Private equity firm Cinven has upped its stake in French budge retailer Camaieu by 30%, paying roughly 388 million euros ($546 million), Reuters reported. The firm now owns about 95% of the company, having bought a 65% stake in Camaieu from Axa Private Equity in 2007 for 1.5 billion euros.
GE said it will pay about $3.2 billion for a 90% ownership in electrification and automation equipment maker Converteam, Reuters reported. GE is buying the company from a group of shareholders that includes Barclays Private Equity and LBO France, Reuters said. Converteam's senior management will retain a 10 percent stake in the company.
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BNY Mellon Alternative Investment Services said Monday that Jim Whitaker was named head of relationship management for the Americas while Mark Mannion will head relationship management for EMEA. Whitaker will be based in New York while Mannion will be in Dublin.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System has added Russell Fong as its acting CFO. He is currently Interim Assistant Executive Officer of the CalPERS Administrative Services Branch.
Lombard Investments said Monday that it had sold its 23% stake in S.Pack & Print Public Co. Ltd. to Oji Paper Co. Ltd. Lombard, a PE firm with offices in Bangkok, Hong Kong and San Francisco, said it realized a 3.5x return on the sale.
The Riverside Company added Mitco Inc. to its DuBois Chemicals asset. Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mitco is the third add-on acquisition for Cincinnati, Ohio-based DuBois. Riverside partnered with KeyBank (as Agent), U.S. Bank and TriState Capital Bank who provided all of the financing for the transaction. Jones Day provided legal counsel on the deal.
It’s been two years since Bram Hall, 39, left Harris Williams, the middle market investment bank where he spent 10 years. Hall helped co found BlackArch Partners in 2009 with Drew Quartapella and Matt Salisbury (the cofounders of Edgeview Partners), as well as Kelly Katterhagen, ex-president of IOA Corp. Charlotte, N.C.-based BlackArch, which also advises middle market companies, began operating June 1 and currently has a staff of 22 people. Hall leads the firm’s transportation & logistics and automotive aftermarket practices. He recently spoke to me by phone: Q: Has the automarket rebounded since the downturn?
A: When I look at automotive, the OEM industry is separate from the auto aftermarket. The aftermarket has a tendency to do extremely well in a downturn. The OEM market is really cyclical. In a soft economy, people will try to prolong the life of an old car. The OEM market is still down. But the auto aftermarket has been a hot sector. It performed really well in the downturn. It generated a lot of investment interest in the downturn.
Companies that provide data to fund firms aren’t the sexiest investments. But Austin Ventures took a chance in early 2009 when it backed Asset International. Austin had just finished raising $900 million. The financial markets had crashed and investing in Asset International was considered a risky play.
Walter Investment Management Corp. said Monday that it has agreed to buy Green Tree Credit Solutions in a deal valued at $1.065 billion. St. Paul, Minn.-based Green Tree is a loan servicer. Walter Investment will issue about 1.8 million shares of stock to Green Tree, assume about $20 million of Greentree existing debt and issue $765 million of new debt. Centerbridge Partners is the seller. The deal is expected to be completed in third quarter. Credit Suisse advised Walter Investment while Morgan Stanley advised Green Tree. BofA Merrill Lynch acted as financial advisor to the seller.