Palm Beach Capital has completed its exit from Cadre, a manufacturer and distributor of safety and survivability products.
Cadre’s core products – sold under numerous brands including SafariLand and Med-Eng – include body armor, explosive ordnance disposal equipment, and duty gear equipment. Typically, duty gear is designed to attach to a standard duty belt for rapid access in case of an emergency.
The company’s customers include federal, state, and local law enforcement, fire and rescue professionals, explosive ordnance disposal teams, emergency medical technicians, and outdoor enthusiasts. Cadre is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.
Cadre was founded in 1964 as SafariLand, a custom gun holster manufacturer based in Sierra Madre, California. In 1999, SafariLand was purchased by Armor Holdings, a company controlled by investor Warren Kanders.
In 2007, after completing more than 20 add-on acquisitions, Armor Holdings was sold to BAE Systems for more than $4 billion and was renamed BAE Systems Mobility & Protection Systems (BAE MP). In 2012, Palm Beach Capital, through its third fund, partnered with Mr. Kanders to reacquire the law enforcement products business of BAE MP for $124 million. Since 2012, Cadre has completed 13 add-on acquisitions and went public (NYSE: CDRE) in November of 2021.
With its exit of Cadre now completed, Palm Beach Capital reports that it has realized proceeds equal to 9.3x its invested capital.
“We would like to sincerely thank the entire leadership team at Cadre for their vision and attention to detail in building the company into a scalable global platform protecting and serving our first responders,” said Nate Ward, a co-founder and managing partner of Palm Beach Capital. “We are proud of the company’s growth during our investment period, which is a testament to the strength and quality of the people, products, and brands at Cadre. We wish this exceptional company and management team continued success in the years to come.”
Palm Beach Capital makes control and non-control investments in United States-based companies with enterprise values from $20 million to $300 million that have at least $20 million of revenue and a minimum EBITDA of $5 million. Sectors of interest include business services, business process outsourcing, transportation and logistics, infrastructure and healthcare. Palm Beach Capital was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida.
© 2022 Private Equity Professional | November 23, 2022
HarbourVest has held a final close of its sixth co-investment fund, HarbourVest Partners Co-Investment Fund VI LP (HPCI VI), with $4.2 billion in capital. The new fund had an initial target of $3.5 billion.
“The continuation of our flagship co-investment program enables us to remain the partner of choice for general partners on a global level,” said Craig MacDonald, a managing director at HarbourVest. “In addition to being a provider of capital at scale, we continue to provide general partners with solutions that provide an access point for investors to gain exposure to market leading, private equity backed companies across industries and geographies.”
“Our four decades of experience have shown that macro dislocations often present an opportune time to deploy capital in private markets, and the current volatile environment provides another chance to source and invest in compelling opportunities,” said Ian Lane, a managing director at HarbourVest. “The current co-investment market demands a dedicated focus with expertise providing solutions to general partners as they pursue fast-moving, complex transactions. We are proud of the team and infrastructure we have built to support private equity managers globally in their most challenging and sensitive investment opportunities.”
Wafra has held a final close of Constellation Generation IV LP (CG IV) at its target of $1.5 billion. Wafra’s new fund is the latest in its Constellation series that makes minority investments in alternative asset managers.
“For over a decade, Wafra has pursued a strategy of providing catalytic capital to the next generation of alternative investment managers,” said Lauren Rich, a managing director at Wafra. “Through the Constellation platform, Wafra has continued this strategy and partnered with some of the world’s most highly respected institutional investors. CG IV is the most recent iteration of this innovative partnership.”
“We continue to be energized by the investment opportunity set and meeting CG IV’s target size reflects limited partner demand to build long-term, aligned partnerships with the next generation of investors,” said Gustavo Cardenas, a managing director at Wafra. “We believe our disciplined approach and partner alignment creates real value for asset managers and allows us to serve as a true strategic partner rather than a transactional counterparty.”
“Constellation’s thesis of aligning talented management teams with preeminent institutional investors continues to be borne out in the track record of investment performance and caliber of partners within the Constellation network,” said Daniel Adamson, a senior managing director at Wafra and the president of Capital Constellation. “With the successful conclusion of CG IV’s fundraise, we have made real strides toward realizing the vision laid out by Constellation’s founding members.”
San Francisco Equity Partners (SFEP) has acquired DGS Retail, a provider of retail décor, signage, fixtures, and displays, from Rock Island Capital.
“DGS has an impressive track record of growth built on strong, long-term relationships with a large and diverse base of national and regional customers,” said David Mannix, a partner at SFEP. “The DGS team has built a broad set of capabilities through both organic growth and synergistic acquisitions, which enable the company to compete and win in a large and extremely fragmented market.”
“Through a unique combination of consumer industry experience and our operationally intensive investment approach, we are able to deliver compelling outcomes for our stakeholders,” said Scott Potter, a managing partner at SFEP. “We believe DGS has tremendous growth potential and we’re excited to partner with Peter and his exceptional team.”
