RLJ Equity Partners has acquired MarketCast, a provider of marketing research services for the entertainment industry and a portfolio company of Shamrock Capital Advisors since June 2012. Brookside Mezzanine Partners participated with RLJ through a subordinated debt and an equity co-investment.
MarketCast works with marketers and researchers at major motion picture studio and production companies to develop and execute marketing strategies. MarketCast services are available worldwide and include materials testing (trailers, TV spots, print ads, etc.), concept and positioning studies, exit polls, recruited audience screenings, tracking studies, and focus groups. Other services include brand and franchise studies, title tests, post-release studies, and attitudes and usage studies. MarketCast was founded in Boston in the late 1980s by three sociology professors – Joseph Helfgot, Frank Romo, and Michael Schwartz. Today, the company is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in New York, Boston and London (www.mcast.com).
RLJ Equity Partners invests from $15 million to $30 million in companies valued between $50 million and $250 million. Target companies will have operating profits greater than $7 million and operating margins greater than 10%. Sectors of interest include aerospace & defense; auto & transportation; business services; consumer retail; general industrial; and media & telecom. RLJ Equity Partners was founded in 2006 by Robert L. Johnson in partnership with The Carlyle Group. The firm is headquartered in Bethesda, MD (www.rljequitypartners.com).
Brookside Mezzanine Partners is a provider of subordinated debt and minority equity capital to small and mid-sized companies throughout the United States. The firm invests in both sponsored and non-sponsored transactions and provides junior capital and unitranche financing to support buyouts, leveraged recapitalizations, strategic acquisitions, dividends and growth capital. Brookside will invest up to $20 million per transaction, with the resources to complete larger transactions as well. Brookside was founded in 2001 and has offices in Stamford, CT and Boston, MA (www.brooksidemp.com).
2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 12-16-14
