Abacus Finance Group was the Administrative Agent and Sole Lender in support of Thompson Street Capital Partners’ recent acquisition of Palisade Corporation.
Palisade is a provider of analysis software, under the @RISK and the DecisionTools Suite brands, which enable Microsoft Excel and other software platforms to perform risk modeling and decision analysis. Palisade’s customers, which include 93 companies in the Fortune 100, are active in a wide range of industries including finance, oil and mineral exploration, real estate, heavy manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and aerospace.
Palisade, led by CEO Randy Heffernan, was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Ithaca, NY (www.palisade.com).
“After multiple transactions with Abacus, we know them well, and once again they closed quickly – in large part because of their knowledge of the software sector,” said Thompson Street Vice President Stefan Sigurdson.
Abacus provides cash flow-based senior financing to private equity-sponsored, lower-middle market companies that have EBITDA between $3 million and $15 million. Debt facilities can be as large as $60 million with a typical hold size ranging from $10 million to $30 million. Since its inception in June 2011, Abacus has closed over $1.9 billion in financings. Abacus is headquartered in New York and is an affiliate of New York Private Bank & Trust (www.abacusfinance.com).
“Thompson Street is a top sponsor with deep expertise in software,” said Tim Clifford, President and CEO of Abacus. “It is a firm with which we have had one of our longest relationships, and one which values our flexibility and our ability to close quickly – key elements of what we call our Total Partnership Approach™.”
Other Abacus team members involved in the transaction included Jonathan Choa and Brian Green.
Thompson Street invests from$25 million to $150 million in companies with EBITDA between $5 million and $20 million. Sectors of interest include healthcare and life science services, software and technology services, business services, and engineered products. Since its founding in 2000, Thompson Street has acquired more than 100 companies. In July 2018, the firm held a final closing of its fifth fund, Thompson Street Capital Partners V LP, at the hard cap of $1.15 billion. Thompson Street is headquartered in St. Louis (www.tscp.com).
© 2018 Private Equity Professional | December 14, 2018
NXT Capital has held a final close of NXT Capital Senior Loan Fund V LP with $415 million in equity commitments. The group’s earlier senior loan fund closed in October 2016 with $312 million of equity commitments.
The addition of Fund V increases third-party capital commitments to NXT Capital’s asset management platform to over $5.7 billion. “Fund V is a significant milestone in the continued growth of NXT Capital’s asset management platform,” said Robert Radway, Chairman and CEO. “As the largest fund we’ve raised to date, it provides further evidence that investors recognize NXT’s leadership position in the middle market private debt space and the value of NXT’s long-standing relationships with private equity sponsors, robust origination network and disciplined underwriting and portfolio management processes.”
Evans Food Group, a portfolio company of Wind Point Partners, has acquired Gaytan Foods, a maker of pork rind products.
Wind Point Partners acquired Evans in April 2016. The firm partnered on this transaction with Jose Luis Prado, the former President of Quaker Oats North America. Earlier, he was the president and CEO of Grupo Gamesa-Quaker in Mexico and he also held senior positions in sales, finance and general management at PepsiCo in Latin America and Europe. Wind Point has considerable experience in the consumer products and food space. The purchase of Evans was the firm’s 7th platform investment in the food space over the last decade.
Wind Point invests from $30 million to $150 million in companies with revenues from $100 million to $500 million and EBITDAs of at least $10 million. Industries of interest include business services, consumer products, healthcare and industrial products. Wind Point was founded in 1984 and is based in Chicago. Last month, Wind Point held a final closing of its eighth fund, Wind Point Partners VIII, with $985 million of capital commitments. The fund exceeded its initial hard cap of $750 million and marks the largest fund closing in Wind Point’s history (
Lew’s Holdings, a portfolio company of Peak Rock Capital, has acquired Strike King Lure Company.
Peak Rock makes debt and equity investments of $20 million to $150 million in middle market companies with revenues from $50 million to $1 billion and enterprise values from $25 million to $500 million. Sectors of interest include business and commercial services; consumer; distribution and logistics; energy and related services; healthcare; industrials; manufacturing, metals, and media. The firm is based in Austin (
LFM Capital has acquired Medix Specialty Vehicles, a manufacturer of ambulances serving both the private and fire service side of the industry.
“Medix is a well-positioned company in an area of healthy, long-term demand, and we look forward to partnering with the Medix team to chart and execute the next stage of their growth,” said LFM Managing Director Dan Shockley.
LFM Capital is based in Nashville and invests in US-based manufacturing and industrial services companies that have revenues from $10 million to $100 million and enterprise values from $15 million to $75 million. LFM was formed in May 2014 by Steve Cook, Executive Managing Director; Rick Reisner, Managing Director; and Dan Shockley, Managing Director. The firm closed its first fund, LFM Capital Partners LP, with $110 million in capital commitments in October 2014 (
