We have just sent you an email so you can verify your account. Location. He has a passion for people and a knack for recognizing what is needed to help businesses in . Nikou instead tries to generate goodwill as a philanthropist and has even started his own foundation, which boasts of a mission driven by values empowering individuals and communities. Nikou still sits on numerous boards, including that of the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. At OpenGate, we strive for a culture that promotes open communication and empowerment of fellow team members.. Sign in to add some. Not meeting those goals or maintaining those levels would result in a default regardless of whether loan payments were made. OTHER FILED BY OPENGATE CAPITAL LLC ON 07/15/2015 [+] Read More [-] Read Less; 07/16/2015. [15] In 2018, OpenGate acquired the Italian stove and fireplace manufacturer Jotul from the European private equity group Ratos. employees in the middle of a work day and failing to give workers their final paychecks. Our commitment to a sustainable future draws back to our efforts since inception andis continuously evolving. The default, the hiring of the restructuring firm and the lenders presence on site paint a picture of a company in financial distress, the kind that former employees allege should have prompted OpenGate to provide a federally required 60 days notice before closing the plant. Instead, he sits on numerous boards and hes even been in talks about a reality TV show built around his private equity business. OpenGate Capital, the private equity firm that owns their employer, Hufcor, announced it was moving their plant out of Janesville taking those workers jobs and livelihoods with it. 66% of employees would recommend working at OpenGate Capital to a friend and 61% have a positive outlook for the business. Withdrawing funding is a last minute resort, Capital One spokesman Michael Bulger said in an emailed statement. Andrew received a Bachelor of Science degree from University of Southern . She briefly lived in Santiago, Chile where she edited an online magazine and worked as a translator for doctors from Malaysia following Chile's 8.8 earthquake in 2010. Employees of other OpenGate companies have suffered similar fates. And the firm shut down its Fusion Paperboard plant just three years after acquiring it and only a few months after entering into a, Even as hundreds of American workers have suffered from OpenGates schemes, Andrew Nikou, the OpenGate founder and CEO, has not faced any meaningful financial or social consequences for repeated business failures at the hands of his firm. [34] 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. Chief Operating Officer & Managing Director, Head of Investor Relations & Communications, Operations Expert, Manufacturing & Supply Chain, Senior Advisor, European M&A - Technology, Founder, Executive Chairman, XPRIZE Foundation, Technology Expert, Industrials, Environmental, & Manufacturing 4.0, 2023 OpenGate Capital Management, LLC. (Reuters) - Opengate Capital Group LLC filed a lawsuit on Friday alleging that laboratory equipment maker Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. sold it a Mexican plant last year without revealing that a drug cartel was operating there. $16 hourly wages and generous benefits as recently as January 2021. Doing otherwise could create confusion, disruptions and other difficulties with operations.. 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 the laboratory furniture company Hamilton Scientific. Only one of OpenGate's subsidiaries included as a plaintiff is a California LLC. 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 . The closure of PennySaver only reaffirmed the Connecticut state senators opinion of OpenGate. The lawsuits allege that a company or individual violated securities laws and are brought on behalf of the class. Opengate did not specify what damages it was seeking. Workers are suing OpenGate in state and federal court, alleging it failed to provide adequate notice to workers about the shutdown and issued final paychecks that bounced. Read our website privacy and cookies policy for more information. The company was starting to be profitable. OpenGate Capital is a private equity firm with offices in Los Angeles and Paris that strives to acquire and optimize lower middle market businesses throughout North America and Europe. MILWAUKEE (January 11, 2022) - Chemsolv, Inc. ("Chemsolv"), a leading distributor of commodity and specialty chemicals based in Roanoke, VA, has been acquired by OpenGate Capital ("OpenGate"). All rights reserved. Likewise, OpenGate itself has continued to raise millions since bankrupting its previous companies, enabling these practices to continue unabated. Former PennySaver employees are administering a crowdfunding site to help those left in the lurch. 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. Its the biggest business closure in Janesville since the Great Recession. Further explore our recent investment activities and quarterly reports, 2023 OpenGate Capital Management, LLC. OpenGate is moving the plant to Mexico anyway. Nikou and OpenGate executives wouldnt discuss PennySavers closing. 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. [20] As of August 2018, OpenGate's first fund had completed nine platform investments, five of which had closed in 2016. 1:13-cv-01475 in the Delaware District Court. OpenGate closed the PennySaver on May 22 with out warning. In 2012, Nikou was a recipient of The M&A Advisor's "Top 40 Under 40" award,[4] for the West Region. 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. Nikou is actively involved with the management of each of the companies held in the portfolio. [6] He was bullied in school for being short. It maintained operations during the worst of the pandemic and even advertised $16 hourly wages and generous benefits as recently as January 2021. A fully integrated team of origination, investment and operations professionals. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. Even though Hufcor was profitable when OpenGate bought it, maintained operations during the worst of the pandemic, and even advertised $16 hourly wages and generous benefits as recently as January 2021, OpenGate has nevertheless decided to relocate just as the pandemic eases. A native of California, Lauren attended Cal State Long Beach where she majored in journalism and political science. Throughout the first year they started to liquidate assets selling property and equipment. Former employees of at least three former OpenGate portfolio companies have filed lawsuits or complaints alleging OpenGate or the companies it owned violated labor laws requiring businesses to notify employees 60 days before mass layoffs. OPENGATE CAPITAL GROUP, LLC, OPENGATE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT . [5], Under Nikou's leadership, OpenGate Capital bought founder-owned businesses and divisions of Fortune 500 companies such as Philips, Schlumberger, Arvin Meritor, Stora Enso and Cascades. "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. More than two years after the dairy closed, with bankruptcy proceedings still unfolding, the Storm family hasnt seen the $23,000 they estimate they are owed for the lack of notice and unpaid vacation days. [5] At Platinum Equity, he expanded the firm's international presence in Europe. 