American Capital Invests $52 Million in Portfolio Company Breeze Industrial Products Corporation
12 8월 2006 - 7:02AM
PR Newswire (US)
BETHESDA, Md., Aug. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Capital
Strategies Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACAS) announced today it has invested an
additional $52 million in its portfolio company Breeze Industrial
Products Corporation, a leading global supplier of steel clamps, to
support Breeze's dividend recapitalization. American Capital's
investment takes the form of a senior second lien loan, senior
subordinated debt and holding company subordinated debt. GE Antares
Capital, a unit of GE Commercial Finance, is leading a syndication
of the revolving credit facility and the senior term B loan. Wind
Point Partners is the majority owner of Breeze. "We are delighted
to be providing debt financing in support of the dividend
recapitalization of Breeze, our portfolio company whose performance
has exceeded expectations since our initial investment two years
ago," said American Capital Regional Managing Director Brian Graff.
"Our ability to quickly arrange debt financing enables us to play a
leading role in the recapitalization of this outstanding company.
We are also very pleased to be furthering our growing sponsor
relationship with Wind Point Partners, which has played a highly
effective hands-on role in this investment including bringing in an
extremely experienced, energetic and creative new CEO." American
Capital has invested approximately $4.8 billion in the last twelve
months, approximately $2.9 billion year to date and $416 million
quarter to date. These amounts do not include American Capital's
unfunded equity commitment and debt funded to its affiliate
European Capital. For more information about American Capital's
portfolio, go to
http://www.americancapital.com/our_portfolio/our_portfolio.cfm.
"American Capital is backing a company with exceptional innovative
strength that generates a steady stream of proprietary and patented
products," said American Capital Principal Todd Wilson. "Breeze
commands a substantial competitive position due to its
sole-sourcing status with many of its customers and maintains a
continuous and highly-effective cost reduction culture that entails
the growing use of automation." "Since our initial investment
Breeze has obtained three new patents, centralized materials
purchasing, instituted Kaizen events that have led to cost
reductions and adopted Kanban disciplines to streamline inventory
management," said American Capital Vice President Helen Yang. "As a
result, it has significantly reduced its leverage and impressively
outperformed our expectations. This quick de-levering, coupled with
the Company's attractive growth prospects and continued cost
reductions have created conditions for a dividend
recapitalization." American Capital first invested in Breeze in
August 2004, supporting Wind Point's acquisition. Founded in 1948
in Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, Breeze invented and patented the first
worm-drive hose clamp, which uses a worm screw configuration to
tighten, seal and connect pipes and tubes. Breeze now manufactures
worm-drive clamps, exhaust clamps, T-Bolt and V-Band clamps and
no-hub couplings. These components are engineered in a wide variety
of sizes, strengths, designs and materials for diverse clamping
applications. Currently, Breeze has 23 U.S. and foreign patents and
sells its products under the Breeze, Torca, and Clamp-All brand
names to over 1,500 customers in more than 40 countries. Breeze
provides clamps directly to OEMs and Tier I suppliers within the
automotive and heavy duty truck markets, and also serves the
industrial, hardware, plumbing, agricultural, construction,
aerospace and marine industries together with its network of over
seventy distributors. Customers include Tenneco, PACCAR,
ArvinMeritor, DaimlerChrysler, Cummins, Textron,
Navistar/International, Volvo and Harley Davidson. The Company has
three ISO 9001/2000 certified operating facilities in Pennsylvania,
Michigan and Frittlingen, Germany and employs nearly 500. Breeze
recorded revenues of $119 million for the fiscal year ending in
March 2006. "We are very fortunate that American Capital has once
again participated in the support of one of our portfolio
companies," said Wind Point Partners Principal Sarah Kneisel.
"American Capital's financing capabilities have proven invaluable
in facilitating the recapitalization of this most deserving
company. We look forward to a continuing and growing relationship
with American Capital as we seek to derive value from middle market
companies led by CEOs with successful track records in their
industries." For more information about American Capital's original
investment in Breeze, go to
http://www.acas.com/our_portfolio/companies/company.cfm?p_comp=158.
ABOUT AMERICAN CAPITAL American Capital is a publicly traded buyout
and mezzanine fund with capital resources of $8.9 billion. American
Capital invests in and sponsors management and employee buyouts,
invests in private equity buyouts, provides capital directly to
early stage and mature private and small public companies and
through its asset management business is a manager of debt and
equity investments in private companies. American Capital provides
senior debt, mezzanine debt and equity to fund growth,
acquisitions, recapitalizations and securitizations. American
Capital invests up to $350 million per company. As of July 31,
2006, American Capital shareholders have enjoyed a total return of
420% since the Company's IPO -- an annualized return of 20%,
assuming reinvestment of dividends. American Capital has paid a
total of $1.2 billion in dividends and paid or declared $21.56
dividends per share since its August 1997 IPO at $15 per share.
Companies interested in learning more about American Capital's
flexible financing should contact Mark Opel, Senior Vice President,
Business Development, at (800) 248-9340, or visit
http://www.americancapital.com/. ABOUT WIND POINT PARTNERS Wind
Point is a private equity investment firm with offices in Chicago,
Illinois and Southfield, Michigan that manages over $1.8 billion
capital. It has invested in more than 80 companies since 1984. In
2004, Wind Point acquired Breeze with the participation of American
Capital. Other Wind Point portfolio companies include Knape &
Vogt Manufacturing Company, a leading designer, manufacturer and
distributor of drawer slides, shelving, storage and ergonomic
office products; US Security Associates, a provider of security
guard, janitorial and maintenance services; and Bushnell
Performance Optics, a leading designer and marketer of branded,
high-performance sport optics and premium eyewear products for
outdoor and sport enthusiasts. American Capital invested in
Bushnell to support its acquisition of Michaels of Oregon Co. in
2005. Performance data quoted above represents past performance of
American Capital. Past performance does not guarantee future
results and the investment return and principal value of an
investment in American Capital will likely fluctuate. Consequently,
an investor's shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than
their original cost. Additionally, American Capital's current
performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted
above. This press release contains forward-looking statements. The
statements regarding expected results of American Capital
Strategies are subject to various factors and uncertainties,
including the uncertainties associated with the timing of
transaction closings, changes in interest rates, availability of
transactions, changes in regional, national or international
economic conditions, or changes in the conditions of the industries
in which American Capital has made investments. DATASOURCE:
American Capital Strategies Ltd. CONTACT: Todd Wilson, Principal,
+1-212-213-2009, Helen Yang, Vice President, +1-212-213-2009, or
Brian Maney, Director, Corporate Communications, +1-301-951-6122,
all of American Capital Strategies Ltd. Web site:
http://www.americancapital.com/
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