People and Company News, Week of May 16, 2025
- Ashley Velategui has been appointed head of Wealth Strategies Group by Bernstein Private Wealth Management, a unit of AllianceBernstein L.P. Velategui will lead a team advising HNW and UHNW clients nationwide on all areas of financial planning, philanthropy, income and estate tax planning, and the investment implementation of these plans. Based in Seattle, WA, Velategui will be reporting to Alex Chaloff, head of investments and wealth strategies. She joined the group in 2011 and most recently served as the national director of planning research starting in 2023.
- Nellie Keyhani has been added as a director of client advisory by Curated Wealth Partners, a multi-family office and investment management firm serving ultra-high-net-worth clients. With nearly two decades of experience advising high-net-worth individuals and families, Keyhani joins Curated Wealth Partners from Iconiq Capital, where she provided strategic guidance at the intersection of wealth management, private investing and family office operations.
- Michael Barulich has been promoted to principal by DW Healthcare Partners, a healthcare-focused private equity firm. Barulich joined the firm in 2017 and works in the Park City office. He currently sits on the board of Public Partnerships LLC and previously served on the Spectrum and SoClean boards. He started his career at JPMorgan.
- Stephan Scholl has been appointed as an operating partner by Advent International. Scholl will work closely with Advent’s team and portfolio companies to identify, source and execute new deals while supporting value creation initiatives. Scholl most recently served as CEO of Alight Solutions, a cloud-based provider of digital human capital and business services, where he led the company through a digital transformation and successful public offering.
- Joshua Liebow has been promoted to partner by MPE Partners, a Cleveland- and Boston-based private equity firm. Liebow joined MPE’s Boston office as a principal after more than 20 years at Manulife Investment Management (and its predecessor entity Hancock Capital Management) and serving as co-head of the junior credit platform since 2021. He has also worked as an integral MPE deal team member on several potential new investment opportunities. While at Manulife, Liebow was primarily focused on leading junior capital financings and equity co-investments in middle market companies across many of the same sectors as MPE.
- SavvyMoney, a provider of financial wellness tools and personalized loan offerings, has acquired CreditSnap, a fintech solution provider that powers intelligent integrations to digital loan, deposit and account onboarding solutions for banks and credit unions. The platform integrates with more than 73 loan origination, core and digital banking systems. Loan application time can be reduced from 12 minutes to as little as two minutes.
- Bain Capital is set to take Japanese logistics firm Nissin Corp. private through a management buyout valued at approximately ¥112B ($756M). Bain plans to acquire 13.85M shares at ¥8,100 (around $54.52) each, TTNews reported. New overtime work regulations, introduced last year in Japan, have exacerbated a nationwide shortage of truck drivers, increasing operational costs and prompting smaller firms to seek mergers or acquisitions.
- The NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers are in advanced talks to sell a minority stake to private equity firm Arctos Partners, according to Bloomberg. If completed, the deal would make the Chargers the third NFL team to sell a stake to institutional investors, following a 2023 rule change allowing private equity firms to own up to 10% of a team.Arctos, already an investor in the Buffalo Bills, is among four firms approved by the NFL for such deals, and is reportedly furthest along in negotiations with the Chargers.
- Polar Asset Management in Toronto bought Castlefield Associates, a $160M relative value systematic futures hedge fund firm founded by Chris Schindler and partners in 2019. The purchase price was not disclosed, but for the $6.1 billion Polar the business will be additive across its four primary offerings: the flagship Polar Multi-Strategy Fund, a U.S. equity long/short strategy known as Polar Long/Short Fund, Polar Micro-Cap Fund, and Polar CRS Fund-1.
- Colovore, an owner and operator of data centers, announced the closing of a $925M debt facility provided by Blackstone funds. This milestone marks a successful year for Colovore since affiliates of King Street Capital Management acquired the company to accelerate its development of new AI data centers across metro edge markets. Unlike legacy data center architectures, Colovore’s liquid-cooled facilities are designed from the ground up to support the demands of modern AI chips, offering market leading per cabinet cooling densities, smaller footprints, and improved efficiency, the company said.
- Aypa Power, a Blackstone portfolio company and developer, owner, and operator of utility-scale energy storage and hybrid renewable energy projects, has closed on $535M in debt financing to advance a 320-MW solar-plus-storage project in San Bernardino County, CA. The financing supports Aypa’s Vidal project, a hybrid facility combining 160 MW of solar generation with a 160 MW / 640 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery energy storage system (BESS). The project is expected to come online in 2026.
- L Catterton has led a $42M funding round with India-based snack company Farmley. The deal also had participation from existing backers including DSG Consumer Partners. Founded in 2017, Farmley offers health-focused snacks. The funding will help Farmley grow its presence in India’s dried fruit and nut segment. L Catterton has made over 250 investments in brands across all segments of the consumer industry. The firm is led by co-CEOs J. Michael Chu and Scott Dahnke.
- Renown Capital Partners, an investment firm focused on growth-stage tech companies helping to secure an efficient, affordable, and reliable energy system – has formally launched. Renown is a spinout of Moore Capital Management, which has provided $200M of anchor capital. The Daily Mail and General Trust has committed an additional $50M of anchor capital. Renown launches with a portfolio of six companies and recently led the Series C financing of Utilidata.
- VMG Partners, a growth equity firm that partners with entrepreneurs building transformative consumer brands and technologies, announced the closing of VMG Partners VI, L.P. at its target and hard cap of $1B. Over the past two decades, VMG has invested in more than 60 visionary consumer brands. The firm has partnered with household brands such as KIND Snacks, Spindrift, Drunk Elephant and [solidcore].
- Denali Growth Partners announced the final close of Denali Growth Partners Fund II at $400M in total limited partner capital commitments. Fund II exceeded its $350M, backed by strong demand from both existing and new investors. Fund II builds on the success of DGP’s debut fund, a $200M-plus growth equity fund raised in 2021. The firm focuses on healthcare, life sciences, professional services, tech-enabled platforms and services, and software.