7-14-2011) . A fully integrated team of origination, investment and operations professionals. Several lawsuits had been filed claiming OpenGate and did not follow proper protocol under the WARN Act when firing hundreds of employees from both PennySaver and Hamilton Scientific. Darden promised to repay OpenGate $3.41 million on Friday for the loan made on Monday, according to court testimony. Lawyer Harvey Newkirk, formerly with the Bryan Cave firm, this week sits in the legal dock in Manhattan federal court, accused of concocting a fraud with Calvin Darden Jr., a convicted felon, to rob investors of millions of dollars by falsely presenting successful businessman Calvin Darden Sr. as the leading force behind the deal. Your activity looks suspicious to us. As part of the transition process, OpenGate Capital has renamed the business to EverZinc. The Golden Guernsey plant employed over 100 workers. However, after making a few payments, Fusion defaulted on a loan from the state of Connecticut, said State Sen. Cathy Osten, who is also the first selectman of Sprague the small town where Fusion was the main employer. [35][36][37], Nikou is married with children and resides in Nevada.[7]. Ive been doing this over three decades. [17][18][19], 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. The suit claimed that Thermo Fisher had rushed negotiations and provided misleading answers to due-diligence inquiries. 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. A state claim for wages was filed in the dairys pending Delaware bankruptcy case. Uber drivers and other app-based workers are facing an all-out safety crisis. June 16, 2021. After we signed a contract we thought we were golden, but two months later they told us they were closing the place, Harrelle said. Hufcor, a market-leading producer of accordion-style doors and mobile room partitions, was profitable when OpenGate bought it. She sharply criticized OpenGate Capital for the closure. I consider this company, OpenGate Capital, to be the robber barons of this age, Osten said. These people have no idea what theyre in for, said Joanna Storm, whose husband, Robert, was abruptly laid off from OpenGate-owned Golden Guernsey Dairy in Waukesha, Wis., after working there 19 years. This case was filed in Orange County Superior Courts, Civil Complex Center located in Orange, California. OpenGate has said that it boosted sales at the plant by 20%, but that the shutdown was forced by creditors and others who refused to make concessions on contracts that were not sustainable. Three days later, the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation. OpenGate Capital has a history of buying companies, only to close operations shortly thereafter, leaving communities across the country in the lurch. OpenGate Capital is part of the Finance industry, and located in California, United States. Description. Senator Baldwin was a co-sponsor of the Stop Wall Street Looting Act, the first major effort to reform the private equity sector, in the last Congress. in Texas, Arkansas, and Wisconsin, who worked for the laboratory furniture company Hamilton Scientific. [22] The deal was the fifth platform investment from OpenGate's debut fund. Vice President. (Photo provided by Americans for Financial Reform). 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. 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. Weinbergs cash was to be held in escrow until stocks held by Darden Sr. were placed in a collateral account. That explanation ignores the blatant injustice done to Hufcor workers, whose woes reflect the influence of predatory private equity, and tells a story of Wall Street run amok. Those who cashed the bad checks were left on the hook for penalties levied by their banks. Fahn points to OpenGates acquisition of TV Guide, auto part manufacturer Gabriel, and Europe-based companies NorPaper, Benvic, Kotkamills, and Fleurus Presse as a some of OpenGates successful turnarounds. In 2001, Nikou began his career in private equity at Platinum Equity. Golden Guernsey owes the ex-employees that money, and it also owes $30,000 in penalties because it failed to notify the mayor of Waukesha, the town where Golden Guernsey was located, that mass layoffs were imminent, the state agency ruled. 3 min read. Your email address will not be published. The trustee, Charles Stanziale, said OpenGate made no net investment in the dairy after its initial purchase and the value was consistently eroded over the months leading to bankruptcy. [16], In 2012, through the firm's legacy, pre-fund investment process, OpenGate Capital acquired the Latin American operations of Getronics from the Dutch conglomerate, KPN. Other emerging managers in . Founded in 2005, OpenGate Capital is a global private equity firm that strives to acquire and optimize lower middle market businesses throughout North America and Europe with a strategic focus on operational improvement, innovation and growth. 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. The firm faced six different lawsuits after abruptly laying off Pennysaver employees in the middle of a work day and failing to give workers their final . 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, . OpenGate Capital, the private equity firm that owns their employer, Hufcor, announced it was moving its plant out of Janesville, taking those workers' jobs and livelihoods with it. Also this year, four employees filed a lawsuit against Hamilton Scientific and OpenGate in Texas federal court, alleging they shuttered the plant without giving the legally required notice. Debra Clancy, a senior account manager at PennySaver, joined about 30 other former employees as they yelled towards the 17th floor of a building that houses OpenGate Capital in Century City during a recent protest against the company. It also said employees sought help from Thermo Fisher to address the cartel activity, but that security upgrade proposals were not implemented. It said the once-popular magazine was losing money and is now profitable. 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. jefferson county ohio police reports,
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