Marlin Equity preps Arcserve for sale, Kinderhook closes sixth fund, Providence Equity acquires The Studio Director

Morning!

Marlin Equity, formed by ex-Gores Technology Group executive David McGovern in 2005, seems to be on an exit tear. Today Milana Vinn on PE Hub has a scoop that Marlin is selling Arcserve, a data recovery business. A handful of sponsors are involved in the process, which is in its late stages, the story said. Read it here.

Marlin acquired Arcserve in 2014 as a carveout from CA Technologies. Under Marlin’s ownership, Arcserve completed one add-on, Zetta, an enterprise-cloud disaster recovery provider, in 2017.

Marlin also is gearing up to bring VirginPulse to market, PE Hub reported this week. The sale could potentially valued at upwards of $2 billion, the story said.

The firm raised $3.25 billion for two funds in 2017: Marlin Equity V, which closed at its $2.5 billion hard cap; and Marlin Heritage II, which closed on $750 million.

I’m not clear if Marlin is coming back this year with its next fundraising process, though firms tend to gear up to raise their next funds after a wave of exits.

Meanwhile, several ex-Marlin executives are in market with their own funds.

Close: Kinderhook Industries, which won our Middle Mark Deal of the Year Award in 2015, closed its sixth fund on $1.11 billion. That total included $1 billion in commitments and $111 million from the GP.

Kinderhook has been busy on the deal front in past months. The firm’s portfolio company VirTrial in December acquired SnapMD, which provides telemedicine tools and services. PharMedQuest, backed by Kinderhook, acquired Long’s Drugs in a $390 million deal, also in December.

Reminder: Get your Deal of the Year Awards nominations in by Feb. 10, 2020. Go here for the rules and to read about past winners. Send submissions directly to me at cwitkowsky@buyoutsinsider.com.

Top Scoops
Institutional investors see private equity as their preferred asset class despite increased worries over political rhetoric against the industry, writes Teddy Grant on Buyouts. Check it out here.

New York State Teachers’ Retirement System committed just over $1 billion to private equity in the fourth quarter of 2019, Justin Mitchell writes on Buyouts. Read it here.

Have a great day! Reach me with tips n’ gossip, trends, feedback, The Drama, book recommendations or whatever at cwitkowsky@buyoutsinsider.com, on Twitter or find me on LinkedIn.