Private Equity Capital

Lazard Names David Cecil MD

admin — Sat, 19 May 2012 19:00:19 +0000

David Cecil has joined Lazard Ltd. as a managing director and head of North American Exploration and Production. He was previously managing director and co-head of Scotia Waterous, the oil and gas arm of Scotiabank. Cecil is based in Houston.

PRESS RELEASE

Lazard Ltd LAZ +0.26% today announced that David Cecil has joined the firm as a Managing Director, Financial Advisory, and Head of North American Exploration and Production. Mr. Cecil was a Managing Director and Co-Head of Scotia Waterous (USA), the oil and gas arm of Scotiabank, where he co-led the U.S. energy investment banking practice. He is based in Houston.

Mr. Cecil has advised oil and gas companies on mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions since 1998. He brings well-established relationships with U.S. exploration and production companies, certain major international energy companies, and energy-related private equity companies.

Prior to joining Scotia Waterous in 2007, Mr. Cecil was a Managing Director in the U.S. energy investment banking group at BMO Capital Markets. Mr. Cecil holds an MBA from Duke University and a Bachelor of Business Administration from The University of Texas.

About Lazard

Lazard, one of the world’s preeminent financial advisory and asset management firms, operates from 42 cities across 27 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Central and South America. With origins dating back to 1848, the firm provides advice on mergers and acquisitions, strategic matters, restructuring and capital structure, capital raising and corporate finance, as well as asset management services to corporations, partnerships, institutions, governments and individuals. For more information on Lazard, please visit www.lazard.com .

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Facebook Debut Lifts Elevation Partners

admin — Sat, 19 May 2012 19:00:07 +0000

Elevation Partners, the private equity firm that famously counts Irish rock star Bono among its co-founders, sold 5.2 million of its Facebook shares (or 13% of its stake) for $ 198 million as part of Facebook’s IPO on Friday.

Elevation’s partial exit from Facebook marks a clear success among the firm’s recent investments, which also include Yelp, the customer review site, and helps the firm overcome some of its early missteps.

Prior to Friday, Elevation owned 40.1 million shares, or roughly 1.5% of the social networking Goliath. That stake was worth slightly more than $ 1.5 billion. Elevation’s made its investments in Facebook during 2009 and 2010, paying $ 268, representing a 5.6x return for the firm.

The firm is currently raising its second buyout fund, a middle-market growth equity vehicle that is thought to target between $ 1 billion and $ 1.9 billion. The fund will not only invest in growth equity, but also be able to invest in seed to late stage firms, sources told Buyouts magazine last year.

The firm’s debut fund, which closed in 2004 and raised $ 1.9 billion, has so far returned 1.4x and delivered an IRR of 11 percent, according to December 2011 data from the Oregon Investment Council, which committed $ 100 million to the fund.

Elevation Partners was able to get several marquee investors to invest in its debut fund, including the Washington State Investment Board, the Oregon Investment Council, the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association, the Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System and the Illinois Teachers Retirement System. There has been no information on whether any of these investors are planning to commit to Fund II.

To be sure, Elevation Partners was founded by several partners other than Bono, including Roger McNamee, who previously co-founded tech buyout shops Silver Lake Partners and who plays bass and guitar for Moonalice, a rock band; Fred Anderson, a former Apple executive; and Bret Pearlman, a former Blackstone senior managing director.

Elevation’s other big hit investment is Yelp, which Elevation was reported to have invested $ 100 million in. The firm’s 11 million shares are now estimated to be worth $ 227 million based on Yelp’s closing price on Friday of $ 19.49 a share. Another notable investment for Elevation has been Pandora, the Internet radio site.

Elevation’s largest investment was for a 25 percent stake in Palm, the mobile device maker. Elevation invested $ 460 million in the public shares of the firm over a three-year period. Ultimately, Palm was sold for $ 1.2 billion to Hewlett-Packard in 2010. The investment did a bit better than break even for Elevation, which saw a $ 485 million exit following HP’s purchase.

Elevation also invested $ 300 million in Forbes, the financial magazine and online publisher, which has struggled financially, not unlike many business publishers.

Gregory Roth is a senior editor at Buyouts Magazine and peHUB. Follow his tweets @RothReuters. Follow Buyouts tweets @Buyouts.

Image credit: Bono listens to Obama speak at a World AIDS Day event at George Washington University in Washington. Photo by Kevin Lamarque, Reuters.

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Reuters – Schustermann & Borenstein on the Block

admin — Sat, 19 May 2012 07:00:19 +0000

The family owners of Schustermann & Borenstein have mandated Goldman Sachs to sell the German clothing exporter, Reuters reported Friday, a move analysts expect to attract strong interest. Schustermann & Borenstein specialises in exporting clothing to eastern Europe and other non-EU countries. The company could attract private equity buyers, which may use it as an add-on to a clothing company already in their portfolio. In Germany, several fashion trading groups are in private equity hands, including Apax-owned retailer Takko and EQT-owned wholesaler CBR.

(Reuters) – The family owners of Schustermann & Borenstein have mandated Goldman Sachs to sell the German clothing exporter, two people close to the transaction said on Friday, a move analysts expect to attract strong interest.

Schustermann & Borenstein specialises in exporting clothing to eastern Europe and other non-EU countries. Separately, it sells surplus stock in so-called outlet centres.

“Any company that is investing in distribution, especially to emerging markets will be attractive as clothing retailers are looking to sell overseas a lot more,” Isabel Cavill, analyst from Planet Retail said.

In 2010, Schustermann & Borenstein posted sales of 153 million euros ($ 194 million) and a net profit of 17 million.

The company could attract private equity buyers, which may use it as an add-on to a clothing company already in their portfolio. In Germany, several fashion trading groups are in private equity hands, including Apax-owned retailer Takko and EQT-owned wholesaler CBR.

In 2010, private equity company Alpha Group floated denim specialist Tom Tailor on the Frankfurt stock exchange. The investor remained in small fashion house Eterna.

Upscale fashion house Hugo Boss is majority-owned by Permira, while U.S.-based private equity firm Sun Capital owns British retailers Jacques Vert and Alexon as well as jeans company Lee Cooper and Strauss Innovation.

Strategic investors like Hong Kong-based exporter Li & Fung may also be interested in Schustermann & Borenstein, Cavill said.

Li & Fung CEO Bruce Rockowitz told Reuters in an interview earlier this month that he saw very little growth in Europe over the next two years, although a bottoming out of the market in Britain, Germany and France could throw up acquisition opportunities for buyers in Asia.

An exporter like Schustermann & Borenstein would also be more attractive than buying a retailer, as it is not burdened with cumbersome real estate assets, Cavill said.

For example, Metro, the world’s fourth-largest retailer, has long been seeking a buyer for its chain of Kaufhof department stores.

It put the sale on ice earlier this year as buyers could not raise enough funds for the deal, which Metro had valued at between 2 and 3 billion euros.

Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Schustermann & Borenstein was not available to comment.

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Reuters – Schustermann & Borenstein on the Block

admin — Sat, 19 May 2012 07:00:04 +0000