Read our website privacy and cookies policy for more information. Only one of OpenGate's subsidiaries included as a plaintiff is a California LLC. [12] In 2010, Nikou was behind the OpenGate bid for Newsweek, owned by the Washington Post Company, but the firm did not acquire the publication.[13]. An uncommon approach to investing in and growing complex businesses. The efforts by Cerberus Capital Management to unload Maxim magazine in late 2013 may go down as one of the most litigious divestments in publishing history. The company was starting to be profitable. In January 2013, for instance, OpenGate abruptly shut down Golden Guernsey Dairy in Waukesha, Wis. Nikou grew up with a passion for trading baseball cards and competing in breakdancing competitions. PDF In the United States Bankruptcy Court for The District of Delaware Opengate said gang members brandished weapons to intimidate employees at the facility and parked their cars and tractor-trailers filled with unknown cargo there. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, this week sits in the legal dock in Manhattan federal court, pleaded guilty to his own Maxim-related fraud charges in November, Woman has 'loud, full body orgasm' in the middle of LA concert, $76K NJ boarding school admits falling 'tragically short' in protecting teen who killed self after bullying, 'rapist' taunts, Meghan Markle's ailing dad says he refuses 'to be buried by her' in 'final ever' interview, Rihannas iconic Met Gala looks through the years, Fans question North Wests lavish pre-Met Gala gift for Kim Kardashian: No way, Perez Hilton: Boring Meghan and Harry need to give up and move back to UK, Elon Musk Tells Bill Maher Woke Mind Virus Is Dangerous On Real Time, Prince Harry's coronation role still a mystery as William's is revealed. Uber drivers and other app-based workers are facing an all-out safety crisis. The goal of this section is to provide consumers with a comprehensive resource on class action and mass tort lawsuits. Beskrone v. OpenGate Capital Grp., LLC (In re PennySaver U.S. Publ'g The Industrial Division of the Communication Workers of America paid to publish an open letter to OpenGate Capital's CEO, Andrew Nikou, in an advertisement that . 3 min read. While Janesville was once a manufacturing hub, it has experienced the devastating consequences of unfettered corporate greed. OpenGate Capital Fully Exits Investment in EverZinc The labor union that represents workers at Janesville's Hufcor factory is now pressuring Hufcor owner OpenGate Capital with a shame campaign that's playing out in Los Angeles, OpenGate's . At OpenGate, we recognize the importance of building resilient infrastructure for our employees, portfolio companies and environment through responsible investing. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Musk said hed never settle an unjust legal case against him. The lawsuit was dismissed in April 2016. That would be a hard argument to make, he said. We are proud to have a history of successfully turning around these types of businesses, Fahn added. OpenGate has had successes. Defendants OpenGate Capital, LLC and OpenGate Publishing, LLC (collectively, "the Open Gate entities" or "Defendants") filed the Motion to Disnnss that is presently before the Court. In the weeks leading up to the coupon magazines mass layoffs, managers were on a tear, asking advertisers to pay up front and offering sales representatives bonuses for bringing in the most money, Buckley said. A decision by Wisconsins Department of Workforce Development said Golden Guernsey employees never got compensation for accrued vacation and wages, or for the 60 days that correspond with the required notice period. In September 2013, OpenGate acquired PennySaver for $22.5 million. OpenGate nevertheless was lured back in as a short-term lender to Darden. It had been in business 50 years. She sharply criticized OpenGate Capital for the closure. The owner, private equity firm OpenGate Capital in Century City, had turned over management of the firm in December to a restructuring and liquidation company, Realization Services Inc. in Bedford . OpenGate Capital partners with companies to . But in some cases, as with PennySaver, external circumstances frustrate our ability to have our investments realize their full potential.. OpenGate Capital. Andrew Nikou is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer at OpenGate Capital based in Los Angeles, California. The state had awarded the company the loan with the understanding that it would stay in Connecticut 10 years. OpenGate Capital Shuts Gate on Janesville Plant The firm first gained recognition for the acquisition of TV Guide Magazine in December 2008,[2] and the publication's turn to profitability in the first quarter of 2010.