Rotunda Capital Partners has invested $12.3 million in Microf, a consumer finance company that provides rent-to-own (RTO) services to the residential HVAC industry. Microf is a portfolio company of JAM Capital.
“Microf provides financing options for credit constrained consumers that are challenged by a need to replace their HVAC system. The company has received strong support from Carrier – a leading HVAC manufacturer – as well as many top distributors, hundreds of dealers and thousands of consumers,” said John Fruehwirth, managing partner at Rotunda Capital.
The investment from Rotunda Capital is characterized as growth capital and makes the firm the company’s largest investor. Microf will use the new capital to add new distributors and dealers and roll out the company’s rent-to-own product nationwide. As part of its investment, Rotunda Capital has hired Craig Rosato, a consumer finance executive, to join the company as its chief financial officer and will add two members to the Microf board of directors.
“Microf evaluated several potential investors and we unanimously selected Rotunda as the ideal partner because of their knowledge in the space and willingness to work with our management team to drive the company’s growth,” said Mitch Masters, CEO of Microf and the Executive Manager of JAM Capital. “We are excited to have Rotunda on board and we will leverage their expertise in specialty finance to introduce our flexible rent-to-own financing option to homeowners across the country.”
Rotunda Capital invests in businesses with enterprise values of $5 million to $100 million. Sectors of interest include specialty finance, logistics and distribution, government and business services. Since founding in 2009, Rotunda Capital has completed eight platform investments and realized two exits. The firm has offices in Washington, DC and Chicago (www.rotundacapital.com).
“We see a significant replacement trend for aging HVAC equipment in the coming years and believe Microf is ideally positioned to capture market share by providing a financing option that is better for many consumers,” said Bob Wickham, partner at Rotunda Capital. “Microf represents the fourth specialty finance platform for the Rotunda Capital team, and we are eager to partner with Microf to leverage its unique niche in an untapped market.”
Microf was founded in 2010 by JAM Capital and is based in Albany, GA (www.jam-cap.com).
2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 5-6-15