Penfund Backs OMERS Buy of Caliber Collision
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Penfund Backs OMERS Buy of Caliber Collision

penfund nfPenfund has provided a $60 million 2nd lien loan to Caliber Collision Centers which was recently acquired by OMERS Private Equity.

Caliber is a provider of automotive collision repair services with a network of 157 collision centers located in California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Oklahoma and Colorado. The company has approximately 3,700 employees and repairs more than 285,000 vehicles annually. Caliber is headquartered in Dallas (www.calibercollision.com).

Penfund specializes in providing junior capital to middle market companies throughout North America. The firm provides second lien, high yield and mezzanine debt, control and minority equity, as well as bridge facilities, standby lines, underwritten facilities and financial guarantees. Penfund is currently investing out of Penfund Capital Fund IV which has $460 million of committed capital. The firm was founded in 1979 and is based in Toronto (www.penfund.com).

“We are delighted to have been able to support OMERS’s acquisition of Caliber. We are also very pleased to continue our long association with Caliber. We believe Caliber’s exceptional management team will continue to rapidly grow the business with the backing of the human and financial resources of OMERS,” said Jeremy Thompson, a partner at Penfund. “This growth will be underpinned by the intensifying desire of automobile insurers to rely on the ability of large, efficient and trustworthy repair center operators to deliver high quality services to their policy holders.”

OMERS Private Equity manages the private equity activities of OMERS, one of Canada’s largest pension funds. The group’s investment strategy includes the active ownership of businesses in North America and Europe. Sectors of interest include manufacturing, financial and business services, industrial and consumer products, transportation, and technology. Investment sizes range from $100 million to $500 million. The firm is located in Toronto with offices in New York and London and has $6 billion of investments under management (www.omerspe.com).

“We are thrilled to partner with Steve Grimshaw, President and CEO of Caliber, and his management team for the company’s next phase of growth,” said Tim Patterson, Senior Managing Director at OMERS. “We believe that Caliber will continue to distinguish itself as the market leader in the highly fragmented collision repair industry in the years ahead.”

© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 11-26-13

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