[3]. OpenGate Capital General Information. Wrong. 66% of employees would recommend working at OpenGate Capital to a friend and 61% have a positive outlook for the business. OpenGate Capital, a Los Angeles firm that amassed $5 billion in revenue during its first decade in business, has run exactly that playbook in Janesville since acquiring Hufcor in 2017. Capital One said it tried to work with PennySaver on the closure, but to no avail. Catherine A. Osten, Spragues first selectman, the equivalent of mayor, said the company owes more than $240,000 in back taxes. Similarly, employees at Golden Guernsey learned their company was closing when they showed up to work only to find the doors locked. In 33 years with the 83-year-old company, he saw it operate under three different owners, most recently OpenGate Capital. Federal Civil Lawsuit California Central District Court, Case No. And the firm shut down its Fusion Paperboard plant just three years after acquiring it and only a few months after entering into a six-year contract with the local steelworkers union. OpenGate Capital Realizes Investment in InRule Technology PEP2788708 to OpenGate Capital Management. June 16, 2021. So far, six lawsuits have been filed against OpenGate Capital and/or PennySaver in local and federal courts for failing to notify employees of mass layoffs, according to Richard McCune, a lawyer . "OpenGate Capital Acquires Philips Business Communications in Brazil," Latin America Venture Capital, 3-18-2010. OpenGate strategically invests in targeted sectors across five continents utilizing a diverse and experienced team with the ability to connect with business owners around the globe. The legislation will end "the failed experiment of gutting Michigan workers' rights," said one lawmaker. Founded in 1979, Chemsolv is a diversified distributor offering more than 1,000 chemicals including solvents, plasticizers, coolants . Kasoff, making the first extended comments on behalf of PennySaver since its closure, said the default was technical and that the company was paying down the loan. Sontchi, C.J. We look to establish collaborative relationships with companies to drive operational improvement and realize opportunities for long-term value creation. The Hamilton shutdown was the result of a dispute in which the landlord of its main plant in Texas moved to evict the firm, imperiling the business, according to an OpenGate spokesman. It maintained operations during the worst of the pandemic and even. Its the. A court-appointed trustee, Similarly, employees at Golden Guernsey learned their company was closing when they showed up to work only to find the doors, . In October 2019, OpenGate Capital closed on the firm's second institutional fund, OpenGate Capital Partners II, oversubscribed on its original $450 million target, with approximately $585 million in commitments. A state claim for wages was filed in the dairys pending Delaware bankruptcy case. A runner, rock climber and board game enthusiast, Lauren is perpetually training for the next race day. "Nicole Farhi Buyer OpenGate Set to Announce Three More Deals," David Altaner, Bloomberg, 3-15-2010. Not meeting those goals or maintaining those levels would result in a default regardless of whether loan payments were made. 9JANESVILLE The labor union that represents workers at Janesville's Hufcor factory is now pressuring Hufcor owner OpenGate Capital with a shame campaign that's playing out in Los Angeles, OpenGate's corporate home city. This is ClassAction.org's current list of open lawsuits and investigations. OpenGate gets sued for alleged WARN Act violations | PE Hub It was one of the most shocking things that ever happened to me in my business life, Weinberg testified. [11] Also in 2009, OpenGate purchased children's publishers Fleurus Presse and Junior Hebdo from Groupe Le Monde. Hufcor workers battle private equity owner with shame ad in Los Angeles Instead, he sits on numerous boards and hes even been in talks about a. built around his private equity business. Herb Titus, on what would have been his 20th anniversary with PennySaver, spent the afternoon protesting outside OpenGate Capital in Century City recently. OpenGate Capital | LinkedIn Wisconsin workers fight factory move to Mexico: 'Anxiety is through the This case was filed in U.S. Courts Of Appeals, U.S. Court Of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. here to register, Not for publication, email or dissemination, Veritas-backed HMH buys educational services nonprofit