Porsche shares rise; Eli Manning scores first PE deal; Orlando Bravo gives back to Puerto Rico

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Porsche shares rise; Eli Manning scores first PE deal; Orlando Bravo gives back to Puerto Rico

Good morning, Hubsters. MK Flynn here with the Wire.

Not dead yet. Defying the moribund IPO market, Porsche made a very healthy public debut today in Frankfurt. Shares in the posh sports car maker rose as much as 5 percent, after pricing at the top end of its range. The opening price valued the company at roughly $73 billion, making it one of Europe’s biggest IPOs ever.

PE Hub Europe is tracking the deal and all things related to private equity-backed transactions in Europe.

Today, editor Craig McGlashan, along with reporter Nina Lindholm and assistant reporter David Wansboro, are meeting with healthcare and life science dealmakers at the HPE Europe conference in London. If you’re on the scene, drop Craig a note at craig.m@peimedia.com.

Nina will have more on the conference in tomorrow’s Dealflow newsletter.

Click here to sign up for PE Hub Europe and Dealflow.

Are you ready for some football? Earlier this morning, Brand Velocity Group announced the acquisition of Score Sports, which makes sports uniforms and equipment for youth teams, for undisclosed terms.

Founded in 2019 and headquartered in New York, BVG counts former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning among its partners.

Score Sports marks the former Super Bowl MVP’s debut deal.

“I attribute a lot of my success in life to the lessons and values learned playing youth sports,” Manning said in a statement. “Score is my first acquisition as a private equity investor, and I can’t wait to share my passion for youth sports through a company that has been serving communities across the US with excellence and pride for decades.”

In keeping with the increasingly popular trend in private equity toward employee ownership, BVG has allocated 10 percent of its carried interest earnings to Score employees “so that they all will participate like equity holders in the financial success of the company,” according to the press release. Incremental to BVG’s carry contribution, over 20 percent of limited partners in the deal have already reserved a portion of their anticipated profits to the Share the Gains program.

Giving back. Orlando Bravo, a founder and managing partner of Thoma Bravo, made a personal contribution of $10 million to the Bravo Family Foundation to help with Hurricane Fiona relief efforts in Puerto Rico, specifically targeting those communities most affected and other vulnerable populations.

"In these instances where my hometown is once again experiencing a natural disaster, the least I can do is support the relief efforts," Bravo, who was born in Mayagüez, said in a statement. "This donation seeks to alleviate some of the pain for Puerto Ricans who were only just starting to recover from previous hurricanes, earthquakes and the Covid-19 pandemic."

As I sign off today, my thoughts are with those of you in Florida and elsewhere who are facing Tropical Storm Ian. I’m hoping our readers stay safe.

Tomorrow, PE Hub reporter Aaron Weitzman will be back with Friday’s edition of the Wire, and I’ll be back on Monday.

All the best,

MK

Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub ...

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

"Russ Steenberg, who founded and has led BlackRock Inc.’s private-equity unit for more than two decades, is passing off management of the group to two longtime executives, according to a company memo reviewed by WSJ Pro Private Equity."

Washington State’s pension system, which was shopping a large private equity portfolio on the secondaries market, decided to pull it back after receiving bids it viewed as too low, three sources told Buyouts.

S64, an alternatives technology platform founded by Tarun Nagpal, the former global head of alternatives and multi-asset solutions at Deutsche Bank, is seeking to more than double its team as the onslaught of retail capital enters the private markets. (Private Equity International)