Consumer focused Brentwood Associates has completed a dividend recapitalization of Soft Surroundings. The dividend recap was financed through an expansion of the company’s existing credit facility and Soft Surroundings also increased its debt capacity to finance its national retail store rollout. Brentwood first invested in Soft Surroundings in August 2012.
Soft Surroundings is a multi-channel marketer and lifestyle brand targeting active women. The company’s comfort, romance and relaxation products include clothing, jewelry, shoes, bedding, and beauty and fragrance products. Soft Surroundings reaches its customer through its print, digital and social media channels as well as a national footprint of 28 stores. The company was founded in 1999 by Robin Sheldon (President/CMO), Tom Wilcher (CEO) and Grant Williams (Vice Chairman) and is headquartered in St. Louis (www.softsurroundings.com).
The financing for the recapitalization was provided by CIT Bank; Zions First National Bank; KeyBank; Bank of America Merrill Lynch; and Banc of California. Soft Surroundings is in the midst of a nationwide store expansion strategy, and the new debt financing includes a facility to fund future store openings. The company opened 11 new stores in 2015 and has identified 15 locations for 2016.
“Exceptional earnings growth, and a strong partnership with our supportive lenders, has allowed the company to return a significant portion of the invested capital through a dividend recapitalization,” said Eric Reiter, a partner with Brentwood Associates.
“We are thrilled with Soft Surroundings’ outstanding operating results. The company’s continued success in retail as measured by both unit and same-store sales growth is a direct result of the hard work and dedication of the Soft Surroundings management team,” said Roger Goddu, a partner at Brentwood. “We could not be more enthusiastic about the company’s prospects.”
Brentwood Associates is a consumer-focused private equity investment firm with over $1.4 billion of capital under management. Sectors of interest include branded consumer products; consumer and business services; direct marketing, including direct mail and e-commerce; education; health and wellness; restaurants; and specialty retail. The firm was founded in 1972 and is based in Los Angeles (www.brentwood.com).
Earlier this month, Brentwood Associates acquired Boston Proper, a direct-to-consumer business from Chico’s FAS. Like Soft Surroundings, Boston Proper is a multi-channel specialty retailer of women’s high-end apparel and accessories that is available nationwide by direct mail catalog and online. The company was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Boca Raton (www.bostonproper.com). Brentwood’s strategy is to build a direct-to-consumer lifestyle brand through Boston Proper’s print, digital and social channels.
© 2016 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 2-1-16