NWEA, Professional services company FMP inks $36.5m from Alaris, NMS recaps environmental services firms Texas Pride and Texas Dumpster Companies, MSCP invests in services for homeowners; Patient Square launches platform for medical device makers, Leonard Green to acquire minority stake in HUB; plus Investcorp, Sound Partners, Odyssey invest in HVAC, 700 million people will make their home in African cities over the next decade, said DPIs Marc Stoneham. You should only be asked to sign in once. Similarly, employees at Golden Guernsey learned the company was closing when they showed up to work only to find the doors locked. If we wanted the employees to be paid, we had to immediately terminate all the employees other than those that were needed to liquidate, Kasoff said. Nikou increased OpenGate's pace of international acquisitions in the 2010s. OpenGate is a global private equity firm that acquires and . The Golden Guernsey plant employed over 100 workers. Stanziale alleged that the dairy was insolvent in December 2011, more than a year before the hurried shutdown. Fusion employees received 60 days notice in July and stayed on until the mill closed in September. All rights reserved. OpenGate sued Thermo Fisher for breach of contract, negligent and fraudulent misrepresentation, and other things. Six months after the purchase, OpenGate sued Thermo Fisher, saying the company had concealed the fact that the Reynosa, Mexico, facility was under seige by the Gulf cartel, whose senior members brandished weapons at company employees and parked tractor trailers and cars at the facility. It had about 100 workers, some of whom arrived at the plant one January morning to find the gates locked, according to state documents. On Friday May 21,2015 they fired all employees. Attorneys are either actively filing these cases or investigating to determine whether lawsuits can be filed. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) sent a letter today to Andrew Nikou, founder and CEO of OpenGate Capital, asking the Los Angeles-based private equity firm to honor their agreement with former Hufcor employees in Wisconsin. OpenGate Capital, which owns PennySaver, has closed other companies I consider this company, OpenGate Capital, to be the robber barons of this age, Osten said. To date, OpenGate has laid off 678 California workers from the Pennysaver classified ad magazine, 100 Wisconsin workers at its Golden Guernsey dairy plant, 140 employees of the Connecticut boxboard company Fusion Paperboard, and nearly 200 employees in Texas, Arkansas, and Wisconsin, who worked for Hamilton Scientific, an OpenGate-owned laboratory furniture company. OpenGate Capital Group LLC et al v. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc et al . employees in the middle of a work day and failing to give workers their final paychecks. Above, workers attend a May 26 meeting. We have just sent you an email so you can verify your account. The lab workstations unit, headquartered in Wisconsin, had facilities in Mexico, Texas and Arkansas. Kasoff said that the bank explicitly forced the default when, on the last day of operations, a bank representative phoned to say that the bank would not advance the $400,000 needed to fund corporate payrolls unless PennySaver agreed to shut down and dismiss all employees not needed to wind down the company. Andrew Nikou is the founder and CEO of OpenGate Capital, a global private buyout firm. But OpenGate never got a dime after it lent the cash as the alleged fraud was uncovered. OpenGate Capital Management has sued the British parent company of a German industrial engine-maker to recover fees after the private equity firm's 347 million ($480 million) deal to buy the . In addition, OpenGate was to get 10 percent in Maxim plus a $500,000-a-year annual consulting fee, according to testimony. OpenGate Capital, a Los Angeles firm that amassed $5 billion in revenue during its first decade in business, has run exactly that playbook in Janesville since acquiring Hufcor in 2017. OpenGate Capital is a global private equity firm headquartered in Los Angeles, California and Paris, France that focuses on the acquisition and optimization of underperforming businesses in the lower middle market throughout North America and Europe. May 17-18, 2023 Hilton Tower Bridge, London, May 23-24, 2023 Convene 117 West 46th Street, New York, Get limited access to our industry news, analysis and data, plus regular email updates. I worked the for a little over 4. OpenGate Capital is a global private equity firm specializing in the acquisition and operation of businesses to create new value through operational improvements, innovation