M&A wrap: Huron, Ronnoco Coffee, Nvidia, Mellanox, Blackstone, Carrix

Huron Capital-backed Ronnoco Coffee, a manufacturer and distributor of premium quality coffee, tea and related products, has acquired Beverage Solutions Group, a provider of high-quality beverages and equipment for convenience stores and the foodservice industry. Beverage Solutions was founded in 1997 by Doug and Steve Thompson in Maynardville, Tennessee, and has become known for providing reliable, environmentally-friendly equipment and products, including creamers, sweeteners, cappuccino and hot chocolate, in addition to foodservice equipment. The deal marks the eighth acquisition for Ronnoco since Huron invested in the company in 2012. Celebrating its twentieth anniversary in 2019, Huron has raised more than $1.8 billion in capital through six committed private equity funds and invested in 170-plus companies. The Detroit firm says its portfolio companies have employed more than 11,000 people throughout North America. The Huron Capital buy-and-build investment model, which it calls ExecFactor, includes equity recapitalizations, family succession transactions, market-entry strategies, corporate carve-outs, and management buyouts of companies with revenues up to $200 million. Ronnoco represents Huron's platform investment for its ExecFactor buy-and-build model within high-growth beverage categories.

Deal news
Chip maker Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) is acquiring Israeli chip designer Mellanox Technologies for $6.9 billion in cash. “The emergence of AI and data science, as well as billions of simultaneous computer users, is fueling skyrocketing demand on the world’s datacenters,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia. “Addressing this demand will require holistic architectures that connect vast numbers of fast computing nodes over intelligent networking fabrics to form a giant datacenter-scale compute engine. We’re excited to unite NVIDIA’s accelerated computing platform with Mellanox’s world-renowned accelerated networking platform under one roof to create next-generation datacenter-scale computing solutions." Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to Nvidia, and Jones Day served as legal advisor. Credit Suisse Group and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. served as financial advisors to Mellanox, and Latham & Watkins LLP and Herzog Fox & Neeman served as legal advisors.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) has announced that funds affiliated with Blackstone Infrastructure Partners have made a growth-oriented investment in Carrix, the largest marine terminal operator in the U.S. and in the Americas, for undisclosed terms. Carrix is the parent company of SSA Marine and its related affiliates with combined operations at over 250 port and rail locations worldwide, including 16 container terminals in Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma, Panama, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Vietnam. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP represented Carrix.

Behrman Capital, a private equity firm based in New York and San Francisco, has made a significant investment in the Emmes Corp., for undisclosed terms. Emmes is a contract research organization, or CRO, that partners with government, private foundations and commercial clients to develop treatments for diseases and disorders having an impact on public health. Emmes has provided clinical trial services for more than 1,000 trials across Phase I-IV in more than 70 countries, and has expertise in biostatistics, offering government and commercial customers capabilities in the analysis and management of clinical trial data.

For more deal announcements, see The weekly wrap: Harley-Davidson, One Rock, Paulson and TriArtisan.

Fore ongoing developments about private equity firms raising funds, see our weekly column, see PE fundraising scorecard: Alpine, Churchill, Sheridan.

Featured content
Cannacord Genuity's purchase of Petsky Prunier, Cisco's acquisition of Luxtera, and Platinum Equity's backing of sprinkler maker Pro-Mark were among the mid-market deals that closed in February.

Related: February M&A buyers: Canaccord Genuity, Cisco, Platinum Equity

Mergers & Acquisitions profiles the top 28 investment banks of 2018, with KPMG, Houlihan Lokey, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), William Blair and Lincoln International ranking as the five most active in M&A. The list is based on volume of completed deals, with PitchBook as the data provider. It was a good year for dealmaking, with activity in the U.S. middle market exceeding $400 billion, the first year to achieve the milestone.

Related: Top investment banks: KPMG, Houlihan Lokey, Goldman Sachs, William Blair.
Related: M&A soared in 2018; companies confident about dealmaking in 2019.

