SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Goldfinch Partners, a private equity firm with approximately $1 billion of equity invested in digital transformation transactions across industry verticals, today announced that Matthew F. Herman will join as a Partner of the Firm and General Counsel in November 2021.
Goldfinch invests in sectors and spaces about which it has deep knowledge, including marketing, commerce, payments, fintech, supply chain and human capital. Recent investments include the announced $910 million acquisition of Western Union Business Solutions, one of the world’s largest non-bank providers of business-to-business (B2B) cross-border payment and foreign exchange solutions, which is to be renamed Convera upon the deal’s closing.
Mr. Herman will be based in Goldfinch’s New York office, where he will oversee legal and regulatory matters for the firm, and will join the firm’s Investment Committee taking an active role in the investment process. Prior to joining Goldfinch, Mr. Herman was a partner with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the leading international law firm, for more than 15 years, including leading more than $110 billion of M&A transactions for corporate and financial sponsor clients. Most recently, Mr. Herman was Freshfields’ US Managing Partner and Co-Head of Global M&A. Mr. Herman is a magna cum laude graduate of The Albany Law School, where he served as Executive Editor of the Law Review and is currently a member of The Board of Trustees.
“Matt is a superlative lawyer who brings to Goldfinch substantial relevant legal and business experience. Our team will be enhanced by his counsel, judgment and leadership,” said Sean Collins, Co-Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Goldfinch.
Bill McNichols, Goldfinch’s Co-Managing Partner and Co-Founder added “I have known and worked with Matt as a trusted advisor for many years, including working closely together on the $7.25 billion sale and go-forward licensing of Starbucks’ CPG and Foodservice business division to Nestle in 2018 and Goldfinch’s control recapitalization of Vesta in 2020. I am thrilled he is joining our organization as we move into the next phase of growth.”
Commenting on his appointment, Mr. Herman added “I am excited to join Goldfinch at this pivotal time for both the firm and the global economy. The financial sponsor landscape continues to evolve rapidly and Goldfinch, with its key differentiators, will be at the forefront of that progression. While I am leaving an incredible position at Freshfields, with colleagues I have known and worked with for a generation, I could not be more excited about working with Bill, Sean and the entire Goldfinch team.”
About Goldfinch
● Headquartered in Seattle, and with investment professionals in the Bay Area and New York City, Goldfinch Partners is a financial sponsor with approximately $1 billion of equity invested in enterprise technology companies that power digital transformation. Goldfinch invests thematically agnostic to size, from growth investments to mature leveraged buyouts, across industry verticals that its professionals know deeply, including marketing, commerce, payments, fintech, supply chain and human capital.
Recent transactions include:
● Convera, August 2021: Goldfinch, together with The Baupost Group, acquired Western Union Business Solutions (WUBS) for $910 million, creating a new stand alone fintech company which will be named Convera on the deal’s close. WUBS is one of the world’s largest non-bank providers of cross-border business payment and foreign exchange solutions processing over $110 billion in total payments volume in 2020. With 30,000 customers over 40 countries and territories and 140 currencies, the business possesses a truly global footprint and serves some of the fastest-growing segments of the B2B cross-border payments markets.
● Vesta, May 2020: Goldfinch invested $135 million in Vesta to fuel its global expansion via a control recapitalization. Vesta is a fintech pioneer in fraud protection and fully guaranteed payment technologies enabling e-commerce companies to grow their businesses by optimizing maximum acceptance with minimum risk.
● Bakkt, March 2020: Goldfinch invested in Bakkt, a provider of institutional and retail solutions for digital assets, as part of a $300 million funding round. Bakkt provides a mobile application enabling consumers to unlock the value of digital assets, including cryptocurrency, loyalty points, in-game assets, and gift cards, while giving merchants and loyalty program sponsors deeper customer engagement and delivering cost savings to merchants. On October 18 2021, Bakkt made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), under the ticker symbol BKKT.
● Catalant Technologies, January 2020: Goldfinch led a $35 million Series E equity round in Catalant Technologies, a leading provider of software that helps companies effectively manage strategy execution. Founded in 2013 as an online marketplace for companies to find consultants quickly and easily, Catalant has globally rolled out software and services for work planning, resource management, and insights and reporting, facilitating access to more than 65,000 independent experts and 1,000 consulting firms in 127 countries around the world.