Andrew Nikou

Andrew Nikou is the founder and CEO of OpenGate Capital, a global private buyout firm.[1] The firm is focused on the acquisition of lower to middle market, non-core divisions of larger companies located around the world. From its offices in Los Angeles, CA, and Paris, France, the firm seeks to acquire change-intensive and underperforming businesses ripe for transformation.[2] To date, the firm has completed more than 30 transactions and has acquired more than $8 billion in gross consolidated revenues. The firm and its founder are best known for their acquisition of TV Guide Magazine in December 2008,[3] and the publication's turn to profitability in the first quarter of 2010.[4]

Nikou is actively involved with the management of each of the companies his firm invests in including those acquired prior to raising institutional capital.

Nikou has received recognition for his business achievements. In 2012, Nikou was a recipient of The M&A Advisor's "Top 40 Under 40" award,[5] for the West Region. In 2010, Nikou was named a Top Dealmaker of 2010 by Mergers & Acquisitions magazine,[6] and was dubbed a "private equity whiz" by international business and private equity publications.

Early years

Nikou was born in 1977 in Vancouver, British Columbia. His parents left their native Tehran before the Iranian Revolution and relocated to Canada, later moving with Nikou to California when he was four years old. His father, who majored in mathematics at a German university, worked at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Nikou grew up with a passion for trading baseball cards and competing in breakdancing competitions.[7] He was bullied in school for being short.[8] Nikou graduated from William Howard Taft Charter High School in Woodland Hills, California, where he was active in the Persian Community.[9] Nikou studied finance at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business.[10] After graduating, he worked for the Patent and License Exchange, a start-up financed by Softbank Capital.[11]

Career

Platinum Equity

In 2001, Nikou began his career in private equity at Platinum Equity. At age 25, he moved to Paris to help open the firm's first European office.[12] At Platinum Equity, he expanded the firm's international offices in Europe.[13] In 2004, he left Platinum Equity and moved back to Los Angeles to start his own global investment firm.

OpenGate Capital

In 2005, Nikou founded OpenGate Capital with $30,000 from his own savings.[14]

More than half of OpenGate's deals to date have been cross-border transactions in North America, Western Europe, and Latin America.

Fortune 500 Division Acquisitions

Under Nikou's leadership, OpenGate Capital bought divisions of Fortune 500 companies such as Philips, Schlumberger, Arvin Meritor, Stora Enso and Cascades.[15] In 2006, OpenGate purchased OMMIC, a former division of Philips. OpenGate sold OMMIC to Egalux SA Luxembourg in 2008.[16]

In 2019, OpenGate purchased the lock company Sargent and Greenleaf from Stanley Black & Decker.[17]

Media Acquisitions

In 2008, Nikou negotiated the deal for OpenGate Capital to acquire TV Guide for $1 and $50 million in assumed liabilities from owner Rovi Corporation (previously Macrovision). Later that year, Nikou led OpenGate Capital's bid for McGraw-Hill Companies BusinessWeek magazine, then withdrew from the bidding.[18] Also in 2009, OpenGate purchased children's publishers Fleurus Presse and Junior Hebdo from Groupe Le Monde.[19] In 2010, Nikou was behind the OpenGate bid for Newsweek, owned by the Washington Post Company, but the firm did not acquire the publication.[20] Nikou has provided his expertise on buying into the media business to various trade publications.[21]

International Acquisitions

Nikou increased OpenGate's pace of international acquisitions in the past decade.

In 2019, OpenGate acquired the German content-management platform CoreMedia.[22] Also in 2019, OpenGate purchased the UK-based Duraco Specialty Tapes, which then acquired Infinity Tapes the following year.[23] In 2018, OpenGate acquired the Italian stove and fireplace manufacturer Jotul from the European private equity group Ratos.[24]

In 2012, OpenGate Capital acquired the Latin American operations of Getronics from the Dutch conglomerate, KPN. In 2011, the firm acquired NorPaper Avot Vallée, a specialty paper manufacturer based in France. And in 2010, OpenGate acquired Brazilian-based Philips Business Communications, since renamed Sopho which was merged into Getronics LATAM, and Finland-based KotkaMills, a laminating paper and wood business.[25][26][27]

OpenGate Capital Partners I and II

In July 2016, OpenGate closed its first institutional fund, OpenGate Capital Partners I, at $305 million, exceeding its target of $300 million and raising about twice what the average new private equity fund does, according to Preqin.[28] As of August 2018, OpenGate's first fund had completed eight platform investments, five of which had closed in 2016.[29]

In November 2016, OpenGate Capital completed the acquisition of the zinc products business of the Belgian company Umicore for $150 million in debt and equity.[30] The deal was the fifth platform investment from OpenGate's debut fund.[31] OpenGate rebranded the business EverZinc; within Umicore it had generated $425 million in revenue in 2015.[32]

Several pre-fund, legacy investments that were made with the personal capital of Andrew Nikou and the Partners at OpenGate Capital were sold: Benvic was sold to InvestIndustrial in December 2017, NorPaper Avot-Vallee was sold in 2018 to a private investor, and in January 2019, NAKAN (the largest division within Ivy Group) was sold to Westlake Chemical Corporation.

