NEW YORK, March 31, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Centre Lane Partners, LLC ("Centre Lane"), a New York-based private investment firm, announced that the sale of CLP Towne Inc. ("Towne") to Forward Air Corporation ("FAC") has been completed. The transaction value is $125 million, subject to an adjustment for working capital.
Founded in 1963 and headquartered in South Bend, Indiana, Towne is a full-service trucking provider offering time-sensitive less-than-truckload shipping, full truckload service, an extensive cartage network, container freight stations and dedicated trucking. Towne's airport-to-airport network provides scheduled deliveries to over 60 service points across the country. A fleet of independent contractor tractors provides the line-haul between those service points.
Centre Lane invested in Towne in November 2010 and subsequently supported the company with additional capital. "Since our investment, we were able to overcome certain challenges and position the company for growth and profitability," said Centre Lane Managing Director Kenneth Lau. "We would like to thank the company's management team and employees for partnering with us to execute the plan."
"Over the past two years, the management team and Centre Lane identified and executed on numerous key initiatives to enhance business processes, improve safety, and focus our employees to providing top-quality services to our customers," said Randy Clark, CEO of Towne. "It took a great deal of hard work to implement our strategic initiatives, and with everyone working together we completed a powerful turnaround which led to the successful sale of the company."
Barrett & McNagny LLP and Katten Muchen Rosenman LLP provided legal advice to Centre Lane and the company on the transaction.
About Centre Lane Partners, LLC
Centre Lane is a private investment firm managing approximately $700 million in investor commitments that focuses on making debt and equity, control and non-control, investments in North American middle market companies. Centre Lane targets companies with revenues between $20 and $500 million that have leading market positions and sustainable competitive advantages in their respective niches. We seek to invest $5 to $50 million per transaction. Industries targeted for investment are broad and diverse. Please visit www.centrelanepartners.com for a detailed review of our firm and portfolio.