Benford Capital Partners has held a first, final, above-target, and oversubscribed closing of its third investment fund, Benford Capital Partners III LP, with capital commitments of $365 million.
Chicago-based Benford Capital (BCP) invests in lower middle-market companies with revenues ranging from $5 million to $150 million and EBITDA between $2 million and $15 million. The firm focuses on sectors such as industrial technology, food and consumer products, agricultural products and services, B2B e-commerce, niche manufacturing, value-added distribution, and outsourced business services. Since its founding in 2004, BCP has acquired 59 companies and expanded its team to include 18 investment and operating professionals.
Limited partners in the new fund include university endowments, family offices, charitable foundations, fund-of-funds, and high-net-worth individuals.
“We are extremely grateful for the consistent support of our existing limited partners and the overwhelming interest from new investors, despite a challenging fundraising environment,” said Edward Benford, a managing director at Benford Capital. “All of our Fund II institutional investors committed to Fund III, which we believe is a testament to the success of our operationally-oriented strategy, the dedication of the BCP team, and consistent results. We look forward to executing on the same, proven value-creation playbooks in Fund III and continuing to focus on scaling family and founder-owned companies into market-leading platforms.”
A recent transaction closed by BCP was the sale last month of Farmers Hen House to Butterfly’s Pete & Gerry’s Organics. BCP acquired Farmers Hen House through its Pasture Brands platform in December 2021. Iowa-based Farmers Hen House sources, processes, packages, and sells branded and private-label eggs, with a specific focus on premium varieties, including organic, free-range, and pasture-raised eggs. The company maintains a network of more than 70 local, primarily Amish and Mennonite, farmers to source its eggs, and its products are sold to natural, supermarket, mass, and club channel customers.
“Pasture Brands is a great example of BCP’s approach to scaling CPG brands,” said Ben Riefe, a managing director at Benford Capital. “Since partnering with President Ryan Miller in December 2021, the key tenets of our value creation plan included building the senior management team and growing the company’s branded sales through new customer wins. We are thrilled with this successful realization and are confident the company is well-positioned for continued success in the years ahead.”
“In recent years, we have steadily grown the firm and focused on building an outstanding team of investment and operating professionals, while also broadening our Executive Partner network,” concluded Mr. Riefe. “The hard work and dedication of the team has enabled the firm to scale and dedicate more resources to the growth and success of our portfolio companies, which is core to our investment strategy.”
BCP’s earlier fund, Benford Capital Partners II LP, closed with $200 million of limited partner commitments in May 2022. With the closing of Fund III, the Chicago-based firm has now raised more than $750 million over its 20-year history.
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