Advent, BCI complete Maxar take-private deal; 3 deals in event management

Good morning dealmakers, thank goodness it’s Friday!

It’s Obey Martin Manayiti here with the newsletter.

To cap off the week, I am looking at three recent private equity deals in the events management sector from Blackstone, General Atlantic and EagleTree.

I will also look at Clairvest Group’s investment in the casino business and other gaming facilities in New Hampshire.

But first, let’s look at a big take-private deal led by Advent International that closed earlier this week and a deal from Palladium announced earlier this morning.

Satellite products
Boston based, Advent International and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation have closed their previously announced take-private buyout of Maxar Technologies, a geospatial intelligence company, for $6.4 billion.

The deal was announced in December. According to the terms of the deal, Advent will acquire Maxar for $53 per share in cash. Advent took a $3.1 billion stake in Maxar, with British Columbia Investment Management Corp also making a $1 billion equity contribution.

Based in Westminster, Colorado, Maxar specializes in manufacturing communication, earth observation, radar, and on-orbit servicing satellites, satellite products, among others. The company will continue to operate under the same brand and maintain its current headquarters.

Pre-erected buildings
Trachte, an Oregon, Wisconsin-based portfolio company of Palladium Equity Partners, a New York-based PE firm, has acquired Parkline Inc, an Eleanor, West Virginia-based manufacturer of highly engineered metal buildings for industrial and commercial applications.

The seller is Summit Park, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based firm, which will be rolling equity into the transaction. Palladium Equity Partners acquired Trachte in September 2020.
Trachte and Parkline have experience working on prefabricated structures that are used for different purposes, including critical equipment and systems such as switchgear, battery systems, servers, and data center hardware that control and protect electrical infrastructure and equipment.

The combined Trachte and Parkline will have manufacturing capacity in the Mid-Atlantic and Southwestern US, Wisconsin and Northeast Georgia. It will have a strong presence in data centers and energy and power T&D and serve end users in a broad array of critical industries, said the companies in a press statement.

“Trachte has experienced strong growth over the past two years driven by multi-generational industry tailwinds, by delivering unmatched product quality and by adapting to serve the needs of its end users,” said Caleb Clark, a partner at Palladium.
“Since we invested in Trachte in 2020, Parkline has been on our radar as the top candidate to prove out our strategy to grow the business with acquisitions in this highly attractive market,” he added.

Events management
The events business is growing rapidly, fueled by technology and a resurgence in the hospitality industry after the pandemic-induced hiatus.

Private equity investments in providers of event technology and services are picking up, and I’ve rounded up three recently announced deals in the sector.

Last month, Blackstone said it will acquire Cvent Holding Corp, a meetings, events and hospitality technology provider based in Tysons Corner, Virginia, from Vista Equity Partners for $4.6 billion in a take-private deal. The transaction is expected to close mid-year 2023.

“The continued events and travel recovery is one of Blackstone’s highest-conviction investment themes,” said David Schwartz, a senior managing director at Blackstone. “Given our extensive experience in the hospitality, events and real estate sectors, we believe Blackstone is well positioned as a growth partner for this exceptional business.”

General Atlantic earlier in April made a majority investment in Tripleseat, a Concord, Massachusetts-based event management software and integrated payments company for the hospitality industry.

“Events are an important and growing business for restaurants, hotels, and other venues,” said Paul Stamas, General Atlantic’s managing director and global head of financial services.

Last month, New York-based EagleTree Capital acquired PRA, a Chicago-based company that offers end-to-end event planning, creative and production services across in-person and digital formats, from CI Capital Partners, headquartered in New York.

Cashing in chips
Toronto-based Clairvest Group has partnered with ECL Entertainment to acquire licensed gaming assets that will enable them to build a gaming operation in Southern New Hampshire.

The partners have acquired NHCG and The River Property & Hospitality Group, which operate the Lucky Moose Casino and Tavern and The River Casino & Sports Bar, both located in Nashua.

ECL is a gaming operator, which owns and operates multiple historical horse racing facilities in Kentucky, including the Mint at Kentucky Downs.

Clairvest and ECL intend on operating NHCG at its current locations for the time being but are finalizing plans for a large scale permanent HHR facility in Nashua, which they hope to open in late 2024.

This transaction represents Clairvest’s 15th investment in the gaming space, building on Clairvest’s 23-year successful track in the gaming industry, the firm said.

“Together with ECL’s deep experience and proven track record of building and operating HHR assets, we believe NHCG will be a successful local market gaming facility and provide both entertainment and immediate economic benefits to the community,” said Michael Wagman, president and managing director of Clairvest, in a statement.

See you in Las Vegas!

And speaking of games, casinos and business, I will be in Las Vegas for the DealMAX conference early next week where hundreds of dealmakers will be gathering.

If you are attending, I would love to meet you and say hello. You can reach out to me at obey.m@peimedia.com.

That’s it for me today. PE Hub editor-in-chief Mary Kathleen (MK) Flynn will be back with the Wire on Monday.

Have a great weekend.

Cheers,

Obey