Bryan Matthews

AirAsia sells 25 planes to Castlelake.     Castlelake will also buy 4 new planes to be delivered in 2019.      The 29 planes - Airbus A320ceo and A320neo - will be leased back to AirAsia.      The deal marks a trend of investing in the plane-leasing sector on growing demand from low-cost carriers.      Castlelake has been boosting its holdings of aviation assets.  In June last year, it raised $1 billion from family offices, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, and pension funds.      For AirAsia, the $768 million deal is a further move to monetize its assets as it transforms into an asset-light, digitally focused firm.  AirAsia is leveraging a booming leasing sector after ordering hundreds of Airbus planes at bargain prices in recent years.  Some proceeds from the sale will be used to pay down debt.      Castlelake will buy a company called Merah Aviation Asset Holding, which holds 25 existing planes and another 4 new planes to be delivered in 2019.     Tony F

Gryphon Investors buys NTG.     Nolan Transportation Group (NTG) has been acquired by Gryphon Investors.  Ridgemont Equity Partners exits its investment in NTG as part of the deal.      NTG is now a sister company to Transportation Insight (TI), also owned by Gryphon.  TI provides third-party logistics services such as carrier sourcing, freight bill audit and payment services, transportation management system applications, parcel technology platform, and business intelligence.     Both firms keep their names and management teams while leveraging each other's services.  This arrangement strengthens their sector positions.  In concert, TI and NTG expect revenues of $3 billion annually.  This would rank them top three independent freight brokerages and top two enterprise logistics providers in the United States.     Kevin Nolan of NTG said: 'We look forward to joining forces with Gryphon and Transportation Insight to increase our footprint, continue to grow our comp

L Catterton buys Cholula. An alliance between L Catterton’s Flagship Buyout Fund and L Catterton Latin America, this deal demonstrates the energy and correlation of L Catterton's global franchise. L Catterton’s buy develops Cholula as an independent enterprise and helps the firm evolve into a global brand.  As the hot sauce tribe keeps growing, Cholula is ideally situated to extend distribution all over the world on both shelves and tables. Scott Dahnke of L Catterton said: ' Cholula is a compelling opportunity to invest in a premium brand with an established reputation for quality and authenticity in the growing hot sauce category. We look forward to partnering with Cholula's talented management team to capitalize on the brand's immense white space opportunity in the years to come.' Matt Leeds of L Catterton added: " It has been a privilege to pursue this unique opportunity on a proprietary basis. We are honored to be entrust

TA Associates and GI Partners invest in Netsmart . TA Associates and GI Partners inked a definitive accord to buy Allscripts ’ shares in Netsmart . The joint investor group will own 80 percent of Netsmart shares, with Netsmart leaders and associates owning the other 20 percent. This agreement extends Netsmart's lead in delivering human services and post-acute technology. As part of the deal, GI Partners and TA Associates have aligned finance plans and scope to give Netsmart a cohesive partnership. This decisive investment vitalizes a Netsmart strategy of constant research and development. Expanding potentiality to meet the needs of behavioral health, addiction management, public health, social services, home care, hospice, and senior living communities. Since GI Partners' original investment in 2016, Netsmart has burst forth with product innovations and a legion of strategic acquisitions. During this time Netsmart launched myUnity , a multi-tenant S