Weekly People & Company News
- Abhishek Jain was hired by Houlihan Lokey as a managing director for its transaction advisory services practice. Jain, based in Chicago, will strengthen the firm’s financial due diligence capabilities, with a primary focus on the industrials sector. Jain joins from KPMG, where he was a managing director in the firm’s deal advisory and strategy group.
- Charles Melcher was appointed COO by RoadSafe Traffic Systems Inc., a provider of infrastructure services and a portfolio company of Trilantic North America and Investcorp. Melcher has over a decade of leadership experience at mid-market industrial, environmental, logistics, energy, manufacturing and technology companies. He will focus on driving operational efficiency to position the company for future growth. Prior to joining RoadSafe, Melcher served as president of Keystone Shipping Co., a 110-year-old family-owned maritime logistics and commodity trading company.
- David Shepley was promoted to partner by Windancer Holdings, a Dayton, OH-based investment firm. Shepley joined the firm as VP of investments in July 2021 and was promoted to director of investments in January 2023. The move makes Shepley the company’s first partner in its history.
- Jim Wiegmann was added to the team of One Rock Capital Partners’ operating partners. Wiegmann is involved with evaluating consumer, food and beverage investment opportunities and driving post-deal value creation in the private equity firm’s portfolio companies. Most recently, Wiegmann served as the CEO of OLM Food Solutions, a One Rock portfolio company that was sold in July 2023 to a strategic buyer.
- Britton Woolf was appointed managing director by Palm Tree LLC, an M&A advisor providing investment banking and financial consulting services to middle-market businesses, to lead its transaction advisory services discipline. Woolf will apply his financial due diligence experience to lead teams advising both private equity firms and corporate clients through strategic events. Prior to joining Palm Tree, Woolf held positions with Alvarez & Marsal and PwC.
- SLB, a global technology company focused on energy innovation, has agreed to purchase ChampionX in an all-stock transaction. ChampionX offers chemistry services, artificial lift systems and equipment and technologies that help companies drill for and produce oil and gas safely, efficiently and sustainably.
- Morgan Stanley Capital Partners has bought Resource Innovations, a tech-focused services company focused on energy efficiency and sustainability, from BV Investment Partners. Resource Innovations provides advisory services, program management services and software to utility, government and corporate clients in the areas of energy efficiency and decarbonization, aiming to lower energy costs, reduce waste, cut greenhouse gas emissions and improve grid resiliency.
- Summit Partners, a private equity firm, has made a $35M minority investment in Netgain, a software provider for finance and accounting teams. Netgain’s software services aim to simplify and automate key accounting processes, including those related to lease accounting, fixed asset management, advanced revenue recognition, month-end close, loan management and improved financial workflow.
- Clayton Dubilier & Rice has acquired a majority ownership position in Presidio, a technology services provider, from BC Partners. Presidio delivers IT and digital services. Funds affiliated with BC Partners will retain a minority ownership interest in Presidio.
- KKR has acquired SunFireMatrix Inc., a software and tech-focused services platform serving the insurance distribution and health plan markets. SunFire is a SaaS technology company providing IT services to support the Medicare market. Stone Point Capital, the company’s previous majority owner, will continue to be a significant minority shareholder in the company.
- McCarthy Partners Management LLC, a private equity firm, has closed McCarthy Capital Fund VIII LP at $870M. The fund was oversubscribed and exceeded its initial target of $700M. Fund VIII will invest in lower middle-market companies. Through Fund VIII, the firm will target investments to support growth equity investments, management buyouts and recapitalizations.
- Warren Equity Partners, a private equity firm in Jacksonville Beach, FL., has closed Warren Equity Partners ELIDO Fund II LP at its hard cap with more than $550M in commitments. The fund exceeded its initial target of $450M. It will invest in lower middle-market companies that provide products and services to the infrastructure and facility markets.
- Dragonfly led a $12M Seed funding round for Agora, a Jersey City, NJ-based provider of a digital dollar (aka stablecoin). General Catalyst, Hack VC, Kraken Ventures, and other funds and angels also participated. The company intends to use the funds to launch their digital dollar and asset platform purpose-built for the transmission of value on blockchain-based rails. The company is led by CEO Nick van Eck, CTO Drake Evans, and COO Joe McGrady.
- Arctos Partners, a private equity firm headquartered in Dallas, has closed Arctos Sports Partners Fund II, the latest iteration of its flagship sports fund, with over $4.1 billion in capital commitments. Approximately 30% of Fund II’s capital has been deployed across several investments, including Smith Entertainment Group, the holding company that owns the Utah Jazz; Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment, the owner of New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76ers; Paris Saint-Germain F.C.; and Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team.
- General Catalyst led a $3.8M seed and Contray led a pre-seed funding round for Orchard Robotics, a Seattle, WA-based company enabling precision crop management with robots and AI. Founded at Cornell University by Charles Wu in 2022, Orchard Robotics enables precision crop management for fruit farmers. They have engineered a vehicle-mounted, AI-powered camera system that gathers precision data pertaining to the fruit on each individual tree.