and growth. Around the same time, it was engaged in negotiations to be acquired by another company. Location. OpenGate Capital, a Los Angeles firm that amassed. He just settled this one, DeSantis board approves suing Disney in response to lawsuit, Regulators seize First Republic Bank, sell to JPMorgan Chase, What the work-from-home era has done to office politics, First Republic up in air as regulators juggle banks fate. Experience: Mr. Moazami is a Technology industry Senior Advisor to OpenGate Capital. Last Updated January 23, 2017 at 11:50 PM EST (5.7 years ago) it's been delivered there. Terms of the investment were not disclosed. But Pawluk said things deteriorated soon after OpenGate Capital acquired Hufcor, a family-owned company founded in Janesville 120 years ago. OpenGate Capital, a global private equity firm, announced today in a joint statement with its portfolio company, Hufcor Inc. ("Hufcor"), the world leader in the design, manufacturing and installation of movable partitions and flexible space management solutions, the appointment of Mr. Koben Miceli as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. The cases that former employees have highlighted as OpenGate failures include: the shuttering of Golden Guernsey on a Saturday morning in 2013, with no notice to employees; the closure of Connecticut-based Fusion Paperboard shortly after it had received a state loan to stay put for 10 years; and the shutdown of OpenGates laboratory furniture business, Hamilton Scientific, after it discovered that a drug cartel had overrun its Mexico plant and it was evicted from its Texas facility. The younger Darden pleaded guilty to his own Maxim-related fraud charges in November and is cooperating with prosecutors in their pursuit of Newkirk. In too many cases with private equity, big firms acquire businesses and squeeze them for cash, routinely causing bankruptcies. Register now to read this article and more for free. In 2012, Nikou was a recipient of The M&A Advisor's "Top 40 Under 40" award,[4] for the West Region. Not the case? After decades of pro-corporate globalization, people numb to its effects might write . Andrew Nikou Email & Phone Number - OpenGate Ca.. | ZoomInfo Our tax dollars should make life better not go to waste on bloated military contracts and Pentagon boondoggles. Private equity, an ownership structure that puts distant financiers in charge of how a business is run, has been shown to result in worse health outcomes for patients, at greater cost. [5] however, his actions have also drawn substantial criticism, including numerous lawsuits. OpenGate Capital is planning the launch of its third flagship fund over the next 6-12 months, with a target of up to $700m, according to a source close to the situation., Funds, Buyout, France, UK / Ireland, Benelux, Southern Europe, DACH, Nordics, CEE, OpenGate Capital, Exclusive In the May 2013 filing, OpenGate claimed it was misled into buying the division it later renamed Hamilton Scientific, and that site visits before the sale had been structured to avoid discovery of the hostile encroachment and occupation of the Reynosa facility by cartel members. And employees became increasingly worried when PennySavers CEO, vice president of finance and the vice president of human resources all quit, Buckley said. OpenGate nevertheless was lured back in as a short-term lender to Darden. A court-appointed trustee also sued OpenGate for siphoning money from Pennysaver through a variety of shady tactics. Mr. Moazami's career spans 30+ years in the technology industry; predominantly in operating roles and the last nine years as a professional venture capitalist & advisor in Silicon Valley. He said that cost cuts and other moves had pushed PennySaver back toward profitability by May and the company was nearing the end of negotiations to refinance the line of credit or sell the company when Capital One stopped returning the companys calls. In fact, prosecutors allege, it was the senior Dardens neer-do-well son who had already spent three years in jail on an unrelated stock swindle looking to buy the lad mag. They just care about lining their pockets with money. [14] Also in 2019, OpenGate purchased the UK-based Duraco Specialty Tapes, which then acquired Infinity Tapes the following year. Hamilton Scientific would pay employees once it got its funding together, according to the April PE Hub article. OpenGate Capital regularly acquires under-performing businesses that by their very nature are sometimes operationally distressed, said Terry Fahn, a senior executive at the crisis management firm Sitrick and Company that represents OpenGate.