Canopy Capital Partners has made an investment in Turtle Southeast. Assurance Mezzanine Fund co-invested in this transaction with Canopy and provided both mezzanine debt and equity.
Turtle is a provider of asphalt milling services for the maintenance, repair and construction needs of Florida’s roadways. Customers of Turtle include state, municipal, and county agencies; aviation businesses and other private and military clients. The company was founded by the Ando family in 1974 and is headquartered in Largo, FL (www.turtlesoutheast.com).
The new capital from Canopy and Assurance Mezzanine will be used by the company to take advantage of growth opportunities in the roadway infrastructure services industry ranging from add-on acquisitions to investments in new equipment and new services. “With the investment made by our institutional partners we will have the ability to expand our range of services and increase our geographic footprint while maintaining the quality our customers have come to expect,” said Turtle’s President, Dave Ando. “We are excited to open this new chapter in the Turtle story and the growth opportunities it presents.”
“We are extremely excited to partner with the Ando family and the top-notch team at Turtle. Infrastructure services are garnering a lot of investor interest right now and we believe this is a great platform to capitalize on the various growth opportunities being presented to the company,” said Scott Long, Managing Partner of Canopy Capital Partners.
Canopy Capital invests in companies that have revenues from $5 million to $100 million and EBITDA from $2 million to $10 million. Sectors of interest include business services, transportation and logistics, niche manufacturing, and value-added distribution. The firm invests across the US but places an emphasis on the southeastern states particularly Florida. Canopy Capital was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Tampa (www.canopycp.com).
“We are very pleased with our investment in Turtle. The company has built an excellent reputation over several decades of successful operations and we are very excited to be a part of its future,” said Jeff Phillips, Director for Assurance Mezzanine.
Assurance Mezzanine invests from $3 million to $20 million of mezzanine debt or preferred equity in lower middle market companies nationwide that have from $1 million to $10 million of EBITDA. The firm was founded by CEO Seth Ellis and is headquartered in Orlando (www.assurancemezz.com).
Tampa-based CEA Group was the financial advisor to Turtle. Michael Johnson, managing director of CEA’s investment banking and advisory group, lead CEA’s transaction team (www.ceaworldwide.com).
Valley National Bank (www.valleynationalbank.com) provided senior financing for this transaction.
© 2018 Private Equity Professional | July 12, 2018
