PHILADELPHIA, March 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Franklin
Square Capital Partners (Franklin
Square), a leading alternative investment manager and the
largest manager of business development companies (BDCs), announced
that its BDC direct lending platform committed over $1.9 billion to private deals in the fourth
quarter of 2015, and more than $5.6
billion for the full year 2015. New directly originated
deals during the quarter included the addition of six new portfolio
companies and 10 new commitments to existing portfolio companies.
The $5.6 billion in new private deals
in 2015 represents Franklin
Square's highest annual total on record and an increase of
more than $400 million from 2014. New
directly originated deals in 2015 were completed with 46 portfolio
companies headquartered in 22 different U.S. states.
"The scale of our direct lending platform is a competitive
advantage for our investors, particularly when markets are
experiencing volatility," said Michael C.
Forman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Franklin Square. "We believe our ability to
put capital to work when traditional lenders are under pressure
will prove beneficial to our investors in the long run."
Newly committed capital was provided by four BDCs managed by
affiliates of Franklin Square and
sub-advised by GSO Capital Partners LP (GSO) or its affiliate: FS
Investment Corporation (NYSE:
FSIC), FS Investment Corporation II (FSIC II), FS Investment
Corporation III (FSIC III) and FS Energy and Power Fund (FSEP).
Additionally, in January 2016
Franklin Square announced the launch of its newest BDC, FS
Investment Corporation IV (FSIC IV), expanding the scale of its
direct lending platform.
Franklin Square's directly
originated deals, which are unique to its BDCs and not accessible
elsewhere, included investments in the following companies in the
fourth quarter:
5 Arches, LLC
FSIC, FSIC II and FSIC III originated a
new senior secured credit facility and common equity investment in
5 Arches, LLC, an Irvine,
California-headquartered, fully integrated specialty
mortgage company focused on financing residential investment
properties primarily for professional developers. The company
currently operates in Arizona,
California, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, Oregon, Texas
and Washington. Franklin Square's financing will allow 5
Arches to expand its footprint and increase its scale in its
existing markets.
Aeneas Buyer Corp. (dba Equian, LLC)
FSIC, FSIC II
and FSIC III originated a senior secured term loan to finance the
acquisition and combination of Equian, LLC and Trover Solutions,
Inc. by New Mountain Capital, a New York,
New York-based private equity investment firm. The
combination of Equian and Trover brings together businesses with
complementary expertise offering payment integrity solutions to
commercial health plans and other insurance providers.
Harvey Industries, Inc. (dba Harvey Building
Products)
FSIC, FSIC II and FSIC III originated a senior
secured term loan to facilitate the buyout of Harvey Building
Products by Dunes Point Capital, a Rye,
New York-based private equity investment firm. Harvey is a
Waltham,
Massachusetts-headquartered manufacturer of premium vinyl
windows and wholesale distributor of a broad range of exterior
building products. In addition to providing senior secured capital
to finance the acquisition, Franklin
Square's BDCs also provided an equity co-investment
alongside Dunes Point.
Global Jet Capital Holdings, L.P.
FSIC, FSIC II and
FSIC III upsized their collective subordinated debt and equity
investment in Global Jet Capital Holdings, L.P., a Boca Raton, Florida-headquartered provider of
leasing and lending solutions for large-cabin, long-range aircraft.
Franklin Square's incremental
investment provided a portion of the financing for Global Jet's
acquisition of GE Capital's $2.3
billion Fixed-Wing Corporate Aircraft Financing Portfolio in
the Americas. In addition, the GE Capital Corporate Aircraft team
joined Global Jet Capital.
Sunnova Holdings, LLC
FSIC, FSIC II, FSIC III and
FSEP made a new equity investment in Sunnova Holdings, LLC, a
Houston, Texas-headquartered
leading provider of residential solar energy services. Franklin Square's equity commitment serves to
expand Sunnova's access to debt capital, allowing the company to
expand its residential solar project portfolio. The transaction
represents the latest iteration in a series of investments by
Franklin Square's BDCs that have
allowed Sunnova to continue to execute its growth strategy.
