Good morning!
It’s not hard to find private equity deals out there that, having grown and thrived, are examples of what happens when such deals work. There’s so much negative coverage of the industry out there in the mainstream, it’s good to take a pause and note the big wins.
Take Pharmaceutical Product Development, which provides contract research services to pharma and biotech companies worldwide. PPD’s IPO on Feb. 6 came more than eight years after Hellman & Friedman and Carlyle Group acquired the company.
PPD’s IPO assigned it an initial enterprise value close to $14 billion, up from the $3.6 billion valuation it was assigned in its December 2011 take-private, Sarah Pringle writes on PE Hub.
PPD during its private equity ownership period experienced a huge increase in value, not because it was stripped, but because it performed well with steady growth, Sarah writes.
PPD was founded as a one-person consulting firm in 1985 by Fred Eshelman. Under the leadership of David Simmons, who joined shortly after the take-private, the company’s workforce has more than doubled to around 23,000 across 46 countries today, Sarah writes.
Check out Sarah’s story here on PE Hub.
New hire: Buttefly Equity is an emerging firm that I’ve covered closely for the past few years. Buttefly closed its second fund (which was its first institutional fund) last year on $520 million. It also raised a co-investment vehicle with $320 million.
The firm is announcing today that it hired ex-KKR Capstone executive Derick Prelle as partner and head of portfolio operations. Prelle worked as managing partner, Americas, for KKR Capstone, which is KKR’s portfolio operations team. Prelle in that role had responsibility for portfolio company operations across KKR America’s industry groups with personal oversight of the consumer, food and retail sectors.
Prelle also held corporate operating roles for KKR.
Most recently, Prelle was president and chief executive officer of Fleet Farm, a midwestern specialty retailer with more than 8,000 employees. Read the news brief here on PE Hub.
Top Scoops
American Pacific Group, formed by ex-H.I.G. Capital executive Fraser Preston, is out raising its debut fund, writes Kirk Falconer on Buyouts. The firm also includes Managing Director and COO Nick Wall, who was previously a director with Lazard’s private capital advisory group. Read it here on Buyouts.
Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board plans to hike its private equity fund commitments and co-investments in 2020, writes Justin Mitchell on Buyouts. Read more.
Have a great day! Reach me with tips n’ feedback, Drama, low-acid recipes, whatever at cwitkowsky@buyoutsinsider.com, on Twitter or find me on LinkedIn.
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