Deal of the Year deadline; KKR shops Internet Brands stake, Braemont marks debut deal

Happy Friday, Hubsters. MK Flynn here, with this morning’s Wire.

Last chance. Today is the deadline to send in nominations for Buyouts’ Deal of the Year Awards. We’ll pick winners in seven categories: Deal of the Year, Large-Market Deal of the Year, Middle-Market Deal of the Year, Small-Market Deal of the Year, Turnaround of the Year, International Deal of the Year, and Secondaries Deal of the Year. Send in your candidates ASAP to Chris at cwitkowsky@buyoutsinsider.com. And visit here for more info about the awards.

Minority stake. Chris has an interesting story about KKR’s seeking to sell a minority stake in Internet Brands. This will set the valuation for a single-asset secondary the firm is exploring for more time and capital to grow the company, sources told Buyouts. KKR acquired Internet Brands in 2014 from Hellman & Friedman and JMI Equity. The deal was valued at around $1.1 billion, according to reports at the time. Internet Brands operates popular consumer websites like WebMD, which it acquired in 2017 for about $2.8 billion.

“Internet Brands has grown revenues and profits by 8x since KKR took over, according to Lynn Walsh, chief development officer and general counsel with the company,” Chris writes. “The company has done more than 20 add-ons under KKR’s sponsorship across its verticals, which includes health, legal, automotive and home and travel, Walsh said.”

Emerging manager. Earlier this month, Kirk identified Braemont as one of 12 emerging managers to watch, and earlier this week, the Dallas-based firm announced its debut deal: Braemont joined venture capital firm JettyCove in recapitalizing RedTeam Software to support the construction management software provider’s growth, including the add-on of Paskr. Aaron spoke with Braemont partner Jeff Volling. “This investment checks a lot of the boxes that we look for at Braemont and the strategy that our platform is set up to execute,” Volling explained. Construction is a sector in which “there is secular growth based on the adoption of digital technologies.” For more, read Aaron’s story.

Hip hop. Snoop Dogg, scheduled to perform in Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime show, announced yesterday that he bought Death Row Records brand from MNRK Music Group, backed by Blackstone. The deal comes as he releases a new album, B.O.D.R. Death Row Records was the hip hop star’s debut label. Snoop Dogg said: “I am thrilled and appreciative of the opportunity to acquire the iconic and culturally significant Death Row Records brand, which has immense untapped future value. It feels good to have ownership of the label I was part of at the beginning of my career and as one of the founding members. This is an extremely meaningful moment for me. I would like to personally thank the teams at Blackstone, MNRK and especially David Kestnbaum, who worked collaboratively with me over several months to make this exciting homecoming a reality. I’m looking forward to building the next chapter of Death Row Records.”

Thought leaders. Looking for insights on today’s dealmaking landscape? Check out my ongoing series of Q&As with high-profile private equity professionals, including:

• Pam Hendrickson, vice-chairman of The Riverside Company
• David Grain, founder and CEO of Grain Management
• Brent Gledhill, CEO and president of William Blair
• Beatrice Mitchell, co-founder and managing director of Sperry, Mitchell & Co.
• Robert Reifman, managing director, Lincoln International
• Randy Schwimmer, co-head of senior lending at Churchill Asset Management and founder and publisher of The Lead Left

40 under 40. Private Equity International is calling for nominations for its fourth annual rising stars of private equity list. PEI’s 40 under 40: Future Leaders of Private Equity will be published online and in the Future of Private Equity Special in early May. Submit your nomination by end of day Thursday February 17 here. The list will feature individuals across five categories: Investor (LP); Fundraiser; Dealmaker; Lawyer; Operator.
That’s all for now. On to the weekend…. Are you ready for some football? And don’t forget the Super Bowl ads. Amazon Alexa’s reading the minds of Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost is pretty funny.

Cheers,

MK