Iris Dorbian
Greenwich, CT-based private investment firm Littlejohn & Co. said Friday that it is leading the acquisition and recapitalization of Handy Hardware. No financial terms were disclosed. The transaction, which is expected to close during the week of August 5, 2013, was approved on Thursday by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware as part of a Chapter 11 plan for Handy Hardware. Also, Doug Miller has been named interim CEO of Handy Hardware. Located in Houston, Handy Hardware is a wholesale hardware distributor to independent hardware retailers.
Silicon Valley-based VC firm Greylock Partners has promoted Josh Elman to partner, according to a blog post on the company's website. Most recently, Elman was the product lead for growth and relevance at Twitter. Prior to that, he worked on the platform at Facebook and led the launch of Facebook Connect. To find out more about Elman's promotion, read the post here.
Aqua Pharmaceuticals, a portfolio company of RoundTable Healthcare Partners, said Thursday that it has named Brett Fair as vice president of corporate development. In this role, Fair will be responsible for new products and development opportunities. Based in West Chester, Penn., Aqua Pharmaceuticals is a specialty pharmaceuticals company focused on dermatology products.
England & Company said Thursday that it has named Corey Luskin as a managing director in its technology investment banking group. Luskin, who will be based in the company's New York City office, previously worked at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Smith Barney, Landmark Ventures and the Garros Group, where he was a member of the founding team. A middle-market merchant bank, England & Company has offices in both Washington, D.C. and New York City.
San Francisco-based MarketTools said Thursday that it has acquired RawData. No financial terms were disclosed. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT, RawData is a provider of mobile research solutions. MarketTools is a subsidiary of MetrixLab, a provider of online consumer research services. MetrixLab is backed by AlpInvest Partners and ZekVentures.
Onconova Therapeutics has raised about $77.5 million for its IPO. The company has priced its offering of 5,166,667 shares at $15.00 per share. The stock will begin trading on the NASDAQ on July 25, 2013 under the ticker symbol ONTX. Citigroup and Leerink Swann are the lead underwriters for the IPO while Piper Jaffray and Janney Montgomery Scott are co-managers. Based in Newton, Penn. and backed by Baxter International, ICICI Ventures, Mehta Partners and Tinicum Partners, Onconova is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing drugs to treat cancer.
Lightyear Capital, a New York-based private equity firm focused on financial services investing, has named Richard Korhammer as senior advisor. Korhammer is co-founder and former chairman/CEO of Lava Trading.
Conatus Pharmaceuticals said Thursday that it has raised about $66 million for its IPO. The company has priced its offering of 6,000,000 shares at $11 per share. The stock will trade on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol CNAT, starting on July 25, 2013. Stifel and Piper Jaffray & Co. are the lead underwriters for the IPO while JMP Securities and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey are the co-lead manager and co-manager respectively. Based in San Diego, Calif., Conatus Pharmaceuticals, which is backed by Aberdare Ventures, Advent Venture Capital, MPM Capital, AgeChem Venture Fund and Roche Finance, among others, is a biotech company focused on the treatment of liver disease.
Frontenac Company said Thursday that it has completed a recapitalization of Ohio Transmission Corp. No financial terms were disclosed. As part of the transaction, current shareholders and management will retain "significant" ownership stakes in Ohio Transmission. Also, the management team, which is led by CEO Phil Derrow, will continue in their roles. In addition to the news about the recapitalization, Bob Grubbs, the former CEO of Anixter International, has joined Ohio Transmission's board. Headquartered in Columbus, OH, Ohio Transmission is a distributor of industrial equipment.
Cloudera said Thursday that Dick Williams has joined the company's board of directors. Williams is the president and CEO of Webroot, an internet security firm. He is also an outside director of 3VR and LogRhythm. Based in Palo Alto, Calif. and backed by Accel Partners, Greylock Partners, Meritech Capital Partners, In-Q-Tel and Ignition Partners, Cloudera is a provider of data management solutions.