The North Dakota Growth Fund has made an investment in lower middle-market private equity firm LongWater Opportunities.
LongWater was founded in 2009 by Jordan Bastable and Brooks Burgum and is headquartered in Dallas with an additional office in Fargo, North Dakota. The firm makes control equity investments in family-owned manufacturing businesses that have revenues from $10 million to $50 million and EBITDA from $2 million to $10 million.
In September 2021, LongWater acquired XCaliber Container, a Texas-headquartered manufacturer of customizable shipping containers used in residential, commercial, and storage applications in both the B2B and B2C segments. The buy of XCaliber is the firm’s first portfolio investment for its third fund, LWO Fund III LP.
The North Dakota Growth Fund was launched in 2021 by the State Investment Board of North Dakota to invest in venture capital, private credit, private equity, growth equity, infrastructure and real assets opportunities with a nexus to the State of North Dakota.
Including its investment in LongWater, the $100 million North Dakota Growth Fund has committed $22.5 million of capital in three opportunities and follows the fund’s investment in Homegrown Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm with offices in Fargo, Brookings and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
50 South Capital Advisors, the manager and general partner of the North Dakota Growth Fund, is an alternatives investor and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Northern Trust.
“The teams at LongWater and Homegrown have a track record of supporting companies that have a positive impact on employees, shareholders and communities,” said Kodee Furst, a director at 50 South Capital. “We are thrilled to be able to bring additional types of capital to North Dakota through the mentorship and experience of these fund managers.”
Northern Trust (NASDAQ: NTRS) is a provider of wealth management, asset servicing, asset management and banking to corporations, institutions, families and individuals. The Chicago-headquartered company, with $1.6 trillion of assets under management, has offices in 22 states and Washington DC, and 23 locations in Canada, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific regions.
© 2022 Private Equity Professional | February 11, 2022