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FIRST CAPITAL PARTNERS CLOSES ON NEW INVESTMENT FUND
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First Capital Partners, LLC, based in Omaha, Nebraska, recently closed on a new
$91 million investment fund, FCP Fund II, L.P. The fund will be used to make subordinated
(“mezzanine”) debt and private equity investments in privately-owned companies with
revenues between $10 million and $100 million.
First Capital Partners invests in companies that require long-term funding beyond
what can typically be obtained from a commercial bank. Common uses for this type
of financing are to support a major growth initiative, a management buyout of existing
owners or a corporate acquisition. The firm diversifies its investments across industries,
with most of its investments focused on manufacturing, business services or distribution
companies.
“Our investment capital can play a critical role in building long-term value for
companies, and we hope to find several attractive opportunities in Nebraska where
we can work with owners to create value,” said Wes Hampp, managing director of First
Capital Partners. Hampp was on the formation committee for ACG Nebraska and currently
serves as the chapter’s vice president and a member of its board of directors.
In addition to Hampp, the other senior managers of First Capital Partners are David
McLeese, Young Park and Andy Kemp. McLeese is the managing partner of the firm,
which he founded in 2006 as an investment subsidiary of First National of Nebraska,
Inc., and the largest privately-owned banking company in the United States. Its
flagship bank, First National Bank of Omaha, committed $30 million to FCP Fund II,
L.P., and the balance was committed by investors that included pension plans, financial
institutions, family offices, and qualified individuals, a majority of which are
based in Nebraska.
Along with closing its new fund, the senior managers of First Capital Partners acquired
majority ownership of the firm, which is now managed independently from First National
of Nebraska, Inc. and First National Bank of Omaha.
Please visit www.firstcapitalpartners.com
to learn more about the firm.
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 FEATURED MEMBER Learn
more about Heidi Hornung-Scherr, a Partner at Scudder Law Firm in Lincoln. Heidi
represents public and private companies in the areas of mergers and acquisitions,
financings, securities, and corporate law, with a particular focus on acquisitions
and securities offerings and compliance. She joined ACG Nebraska in May 2010.
What is a core differentiator for your firm?
Service. For larger transactions, we often compete with
regional and national firms and our clients continue to choose us for the level
of service that we provide. We are easily accessible. We provide our cell numbers
to clients and deal team members. We maintain longer office hours. We return calls
within the day (or usually the hour), whether your project is an IPO or the formation
of a start-up business. We understand the legal aspects of a deal and complement
our service with in-depth industry knowledge to assist in framing our legal conclusions
and business advice.
What are your thoughts on women in the ranks of the legal and business communities?
Working in a profession that historically has had more
men than women, and with industries, particularly transportation, with predominantly
male executives, you come away understanding that people seek you as a business
partner for the advice you give rather than because of your gender. They seek an
advisor that they see delivering value to them. My focus has always been on working
hard and providing good value and service instead of trying to overcome my gender.
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What value has ACG brought to you?
ACG has exposed me to the impressive transactions that
are taking place in Nebraska and by Nebraska-based companies. It also has been useful
to network outside of Nebraska with ACG members.
Could you share something unique with us?
Our firm acted as company counsel in the 2nd largest U.S.
IPO closed during 2010. It was an $880 million IPO for a Phoenix company with $2
billion in other financing. During 2010, we also filed an IPO for an Ohio company
and prepared an IPO for a Texas company.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
As my father frequently said to me while working together
on our family hog farm near Arnold, NE, "We can rest when we're dead." This translates
well in a transactional practice. You need to be able to work the extra hours to
capitalize on market windows and favorable valuation multiples for your clients.
Noteworthy achievement?
I am hanging on to the 40 Under 40 recognition from The
Midlands Business Journal, as my thirties become too distant a memory.
What is something most people don’t know about you?
My husband and I are restoring a 120 year old Victorian
farm house south of Lincoln with our three children.
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U.S. private equity activity during the second quarter
of 2011 continued to remain relatively steady at post-financial crisis levels across
deal flow, exit activity and fundraising. There were 373 completed U.S. private
equity deals during the second quarter totaling $28 billion, which sits just below
the average of 400 deals and $30 billion of investments since the low of 2Q 2009.
A total of 105 exits were completed by PE firms during the past quarter, again right
in line with the recent average of 100 per quarter. While fundraising shows encouraging
signs, including increasing fund distributions and bullish LP sentiment, the number
of funds holding final closes is still running close to the recent average level,
with 34 funds reaching final closes on a total of $25.3 billion of commitments during
the last quarter.
To download the full report, click
here.
ACG members are invited to request a demonstration and free trial of PitchBook by
clicking here.
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The Association for Corporate Growth sponsors on a national
basis a yearly business case competition developed by Houlihan Lokey; the ACG Cup,
for graduate level business students. The Cup is designed to provide participating
students with “real world” experience, insights and knowledge regarding mergers
and acquisitions, investment banking, financial advisory and private equity. Each
case study provides the MBA student teams from UNO, UNL and Creighton with a unique
opportunity to analyze a complex business case and present their recommendations
to a panel of judges from the Nebraska business community. The Cup begins with a
first-round competition to be held on-campus in late January 2012 at each participating
university. Then the winning team from each university’s first-round competition
will move into the regional “ACG Nebraska Cup” finals. The winning team will receive
the prestigious Nebraska chapter ACG Cup title and awards.
The chapter is currently in the planning stages for the 2012 ACG Cup which will
be held in late January 2012. For additional information, please contact Pamela
Peterson at 312.515.7404 or ppeterson@unomaha.edu.
The chapter is also seeking financial sponsorship for the Cup; please contact Tom
Worthington, McGrath North at tworthington@mcgrathnorth.com
for additional information regarding Cup sponsorship.
Click here for additional information
on the ACG Cup Program.
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We Want To Hear From You
ACG Nebraska is seeking relevant content for the chapter
newsletter and is requesting members to submit
short articles related to the M&A industry or growth trends that would be
of interest to the membership. Please limit the article to 300 characters or less
and include links to additional information on the topic if appropriate. The articles
submitted must be of a non-promotional nature. In addition, we encourage members
to pass on information about deals they
have made or in which they have played a role to Kalli at:
info@acgnebraska.org.
**The Board and staff of ACG Nebraska reserve the right to reject or edit any article.
If your article is accepted for publication, ACG will ask you to sign a release.
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