Thompson Street Capital Partners today announced the recent closing of Thompson Street Capital Partners II (“TSCP II”), a $300 million private equity fund that invests in lower middle market companies. TSCP II attracted capital commitments from leading institutional investors and closed on its hard cap, exceeding its target capitalization of $250 million.
With the formation of TSCP II, Thompson Street will continue to implement the investment strategy of its first fund, which closed in 2002 with $145 million in capital commitments and is invested in nine platform companies located throughout the United States. TSCP invests in privately held manufacturing, distribution and service companies with a minimum EBITDA of $5 million.
“Our selection criteria will remain largely the same with Fund II, yet we will have the ability to invest in larger deals, potentially up to $200 million in enterprise value,” explains TSCP co-founder James A. Cooper. “Fund I returns have surpassed our projections, which we attribute to our collaborative philosophy of partnering with existing management to create larger, more valuable businesses.” In support of the new fund, TSCP staff has grown with the addition of two employees in 2006 bringing the team to 12.
Monument Group served as the placement agent for TSCP II. Alicia Cooney, co- Founder and Managing Director of Monument Group, states “We are thrilled to have been able to assist Thompson Street with the successful fundraising for their second fund and are confident that they will continue to execute their differentiated investment strategy on behalf of their limited partners.”
First Fund II Investment Announced
Concurrent with the announcement of the fund, TSCP has announced its first Fund II investment. On January 12, 2007, TSCP formed CESM Holdings LLC to invest in three related electrical component manufacturing and distribution companies, Tacoma Electric Supply LLC, Connecticut Electric & Switch Mfg. Co. and Parallax Power Supply LLC. Financial terms will not be disclosed.
“We are excited to be partnering with Thompson Street Capital Partners,” explained Randy Mauermann, CEO of CESM Holdings LLC. “As we continue to focus on expanding into new markets and pursuing acquisitions to drive further growth, leveraging the experience of the Thompson Street team will be a strong asset.”
Connecticut Electric and Parallax Power Supply design, manufacture and distribute electrical components for a wide variety of end markets. Tacoma Electric Supply is a market-leading distributor of electrical components that serves the commercial, residential, industrial and infrastructure-related construction industries in the Seattle-Tacoma area. Tacoma Electric is headquartered in Tacoma, Wash. and Connecticut Electric and Parallax Power Supply are headquartered in Anderson, Ind.
