Steve Gelsi
The State of Wisconsin Investment Board’s private equity portfolio outpaced its benchmark by a healthy 1 percent in calendar year 2013 as the asset class boosted overall returns for the pension system, according to preliminary estimates from the retirement system.
Thomas H. Lee Partners is tapping into the growing pet arena with a deal to buy Phillips Pet Food & Supplies from AEA Investors as it continues fundraising for its $4 billion flagship Fund VII.
John von Schlegell, a managing director at Endeavour Capital, co-founded the firm in 1991 after working as one of five general partners at GTCR as well as undersecretary for health and human services in Massachusetts.
Blackstone Group President Tony James said higher interest rates as newly-appointed Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen pulls back on the central bank’s quantitative easing program will not derail mergers & acquisitions activity, but the private equity deal-maker continues to focus more on selling companies than buying them as prices remain lofty.
The rally in the U.S. equities market last year means that the largest U.S. public pension funds have room to grow their private equity portfolios, according to an analysis by Buyouts.
Riverwood Capital, the Silicon Valley middle-market technology specialist that participated in a bid for Dell Inc last year, has raised $378 million for its second fund, according to a Form D filing.
Riverside Co has closed its flagship Riverside Capital Appreciation Fund VI at $1.5 billion, $500 million over target, marking the 25-year-old firm’s largest fund dedicated to the smaller end of the middle market.
BV Investment Partners has grown EBITDA at PetroSkills by 3x since it acquired the oil and gas technical training and career specialist in 2010. The company continues to scale up with this week’s add-on deal for Resource Development Company LLC which took place during a fundraising effort for BV’s eighth buyout vehicle.
Brynwood Partners executive Henk Hartong III is expecting more deal opportunities following two acquisitions and one exit over the 2013-14 holiday season, as the 30-year-old lower middle-market buyout shop aimed at consumer products deploys its $400 million Brynwood Partners VII LP fund.
Buyouts sat down with Marek Herchel, partner at AlpInvest, to discuss its more than $4.2 billion secondary program, among other topics