Eamon Murphy
Blackstone appointed Daniel C. Heintzelman, formerly vice chairman at General Electric, as a senior advisor. Heintzelman will also serve as chairman of Blackstone private equity portfolio company MB Aerospace, which manufactures and repairs engine components. He will provide counsel on the aerospace and industrial sectors.
Mid-market investment bank Lincoln International represented the shareholders and management of HALO Branded Solutions, Inc. in its sale to Audax Private Equity. Based in Sterling, Illinois, HALO is a marketing services and supply chain platform in the promotional products industry.
Law firm Cooley LLP added three new partners to its global private equity group: in New York, Ron Hopkinson from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft; in Palo Alto, Eric Schwartzman from Weil, Gotshal & Manges; and in London, Stephen Rosen from Olswang. With offices in the United States, China and Europe, Cooley serves private company clients across the tech and life sciences sectors and handled more than 200 M&A deals in 2015.
Elite Sportswear has acquired Jade Swimwear, which does business as Dolfin Swimwear. Elite, which is owned by The Riverside Company and based in Reading, Pa., focuses on apparel for niche sports such as gymnastics and cheerleading. Dolfin, based in Mohnton, Pa., produces competitive swimwear, including its Uglies line of practice wear. This is Elite's first add-on since Riverside invested in 2015.
GV, formerly Google Ventures, lead a $28 million Series B funding in CoreOS, which deploys, manages, and secures software containers. Others participants included Intel Capital and existing investors Accel, Fuel Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Y Combinator Continuity Fund. CoreOS's total funding to date is $48 million.
Amadeus Capital Partners and Albion Ventures led an $11 million investment in Relayware, a provider of partner relationship management software. In 2013 Albion invested $5.5 million in Relayware, which has operations in Oxford, U.K, New Jersey and California. The new capital will be used to drive growth in the U.S. market, with a focus on technology and manufacturing companies.
Early-stage venture capital firm Benchmark announced the appointment of Chris Tsakalakis as its newest Entrepreneur-In-Residence. Tsakalakis, who served as president of StubHub after leading eBay's acquisition of the company, plans to pursue new opportunities in e-commerce, marketplaces and health tech.
To end your workweek, wealthy families are now investing like private equity firms, buying up whole companies, and Lenovo is launching a new fund targeting advanced technology.
Fuel and chemical company Aemetis agreed to acquire Edeniq, an ethanol technology company, in a stock plush cash merger transaction. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Visalia, California, Edeniq has raised approximately $100 million from backers including Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Angeleno Group, The Westly Group, I2BF Global Ventures, and the US Department of Energy. The transaction is subject to approval by Edeniq's shareholders and the closing of financing by Aemetis.
Narrow Gauge Capital acquired a majority stake in SEI Group, an installer of residential building products for contractors in the metro Atlanta area. Existing owners Eric Cunningham and Matt Hopkins will retain their management positions and a significant ownership stake. Goldman Sachs provided senior debt financing, as well as co-equity investment along with Siguler Guff. Advising SEI were Croft & Beder (financial) and Taylor English Duma LLP (legal). Brad Stewart of The Capital Solutions Group advised NGC on debt financing, and Winston & Strawn was the firm's legal counsel.