Archive for April 28th, 2008

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Vinum Capital Management has announced the launch of a $250 million fund targeting the California and west coast wine industry, Vinum Capital Partners I, LP. The fund will focus on mid-size premium and super-premium wine properties that produce 20,000 to 150,000 cases per year.

The California-based company plans to acquire wine companies, grow and expand them, and ultimately sell the assets in this industry that receives relatively little attention from equity investors. Vinum put together a solid team with significant experience in the wine industry, totaling $1 billion in winery-related transactions.

I”ll state one thing after reading this new — each worker in private equity probably wants to get hired by this fund.

Investment partners for the fund include Justin Faggioli, former COO of Ravenswood, Scott Setrakian, former Director of Golden Say Vineyards and an M&A and financing expert, G. Craig Vachon.

The portfolio management team for the fund lists Bill Foster from Beringer, Jonathan Pey from Robert Mondavi and Fosters Wine Estates, Doug Rogers from Gallo, Southcorp, and Brown-Forman Wines, and Bob Steinhauer from Beringer.

If you have kept up with the wine, beer, and spirits industry, you’ll get the significance of this as both Beringer and Mondavi are formerly public companies. Fosters acquired Beringer earlier this decade. Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) also acquired Robert Mondavi.

Jon Ogg produces and edits the Special Situation Investing Newsletter for 247WallSt.com.

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Quaker BioVentures closed its second fund that focuses on life science companies in the Mid-Atlantic region at $420 million, beating a target of $120 million.

The first fund closed for $280 million and invested in 24 companies. The fund has been successful, with Amicus Pharmaceuticals going public last Might, while Eximias and MedMark were each acquired in spring of 2006. BioRexis Pharmaceutical Corp. and Precision Therapeutics are pending acquisitions.

The second fund has already invested in five companies including Argolyn BioScience, Diasome Pharmaceuticals, EKR Therapeutics, Optherion, and Transave. Quaker’s partners for the fund include Sherrill Neff, Brenda Gavin, Richard Kollender, Ira Lubert, Adele Cirone Oliva and Dr. Matthew Rieke. The limited partners for the second fund have not been disclosed, however, Thomson Reuters reported that the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System and the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System have invested.

Jon Ogg produces and edits the Special Situation Investing Newsletter for 247WallSt.com.

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