In October 2019, OpenGate Capital closed on the firm's second institutional fund, OpenGate Capital Partners II, with approximately $585 million in commitments.[33] In that same year, the firm also completed six platform investments, and one add-on, all within the second fund.

Power Partners Inc., the first investment completed in OpenGate's first fund, was realized in November 2019 through the sale to Pioneer Transformers, a portfolio company of Mill Point Partners.[34]

Other Acquisitions

Prior to raising its first institutional fund, OpenGate also acquired the Waukesha, Wisconsin plant and brand rights to Golden Guernsey Dairy as the result of an antitrust divestment of Dean Foods, which was required to sell the plant to purchase GGD's other plants in the state.[35]

On January 5, 2013, Golden Guernsey ceased operations without notice in an alleged violation of the State of Wisconsin's mass layoff/shutdown regulations. The Golden Guernsey plant employed over 100 workers.[36][37]

Mr. Nikou shut down several other companies, including PennySaver USA and Hamilton Scientific. Several lawsuits have been filed claiming OpenGate and Mr Nikou did not follow proper protocol under the WARN Act when firing hundreds of employees from both PennySaver and Hamilton Scientific.[38][39][40]

Philanthropy

Nikou is a Board Member of the X Prize Foundation Innovation Board, holds seats on the Board of Overseers at the Hammer Museum Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. Nikou is also a Media Council Member at Paley Center for Media. In 2014, it was announced that Nikou was forming a partnership with businessman Ricardo Salinas to bring Esperanza Azteca Youth Orchestra to Los Angeles through a partnership with the city's mayor, Eric Garcetti.[41] On October 7, 2014, an official ceremony was held to celebrate the inauguration of the first Esperanza Azteca America program at the Florence Nightingale Middle School in Los Angeles.[42][43][44] In September 2016, Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo performed at a Los Angeles benefit for Esperanza Azteca.[45] Nikou also supports other local charities including Children Uniting Nations[46] and the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation.

Personal

Nikou, who works in Los Angeles, is married with children and resides in Nevada.[47]

