Abacus Closes Senior Financing for LuLu’s
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Abacus Closes Senior Financing for LuLu’s

abacus NFAbacus Finance Group served as Administrative Agent and Sole Lead Arranger for senior secured credit facilities to support the leveraged recapitalization of LuLu’s Fashion Lounge by H.I.G. Growth Partners.  In addition to providing the financing, Abacus made an equity co-investment in LuLu’s.

LuLu’s is an online retailer of young women’s apparel, shoes and accessories. The company is headquartered in north of Sacramento in Chico, CA (www.lulus.com).

Abacus targets debt financing opportunities of up to $50 million with a typical hold size ranging from $10 million to $25 million. The companies that Abacus finances generally have EBITDAs between $3 million and $15 million. Abacus was formed in June 2011 and is an affiliate of New York Private Bank & Trust, the holding company for Emigrant Bank, founded in 1850, the largest privately held bank in America with approximately $10 billion in assets. Abacus is based in New York (www.abacusfinance.com).  Abacus team members involved in the transaction included Sean McKeever and Eric Petersen.

clifford nf1“H.I.G.’s investment strategy matches up well with our focus on smaller middle market companies,” said Tim Clifford, President and CEO of Abacus Finance. “They brought us a terrific company, and we were so impressed by the business model and the management team that we chose to make an equity co-investment. As Evan mentioned, the important aspects of the financing from his perspective were our industry knowledge and the structuring flexibility we offered – those along with being able to provide certainty of close are key ingredients of what we call our Total Partnership Approach.”

H.I.G. Growth Partners is the growth capital investment affiliate of H.I.G. Capital. H.I.G. Growth Partners makes majority and minority equity investments of $5 million to $30 million in growth-oriented businesses with revenues of $10 million to $100 million. The firm invests across all industries but focuses on certain high-growth sectors where the team has in-house expertise such as healthcare, technology, internet & media, consumer products and technology-enabled financial and business services (www.higgrowth.com).

RLJ Credit (www.rljcredit.com) provided mezzanine financing in support of the acquisition of LuLu’s by H.I.G. Growth Partners.

2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 8-13-14

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