 min read · 03 December 2010
Encompass Digital Media, which is backed by Tennenbaum Capital, will pay $113 million for the content distribution business of Ascent Media Corp., Reuters reported. Macquarie Capital advised Encompass on the transaction, and is also providing financing along with Tennenbaum. The deal comes only a week after Ascent said it would sell its creative services and media services businesses to Deluxe Entertainment Services Group for $68 million.
2 min read · 03 December 2010
Buyout shop H2 Equity Partners will buy a majority stake in electronics manufacturing technology company Assembleon. The company is currently owned by Royal Philips Electronics. Financial terms of the acquisition were not released. H2 Equity Partners was founded in 1991, and has offices in Amsterdam, Munich and London.
2 min read · 03 December 2010
New York-based Sterling Infosystems, which provides employment and background screening services, has inked an undisclosed amount of financing from middle-market private equity shop Calera Capital. The companies did not disclose the size of Calera’s stake in Sterling. Paul Walsh, a Calera partner, will join Sterling as board chairman. Calera’s Mark Williamson and Michael Moon will also serve as directors. Sterling’s current chief executive and president will continue to lead the company.
3 min read · 03 December 2010
Stephen Schwarzman, the chief executive of Blackstone Group, will move to Europe early next year to better manage his firms international growth, Reuters reported. Schwarzman will reportedly live abroad temporarily, for a period of months, and has already spent more than half of 2010 overseas. Blackstone recently raised a $15 billion private equity fund, a significant part of which will likely be invested in Asia. It is also raising a yuan-denominated fund for China, Reuters said.
2 min read · 03 December 2010
Morgan Stanley will partner with government of Hangzhou, China, to launch a yuan-denominated private equity fund, Reuters reported. The Wall Street bank signed a partnership agreement with the city, but has not released fundraising targets. Morgan Stanley is following in the footsteps of buyout shops Warburg Pincus and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., which announced recently plans to set up private equity units in Shanghai.
2 min read · 03 December 2010
New York-based private equity firm Apollo Management is in talks to buy hair salon chain Regis Corp., Reuters reported, citing an article in the New York Post. Minneapolis-based Regis owns or franchises more than 12,700 hair salons around the world.
1 min read · 03 December 2010
Four companies, including South Korea’s Lotte Shopping, are in the running for a majority stake in PT Matahari Putra Prima, the hypermart business owned by Indonesia’s Lippo Group, Reuters reported. Wal-Mart Stores , Casino Guichard-Perrachon and Lotte have advanced to the next round of bidding for the $1 billion business, Reuters said. Buyout shop The Carlyle Group, which was reportedly in the running, is not participating in the latest bidding round.
2 min read · 02 December 2010
New York-based private equity firm Warburg Pincus has paid $75 million for a minority stake in outsourced engineering services firm Quest Global Services. Singapore-based Quest Global, which has more than 2,000 employees across India, the US, Japan and Europe, has customers in the aerospace and defense and energy industries. The company will use the new funding for growth.
2 min read · 02 December 2010
