New Funds

Peninsula Capital Partners has made an investment in Marcus Thomas, a marketing communications agency.

Peninsula’s investment in Marcus Thomas was structured as a combination of subordinated debt and common equity with capital from the firm’s newest fund, Peninsula Fund VIII LP (Fund VIII), which closed with $400 million in capital in September 2025.

Marcus Thomas is a full-service advertising and digital marketing agency that provides creative development, media planning, public relations, and marketing automation services. The agency employs approximately 300 professionals across offices in Cleveland, Cincinnati, and internationally in Argentina and Chile.

Founded in 1937, Marcus Thomas has evolved through a series of mergers, most notably the 2011 combination with digital agency DigiKnow. The agency’s customers include the Ohio Lottery, KeyBank, Sherwin-Williams, and Stanley Black & Decker.

The current management team, led by chief executive officer Jim Nash and chief client officer Mark Bachmann, will continue to lead Marcus Thomas in partnership with Peninsula.

The investment in Marcus Thomas is one of seven platform investments already completed by Fund VIII which began investing in early 2024.

“We understood heading into Fund VIII’s fundraise that we would be facing headwinds such as we had never before experienced due to ultra-tight capital allocations among traditional mezzanine and growth equity fund investors, the result of several years of historically low PE-industry distributions,” said Scott Reilly, a managing partner at Peninsula. “We were able to overcome this due to the strong performance of our prior partnerships and having distributed record levels of capital back to our LPs over the last few years, which really served to differentiate us in the current marketplace.”

Peninsula Capital Partners provides junior capital, including subordinated debt, preferred stock or common stock, either as a minority or control investor, to non-sponsored and independently sponsored companies with at least $3 million of EBITDA. Sectors of interest include manufacturing, industrial services, distribution, and consumer product sectors. The firm is headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, Michigan.

Northstar Capital has held a final close of Northstar Mezzanine Partners VIII LP and Northstar Mezzanine Partners SBIC II LP with a combined $530 million of capital. This fundraise follows the prior parallel fundraise that closed in January 2021 with $500 million in combined commitments.

Northstar is an active provider of mezzanine debt and equity co-investments to sponsored lower middle market companies with at least $3 million of EBITDA. Sectors of interest include healthcare, industrials, consumer, business services, food and agriculture, outsourcing, and distribution. Northstar can make unitranche investments of up to $50 million; subordinated debt investments of $5 million to $30 million; and equity co-investments of up to $15 million.

To date, Northstar has completed 18 investments across the two new funds. Earlier this month, Northstar provided debt and made an equity co-investment to back the add-on acquisition of Tennessee-based Total Garage Store by US Dock & Door, a portfolio company of Soundcore Capital Partners.

Georgia-headquartered US Dock & Door provides installation, maintenance, and repair services for commercial loading dock equipment, entry systems, and residential garage doors. US Dock & Door was formed by Soundcore in September 2023 as a platform in the overhead door and dock equipment services sector and has now made five acquisitions for the platform and serves customers located in the Southeast and Northeast United States.

“We’re incredibly grateful for the continued support and confidence from our investors,” said Christopher Kocourek, the managing partner at Northstar. “This fundraise reinforces the strength of our team, our strategy, and our commitment to delivering consistent results through market cycles. Our parallel fund structure enables us to deliver creative capital solutions for sponsor partners, and we’re excited by the momentum we’re already seeing in the market.”

Northstar was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Minneapolis.

Monogram Capital Partners has held an oversubscribed and hard cap close of its third fund, Monogram Capital Partners Fund III LP, with $350 million of capital.

Limited partners in Fund III include endowments, foundations, family offices, and funds of funds, with many long-time investors participating in the new fund.

Beverly Hills-headquartered Monogram invests up to $75 million of equity in companies with revenues of $5 million to $250 million. Sectors of interest include food and beverage, beauty and personal care, pet products, consumer healthcare, manufacturing, and multi-location businesses.

As an example, in July 2025, Monogram acquired a majority equity interest in Western Smokehouse Partners from AUA Private Equity. Monogram first invested in Western in 2018 and, after a series of add-on acquisitions, sold its majority equity interest in the business to AUA Private Equity, but maintained a minority equity interest in the business.

