North America

Private equity and venture capital news from North America

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• Riverside makes 13 promotions across operations 17 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. The Riverside Company, a lower mid-market private equity firm, has made a brace of promotions across its global offices, having pulled through last year with an overall seven per cent growth of its investments.

• Sterling beats target with $820m fund close 17 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. The Sterling Group, a Houston-based middle-market private equity firm, has wrapped up its fundraising of Sterling Group Partners III on $820m, beating its target of $600m.

• CalSTRS decides on director of private equity portfolio 17 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. California State Teachers’ Retirement System has settled on who it wants to direct its $16.8bn private equity portfolio after a year-long search, selecting Margot Wirth from within the organisation.

• KKR files for $2.2bn NYSE listing 16 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. New York private equity firm KKR is to list in its home town. Almost three years after its last attempt, the firm has finally filed plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange.

• Liverpool FC handles bid from private equity player 15 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Liverpool FC has entered talks with the Rhone Group over a £118.5m (€130.1m) deal that would see the US private equity firm take a controlling interest and halve the Premier League football club’s debts, according to reports.

• Apax exits Tommy Hilfiger for $3bn 15 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. UK private equity firm Apax Partners has sold US fashion house Tommy Hilfiger to Phillips-Van Heusen for €2.2bn ($3bn). The sale includes €1.92bn in cash and €276m in Phillips-Van Heusen common stock, with the fashion corporation also assuming €100m of Tommy Hilfiger's liabilities.

• Genetix raises $35m to deliver gene therapy 12 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Genetix Pharmaceuticals has completed a $35m series B financing, with new investors Third Rock Ventures and Genzyme Ventures joining TVM Capital, Forbion and Easton Capital.

• KKR leads $235m refinancing of Harden Healthcare as it pursues debt strategy 12 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. KKR, a private equity firm that typically invests in buy-outs, has led a $235m for refinancing for Harden Healthcare, an umbrella company with five businesses operating in the long-term and hospice care sub-sector, according to Bloomberg.

• Local activity discovery engine LivingSocial raises $25m 11 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. LivingSocial, a social commerce company behind LivingSocial Deals and  Facebook applications Visual Bookshelf and Pick Your Five, has completed a $25m series B round of venture funding led by US Venture Partners, with Grotech Ventures and Steve Case's Revolution participating.

• Battery Ventures hits target with $750m 11 Mar 2010. Source: Assets. Tech-focused venture capita firm Battery Ventures has closed its ninth fund, BV IX, on its $750m target. This brings total committed capital in Battery’s nine funds to nearly $4bn.

• Ten years to invest buy-out houses’ $500bn 11 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Buy-out firms may have to wait up to ten years to invest the $500bn in investor commitments they are sitting on if deals continue at the current rate, according to Bloomberg.

• Bain Capital’s Sensata in $569m IPO 11 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Sensata Technologies Inc, a maker of sensor and controls technology used by high-profile companies such as Ford and Samsung, has raised $568.8m from its initial public offering, with shares to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange tomorrow.

• US Treasury Secretary Geithner blasts EU regulation 11 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has warned the European Commission that plans to regulate the private equity and hedge fund industries could put up barriers between the continent and the US, according to the Financial Times.

• Cartilage treatment business Carticept gets $20m 10 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Carticept Medical Inc, a developer of products for the treatment of cartilage injuries and osteoarthritis, has completed a $20m series B financing round. New investor SonoSite Inc, a medtech company in the ultrasound space, joined return venture capital investors Domain Associates and New Enterprise Associates.

• New Enterprise Associates adds Ron Bernal as venture partner 10 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. New Enterprise Associates (NEA), the technology-focused venture capital firm which raised $2.5bn earlier this year, has appointed industry veteran Ron Bernal as a venture partner. In this new role, Bernal, a former entrepreneur-in-residence with NEA, will work with the firm’s enterprise infrastructure and services, electronics and energy technology teams.

• Carlyle to seek $1bn buyer for defence and aviation company Arinc 10 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. US private equity firm Carlyle is seeking buyers for defence and aviation company Arinc in a sale that could fetch $1bn, according to reports.

• Another exec leaves Wilshire Private Markets 10 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Wilshire Private Markets’ CIO Jeff Ennis has resigned, with the private equity fund of funds halting fundraising, a report by consultant Hymans Robertson has revealed.

• Apollo to buy Citigroup’s real estate division 10 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. US private equity firm Apollo Management has agreed to purchase the real estate investment division of financial services giant Citigroup, according to Bloomberg.

• GMAC CFO heads to Providence Equity Partners 10 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Providence Equity Partners, a global private equity firm specialising in media, entertainment and communications investments, has hired former GMAC executive vice president and CFO Robert Hull. He will join Providence as CFO, succeeding Raymond Mathieu, who will become a managing director focused on special projects.

• SiBEAM raises $36.5m to take wireless chipset mainstream 09 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. California-based semiconductor company SiBEAM Inc has closed $36.5m in series D funding led by Foundation Capital. The financing will be used to push its 60 GHz wireless chipsets into the mainstream marketplace while funding future projects and further expansion.

• Advent International poaches Carlyle investor relations executive 09 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Private equity firm Advent International has bolstered its ability to service investors with the hire of Robert Brown, a former managing director of Carlyle’s North American fundraising and investor relations.

• Law firms launch investigations into Infogroup deal 09 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. With yesterday’s media reports that CCMP Capital has agreed to buy Infogroup Inc corroborated by an official statement, at least three law firms have stepped up to announce they are investigating the veracity of the deal.

• Carlyle ramps up debt business with new hire 09 Mar 2010. Source: AltAssets. Morgan Stanley’s former sales and trading chief, Mitch Petrick, will join private equity firm Carlyle to head its distressed debt and leveraged finance business in the US and Europe.