Prospect Partners Acquires Wedgewood Wedding
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Prospect Partners Acquires Wedgewood Wedding

wedge wood nfProspect Partners has acquired Wedgewood Wedding and Banquet Centers in partnership with the company’s management team. Wedgewood becomes the ninth platform company in Prospect Partners’ $200 million third fund which closed in August 2010.

Wedgewood is a provider of full-service wedding and banquet services. Wedgewood’s all-inclusive banquet model features multi-tiered, professionally planned wedding packages that include invitations, food and entertainment as well as options like floral arrangements, cakes, photo booths, lighting, and ministry services. Since founding in 1986, Wedgewood has hosted more than 20,000 unique weddings – 2,300 in 2013 alone – serving over 415,000 guests. The weddings take place on golf courses, historical properties and outdoor gardens leased by Wedgewood, which controls all aspects of each venue’s food and beverage operations. Wedgewood has 25 leased wedding locations in California, Arizona, Colorado and Nevada. The company is headquartered near Los Angeles in Temecula, CA (www.wedgewoodbanquet.com).

maurer nf“Wedgewood is a truly unique and rapidly growing company that has built a tremendous reputation in a niche segment of the wedding services market,” said Erik Maurer, a Principal of Prospect Partners. “The company’s momentum is a credit to CEO John Zaruka and President Bill Zaruka who defined and brought to life the concept of a ‘Wedgewood wedding’ – convenient, competitively-priced, hassle-free, and memorable – through their incredible expertise, industry knowledge, and dogged focus on an outstanding guest experience.”

Under Prospect ownership, Wedgewood’s growth objectives include expanding Wedgewood-branded weddings to more locations in existing and new geographic markets. The company will continue to seek partnerships with property management companies as well as acquisitions of food and beverage operators that provide wedding/banquet services at US venues such as golf courses, hotels, and other properties.

Prospect Partners focuses exclusively on management-led leveraged recapitalizations and acquisitions of niche market leaders with revenues of less than $75 million. Since 1998, Prospect Partners has invested nationwide in more than 110 companies in a range of niche manufacturing, distribution, and specialty service markets. The firm has $470 million of capital under management and is based in Chicago with an additional office in Menlo Park (www.prospect-partners.com).

“Prospect Partners has successfully helped guide so many other niche companies like ours at key moments in their growth. We look forward to tapping the team’s real-world business acumen in the months and years to come,” said Wedgewood’s President Bill Zaruka.

© 2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 2-20-14

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