KRG-spinout Excellere loses senior executive Heckman

Heckman’s departure was amicable and Kessenich said the two remain friends and neighbors.

“He has a real desire to become more of an operator…to run a smaller, mid-market business,” Kessenich told peHUB in an interview on February 10. Kessenich had no information about any specific plans and Heckman did not return a request for comment.

Heckman’s departure did not trigger any key-man provision in the funds as he was not a key man; only Kessenich and Managing Partner Robert Martin are listed as key men in the partnership documents, Kessenich said.

Heckman worked at Excellere from 2006 to December 2013. He was brought on as one of the founding members of the firm just before Excellere’s first fund held a first close, Kessenich said.

Excellere has two funds: Fund I closed on $265 million in 2007 and Fund II closed on $465 million in late 2010. The firm had to wait until late 2011 to begin investing Fund II to finish out the debut vehicle, Kessenich said.

Fund II was generating a 0.96x net total value multiple, and a negative 4.9 percent net internal rate of return as of June 30, 2013, according to performance information from the former Credit Suisse Customized Fund Investment Group (now owned by Grosvenor Capital Management). Fund II was considering “performing,” according to the Credit Suisse report, compiled for the bank’s client, the San Diego City Employees’ Retirement System, a limited partner in Fund II.

“Performing” in this case means the fund has deployed capital and returns are about second quartile based on Venture Economics data, according to Credit Suisse’s report.

Fund II is about 25 percent deployed and could be half called by year’s end, Kessenich said.

Excellere has had some recent hires. The firm late last year hired Principal Eric Mattson to head up deal sourcing and origination. Mattson came from United BioSource Corporation, where he was executive director.

The firm also has hired two analysts and is expecting to announce the hire of another senior operations specialist soon, Kessenich said, declining to be more specific.