Andrew Nikou is the founder, managing partner and CEO of OpenGate Capital, a global private buyout firm. The firm is focused on the acquisition of lower middle market, non-core divisions of larger companies located around the world. From its offices in Los Angeles, CA, and Paris, France, the firm seeks to acquire change-intensive and underperforming businesses ripe for transformation. To date, the firm has completed more than 30 transactions and has acquired more than $8 billion in gross consolidated revenues. The firm and its founder are best known for their acquisition of TV Guide Magazine in December 2008, and the publication's turn to profitability in the first quarter of 2010. Nikou is actively involved with the management of each of the legacy companies his firm invests in including those acquired prior to raising institutional capital. Nikou has received recognition for his business achievements. In 2012, Nikou was a recipient of The M&A Advisor's "Top 40 Under 40" award, for the West Region. In 2010, Nikou was named a Top Dealmaker of 2010 by Mergers & Acquisitions magazine, and was dubbed a "private equity whiz" by international business and private equity publications.
In 2001, Nikou began his career in private equity at Platinum Equity. At age 25, he moved to Paris to help open the firm's first European office. At Platinum Equity, he expanded the firm's international offices in Europe. In 2004, he left Platinum Equity and moved back to Los Angeles to start his own global investment firm. In 2005, Nikou founded OpenGate Capital with $30,000 from his own savings. He turned to a handful of family offices for funding of his first deal. Under Nikou's leadership, the firm has bought distressed or neglected divisions of Fortune 500 companies such as Philips, Schlumberger, Arvin Meritor, Stora Enso and Cascades. In 2006, OpenGate purchased OMMIC, a former division of Philips. OpenGate sold OMMIC to Egalux SA Luxembourg in 2008. A notable OpenGate Capital turnaround was an acquisition from the power company Areva. In 2013 OpenGate sold remaining interest in Models One Ltd., the European supermodel agency which represents Alessandra Ambrosio, Irina Shayk and Bar Refaeli. More than half of OpenGate's deals to date have been cross-border transactions in North America, Western Europe, and Latin America. In 2008, Nikou negotiated the deal for OpenGate Capital to acquire TV Guide for $1 and $50 million in assumed liabilities from owner Rovi Corporation. Later that year, Nikou led OpenGate Capital's bid for McGraw-Hill CompaniesBusinessWeek magazine, then withdrew from the bidding. Also in 2009, OpenGate purchased children's publishers Fleurus Presse and Junior Hebdo from Groupe Le Monde. In 2010, Nikou was behind the OpenGate bid for Newsweek, owned by the Washington Post Company, but the firm did not acquire the publication. Nikou has provided his expertise on buying into the media business to various trade publications. Nikou increased OpenGate's pace of international acquisitions in the past three years. In 2012, OpenGate Capital acquired the Latin American operations of Getronics from the Dutch conglomerate, KPN. In 2011, the firm acquired NorPaper Avot Vallée, a specialty paper manufacturer based in France. And in 2010, OpenGate acquired Brazilian-based Philips Business Communications, since renamed Sopho, and Finland-based KotkaMills, a laminating paper and wood business. Also in 2010, Nikou led the acquisition of Nicole Farhi, a global fashion brand, from French Connection. Designer Nicole Farhi described Nikou as a "tough businessman" with whom she has "lovely rapport." 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. As of August 2018, OpenGate's first fund has completed eight platform investments, five of which had closed in 2016. In November 2016, OpenGate Capital completed the acquisition of the zinc products business of the Belgian company Umicore for $150 million in debt and equity. The deal was the fifth platform investment from OpenGate's debut fund. OpenGate rebranded the business EverZinc; within Umicore it had generated $425 million in revenue in 2015. Several pre-fund, legacy investments that were made with the personal capital of Andrew Nikou and the Partners at OpenGate Capital were sold: Benvic was sold to InvestIndustrial in December of 2017, NorPaper Avot-Vallee was sold in 2018 to a private investor, and in January of 2019, NAKAN was sold to Westlake Chemical Corporation. In October of 2019, OpenGate Capital closed on the firm's second institutional fund with approximately $585 million in commitments. In that same year, the firm also completed six platform investments, and one add-on, all within the second fund. Power Partners Inc., the first investment completed in OpenGate's first fund, was fully realized through the sale to Pioneer Transformers, a portfolio company of Mill Point Partners.
Purchase and plant closing of Golden Guernsey Dairy
Prior to raising its first institutional fund, OpenGate also acquired the Waukesha, Wisconsin plant and brand rights to Golden Guernsey Dairy as the result of an antitrust divestment of Dean Foods, which was required to sell the plant to purchase GGD's other plants in the state. On January 5, 2013, Golden Guernsey ceased operations without notice in an alleged violation of the State of Wisconsin's mass layoff/shutdown regulations. The Golden Guernsey plant employed over 100 workers.
Closing of PennySaver USA and other companies
Mr. Nikou shut down several other companies, including PennySaver USA and Hamilton Scientific. Several lawsuits have been filed claiming OpenGate and Mr Nikou did not follow proper protocol under the WARN Act when firing hundreds of employees from both PennySaver and Hamilton Scientific.
Philanthropy
Nikou is a Board Member of the X Prize Foundation Innovation Board, holds seats on the Board of Overseers at the Hammer Museum Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. Mr Nikou is also a Media Council Member at The Paley Center for Media. In 2014, it was announced that Nikou was forming a partnership with businessman, Ricardo Salinas, to bring Esperanza Azteca Youth Orchestra to Los Angeles through a partnership with the city's mayor, Eric Garcetti. On October 7, 2014, an official ceremony was held to celebrate the inauguration of the first program at the Florence Nightingale Middle School in Los Angeles. In September 2016, Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo performed at a Los Angeles benefit for Esperanza Azteca. Nikou also supports other local charities including Children Uniting Nations and the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation.
