KKR doubles down on testing; Crestview hopes to repeat ICM success with Gersh

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KKR doubles down on testing; Crestview hopes to repeat ICM success with Gersh

Good morning, Hubsters.

MK Flynn here with the Wire.

KKR just revealed an interesting deal.

Iris Dorbian takes a close look at a recent investment in a Hollywood talent agency that was unveiled the day before the writers’ strike.

Also below, I’ll introduce you to a new reporter who joined the PE Hub team this week!

Testing and measuring

This morning, KKR announced it is acquiring Industrial Physics, a New Castle, Delaware-based maker of testing and measurement instruments for the food and beverage industry.

Subscribers to PE Hub and the premium version of the Wire may learn all about the deal and how it fits into KKR’s Testing, Inspection, and Certification platform announced earlier in the year.

Hooray for ….

Although the short-term news in Hollywood may be focused on the writers’ strike, more long-term story lines have included private equity firms making headlines with enthusiastic bets on content creators. PE Hub recently tracked six deals in six months.

Whether the targets are celebrity-founded production companies or more traditional TV and film studios, buyout shops are cutting a swath across Hollywood, inking deals at a breathless pace and super high valuations, writes Iris Dorbian. It’s a trend fueled by the streaming phenomenon, but it’s also one that presents a quandary for some investors who like the space but may not want to incur undue risk.

For Crestview Partners, the solution is to invest not directly in the content creators but in the intermediaries, the agencies that represent the creative talent. Last week, the New York-based PE firm announced that it purchased a forty-five percent stake in talent firm The Gersh Agency.

Read the premium version of the Wire to learn about how Crestview hopes to repeat with Gersh its prior success with ICM.

Welcome aboard

This week, Rafael Canton joined our PE Hub team as a reporter. Like Obey Martin Manayiti and me, Rafael covers private equity-backed deals in North America.

Previously, Rafael has written for Fast Company and Adweek. He loves music and sports, especially the NBA. Fun fact: Rafael is an early-stage “sneakerhead” (shoe collector).

Please send a warm welcome to Rafael at rafael.c@pei.group

And, as always, you can reach Obey at obey.m@peimedia.com and me at mk.flynn@peimedia.com

We’ve still got an opening for a Senior Reporter.

Please feel free to recommend candidates to me! Reporters with experience covering private equity may apply here.

Tomorrow, Obey will be back with more, including insights gleaned this week from attending DealMAX in Las Vegas.

Note: I’ll be on vacation next week and the following Monday. PE Hub Europe’s Craig McGlashan and Nina Lindholm will be helping out with the Wire, along with the usual contributions from Obey and Buyouts’ Chris Witkowsky.

I’ll be back on the 23rd.

Happy dealmaking – and Happy Mother’s Day!

– MK

Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub ...

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

Playing off of tailwinds from the global shortage of computer chips, Presidio Investors closed a deal that provides more time and capital for its portfolio company Elevate Semiconductor. (Buyouts)
Amid challenging dynamics in secondaries, Connecticut’s state pension system is exploring acting as both a buyer and seller on the secondaries market. (Buyouts)
Actis has launched a renewable energy platform in Japan, with plans to invest up to $500 million of equity into projects over the next four to five years. (Infrastructure Investor)
Mexican energy stands on the precipice for foreign private investors as the government moves to ‘nationalize’ 8.5GW of power generation. (Infrastructure Investor)
Increasing employee-wide diversity in infrastructure portfolios is a well recognized challenge. While it is difficult to distill DE&I across private infrastructure into a single metric, women remain underrepresented in the workforce, IFM Investors‘ recent Infrastructure Outlook report observed. (New Private Markets)
The new reality of a ‘failed’ fundraise: Multiple managers have either closed or expect to close their latest private equity flagships below target – something unthinkable a few years ago. (Private Equity International)