In Mergers & Acquisitions' annual look at strategic buyers, we see significant deals aimed at enhancing the customer relationship, including Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN) purchase of PillPack, Nike Inc.'s (NYSE: NKE) acquisitions of Invertex Ltd. and Zodiac Inc. and Target Corp.s' (NYSE: TGT) acquisition of Shipt. Technology plays a key role in many transactions. But while technology is enabling developments, it’s not an end unto itself for many corporations. Instead, strategic buyers are using innovations as a means to achieve goals. Based on analyzing hundreds of recent deals, Mergers & Acquisitions has identified seven goals corporate dealmakers hope to accomplish through M&A transactions today: Integrate data with software; improve the customer experience and relationship; expand and improve distribution; process payments more efficiently; leverage tech trends, like autonomous vehicles; make manufacturing processes more efficient; and achieve better outcomes and efficiencies in healthcare. “Strategics have been really active,” says John Neuner, managing director, Harris Williams. “They are aggressive in pursuing the assets they want, as long as it fits within their strategy. Scale is critical to them, and they have to meet consumer demands by adding new capabilities.”

Related: 7 reasons why smart companies Amazon, Nike, Target are doing M&A.

Technology M&A is thriving, and private equity firms are hot on the trail of innovations that will drive sustainable value to customers and make companies more efficient, more effective and less expensive to run. Among the developments appealing to PE investors are: artificial intelligence, data management, data virtualization, digital marketing, healthcare IT, industrial automation, the Internet of Things, machine-to-machine learning, payment processing and Software-as-a-Service. To gain more insights into what kinds of tech deals will dominate the field in 2019, Mergers & Acquisitions reached out to 10 private equity firms that are active investors in technology: Francisco Partners, Genstar, Great Hill, HGGC, Insight, LLR, Riverside, Silver Lake, TA and Vista.

Related: 10 private equity firms share strategies for tech M&A.

Independent sponsors must rely on others for the capital to close deals. Having a working relationship with a PE firm provides the independent sponsor with an ally and leverage while negotiating the best deal possible. Read the full guest article by Boyne Capital Partners' Derek McDowell: How to structure a winning PE-independent sponsor partnership.

Mergers & Acquisitions has named 36 leaders the 2019 Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A, including Kainos Capital's Sarah Bradley, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors' Nishita Cummings and Pelham S2K Managers' Venita Fields. All 36 are outstanding dealmakers both inside and outside of their firms. This year, we asked the featured dealmakers to tell their own stories through Q&As, including their advice for women.

Related: Meet the 2019 Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A.

Mergers & Acquisitions has closed the nomination process for the 2018 M&A Mid-Market Awards. We look forward to announcing the winners later in March. The Awards are one of three special reports we produce each year to celebrate deals, dealmakers and dealmaking firms. The other two are The Rising Stars of Private Equity and The Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A.

Related: Special reports overview: M&A Mid-Market Awards, Rising Stars, Most Influential Women.

Events
ACG Philadelphia is hosting its 2nd annual Industry Tour focused on SaaS & Tech-Enabled Services on March 12 at the Union League of Philadelphia. Last year's event brought together 200 PE investors, investment bankers, operating companies and industry advisors from around the country.

The Women's Private Equity Summit will be held at the Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, California, March 13-15. The Summit will bring together more than 550 female professionals in private equity and venture capital.

The ACG Chicago Women’s Network is hosting a lunchtime conversation with Dorri McWhorter, the CEO of YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, on March 19 at the University Club in Chicago.

ACG New York's Women of Leadership is hosting a golf event and reception on March 21 at Konnect Golf in Manhattan. The event brings together female dealmakers from private equity firms, investment banks and lenders.

Exponent Women LLC is hosting an evening of networking and conversation with leading economists at the New York office of Alliance Bernstein on April 4. Speakers include Lindsey Piegza, chief economist, Stifel Fixed Income, and Kathleen Fisher, head of wealth and investment strategies, Alliance Bernstein.