H.I.G. Capital Significantly Expands Its Credit Platform-Launches H.I.G. WhiteHorse
MIAMI – October 6, 2011 – H.I.G. Capital, LLC, a leading global private equity investment firm, today announced that it has acquired certain assets of WhiteHorse Capital, a Dallas-based CLO manager with experience managing over $1.7 billion of capital, and formed H.I.G. WhiteHorse to provide flexible financing solutions to profitable and performing small and middle market companies. With more than $1billion of capital available to deploy into businesses in the U.S. and Europe, H.I.G. WhiteHorse has a broad mandate to provide senior, second lien, uni-tranche, mezzanine, and subordinated debt for refinancings, growth capital, acquisitions, and balance sheet recapitalizations. This transaction marks a significant expansion of H.I.G.’s existing credit platform, which currently manages in excess of $4 billion.
H.I.G. WhiteHorse brings together the resources of WhiteHorse Capital and the primary loan origination team of H.I.G. to create a leading provider of debt capital to performing companies. WhiteHorse Capital was founded in 2003 by Jay Carvell, Ethan Underwood and Jarred Worley. WhiteHorse will continue to actively manage leveraged credit structures in the broadly syndicated loan market, including five CLOs and a long-only credit fund.
H.I.G. WhiteHorse will benefit from WhiteHorse’s extensive credit experience, its large and experienced investment team and its strong track record in the leveraged loan market, including loans to private equity-backed buyouts and recapitalizations. H.I.G. WhiteHorse will also draw upon H.I.G.’s private equity experience and resources developed over 18 years of investing in and working with small and mid-cap companies. With a large team of dedicated professionals across the U.S. and Europe, H.I.G. WhiteHorse will be able to quickly mobilize its resources to respond to time-sensitive situations.
“The combination of H.I.G. and WhiteHorse creates a unique platform for providing credit to small and mid-cap companies,” said Ethan Underwood, co-Managing Partner of WhiteHorse Capital. Tony Tamer, co-Managing Partner of H.I.G., added, “H.I.G. WhiteHorse will benefit from WhiteHorse’s strong track record, deep relationships and extensive credit experience as well as the global resources and small-cap expertise of H.I.G.”
About H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. Capital is a leading global private equity investment firm with more than $8.5 billion of capital under management. Based in Miami, and with offices in Dallas, San Francisco, Atlanta, Boston, and New York in the U.S., as well as affiliate offices in London, Hamburg and Paris in Europe, H.I.G. specializes in providing capital to small and medium-sized companies with attractive growth potential. H.I.G. invests in management-led buyouts and recapitalizations of profitable and well-managed service or manufacturing businesses. H.I.G. also has extensive experience with financial restructurings and operational turnarounds. Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 200 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes companies with combined revenues in excess of $8 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.hig.com.