FSIC Successfully Exits FullBeauty Brands Investment
In addition to new commitments made during the fourth quarter, FSIC
realized its investment in FullBeauty Brands, Inc., earning a
prepayment fee when the company's senior secured loan was paid off
in connection with Apax Partners' acquisition of a majority stake
in the company in October. FullBeauty Brands is a New York, New York-headquartered leading
provider of men's and women's plus-size apparel. FSIC's partnership
with FullBeauty began in February
2013 with its initial financing commitment, which was later
upsized through three incremental commitments as the company
grew.
"We invested a significant amount of capital during a period of
time in which the primary market for syndicated loans froze for
many companies and traditional loan funds experienced heavy
outflows," added Michael Kelly,
Chief Investment Officer of Franklin
Square. "Our platform displayed its advantages in the fourth
quarter by underwriting 16 new private deals and realizing a great
outcome on our investment in FullBeauty."
About Franklin
Square
Franklin
Square is a leading manager of alternative investment funds
designed to enhance investors' portfolios by providing access to
asset classes, strategies and asset managers that typically have
been available to only the largest institutional investors. The
firm's funds offer "endowment-style" investment strategies that
help construct diversified portfolios and manage risk. Franklin Square strives not only to maximize
investment returns but also to set the industry standard for best
practices by focusing on transparency, investor protection and
education for investment professionals and their clients.
Founded in Philadelphia in
2007, Franklin Square quickly
established itself as a leader in the world of alternative
investments by introducing innovative credit-based income funds,
including the industry's first non-traded BDC. As of December 31, 2015, the firm managed approximately
$16.8 billion in total assets,
including $15.5 billion in BDC
assets, making it the largest manager of BDCs. For more
information, please visit www.franklinsquare.com.
For information about Franklin
Square's funds, visit www.franklinsquare.com.
Contact Information:
Franklin Square Media Team
media@franklinsquare.com
215-495-1174
Jim Ballan
Senior Vice President,
Investor Relations & Capital Markets
james.ballan@franklinsquare.com
267-439-4375
About Blackstone and
GSO
Blackstone is one of
the world's leading investment firms. We seek to create positive
economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the
companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do
this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help
companies solve problems. Our asset management businesses, with
approximately $336 billion in assets
under management, includes investment vehicles focused on private
equity, real estate, public debt and equity, non-investment grade
credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis.
Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow
Blackstone on Twitter
@Blackstone.
GSO is the global credit investment platform of Blackstone. With approximately $79 billion of assets under management, GSO is
one of the largest alternative managers in the world focused on the
leveraged-finance, or non-investment grade related, marketplace.
GSO seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns in its
business by investing in a broad array of strategies including
mezzanine debt, distressed investing, leveraged loans and other
special-situation strategies. Its funds are major providers of
credit for small and middle-market companies and they also advance
rescue financing to help distressed companies.
Forward-Looking Statements and Important Disclosures
This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements,
including statements with regard to the future performance or
operations of FSIC, FSIC II, FSIC III, FSIC IV or FSEP. Words such
as "believes," "expects," "projects" and "future" or similar
expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.
These forward-looking statements are subject to the inherent
uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions. Certain
factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those
projected in these forward-looking statements, and some of these
factors are enumerated in the filings FSIC, FSIC II, FSIC III, FSIC
IV and FSEP make with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
FSIC, FSIC II, FSIC III, FSIC IV and FSEP undertake no obligation
to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Individual investors and endowments may have different
investment horizons, liquidity needs and risk tolerances. In
addition, fees that may be incurred by an investor in a fund
sponsored by Franklin Square may
be different than fees incurred by an endowment investing in
similar assets as those in which the funds invest.
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SOURCE Franklin Square Capital Partners