Luisa Beltran
Joe Burkhart has joined Tatum, an executive services firm, as managing director of private equity. Tatum is a division of SFN Group Inc. Burkhart was previously a managing director the Mergis Group’s federal business unit (a Tatum sister company within SFN), as well as director of business development of American Capital’s private equity group. PRESS […]
An affiliate of H.I.G. Capital has completed its investment in the Higher Gear Group. Financial terms were not disclosed. The High Gear Group, of Schaumburg, Ill., provides customer relationship management software to automotive dealers in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. H.I.G. Capital is a private equity firm with more than $7.5 billion of equity under management.
LeadDog Capital said Tuesday that it has committed to provide up to $30 million in capital to Blue Castle Holdings Inc. LeadDog, which focuses on private placements, will receive Blue Castle stock. Blue Castle is developing nuclear power plant projects in Green River, Utah.
Conventional wisdom is that emerging markets present the best return prospects for today's private equity investors, but many are remaining closer to home. At least that's the finding of KPMG, which last month polled 60 senior private equity professionals. Forty-eight percent picked North America as the best place for investing based on competition, relative valuations, projected returns, economic outlook and relative ease of doing business. China came in second with 19%, while Latin America ranked third with 17% and India had 7 percent.
The auction of Newsweek looks to be heading to some sort of ending. Bids for the troubled weekly are expected by 5pm Thursday at investment bank Allen & Co., according to the New York Post. There are five parties in the running, including Newsmax Media, OpenGate Capital, Thane Ritchie, Sidney Harmon and Fred Drasner, the one-time partner of Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman. A source close to the sale said there is currently no frontrunner. Much has been made about the financial state of Newsweek, the legendary weekly that produced $56 million in operating losses in 2009 and an $11 million loss in first quarter. The magazine has no EBITDA (negative EBITDA, actually) which has made it a hard sell to PE firms. "The amount of money they lost is shocking," said one buyout executive who saw the Newsweek books but passed. "It's a classic old world publishing business that did nothing to adjust to the new world reality."
American Capital said Monday that it had restructured its loans and reduced its debt by $1.03 billion. At the close of the deal, American Capital said had $1.31 billion of secured debt, $11 million of unsecured debt and $1.61 billion of securitized debt and holds approximately $240 million of unrestricted cash and marketable securities on its balance sheet. American Capital is a publicly traded public equity firm.
Atrium Co., a leading maker of vinyl and aluminum windows and patio doors in North America, said Monday that President and CEO Gregory Faherty had retired. He was replaced by Kevin O'Meara, currently Atrium's chairman and an operating partner at Golden Gate Capital. San Francisco-based Golden Gate has a majority stake in Atrium.
Kayne Anderson Energy Funds has committed up to $50 million equity into Alamo Resources II LLC, an oil and natural gas company based in Houston. At the same time, Alamo II completed an acquisition of primarily oil properties in Eddy County, N.M. from Doral Energy Corp. for $10 million. Kayne Anderson manages $2.7 billion of committed capital.
BP kills Wall Street: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is checking on Wall Street's exposure to BP to ensure that if the oil company fails it won't put Wall Street or the global financial system at risk. A Mexican Assassination: Rodolfo Torre, the front-running candidate for governor of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, was killed Monday. Mexican President Felipe Calderon blamed the drug cartels. A Swatch no more: Nicolas Hayek, whose recommendations helped lead to the development of the Swatch, has also died. Another jumps to Moelis: Richard Leaman, the chairman and former head of UBS AG’s investment-banking department, is expected to join Moelis & Co., which was founded by another UBS departee. An Office departure: Steve Carell is hinting that he may be leaving The Office after its seventh season wraps.
Tom Hicks is taking his second bite at the blank check apple. The Dallas-based private equity icon recently filed for his second special purpose acquisition vehicle (SPAC), with plans to raise $200 million. He'll have 21 months from the IPO until transaction completion, or else he'll be required to return proceeds to investors. Hicks, in a June 28 regulatory filing, didn't identify what sectors he would be targeting but he has typically invested in consumer goods and media companies. Citi and Deutsche Bank Securities are underwriting the deal.