I've been a business reporter for a while. I've covered Wall Street, venture capital and now private equity. I'm always looking for a scoop or something to talk about. I'm the eternal optimist and am still waiting for the Chicago Cubs to win the World Series. Yes, I believe.
New Mountain Capital LLC is in advanced discussions to buy VWR Corp, the Wall Street Journal is reporting. VWR, of Radnor, Pennsylvania, is a laboratory supply distributor. VWR has a market cap of about $3.75 billion. Madison Dearborn Partners acquired VWR in 2007. In 2014, VWR went public, raising $536 million, according to press reports.
1 min read · 04 May 2017
2 min read · 03 May 2017
KKR is providing a “significant” financial commitment to Girls Who Code, the national non-profit organization that aims to equip young women with the computing skills. First Data and GoDaddy, both KKR portfolio company, are each sponsoring a Summer Immersion program for girls.
5 min read · 03 May 2017
Francisco Partners has acquired a majority stake in SmartBear Software. Financial terms weren’t announced. Insight Venture Partners invested in SmartBear in 2007. SmartBear, of Boston, provides software quality tools for teams. SmartBear Software was advised by Evercore and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. Francisco Partners was advised by Paul Hastings LLP.
4 min read · 03 May 2017
The Dementia Discovery Fund, which is managed by SV Life Sciences, has invested $5 million in the initial financing round of Cerevance. Cerevance, a drug discovery company with offices in Boston and Cambridge, U.K., has raised $36 million in commitments of equity and non-dilutive capital from Lightstone Ventures and Takeda Pharmaceuticals Co Ltd.
3 min read · 03 May 2017
ACG Materials, a portfolio company of H.I.G. Capital, has acquired North Florida Rock Ltd. Financial terms weren’t announced. NFR mines and processes limestone products sold into infrastructure, agriculture and building products applications.
3 min read · 03 May 2017
Bain Capital, Carlyle Group and Thoma Bravo are among the bidders for Citrix Systems Inc, Bloomberg is reporting. At least one strategic is also interested in Citrix, a cloud services, which has a roughly $12.3 billion market cap, the story said. The buyout shops submitted their offers for Citrix last week, Bloomberg said. Goldman Sachs is advising on the process, the story said.
1 min read · 03 May 2017
Industrial Opportunity Partners said May 3 that it closed the sale of portfolio company KIC LLC to Accuride Corp. Financial terms weren’t announced. KIC, of Vancouver, Washington provides wheel-end components for medium and heavy-duty trucks and trailers.
3 min read · 03 May 2017
BJ’s Wholesale Club has called off plans to go public and is instead up for sale, according to the New York Post. BJ’s, which is backed by CVC Capital Partners and Leonard Green & Partners, has hired JP Morgan to find a buyer. BJ’s, a warehouse retailer, could fetch between $4 billion and $5 billion, the story said. Amazon has express interest internally in buying BJ’s but hasn’t started formal talks yet, the NY Post said.
1 min read · 02 May 2017
2 min read · 01 May 2017
