Had anyone dealt with Kainos before?
‘The blockbuster suit levies a host of allegations against Kainos co-founders Andrew Rosen and Robert Sperry, as well as chief financial officer David Knickel, including that they attempted to "steal" Bradley's 25% stake in the firm's investment manager and that they turned Kainos "into a frat house," replete with "forced overconsumption of alcohol and general debauchery," along with "shaming and coercion" of anyone who pushed back. Bradley alleges that she was "groped by a drunken Kainos executive" at a firm retreat in 2014 after what the suit describes as "dangerous levels of drinking."’
Met Sarah before and actually really liked the firm's approach / angle. They did a great job with Slimfast for example. Shame to hear really.
What was unique about their approach? And what was interesting about what they did with SlimFast? Not really up to date on MM PE, but just remember seeing Kainos in another thread about Dallas PE... and if I recall correctly, they were recognized as a good shop?
EDIT: did a search, saw this mention on Kainos:
They were food specialists, of which there are only a couple of shops. There are far more consumer focused funds, but they were solely dedicated to the food segment. My previous comment was less in regards to internal exec troubles (though that seems to be the case as well), but rather port co. execs that have issues and turmoil with the funds' partners.
"forced overconsumption of alcohol" lol I'm sure they forced her to drink copious amounts of alcohol
"The suit alleges the three men misrepresented the conversion document, saying it would not change Bradley's stake in Kainos, and told Bradley she had to sign the agreement immediately to prevent a delay in closing the firm's second flagship fund. The suit alleges the three men misrepresented the conversion document, saying it would not change Bradley's stake in Kainos, and told Bradley she had to sign the agreement immediately to prevent a delay in closing the firm's second flagship fund. "
Lol, hire a lawyer with something like this? sorry lady
Generally agree with you, but page 33 of 171-page complaint shows that co-founders claimed it was a tax-related signature rather than a signature that would wipe out her ownership interest (over e-mail even). Gotta imagine she might win the lawsuit
What a disaster for that firm. No way those guys raise another fund, and will likely be removed as GPs from their current funds. How could you be so naive as to think something like that would work.
m8 - On the other hand, she worked for them for 3 years after signing said document, raising two later funds? Pretty hard to argue she wasn't aware within the 3 years (the lawsuit isn't very convincing that she wasn't aware and is vaguely social-justice oriented, complaining they threatened her livelihood)
But back on her side, they managed to name two important entities the exact same thing. Pretty clear they were trying to keep things relatively hard to decipher
yeah this
Imagine investing in that fund. I would not feel confident in anyone there.
This will be the death of Kainos. Can't say that I'm torn up about it though...
Competitor fund?
Hahaha, not in the space at all to be honest. I hate food deals. Just know a decent amount of the background story on the characters involved.
Care to elaborate on the backstory of the characters? Just genuinely curious. I know a couple of funds who co-invested in deals with them since the spin-out from HM - made a boatload of money on stuff like Florida Foods and Kettle. But I have never dealt with the individuals there.
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