Chris Witkowsky
Aqua Capital, which focuses on growth investments in mid-market agribusinesses, has held a final close on its Agribusiness & Food Fund on $173.4 million, exceeding its $150 million target. Limited partners include U.S., European, Middle Eastern and Latin American development finance institutions, endowments, family office, financial and fund of funds investors.
WL Ross & Co.'s Permian Basin Materials has completed the acquisition of Crockett County Mining, Highland Concrete Co. and Wallach Concrete. WL Ross funds own 80% of Permian Basin Materials, while existing shareholders from the acquired companies own a combined 20%.
We did a compensation survey for the North American private equity and venture capital industry and it's mostly good news. Pay is up, and firms are hiring more as deal flow, exits and fundraising gets stronger.
SFW Capital Partners-backed Spectro Inc., a maker of analytical software for the industrial performance fluids market, has acquired Wilks Enterprise for an undisclosed amount. SFW Capital invests in analytical tools and related services businesses.
Vista Equity Partners has agreed to acquire event management software company ACTIVE Network in an all-cash transaction valued at about $1.05 billion. Vista will commence a tender offer to buy all outstanding shares of ACTIVE's common stock at $14.50 per share, representing a premium of about 111 percent to ACTIVE's year-to-date average closing stock price.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has agreed to acquire a 10 percent stake in Chinese home appliance band Qingdao Haier, establishing a strategic long-term partnership. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Altius Associates has appointed Duncan Cox as a senior infrastructure advisor based in the US. Cox has more than 25 years of experience in engineering, procurement and construction of large infrastructure projects including high rise buildings, bridges, power plants, landfills and stadiums.
Oregon Investment Council went beyond the recommendation from its investment staff and pledged $300 million to Lone Star’s third real estate fund, which recently raised its hard-cap to $6.6 billion.
Catterton Partners has made a "significant" investment in PIADA Italian Street Food, a fast-casual Italian eatery based in Columbus, Ohio with restaurants in Ohio and Indiana. PIADA will use the proceeds to continue growing across the country.
TPG Special Situations Partners is partnering with Spain-based CaixaBank in Servihabitat Gestion Inmobiliaria, a real estate services company. TPG Special Situations will own 51 percent of Servihabitat, valued at EURO 310 million, and CaixaBank will hold 49 percent.