Lower Middle Market Weekly Outlook

Good morning, all. Apparently private equity firms are making up for lost time. After several years of slow performance and bemusement, PE shops have been realizing record returns.

Hillary Canada of the WSJ explained, “Private equity firms in the U.S. returned more than twice the money they called down from investors in 2013. According to Cambridge, fund managers drew down $56.3 billion from limited partners during 2013, a $15 billion drop from a year earlier. But managers returned some $134.6 billion to investors, the largest amount since the index’s inception.” And it’s not only returns that are reaching record levels — both PE secondaries and dry powder levels are on track for record years.

In other news, Jeb Bush is raising private equity funds for oil and gas companies.

Transactions:

• Mackinac Financial Corporation to acquire Peninsula Financial Corporation
• Alliance Healthcare Partners invests in Prodigo Solutions
• RLJ Equity Partners exits Media Source
• Altair to acquire Visual Solutions
• Mississippi Resources closes investment from TPG Specialty Lending
• Roark Capital Group is looking to sell Fastsigns
• KeHE acquires Nature’s Best
• Riverside acquires PearServe
• Silverfleet Capital acquires AGR Holdings
• GTCR buys Cole-Parmer Instrument Company
• Seacoast Capital invests in Walden Behavioral Care
• Genstar sells Evolution1 to WEX

Events:

• Monday: Consolidation Trends in the Automotive Aftermarket Industry
• Tuesday: The Human Capital Aspect of Investing in Chicago
• Tuesday: Summer Summit Midwest in Chicago
• Tuesday: Family Office & Private Wealth Management Forum in Newport
• Wednesday: AM&AA Summer Conference in Chicago

Opinions:

• The 5 phases of a GP’s life
• Why trading houses are partnering with PE firms
• Overseeing healthcare mergers from a security perspective
• Blackstone posts best Q2 earnings as private equity soars
• Mega-mergers: The search for scale
• 5 technologies drive health care M&A
• The value of worldwide M&A reaches $2 trillion
• BDCs pin hopes for 2015 on looser investment rules
• Private equity firms race to buy fitness chains
• 7 points to hiring an investment bank
• Do you see yourself as a sophisticated investor?
• Latin American private equity on the rise
• Private equity has room for growth in sustainability

This week in history… Enron acquires Wessex Water for $2.2 billion (1998).