Chris Witkowsky
Patton Boggs has hired the former chair of the private equity practice in the Dallas office of Locke Lord, Gina Betts. She is joined by Brad Hogan, a former associate in the Dallas office of Baker & McKenzie, where he worked in M&A, securities and corporate governance.
BIND Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company with venture backing, raised $70.5 million before underwriting discounts and commissions in its initial public offering of 4,700,000 shares priced at $15 per share.
Ares Capital Corporation, a specialty lender to U.S. middle market companies and private equity sponsors, plans to offer 11 mln shares of its common stock. Ares Capital will use net proceeds to repay debt and for general corporate purposes including investing in portfolio companies.
Heat Biologics, a developer of cancer immunotherapies, has named Louis Bock, a partner at Scale Venture Partners, to its board of directors. Heat Biologics held an initial public offering earlier this year in which it raised $25 million.
Maryland State Retirement and Pension System has had a steady year in committing to private equity funds.
GTCR is partnering with former VeriFone CEO Douglas Bergeron to form Opus Global Holdings, which will focus on acquisitions of companies in the financial technology sector. GTCR plans to invest $450 million, while Bergeron will kick in up to $50 million.
The Carlyle Group will buy Metropolitan Real Estate Equity Management, a global real estate fund of funds manager with more than $2.6 billion in commitments. Carlyle will use equity from its balance sheet for the deal. Financial terms were not disclosed.
GE Healthcare Life Sciences, a unit of GE Healthcare, will build a biopharmaceutical factory in China for venture-backed JHL Biotech. JHL Biotech is a biopharmaceuticals company backed by a consortium of venture firms, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers China Fund, Sequoia Capital, Burrill & Co and China Development Industrial Bank (CBID).
Washington State Investment Board is slightly reducing its target allocation to private equity. This month the investment board approved up to $700 mln in commitments.
Now that many private equity firms have gone through the time-consuming and expensive process of registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission, two congressmen are questioning the wisdom of the process.