Crossplane Capital has held an oversubscribed, hard cap, and final closing of its inaugural fund, Crossplane Capital Fund LP, with $275 million of capital.
Institutional limited partners in Crossplane’s new fund include endowments, foundations, asset managers, family offices, and pension plans.
Crossplane invests control equity in companies that have up to $15 million of EBITDA that are either family-owned and seeking a partner or involved in a complex situation. Sectors of interest include niche manufacturing, value-added distribution and industrial business services companies.
“We are very appreciative of our top-notch and diverse investor base,” said Brian Hegi, a partner and co-founder of Crossplane. “Our highly respected early investors, seeded portfolio, hands-on and collaborative approach and experienced, cross-functional team led to significant investor interest above our $250 million target for our debut fund.”
Dallas-headquartered Crossplane was formed in October 2018 by Mr. Hegi and Partner Ben Eakes, Managing Director Mike Sullivan, and Operating Partner Ingrid West. Messrs. Hegi, Eakes and Sullivan are all former managing directors of Prophet Equity, and Ms. West is the former president of Acton Mobile, a Baltimore-based provider of modular space and portable storage products. Acton Mobile was acquired by Prophet Equity in 2014 and sold to publicly traded Williams Scotsman (NASDAQ: WSC) for $235 million in cash in 2017.
Since its founding, Crossplane has completed three platform acquisitions, including The Accent Family of Companies, a Texas-based value-added industrial distributor of nails, screws, baling wire, and wire ties (acquired in September 2019); TransAxle, a New Jersey-based remanufacturer of medium and heavy-duty truck transmissions, differentials, and hydraulic pumps (acquired in December 2019); and Griffin Dewatering, a Texas-based provider of groundwater control services to infrastructure, industrial, power and commercial construction projects (acquired in November 2020).
“We are excited to have the final closing of our inaugural fund so that we can focus 100% of our attention on acquiring strategically unique industrial companies and working alongside our management teams to create transformational performance improvement,” said Mr. Hegi. “We look forward to a long partnership with our investors.”
“We believe our proven team of experienced operations and investment professionals is uniquely positioned for our strategy of partnering with strategically relevant, industrial-focused, lower middle-market companies,” said Mr. Eakes. “We appreciate the confidence that our investor base has placed in our team, and we look forward to many years of shared success.”
In tandem with the closing of the new fund, Crossplane has hired Greg Balliro as a principal and Patrick Lynch as an associate. Mr. Balliro was previously with Prophet Equity and Mr. Lynch was with Atlanta-based investment bank, Bowstring Advisors. From its initial four-person team in 2018, Crossplane now has twelve investment professionals, advisory, and administrative staff.
“Having worked with Greg since 2014, we are excited to add his horsepower to our team. He brings a unique background in closing complex transactions and working hand-in-hand with portfolio companies to improve performance,” said Mr. Sullivan. “The addition of Patrick comes at the perfect time as we execute on a strong pipeline of transaction opportunities.”
Eaton Partners was the placement agent for this fundraise and its team was led by managing directors Eric Deyle and David Welp. “With over 70% of the capital raised after the COVID-19 shutdown hit the US in March of 2020, we are both humbled and grateful for the support of our strong investor base and partnership with Eaton,” added Mr. Hegi. “Eaton’s cycle-tested experience and responsiveness to changing and difficult market conditions proved to make the difference during our inaugural fundraise.”
“When the shutdown hit, Eaton immediately changed lanes and shifted gears to help power us home,” concluded Mr. Eakes. “Eaton acted as owners, with a passion and conviction to overcome the fundraising hurdles created by this pandemic.”
Rowayton, Connecticut-headquartered Eaton Partners has helped investment managers raise more than $140 billion across more than 140 alternative investment funds and offerings since its founding in 1983. The firm is a market leader in raising first-time funds, having successfully closed 44 first-time funds with $27 billion in total capital commitments. Eaton Partners is a subsidiary of Stifel Financial (NYSE: SF) and has offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia.
© 2020 Private Equity Professional | December 10, 2020