Petra Capital Partners has completed fundraising on Petra Growth Fund III with $230 million of capital. The new fund is structured as a small business investment company licensed by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
“We are very pleased with the response from our existing investors and several important new investors for Fund III and the strong support we received from the SBIC program,” said Mike Blackburn, Partner at Petra.
Petra provides subordinated debt and preferred stock to high growth companies for expansion, acquisition, buyout, refinancing or recapitalization in partnership with the founding management team. The firm invests up to $20 million in companies that possess a minimum of $10 million in revenue and positive EBITDA at the time of investment. Sectors of interest include business, healthcare and information technology services companies. Petra Capital Partners is based in Nashville (www.petracapital.com).
The new fund has already acquired its first portfolio company with the May 3rd investment in Highstreet IT Solutions. Highstreet was formed by a team of IT Services executives led by CEO Mac Slingerlend and is a provider of enterprise software and cloud-based services to middle-market and larger clients. The company is headquartered in Denver (www.highstreetit.com).
“We are excited to partner with Mac Slingerlend and the rest of the outstanding executive team at Highstreet,” said Rob Smith, Partner at Petra. “Highstreet fits squarely into our investment strategy of backing exceptional management teams of high growth service businesses in the areas of information technology, business services and healthcare services in need of growth capital.”
With the closing of the new fund the firm has also added two new Associates to its team with the hiring of Matt Sotelo and Charles Webb. Mr. Sotelo joins Petra from Marwit Capital where he was an Associate. He is a graduate of University of Southern California. Mr. Webb joins Petra from Commerce Street Holdings where he was a Senior Analyst. He is a graduate of Southern Methodist University.
© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 5-14-13
