WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., June 21, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fifth Street Finance Corp. (Nasdaq:FSC) ("Fifth Street") today announced that it has provided a one-stop financing facility of $47.5 million in support of Cortec Group's ("Cortec") acquisition of YETI Coolers LLC ("YETI").
The transaction consists of a $7.5 million revolver, a $28.0 million Term Loan A and a $12.0 million Term Loan B. Fifth Street also provided $1.5 million of co-investment equity in the transaction. Fifth Street served as lead administrative agent in the deal and underwrote the full facility.
This credit facility represents Fifth Street's first deal with Cortec Group, a private equity firm that invests in middle market consumer, healthcare, specialty manufacturing, service and distribution businesses, and Cortec's first investment out of its fifth fund, which totals $620 million.
Based in Austin, Texas, YETI is a designer and marketer of premium coolers. The company sells its products through various sales channels including sporting goods and industrial retailers as well as hardware, farm and ranch and automotive aftermarket retailers.
Michael Najjar, a Partner at Cortec, stated, "We chose Fifth Street for this transaction due to its ability to deeply understand the company and to structure an attractive one-stop financing solution in a very tight time frame that enables us to help YETI achieve its growth objectives."
"YETI Coolers has a universal value proposition with high quality products at the beginning of its life cycle," said Ivelin Dimitrov, Fifth Street's Chief Investment Officer, adding that, "the company has strong growth potential and we believe Cortec is the ideal sponsor to position the company for its next phase of growth. We look forward to working closely with the team at Cortec and YETI's management to help execute on the business plan over the life of the investment."
YETI's co-founders, Roy Seiders, Chief Executive Officer, and Ryan Seiders, President, will retain meaningful ownership stakes and will continue to lead the company. YETI's team, along with Cortec, projects introducing innovative, value-added new products, further penetrating existing customers channels and expanding into new markets.
About Fifth Street Finance Corp.
Fifth Street Finance Corp. is a specialty finance company that lends to and invests in small and mid-sized companies, primarily in connection with investments by private equity sponsors. Fifth Street Finance Corp.'s investment objective is to maximize its portfolio's total return by generating current income from its debt investments and capital appreciation from its equity investments.
The Fifth Street Finance Corp. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=5525
About Cortec Group
Founded in 1984, Cortec acquires high value-added, middle-market consumer, healthcare, specialty manufacturing, service, and distribution businesses with leadership positions in their market niches from owners and management teams who want to work with Cortec to drive growth and improve business fundamentals. Cortec currently manages over $1 billion in its two active funds and targets platform acquisitions with enterprise values of $30 million to $300 million and smaller follow-on acquisitions. Additional information about Cortec can be found at www.cortecgroup.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
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