Hidden Harbor Capital Partners, a new private equity firm based in Boca Raton, has been launched by John Caple and David Block. The new firm became active just last month.
Hidden Harbor makes investments in US-based companies with revenues between $50 million and $500 million and EBITDA up to $25 million. Sectors of interest include industrials, transportation and logistics, business services, consumer products, and retail.
Mr. Caple is a former partner of Comvest Partners, a provider debt and equity to middle-market companies based in West Palm Beach. He was with Comvest from May 2010 to April 2016 and was a member of the Executive Committee, and oversaw investments in US Pipe (US Pipe was sold last month by Wynnchurch Capital and Comvest to Forterra Building Products), Sunteck Transportation Group, Innovative Hearth Products and Haggen. Before his time at Comvest, Mr. Caple was a principal at H.I.G. Capital and a manager at Bain & Company. He has a BA in Economics from Stanford and an MBA from Wharton.
“While we are a first time fund, our combined experience in strategy and operations improvement in growing companies, coupled with our established reputation and track record, will allow us to generate very favorable results for our partners and strong investment returns for our limited partners,” said Mr. Caple.
Prior to founding Hidden Harbor with Mr. Caple, Mr. Block was the President and CEO of Swiss Watch International, an e-commerce watch company backed by Clearlake Capital. Earlier, Mr. Block held the title of Operating Partner at H.I.G. Capital, where he oversaw investments in Big Tex Trailers, Trinity Services Group, and Aluminum Shapes. He also served as CFO for Arise Virtual Solutions, a business process outsourcing company (call centers) owned by private equity firm Accretive, and as Senior Vice President of DS Waters – a water, tea and beverage services company. From 1997 to 2003 he was a senior manager at Bain & Company. He has a BS from Miami University of Ohio, and an MBA from Harvard.
“John and I have a shared history spanning more than 20 years across a mix of industries and more importantly, a shared vision of creating a firm with core values rooted in integrity, team, high-performance, passion and a commitment to constant improvement, which will serve as the foundation in everything we do and reflected throughout all aspects of our business and relationships,” said Mr. Block.
Hidden Harbor Capital Partners is based in Boca Raton (www.hh-cp.com).
© 2016 Private Equity Professional • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 5-12-16
