People and Company News, Week of November 15, 2024
- Brad Boggess has been added as a managing director by Houlihan Lokey in its capital markets group. Based in Atlanta, Boggess joins the firm after spending the past six years at Blackstone as head of asset management for Blackstone Credit and Insurance. Prior to joining Blackstone, Boggess led private equity asset management for Hudson Advisors, the asset management affiliate of Lone Star Funds.
- Bill Galvin was hired as an operating advisor to funds managed by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. Galvin former president and CEO of Anixter International. He will play an active role in helping the firm identify, source and execute new investments in the industrials sector and will work closely with CD&R’s team and portfolio companies.
- Bhumika Gashti was hired as senior managing director, investor relation by PPM America Capital Partners, the private equity arm of PPM America, Inc. Gashti reports to Champ Raju, managing partner, head of private equity. Her primary focus is leading all aspects of existing client relationships and fundraising efforts. Gashti joins the Chicago office from Intrinsic Edge Capital Management, where she served as head of BD & investor relations. Prior Intrinsic, she worked in several roles at Credit Suisse, most recently as head of U.S. sector specialists.
- Eric Neveux and Graham Nix were hired as senior managing directors by Evercore in the financial institutions group based in Chicago and New York, respectively. Neveux brings over two decades of investment banking experience from Goldman Sachs. Most recently, he was a partner, head of banks and specialty finance for the Americas and co-head of investment banking for the Midwest region. Nix joins Evercore from Morgan Stanley, where he most recently served as a managing director in the financial institutions group. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Nix was a director advising regional banks at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, and associate at PwC.
- Joe Macchione was promoted SVP, Head of Midwest Operations by Brennan Investment Group, a Chicago-based private real estate investment firm. He will oversee the leasing and operations of Brennan’s Midwest portfolio, encompassing over 30M square feet of industrial properties. Macchione has been with the firm for nine years, progressing through multiple roles, including SVP of Leasing, VP of Leasing, Leasing Associate, Property Manager, Assistant Property Manager, Operations Analyst, and Accounting Assistant.
- Cetera Financial Group announced that Eglin Federal Credit Union has entered into a networking agreement with Cetera Financial Institutions in the delivery of its member-focused investment program, Eglin Wealth Management. Fort Walton Beach, FL-based Eglin Federal Credit Union serves nearly 125,000 members with over $2.8B in assets.
- AssetMark announced the extension of its partnership with Cheetah, a cloud-based trust accounting system, to deliver a unified wealth management solution for financial institutions. Since beginning their collaboration in November 2023, the combined service has allowed advisors to expand into trust services, and trust providers, like First State Bank, to facilitate more active management of client assets, especially investment portfolios.
- U.S. Compliance, a provider of environmental, health and safety (EHS) services and backed by Susquehanna Growth Equity, has acquired Hellman & Associates Inc., an EHS consulting firm that offers services including their version of CaaS (Compliance-as-a-Service) called Assured Compliance, management systems, customized training programs, auditing, regulatory compliance reporting, gas detection services etc.
- Ernst & Young LLP has purchased Jubilant, an HR tech consultancy focused on supporting human capital management, payroll and workforce management systems. Jubilant designs and builds accelerators that work to automate testing for payroll and workforce management, and by delivering advanced tools for data movement, analysis and validation.
- Principal Asset Management launched an International Equity ETF (PIEQ), a large-cap portfolio managed by the equities team and led by George Maris. With the addition of the International Equity ETF, Principal offers 10 ETFs representing approximately $4.7B in assets under management.
- ACA Group, a provider of governance, risk and compliance (GRC) services for the financial services industry and backed by Genstar Capital, has acquired FINOP Consulting LLC, a financial and operations principal outsourcing firm for broker-dealers. FinOps involves services that ensure a broker-dealer’s financial practices comply with FINRA and SEC standards, including accounting, recordkeeping and financial reporting.
- HighPost Capital LLC, a private equity firm focused on the consumer, sports, media and technology sectors, has made an undisclosed investment in Front Row Group, an e-commerce agency providing outsourced marketplace management services, in partnership with Charlesbank Capital Partners.
- Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital made a $20M investment in NovoPayment, a financial and payment infrastructure service provider specializing in digital banking, payments and card solutions. The company’s platform offers digital wallets, instant issuance of deposit accounts and virtual cards to RTP, cross-border transfers, digital lending and cash management. NovoPayment serves 15 markets across Latin America, the Caribbean and the U.S.
- Transom Capital Group, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm focused on the middle market, has closed Transom Capital Fund IV at $675 million in capital commitments, more than double the size of its previous fund and exceeding its target and initial hard cap. Transom also announced the closing of an additional $79.5 million in co-investor capital commitments. Transom targets orphaned, under-managed businesses, typically lender-owned or corporate carve-outs.
- Godspeed Capital Management LP, a lower middle-market defense and government services and tech-focused private equity firm, has closed Godspeed Capital Fund III LP with $675 million of total investor capital commitments at the fund’s hard cap. The oversubscribed Fund III was raised in less than two months. The firm has to date raised over $1.1 billion in capital commitments since its inception in 2021.
- Vialto Partners, a global mobility, tax, and immigration solutions provider, received a $225M equity recapitalization from a group consisting of an existing financial sponsor, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and certain of its existing lenders, including HPS Investment Partners. The fresh capital aims to reduce the company’s approximately $700M in outstanding debt. Following completion of the transaction, CD&R will remain the majority shareholder of Vialto and HPS will become a minority equity owner.
- Reinsurance Group of America Inc., a life and health reinsurer, announced that Ruby Reinsurance Company, a MO-domiciled third-party life reinsurance company, has closed a second round of funding, raising a total of $480M from AllianceBernstein, EnTrust Global, and Enstar Group, among others, with AB appointing a member to the Ruby Re Board of Directors. The company was targeting $400M to $500M.