St. Cloud Capital has made a growth capital investment in EZ Own Auto Source, an automotive rent-to-own company. St. Cloud invested in EZ Own in partnership with the company’s existing lender, Hunting Dog Capital and merchant banking firm JDB Capital.
EZ Own Auto Source owns and manages a fleet of approximately 1,000 used vehicles in the greater Phoenix area. The vehicle inventory includes foreign and domestic starter cars, mid-sized cars, mini-vans, trucks, and SUV’s. St. Cloud’s investment will be used to double the fleet to approximately 2,000 vehicles. The company is led by its CEO Douglas Lecker.
“We are very impressed with Doug’s leadership and are excited to join with Hunting Dog and JDB in providing him the resources and guidance to take EZ Own to the next level,” said St. Cloud Capital Managing Partner Kacy Rozelle.
Customers of EZ Own are able to use vehicles so long as they make a payment every two weeks. According to the company, 100% of a customer’s payment goes towards the purchase of the vehicle which can be returned at any time for any reason during the life of the contract without any amount owed on the balance of the contract.
“EZ Own offers a creative alternative in the automotive space, and has built a platform that is ready to scale,” said Jeremy May, a Principal at St. Cloud Capital. “We look forward to helping the company achieve this next stage of growth.”
EZ Own was founded in 2011 and currently serves the greater Phoenix area with locations in Scottsdale, Mesa and Glendale (www.ezownautosource.com).
St. Cloud Capital makes both control and non-control investments in lower middle-market companies that have annual revenues between $10 million and $150 million. The firm typically invests from $5 million to $20 million per transaction in senior secured debt, subordinated debt, and preferred and common stock. St. Cloud Capital is based in Los Angeles (www.stcloudcapital.com).
© 2016 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 3-3-16
