Promotions in private equity; KKR flies high; luxury goods attract investors

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Promotions in private equity; KKR flies high; luxury goods attract investors

Good morning, Hubsters. MK Flynn here with the Wire.

Coming up in today’s newsletter: Promotions versus layoffs. A big aviation deal. Home care services for seniors. New additions to the PE Hub team.

Bad news, good news. In New York this morning, the atmosphere is a bit gloomy. And it’s not just the rain.

This week, some big names in the financial services sector, including Goldman Sachs, have begun laying people off as they seek to cut costs amid the challenging economy.

BlackRock reportedly plans to cut 500 people out of its roughly 20,000 global workers.

“The move reflects the period of reckoning that 2023 could represent for many global asset managers, which are being forced to cut costs and make hard decisions about where to invest for growth,” says the Financial Times.

PE people moves. Thankfully, the mood at private equity firms has been more cheerful, with positive signs the industry is set to weather the economic storms.

This week we’ve seen a slew of private equity firms announce promotions, as often happens at the start of a new year. It’s comforting to see the tradition continue.

For example, this morning, New York-based Harvest Partners announced six promotions: Joshua Carter, Kenneth Chen, Chris Peyser, Chris Schaller and David Swanson have been promoted to partner. And Ethan Soodak has been promoted to principal.

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners also announced multiple promotions this week.

For Iris Dorbian’s ongoing coverage of private equity people moves, see the News in Brief section of PE Hub’s home page.

Turning to deals…

Flying high. One deal that caught our collective eye:

KKR announced late yesterday a new $1.15 billion commitment to expand its global portfolio of leased commercial aircraft in partnership with Altavair. The investment comes from KKR’s credit and infrastructure funds.

Iris has more on the transaction here.

Senior living. As the US population ages, demand for products and services aimed at seniors is growing.

One private equity firm betting on home care services for seniors is InTandem Capital Partners.

InTandem is announcing this morning a majority investment in HouseWorks, a Woburn, Massachusetts-based provider of home-based healthcare services for seniors founded in 1999.

Aaron Weitzman spoke with Brad Coppens, senior managing director of InTandem, about the deal.

“Homecare services have long been known as the lowest-cost care setting within broad post-acute spectrum and the care setting most closely aligned with patient preference,” Coppens said.

Read more here.

Living it up. While it may seem a bit counterintuitive, luxury goods often do well in a recession. It’s a phenomenon some PE firms, including Partners Group, Bain Capital and BC Partners, are banking on.

Today, PE Hub Europe’s Nina Lindholm has a roundup of private equity deals “living a life of luxury.”

Click here for the story.

Limited time offer. Complementary access to PE Hub Europe will soon end.

PE Hub Europe extends the renowned and respected North American deal coverage of PE Hub to the European market by leveraging the unrivalled access and knowledge of PEI Group.

Led by editor Craig McGlashan, PE Hub Europe’s mission is to get to the heart of the European private equity landscape by analyzing deals and the direction of the market and telling the stories of the people and firms making it all happen.

PE Hub Europe focuses on the deals that matter – going beyond the press release to get to the heart of the story by speaking to the dealmakers involved.

If you haven’t checked out our new site yet, now’s the time to sign up.

Sign in or register here to start reading today.

People moves. I mentioned above that January is a traditional time for promotions and new hires, and we’ve got some of our own news to share.

This week, we’re delighted to announce two additions to our time.

Georgina Tzanetos has joined PE Hub as a reporter. Georgina is a former financial advisor with over 10 years of experience in different financial roles. She has hands-on client and deal experience across several sectors. She spent the past five years in financial media, coming to us most recently from Bankrate, where she was an investment reporter. You can reach her at [email protected]

Irien Joseph has joined PE Hub Europe as assistant reporter. Irien recently received a masters degree from the University of Sussex and previously worked for the The Economic Times in India. She will be responsible for news briefs about PE deals in Europe. You can send deal announcements and other email to her at [email protected].

Welcome aboard, Georgina and Irien!

That’s it for today. Tune in tomorrow for Aaron’s Fri-yay edition of the Wire. I’ll be with you again on Tuesday.

Note: In observance of Martin Luther King Jr Day, PEI Group in the US will be closed on Monday.

All the best,

MK

Read thefull wire commentary on PE Hub …

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

After planting a flag in NYC, BCI private equity sets its sights on Europe. US and European bases of operation will “give us runway to continue doing what we’ve been doing,” PE chief Jim Pittman told Buyouts, including “growing our book of directs.”

Blackstone’s Nadeem Meghji: ‘When someone calls with $4bn of capital, you answer the phone.’ The US endowment's commitment into the manager’s BREIT fund announced last week is a 'win-win' for both sides and an absolute 'home run’ thanks to the extra liquidity and flexibility it provides, Meghji, Blackstone’s head of real estate Americas, told PERE.

Another private equity investment officer from New Jersey’s state pension system has moved over to MetLife as the system continues to search for new PE talent. John Panebianco joins the PE team led by his former New Jersey colleague Jared Speicher, who joined MetLife last year to lead the US LBO portfolio. (Buyouts)

Asset manager New Forests has appointed Mark Rogers to be its new chief executive officer, replacing outgoing CEO and founder David Brand. (Agri Investor)

Blackstone said it named Brad Marshall, who has led the firm’s direct lending business for nearly 17 years, to the new position of global head of private credit strategies and hired Jonathan Bock from Barings to co-head Blackstone Credit’s business development companies alongside Marshall. (Private Debt Investor)

With the Inflation Reduction Act creating a supportive investment environment, US renewables developers are understandably bullish on solar – nevertheless, they should build out with caution. (Infrastructure Investor)

The Wellcome Trust, a UK-based medical research foundation and significant investor in private markets, is pressing its buyout managers to adopt science-based targets as it tries to put its whole portfolio on a pathway to net zero. (New Private Markets)

"One of the most important technologies to address climate change got a boost Thursday when a startup [Climeworks AG] said it pulled carbon dioxide from the open air and stored it underground. The company has cashed in on the effort, potentially creating a viable business model that could kick-start a new industry." (Wall Street Journal)

"Sandwich chain Subway has retained advisers to explore a sale of the closely held company, according to people familiar with the situation." (Wall Street Journal)

"A small band of Britishvolt shareholders have submitted a late counterbid to take over the company, in an effort to prevent a deal by an Indonesia-linked investment fund that would come close to wiping out the current investors in the struggling battery start-up." (Financial Times)

"EIG Global Energy Partners is one of the few private-equity firms still investing billions of dollars in fossil fuel-related assets, as it bets on continued global demand for liquefied natural gas before the world can fully rely on renewable energy." (WSJ Pro)