H.I.G. Capital has sold Amerijet Holdings to middle market private equity investor ZS Fund. H.I.G. Capital first invested in Amerijet in 2001.
Amerijet is an all-cargo transportation and logistics provider offering scheduled transport via land, sea and air. The company operates its own all-jet cargo airline with a fleet of 10 Boeing 727-200 and Boeing 767-200/300 aircraft, a licensed NVOCC (a non-vessel operating common carrier) and a ground transportation network. Amerijet transports over 200 million pounds of freight annually. The company was founded in 1974 by David Bassett and is headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale with additional offices and agents throughout North, South and Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Europe, Asia and the Middle East (www.amerijet.com).
“H.I.G. has been an ideal and patient partner over the past fifteen years,” said Mr. Bassett. “H.I.G. supported Amerijet through numerous strategic initiatives since investing in the company in 2001, enabling Amerijet to access new markets, expand capacity and continue to offer our customers an unparalleled level of service. Amerijet is well positioned for its next phase of growth with ZS Fund and Vic Karjian, the incoming CEO.”
“It has been personally and professionally rewarding to work with David Bassett and the management team at Amerijet,” said Jeff Zanarini, Managing Director at H.I.G. “The company has outperformed our expectations due to management’s excellent execution of a strong strategic vision. As a result, Amerijet generated strong revenue and EBITDA growth, which resulted in an outstanding investment outcome for management, H.I.G. and its investors.”
H.I.G. specializes in providing capital to small and medium-sized companies and invests in management-led buyouts and recapitalizations of manufacturing or service businesses. H.I.G. has more than $20 billion of capital under management. The firm was founded in 1993 and is based in Miami with additional offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New York, San Francisco, London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, and Rio de Janeiro (www.higcapital.com).
ZS Fund, the buyer of Amerijet, invests in public and private companies that have annual operating profits from $4 million to $30 million. Through its current and prior private equity funds, ZS has invested in more than forty companies with an aggregate value of approximately $2 billion. The firm was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in New York (www.zsfundlp.com).
© 2016 Private Equity Professional • 8-2-16
