Gryphon Investors has held a final closing of Gryphon Mezzanine Partners LP (GMP I) at its hard cap of $100 million, excluding the general partner’s commitment. The new fund was oversubscribed and reached its cap primarily with commitments from existing limited partners in other Gryphon funds.
GMP I represents a new and complementary investment strategy for Gryphon, which has previously raised four institutional control private equity funds. “Over the past few years, a number of our limited partners seeking current-yielding investments have asked us about opportunities to participate in the debt financings of Gryphon’s portfolio companies,” said David Andrews, Founder and CEO of Gryphon Investors. “This fund is designed primarily to satisfy that limited partner demand. We are pleased to have run an efficient ‘one and done’ fundraise that reached its cap after only a few months of focus, and we greatly appreciate the enthusiastic and timely support we received from our investors.”
GMP I will participate exclusively on a minority basis in the mezzanine securities of existing and prospective portfolio companies of two funds – Gryphon Partners 3.5 LP (a $365 million bridge fund which closed in October 2013) and Gryphon Partners IV LP (a $1.1 billion fund which closed in November 2016). GMP I will be managed by existing Gryphon professionals.
GMP I’s initial “seeded” portfolio investments include the 2017 financings of three Gryphon portfolio companies: Wind River Environmental, a provider of inspection, installation, repair, and maintenance services to non-hazardous liquid environmental waste, which was acquired in April 2017; Orchid Underwriters, a provider of specialty 
insurance products for homeowners and other difficult-to-insure properties throughout the United States and the Caribbean, 
which was acquired in November 2014; and Ob Hospitalist Group, a provider of on-site, board-certified obstetric and gynecology hospitalist programs and related physician support services, which was acquired in August 2017.
Gryphon Investors makes leveraged acquisitions and growth investments in middle-market companies. The firm invests from $50 million to $200 million of capital in companies with sales ranging from $100 million to $500 million. Sectors of interest include business services, consumer and retail, automotive, chemical, general manufacturing, health care and hotels. Gryphon Investors is based in San Francisco (www.gryphoninvestors.com).
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | August 23, 2017
