Ex-Sun Capital, HIG Partners exec launches special situation-focused fund

David Blechman, a former managing director with H.I.G. Capital and principal at Sun Capital Partners, has launched New State Capital Partners. He is joined by two partners with extensive private equity experience:

• John Beauclair is a former principal with Vector Capital. Prior to Vector, Beauclair was with Gryphon Investors, before which he was at Sun Capital Partners. Earlier in his career, Beauclair co-founded TransOcean Capital, a mid-market firm that focuses on the Middle East and North Africa region.

• John Kim is a former executive director in the financial sponsors & leverage finance group at UBS, where he worked on leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations and refinancing. Kim also worked at Credit Suisse First Boston in the private placements group, and began his career at Deutsche Bank.

New State Capital has raised capital from institutions and high-net-worth individuals, though it’s not clear how much it has raised or how much it is targeting.The firm has a flexible structure in that it can pursue control buyouts, minority growth capital, preferred and mezzanine and corporate divestitures. The firm will target investments of $10 million to $30 million of equity per deal but will look at both larger and smaller deals.