Budd Larner Closes TH Lee Putnam Ventures / Sentient Jet Acquisition

TH Lee Putnam Ventures, L.P., New York, New York, acquired private jet provider Sentient Jet, Inc., Norwell, Mass., from previous owner Credit Suisse First Boston Equity Partners, LP, also of New York, New York.

TH Lee Putnam Ventures, L.P., New York, New York, acquired private jet provider Sentient Jet, Inc., Norwell, Mass., from previous owner Credit Suisse First Boston Equity Partners, LP, also of New York, New York. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Budd Larner Rosenbaum Greenberg & Sade, P.C., (www.buddlarner.com) a 100-attorney law firm headquartered in Short Hills, NJ, represented TH Lee Putnam Ventures in the transaction.

Sentient Jet, Inc., a private jet membership company, offers its members access to a fleet of luxury jets that are on-call 24 hours a day. Members are charged for their flights on an hourly basis. The company, formerly known as eBizJets, guarantees a response time of five hours or less. According to the company, Sentients sales increased 78 percent in 2002.

TH Lee Putnam Ventures (www.thlpv.com) is a technology-focused private equity firm affiliated with Thomas H. Lee Partners, a leading buyout firm, and Putnam Investments, a leading global money management firm. TH Lee Putnam Ventures primary focus is private transactions in later-stage venture companies whose success depends on the deployment and use of information technologies, as well as public entities, middle market buyouts, recapitalizations and spinouts of corporate divisions. TH Lee Putnam Ventures manages $1.1 billion in capital commitments.

Budd Larner Rosenbaum Greenberg & Sade, P.C., of Short Hills, NJ, represented TH Lee Putnam Ventures. On the team were Shareholders Mark D. Larner, James F. Fitzsimmons and Robert A. Loewenstein, Counsel, Sonya M. Longo, and Associates Lucia DeTrizio and Pamela Lopata.

Sentient Jet, Inc. was represented by the Waltham, MA office of Gunderson, Dettmer, Stough, Villeneuve, Franklin & Hachigian, LLP: Jay K. Hachigian, Partner, Robert B. Sepucha, Jr., and P.J. Honerkamp and Kristin Smrtic, Associates.

Credit Suisse First Boston Equity Partners, L.P. was represented by Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton: Paul Glotzer, Esq., Partner, and Associates David S. Berg, Associate and Kristin Smrtic.