Western is a contract and branded manufacturer of all-natural meat sticks, jerky, and high-protein snacks with a portfolio of co-manufactured, private label, and branded products. The company’s beef, turkey, chicken, and pork products are available in sticks, bites, and strips and include organic, non-GMO, plant-based, and free-range options. Western’s customers include national retailers, health-conscious food brands, and convenience store distributors. The company was founded in 1978 and today is headquartered in Galesburg, Illinois, with six facilities in Missouri (2), Illinois (2), Iowa, and Idaho.

Earlier, in January 2025, Monogram acquired Luckyscent, a Los Angeles-based niche fragrance e-commerce and retail platform. Luckyscent operates both an online storefront and a physical retail concept known as Scent Bar, with a curated product line of prestige and artisanal fragrances.

Since its founding in 2014, Monogram’s portfolio investments – held for at least five years – have seen approximately 3x revenue growth and more than 600 basis points of EBITDA margin expansion.

“Our mission has always been to build enduring consumer businesses by pairing deep operational expertise with a long-term partnership mindset,” said Jared Stein, a co-founder and partner at Monogram. “We view ourselves as the bridge between family-held businesses and large-cap institutional capital—helping scale companies that deliver exceptional value to consumers, employees, and communities alike.”

“With the closing of this fund, we will add greater depth to our team and resources across the firm,” said Oliver Nordlinger, a co-founder and partner at Monogram. “These efforts to further institutionalize Monogram are in service of building an enduring firm for many funds to come.”

“Closing Fund III represents a significant milestone for our team and our investors,” added Mr. Stein. “We are deeply grateful for the trust placed in us and excited to continue building the next generation of enduring consumer businesses.”

Lazard was the placement agent for this fundraise and Latham & Watkins provided legal services.

Mosaic Capital Partners has closed its second fund with $205 million in total capital, including leverage. Similar to its first fund, Fund II is structured as a Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) with limited partners that include institutions, commercial banks, and high-net-worth individuals.

Mosaic invests from $10 million to $25 million—more with limited-partner co-investment—in North America-based employee-owned businesses with $10 million to $100 million in revenue and $5 million to $15 million in EBITDA. Sectors of interest include business services, consumer products, food and beverage, healthcare, industrials, manufacturing, technology services, and value-add distribution. Mosaic’s transactions generally involve ESOP buyouts, full or partial ESOPs, or ESOP recapitalizations.

“We are grateful for the overwhelming support from our existing investors and pleased to welcome several new institutional investors into the fund,” said Steve Buchanan, the managing partner of Mosaic.

Earlier this year, Mosaic closed an ESOP transaction with Ickler Electric, a San Diego-based provider of commercial electrical contractor services with a specialization in the life sciences and commercial laboratory sectors. Since its founding in 2014 and across its two funds, Mosaic has invested in 17 platform companies and now has total assets under management of $370 million.

“We are pleased to see the investor community continue to support Mosaic’s unique broad-based employee ownership model,” said Ian Mohler, a partner at Mosaic. “Our team is committed to finding the best investment opportunities for our investors and building long-term wealth for workers while delivering attractive investment returns.”

Winston & Strawn provided legal services to Mosaic on this fundraise.

Mosaic Capital Partners is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Monomoy Capital Partners has held a final close of its third credit-focused fund, Monomoy Credit Opportunities Fund III LP (MCOF III), with more than $500 million in total capital commitments.

Limited partners in the new fund include hospital systems, university endowments, asset managers, public pension plans, foundations, and family offices. MCOF III was raised over ten months and is $200 million higher than its predecessor fund, which closed in September 2023 with $300 million of capital.

Like its earlier credit funds, MCOF III will invest in senior secured debt across middle-market industrial, consumer, and business services companies.

“Exceeding our target for MCOF III in just ten months reflects strong investor support for our cycle-tested credit strategy,” said David Robbins, a partner and head of credit strategies at Monomoy. “We’ve remained focused on our core sectors and true to the disciplined approach we established from the outset. The continued support of long-standing investors, together with new global commitments, speaks to the team’s shared commitment to excellence. We’re confident that this same foundation will continue to drive performance and position Monomoy for sustained growth in the years ahead.”

Monomoy makes control investments of debt and equity in companies with $20 million to $100 million of EBITDA. Sectors of interest include manufacturing, distribution, and services across North America. In July 2024, after just five months of fundraising, Monomoy held an oversubscribed and above-target closing of its fifth equity fund with $2.25 billion of capital. The firm was founded in 2005 and is based in New York City.