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.
The Presidio Group LLC said Tuesday it closed its sale of Lindora to Solis Capital Partners and Innovate Partners. Financial terms weren’t announced. Costa Mesa, California-based Lindora provides medically supervised weight loss and weight management programs.
2 min read · 25 February 2015
Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. said Tuesday it closed its buy of School Bus Holdings, which conducts its business under the “Blue Bird” name. The Traxis Group BV, which is majority owned by Cerberus Capital Management, is the seller. The deal is valued at $255 million, a September statement from Schulte Roth & Zabel said. Cerberus will continue to own 58 percent of Blue Bird’s outstanding shares. Blue Bird designs and makes school buses. Schulte Roth & Zabel provided legal advice to Cerberus, Traxis Group and Blue Bird.
5 min read · 25 February 2015
Blackstone said Tuesday that Bennett Goodman has joined its board of directors. Bennett is a co-founder of GSO Capital Partners, Blackstone’s credit investment platform.
2 min read · 25 February 2015
Pivot3 said Tuesday that it closed a $45 million equity and bank financing round. Argonaut Private Equity, a new investor in Pivot3, joined S3 Ventures, InterWest Partners, Mesirow Financial Private Equity and the Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati investment fund in providing additional equity. Austin-based Pivot3 develops hyper-converged infrastructure solutions.
3 min read · 25 February 2015
GuideSpark has closed a Series C funding round $22.2 million led by Meritech Capital Partners with participation from existing investors New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Storm Ventures and IDG Ventures. Menlo Park, Calif.-based GuideSpark provides videos that aide in employee communications and engagement.
4 min read · 25 February 2015
3i has agreed to sell Atlas Holding SA, the holding company of the Azelis Group, to Apax Partners. Financial terms weren’t announced. Azelis is a pan-European speciality chemical distributor. 3i acquired a majority of Azelis in 2007. JP Morgan is providing financing. UBS acted as financial advisor to the Apax funds while Greenhill acted as financial advisor to 3i.
3 min read · 25 February 2015
Pereg Ventures LLC has raised $25 million with the first close of its first fund. The target for Pereg Ventures Fund I was not known. Nielsen, the information services company, has also invested in Pereg Ventures. The New York-based early-stage venture capital firm mainly provides Series A and B financing to B2B information services companies. Pereq has invested an undisclosed amount in RetailNext, which provides in-store analytics to retailers, and Zollo, which crowd-sources insights on consumer shopping behaviors.
2 min read · 25 February 2015
Calixar has completed a 1 million Euro (US$1.1 million) round of financing with its historical investors - Siparex, Veymont Participations, INPG Entreprise SA - and regional business angels, Health-Angels Rhône-Alpes, Savoie Angels and Grenoble Angels. Bpifrance, the French public investment bank, and the Banque Populaire supplemented this funding through repayable advance and specific credit supported by the European Union, Calixar said. Lyon, France-based Calixar is a biotech company that specializes in the native isolation of complex therapeutic targets and antigens.
2 min read · 24 February 2015
Q4 Web Systems said Tuesday it raised $5 million in funding led by Plaza Ventures. The round was supported by Atlas Venture and received financing from Silicon Valley Bank. Toronto, Ontario-based Q4 Web Systems provides SaaS-based investor relations solutions for public companies.
4 min read · 24 February 2015
LEHR, a Solis Capital Partners portfolio company, has acquired EnviroGard. Financial terms weren’t announced. Charlotte, N.C.-based EnviroGard makes and supplies EPA certified propane fuel systems and engines for use in a variety of industrial applications.
2 min read · 24 February 2015
