Littlejohn & Co. has completed its December 2016 announced acquisition of Brown Jordan International, a manufacturer of indoor and outdoor furniture sold to the commercial and consumer markets.
Brown Jordan International (BJI) operates four divisions – Brown Jordan, Charter, Texacraft, and Tropitone – that collectively sell a complete line of indoor and outdoor furnishings primarily for use in hospitality, leisure, multi-family, corporate, restaurant and other commercial environments. The company also sells into the consumer market but this is a sidelight to the company’s commercial operations. BJI, headquartered in St. Augustine, FL (south of Jacksonville), was founded in 1945 and today has approximately $300 million of annual sales (www.bji.com).
“BJI’s low-cost, domestic manufacturing and distribution footprint is a strategic asset and we welcome Littlejohn’s expertise and support to help us execute on a number of high-return continuous improvement initiatives to deliver even more value to our customers,” said Gene Moriarty, Chief Executive Officer of BJI.
“Brown Jordan is an iconic brand and BJI is a unique platform in the outdoor and indoor furniture market,” said David Simon, a Managing Director of Littlejohn. “We are excited to partner with BJI’s management team to drive the company’s next leg of growth.”
Littlejohn acquired BJI from Crescent Capital. Crescent‘s involvement with BJI dates back to 2006 when BJI was a portfolio company of Trivest. An overleveraged balance sheet led to a 2006 out of court restructuring of the company’s debt and equity by Trust Company of the West (TCW). In January 2011, Crescent Capital spun out of TCW but retained the investment in BJI as part of its portfolio.
Crescent Capital is active in investing in below investment grade credit opportunities. Crescent was founded in 1991 by Mark Attanasio and Jean-Marc Chapus. In 1995, Crescent was acquired by TCW and rebranded as TCW’s Leveraged Finance Group. On January 1, 2011, Messrs. Attanasio and Chapus, along with the entire investment team, spun out of TCW and formed Crescent Capital Group. Today the firm has approximately $23 billion in assets under management and 145 employees. Crescent is headquartered in Los Angeles with additional offices in Boston, Chicago, New York and London (www.crescentcap.com).
Littlejohn makes control and non-control investments in middle-market companies that are undergoing a fundamental change in capital structure, strategy, operations or growth. The firm invests from $50 million to $150 million of equity in middle market companies that have annual revenues of $100 million to $800 million. Littlejohn invests across a range of industries and acquires manufacturers, distributors, and service providers. The firm is currently investing from Littlejohn Fund V, LP, which has $2 billion in capital commitments. Littlejohn is based in Greenwich, CT (www.littlejohnllc.com).
“Under Gene Moriarty’s leadership, BJI has diversified and grown its end market exposure through a focus on investing in its commercial segment,” said Steven Kalter, a Principal of Littlejohn. “We look forward to supporting the company’s acquisition program to further strengthen its positioning as a one-stop shop for its customers in both the commercial and consumer markets and leverage its best-in-class distribution network.”
Financing for the transaction was provided by Goldman Sachs and Société Générale. Moelis & Company was the financial advisor to BJI. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher provided legal services to Littlejohn.
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | February 2, 2017
