ACG Boston welcomes the following New Members from the month of January:
Chip Baird, Weston Presidio Capital
Julie Barron, J.P. Morgan
Karen Chung, The Barish Fund
James Coffey, Verrill Dana LLP
Elaine Crowley, The Crowley Group
John Cullinane, Islington Capital Partners
Glen Darby, Merrill Lynch
Ed DiRocco, ChampionScott Partners
Neil Doherty, Aon Corporation
Alex Koppenheffer, Tron Capital Partners
Ed Kreutz, Administaff
Bill Lane, The Castle Group
Charles Lester, [...]

Riverside Partners announced earlier this week that it has partnered with management to acquire J-Pac, LLC.
J-Pac is a leading contract manufacturer and equipment maker for medical device and biopharmaceutical OEMs.  J-Pac’s customers are primarily blue-chip medical OEMs who participate in high-growth market segments such as cardiovascular, orthopedic, minimally invasive surgery, in-vitro diagnostics, biomaterial, implantable device [...]

Woodside Capital, a debt and private equity investor in micro-cap middle market companies, has strengthened its investment team.  Today the Company announced that it has welcomed Benjamin Procter as a Partner and Brett L’Esperance as a Principal.
Woodside Capital announced today the addition of Ben Procter and Brett L’Esperance to the firm.  Mr. Procter and Mr. [...]

Jim McClure has joined Keystone Partners as a Partner to provide career transition, leadership development, executive coaching and career management services to senior executive clients for their Essex Partners and Camden Consulting Group divisions.
“Jim understands the demands and the challenges that face today’s leaders. Assessing, coaching, advising and recruiting top talent for more than 20 [...]

This WSJ article (subscription required) discusses shareholder activism challenging PE investment in the Clear Channel case and speculates that this might be the first of many cases in which public-to-private deals come up against opposition.
More coverage from Reuters:
Barron’s said that at least two big institutional shareholders, including Fidelity Investments, have told management they will cast [...]

ACG Boston hosts some of the region’s leading financial perspectives at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel at the upcoming Economic Outlook Conference.  Scheduled for February 8th and running from 2:00pm to 7:00pm, this forum will focus on the underlying strength of the marketplace and how to navigate clients’ concerns about current world political and economic [...]

Which Kind of Change Matters Most?
DealMakers Breakfast - January 18, 2007
There are two types of change affecting private equity investments, and the key the adapting and succeeding is knowing the difference between them. So said Geoff Rehnert, co-CEO of Audax Group, keynoting the DealMaker’s Breakfast on January 18th.
The two types of change? Cyclical and structural. [...]

GE and Private Equity
Or should the headline read "GE vs. private equity?"  A January 10th article in the Financial Times observes that General Electric, now putting its plastics unit on the block, has tried "spiking one of private equity’s guns" by saying that leading firms cannot join together to bid for the plastics division.  The [...]

Last week, Audax Group completed an add-on acquisition for Questex Media Group with the purchase of UK-based McLean Events, which manages a series of specialized appointment-based business to business meeting forums for seven industries: health & fitness, hotel management, spa & beauty, conference & incentive, shipping, petroleum, training and people department. 
Audax, together with Questex, [...]

James Chen is a CA-based VC, founder and now Senior Advisor to CXO Ventures. Here he comments on how Providence Equity Partners is cutting its carry from 25% to 20% for its upcoming fund.
James believes this is an indication of the competitive marketplace:
The 30% carry hasn’t been that well received by some LPs who argue that in this [...]