South African private equity firm Brait has sold a 19 percent stake in Freeworld Coatings, a Johannesburg-based paint company, to Japan’s Kansai Paint. Kansai Paint has bought a 25 percent stake overall in the company. Brait had previously attempted a 1.7 billion rand ($248.3 million) takeover of Freeworld, but it was rejected by shareholders.
Private equity firm Carlyle Group is satisfied so far with deals for minority stakes in Indian companies, despite the boom in private equity deals in India at the moment, according to Reuters. India saw $6.57 billion invested in the first three quarters of 2010, twice the $2.5 billion invested for the same period last year. Carlyle, though, is happy to sit on the sidelines and wait for the right deal, according to Devinijt Singh, a managing director at the firm.
Pandora, the Danish jewellery maker, said that the value of its IPO has moved above $2.1 billion, after arrangers of its initial public offering exercised an overallotment option on 6.68 million shares. Prometheus Invest ApS – an investment vehicle of Axcel, set up by Axcel and the founding family – now holds about 54.7 percent of Pandora.
AerSale, which is backed by Leondard Green & Partners, bought a fleet of 19 Boeing 747-400 series passenger aircraft powered by CF6-80C2B1F engines.The seller was Japan Air Lines. Coral Gables, Fla.-based AerSale provides aftermarket aircaft, engines and their componets to airlines and leaasing companines. Earlier this year, Leonard Green, a PE firm, invested $250 million in AerSale.
Alan Hevesi, former New York State Comptroller, pleaded guilty today to a single charge of felony corruption in the latest development in the state pension fund scandal. Hevesi turned himself in today at State Supreme Court in Manhattan. He acknowledged receiving nearly $1 million in gifts in exchange for improperly favoring and approving a $250 million investment by the New York State Common Retirement Fund into Markstone Capital Partners, a statement said. Hevesi also admitted that he knew Henry “Hank” Morris, his top political aide, used the pension fund to personally receive fees for deals and steered investments to friends and political associates, a statement from Cuomo’s office said.
Forbes has come out with its ranking of the 100 Most Powerful Women and I did a quick scan for PE execs. And --surprise surprise -- there weren’t any buyout execs listed. Well, Ho Ghing, CEO of Temasek Holdings, came in at No. 30. However, Temasek isn't a PE firm but an LP that makes direct investments.
Jeremy Neilson has joined Scalar Partners as a managing director and head of LP Advisory. Scalar Partners is based in San Francisco, California, and provides business and transaction valuation to growth equity companies and private equity firms. Neilson previously was the head of the State of Utah’s private equity program, the Utah Fund of Funds.
Murphy&Spitz Green Energy has bought a 660 kW photovoltaic power plant in northern Bohemia in the Czech Republic. Murphy&Spitz will benefit from proximity to Germany, price-indexed feed-in tariffs, and tax rebates. The firm is a 100 percent owned a subsidiary of private equity firm Murphy&Spitz Green Capital.
Guidio Padovano has joined PineBridge Investments as the Head of Latin America Alternative Investments, the company announced. Padovano, who will be based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, will oversee all private equity operations and manage the firm’s investments in the region. He was previously head of Merrill Lynch Private Equity in Latin America.
Ian Deas has been named a partner at Sydney-based private equity fund-of-funds Quay Partners, and has also taken over as head of its U.S. operations, based in San Francisco. He previously spent 18 years at Pantheon Ventures. Quay Partners manages AUD $980m ($969.2m) and has advised on programs totalling over AUD $4 billion ($3.95bn).