Gridiron Capital has expanded its team with the hiring of Marcus Meyer as managing director, capital markets. Gridiron created this new in-house capital markets function to improve and expand its financing capabilities and to expand its relationships with senior and mezzanine lenders.
“We have known Marcus for many years and are excited to have him join our team at Gridiron Capital,” said Tom Burger, a co-founder and managing partner at Gridiron. “His skill set and experience as a lender will be invaluable to our portfolio companies as they optimize their capital structures at acquisition and throughout our partnership.”
“Our longstanding relationship with Marcus gives us great confidence that he will be additive to our strong team and culture,” said Kevin Jackson, a managing partner at Gridiron. “His collaborative approach with investment teams will help us formalize and enhance our financing processes as we make new investments, navigate refinancings, add-ons, and other creative solutions for our portfolio companies.”
“I am thrilled to join the Gridiron team,” said Mr. Meyer. “As a longtime partner I have always admired the Gridiron team-based approach which is unique in the industry. I look forward to leveraging my financing experience along with lender and sponsor relationships to support the next phase of growth.”
Mr. Meyer joins Gridiron from Apogem Capital, formerly Madison Capital, where he was a member of executive leadership and the private credit management teams. At Apogem, he was responsible for originating, structuring, and executing private credit financings along with managing a loan portfolio. Earlier in his career, Mr. Meyer held roles at NXT Capital, GE Antares, and GE Capital. He has his MBA from NYU Stern School of Business and a BBA in finance from the University of Wisconsin.
Gridiron invests in manufacturing, service, and specialty consumer companies with enterprise values from $75 million to $600 million and EBITDA from $10 million to $60 million. Sectors of interest include branded consumer, business-to-business and business-to-consumer services, and niche industrial.
Last month, Gridiron agreed to sell its controlling interest in Good Sportsman Marketing Outdoors (GSM) to Platinum Equity. Gridiron acquired GSM, a provider of accessories used in the hunting, sport shooting, and outdoor enthusiast markets, from Sentinel Capital in November 2020.
Gridiron is investing out of its fifth fund which closed above target in October 2023 with $2.1 billion of capital. Fund V is the largest fund the firm has ever raised and is markedly higher than the firm’s fourth fund which closed in December 2020 with $1.35 billion of capital.
© 2024 Private Equity Professional | August 23, 2024
