Dominus Capital has formed L2 Brands to acquire and merge Legacy Athletica and League Collegiate Outfitters. Legacy Athletica is a designer and supplier of vintage-inspired collegiate, resort and corporate headwear, apparel and home décor. League Collegiate is a manufacturer of collegiate apparel and accessories.
With the merger of Legacy Athletica and League Collegiate, L2 Brands now has over 500 collegiate headwear and apparel licenses and a full line of apparel products which 
includes t-shirts, fleece, bottoms, youth styles, headwear and winter knits; as well as other products such as wall signage, spirit blankets, and pillows. Both companies were founded within a year of each other in the early 1990s and have over 25 years of relationships with more than 3,000 leased and independent campus stores nationally (www.legacyathletic.com) (www.league91.com).
League Collegiate has approximately 775 employees and has facilities in Bridgeport, PA and El Salvador. League’s owned manufacturing factory in El Salvador offers jobs to workers with disabilities and those in gang rehabilitation programs. The factory has won multiple awards for its ethical practices in the sportswear industry and has been profiled by several global publications, including The New York Times, CNN and BBC, for its mission of social responsibility. Legacy Athletica has approximately 200 employees at its facility in Hanover, PA.
Paige Wingert, co-founder and current CEO and president of Legacy Athletica, has been named the new CEO of L2 Brands. Pete Waldron, current CEO of League Collegiate has been named the new president of L2 Brands. Both Mr. Wingert and Mr. Waldron will serve on the Board of Directors in addition to their day-to-day executive responsibilities.
“We have long been an admirer of our close friends at League for the consistent, classic yet relaxed brand aesthetic they have cultivated through their top-notch quality products, graphics, and merchandising solutions,” said Mr. Wingert. “The ability to join forces with League is a very unique opportunity to achieve synergies and create solutions for our customers as well as introduce League’s looks outside the college realm, where Legacy has had much success the past 10 years. It is an exciting opportunity, and we are very enthusiastic for the new combined team without forgetting our shared roots and family-like culture at both companies that got us to this point in our journey. I can’t think of another company that makes more sense to merge with than League.”
“We are excited to unify two of the leading brands in the college, destination and corporate end markets, which should allow L2 Brands to become a sizable and vertically-integrated competitor offering a full line of high-quality products to its loyal customer base across multiple sales channels,” said Ashish Rughwani, Partner at Dominus Capital. “Importantly, we will continue to empower the company to serve its communities and stakeholders through its numerous corporate social responsibility initiatives.”
Dominus Capital makes control equity investments in North American middle market companies that have between $10 million and $30 million of EBITDA. Sectors of interest include business services, consumer products and services and industrial. The firm was founded by Gary Binning, Bob Haswell, and Ashish Rughwani – all former Quad-C Management executives – in 2008. The group of founding partners was later joined by several CEOs of past portfolio companies that now serve as Operating Partners of the firm. Dominus Capital is headquartered in New York (www.dominuscap.com).
In January 2016, Dominus Capital held a final close of its second fund, Dominus Capital Partners II LP, at its hard cap of $400 million in limited partner capital commitments, higher than its fundraising target of $350 million and more than doubling its debut fund.
© 2018 Private Equity Professional | May 3, 2018