References
  1. "Executive Profile: Andrew Nikou," Bloomberg Businessweek, http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=27329072&privcapId=23062926&previousCapId=23062926&previousTitle=OpenGate%20Capital, 10-17-2011
  2. "Capital Markets: OpenGate Capital," Bloomberg BusinessWeek, http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=23062926, 10-17-2011
  3. "Meet The Private Equity CEO Who's In Talks For His Own Reality Show," Julia La Roche, Business Insider, 8-16-2011, http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-08-16/wall_street/29980017_1_private-equity-platinum-equity-pehub Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine, 10-17-2011
  4. "TV Guide is Profitable," Luisa Beltran, 6-17-2010, PEHub, http://www.pehub.com/?s=tv+guide+profitable&image.x=0&image.y=0&image=searchsubmit, 10-17-2011
  5. http://www.maadvisor.html%5B%5D
  6. "Top Dealmaker Andrew Nikou: The founder of Opengate Capital is making a name for himself on reclamation projects," Danielle Fugazy, Mergers & Acquisitions, 12-7-2010, http://www.themiddlemarket.com/maj/2010_25/andrew-nikou-213884-1.html, 10-17-2011
  7. Bova, Dan (2016-10-20). "Bullied as a Kid, This Founder Now Runs a $5 Billion Company. Here's What He's Doing to Help Others". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
  8. Bova, Dan (2016-10-20). "Bullied as a Kid, This Founder Now Runs a $5 Billion Company. Here's What He's Doing to Help Others". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
  9. La Roche, Julia. "Meet The Private Equity CEO Who's In Talks For His Own Reality Show". Business Insider. Business Insider. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  10. "Top Dealmaker Andrew Nikou: The founder of Opengate Capital is making a name for himself on reclamation projects," Danielle Fugazy, Mergers & Acquisitions, 12-7-2010, http://www.themiddlemarket.com/maj/2010_25/andrew-nikou-213884-1.html, 10-17-2011
  11. "Top Dealmaker Andrew Nikou: The founder of Opengate Capital is making a name for himself on reclamation projects," Danielle Fugazy, Mergers & Acquisitions, 12-7-2010, http://www.themiddlemarket.com/maj/2010_25/andrew-nikou-213884-1.html, 10-17-2011
  12. "Top Dealmaker Andrew Nikou: The founder of Opengate Capital is making a name for himself on reclamation projects," Danielle Fugazy, Mergers & Acquisitions, 12-7-2010, http://www.themiddlemarket.com/maj/2010_25/andrew-nikou-213884-1.html, 10-17-2011
  13. "OpenGate buys TV Guide," Matt Levin, Private Equity International, 10-14-2008, http://www.peimedia.com/PrintView.aspx?aid=29382&type=2&hashID=FDC160D97000B0F9E4D7B747FE184DA52F5F6A47, 10-17-2011
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  15. "TV Guide, Once Master of the Airwaves, Tries to Survive in a Competitive Category," Stephanie Clifford, The New York Times, 12-8-2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/business/media/08guide.html, 10-17-2011.
  16. "TV Guide, Once Master of the Airwaves, Tries to Survive in a Competitive Category," Stephanie Clifford, The New York Times, 12-8-2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/business/media/08guide.html, 10-17-2011.
  17. Chen, I-Chun (January 30, 2019). "OpenGate Capital to buy lock maker from Stanley Black & Decker". LA Business Journal.
  18. "OpenGate, Zuckerman drop BusinessWeek bid," Anupreeta Das, Reuters, 10-6-2009, https://www.reuters.com/article/2009/10/06/businessweek-idUSN0643496820091006, 10-17-2011
  19. "Nicole Farhi Buyer OpenGate Set to Announce Three More Deals," David Altaner, Bloomberg, 3-15-2010, https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a2AnwxqSzXBI, 10-17-2011
  20. "Bids Submitted for Newsweek Sale," New York Times, 6-3-2010, http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/bids-submitted-for-newsweek-sale/, 10-17-1011
  21. "Deal or No Deal: 10 Rules for Buying into the Media Business," Dan Colarusso, Business Insider, 5-9-2010, http://www.businessinsider.com/deal-or-no-deal-10-rules-for-buying-into-the-media-business-2009-5, 10-17-2011
  22. Cutchin, James (November 6, 2019). "OpenGate Closes $585 Million Fund, Acquires CoreMedia". LA Business Journal.
  23. "OpenGate Capital Portfolio Company Duraco Specialty Tapes Acquires Infinity Tapes". World News Network. March 3, 2020.
  24. Kellaher, Colin (November 7, 2018). "OpenGate to Buy AICO From Ambienta SGR". The Wall Street Journal.
  25. "Private equity firm scoops up Getronics' Latin American portfolio from KPN". BNamericas.com. January 24, 2012.
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  27. "OpenGate buys Cascades recycled box makers," Los Angeles Business, 6-14-2011,http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/news/2011/06/14/opengate-buys-cascades-recycled-box.html, 10-17-2011
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  34. "OpenGate Capital buys Power Partners". LA Business Journal. January 19, 2016.
  35. "Investment firm to buy Dean Foods dairy plant," BusinessWeek, 8-15-2011, http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9P4IBO80.htm, 10-17-2011,
  36. Bohr, Nick (7 January 2013). "State DWD takes steps to help Golden Guernsey workers; Workers may be eligible for 60 days' pay". WISN-TV. Archived from the original on 2013-01-26. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
  37. Engel, Jeff (7 January 2012). "Golden Guernsey Dairy abrupt closing leaves workers, state seeking answers". The Business Journal of Milwaukee. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
  38. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/opengate-668424-employees-pennysaver.html
  39. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-08-07. Retrieved 2016-02-18.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  40. https://www.pehub.com/2015/06/opengate-gets-sued-for-alleged-warn-act-violations/
  41. Salinas, Grupo. "Photo Release -- Esperanza Azteca Youth Orchestra to Expand to Los Angeles". Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  42. "Public-Private Partnership Launches Orchestra Program for Underprivileged Los Angeles Youth". Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  43. Esperanza Azteca America launches first program in Los Angeles
  44. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wnVEQVL8FE
  45. Desk, BWW News. "Plácido Domingo Performs With Esperanza Azteca Youth Orchestra". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  46. "TV Guide Owner Arrives at Children Uniting Nations Oscars," Getty Images, 307-2010, http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/97532663?esource=life_license, 10-17-2011
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