PEI Staff
French investment group La Française will take a majority ownership in investment advisor Forum Securities Ltd two year years after launching a strategic partnership with Forum Securities’ parent company, Forum Partners. The new integrated platform will be re-branded La Française Forum Securities. The deal is subject to regulatory approval.
GTCR bought Lytx Inc, a maker of video driver safety programs based in San Diego, in an all-cash transaction of more than $500 million. Rothschild and Morgan Stanley served in advisory capacity for Lytx on this transaction. Evercore served as the financial advisor to GTCR.
LeapFrog Investments, a “profit-with-purpose” emerging markets private equity firm, named two partners to spearhead the firm’s expansion into healthcare investments. Dr. Felix Olale, MD, PhD, who joins LeapFrog as a partner, will lead African healthcare investments. Dr. Olale was previously the chairman of the Excelsior Group, a US and Kenyan-based advisor and developer of healthcare systems. Asian healthcare investments will be led by LeapFrog partner and co-head of Asia, Michael Fernandes. Prior to joining LeapFrog, Michael managed Khazanah Nasional Berhad’s healthcare portfolio
In this morning’s First Read, Dungey becomes the first African American to lead a major TV network after ABC entertainment chief resigns, Cruz overtakes Trump in a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, but a Bloomberg poll finds that Trump is dominating, and Campbell Soup is launching a venture capital fund.
United Flexible Inc, a portfolio company of Arlington Capital Partners, acquired Fulton Bellows LLC, a manufacturer of bellows for gas and fluid control systems. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Orangetheory Fitness, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based fitness franchise, received a growth equity investment from Roark Capital Group. Terms of the investment were not disclosed. Roark Capital managing directors Erik Morris and Steve Romaniello will join the company’s board of directors.
Penfund, a provider of junior capital to middle market companies in the U.S. and Canada, made a $47 million second lien debt and equity investment in Forefront Dermatology in support of the company’s previously announced acquisition by OMERS Private Equity. Forefront Dermatology provides practice management services to Dermatology Associates of Wisconsin.
Stagnito Business Information and Edgell Communications, merged in a deal driven by RFE Investment Partners. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The new company provides business-to-business information, media, and marketing services. It will continue to operate under two separate names, with a new corporate brand to be announced in the future. Kollin Stagnito, chief operating officer at Stagnito, will take over as chief executive officer of the combined company. JEGI represented the two companies in the pre-packaged merger and sale to RFE.
Trive Capital and TerraMar Capital invested in East West Copolymer, a supplier of synthetic rubber based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
New Harbor Capital acquired a majority interest in Certica Solutions, a provider of data management solutions for K-12 educators, according to a statement on New Harbor’s website. The transaction was announced in conjunction with Certica’s acquisition of Academic Benchmarks, a data service for K-12 academic standards. Financial terms of the transactions were not disclosed. The investment represents the fifth platform investment for New Harbor’s 2013 inaugural private equity fund.