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Metropolitan Partners Group Closes Its Seventh Fund Above Target with $400 Million in Equity Commitments

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Metropolitan Partners Group Closes Its Seventh Fund Above Target with $400 Million in Equity Commitments

New York, NY, September 2022

Metropolitan Partners Group Management, LLC (“Metropolitan”), a private investment firm that provides debt capital to small & mid-sized non-sponsored businesses in the U.S., announced today that it completed the final closing of its seventh and largest direct lending fund—Metropolitan Partners Fund VII, LP (“Fund VII”)—in the second quarter of 2022, with total fund commitments of approximately $400 million, surpassing its $350 million target.

Fund VII continues Metropolitan’s strategy of working directly with management teams to grow their companies and build lasting value, often as the first institutional capital partner. To date, Metropolitan has deployed over $2 billion within the strategy across more than 140 investments.

“We are delighted to surpass our fund target, which represents strong interest to participate in the available opportunity set we are accessing in the non-sponsored, lower middle market,” said Paul Lisiak, Metropolitan’s Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer. “The successful outcomes that we are able to generate from ‘below the radar’ opportunities are indicative of borrowers at this level continuing to be underserviced, particularly in this volatile market environment. Metropolitan serves as a much-needed capital solution to help innovative companies achieve the next level of their company success.”

“We are very pleased with Fund VII’s success and the inherent support it represents of our process, team and institutional infrastructure,” commented Alice Wang, Metropolitan’s Chief Operating Officer. “The team at Metropolitan is constantly challenging ourselves to be better, and we sincerely appreciate the support and confidence of our Limited Partners, both old and new.”

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About Metropolitan Partners Group:

Metropolitan Partners Group is a private investment firm that provides debt capital to small & mid-sized non-sponsored businesses in the U.S., unconstrained by industry or financing asset. Metropolitan works directly with management teams to grow their companies and build lasting value while providing downside protection to its investors and supporting our borrowers with tailored capital solutions.

For Investor & Media Inquiries:
Oliver Escardo
IR@metpg.com

Metropolitan Partners Group

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Project: Bright

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Case Study

Project: Bright
Substance abuse treatment centers platform roll-up

COMPANY AND SITUATION OVERVIEW

Bright is an addiction treatment center business that offers both inpatient and outpatient substance abuse care and mental health treatment services across the U.S.. In addition to its core treatment center business, Bright also acquires one-off vacant or distressed real estate that can be purchased at replacement cost and signed with Bright under long-term leases; Bright monetizes its credit worthiness as an improved tenet which is attractive to REIT buyers.

WHY METROPOLITAN?

Bright sought non-dilutive growth capital to fund its acquisition pipeline and continue to scale its business. Additionally, Metropolitan was able to leverage its strong relationship with Bright and understanding of the business fundamentals to create a sidecar to pursue one-off real estate transactions.

CEO TESTIMONIAL

“Having a capital provider that can zig and zag with you is so important and that’s what you will find with Metropolitan.”

Project: Soundtrack

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Case Study

Project: Soundtrack
Aggregator of music royalty streams from compositions used in film & TV productions

COMPANY AND SITUATION OVERVIEW

Soundtrack is a newly-created platform launched by two industry veterans with 25+ years of experience each in music publishing and administration. Soundtrack was launched to acquire music royalty streams from recordings and compositions used in feature film and TV productions, specifically seasoned assets with predictable cash flows and minimal decay. The company had a strong pipeline and several acquisitions ready to close but lacked the financing to do so.

WHY METROPOLITAN?

Metropolitan was able to understand the value of aggregating non-vocal music royalty streams, which are often overlooked by investors in the space. Metropolitan’s facility enabled the company to execute on its pipeline while also minimizing dilution.

CEO TESTIMONIAL

“We selected Metropolitan as our feeling was Metropolitan understood us and what we were trying to achieve. We were always very impressed with the quality of questions coming from Metropolitan – things that really mattered which was very different from other potential investors.”

Project: Global

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Case Study

Project: Global
Provider of canine explosives detection services to the air cargo industry

COMPANY AND SITUATION OVERVIEW

Global is the largest provider of canine explosives detection services to the air cargo industry. The company sought capital to scale its business to meet increased demand due to a requirement starting in June 2021 for all cargo on passenger aircraft to be screened for explosive devices with canines alongside freighter aircraft. Metropolitan provided the working capital required to meet the significant demand in the industry and refinance other existing liabilities.

WHY METROPOLITAN?

Due to the government shut down in late 2018/early 2019, many of the contracts Global had been awarded were significantly delayed. The company had been surviving from expensive, short-term capital, sourced by the Owner and Founder. Metropolitan was able to value Global’s multi-year contracts to structure a debt investment that would be significantly less dilutive than other capital providers.

CEO TESTIMONIAL

“Metropolitan was like night and day compared to our previous lender; empathetic, collaborative and creative, the Metropolitan team really understood the opportunity in front of us and created a customized capital solution which allowed us to focus and execute on it, something that other capital providers did not seem interested in at all.”

Project: Terminal MBE

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Case Study

Project: Terminal MBE
Professional engineering and project manager servicing airports and transportation agencies

COMPANY AND SITUATION OVERVIEW

Terminal MBE is a leading provider of professional engineering, project and construction management, facility management and IT consulting services to airports and transportation agencies, as well as other infrastructure, government, and private sector clients. The company has a nationwide footprint that is supported by 14 regional offices and ~200 employees. A family-owned company, Terminal MBE agreed to sell a majority equity stake to a sponsor due to personal events unrelated to the business. The sponsor believes that the total consideration, coupled with the likely event of Terminal MBE being awarded additional contracts, makes it an attractive purchase.

WHY METROPOLITAN?

Metropolitan was able to close the transaction quickly before new contracts to Terminal MBE were awarded, potentially increasing the purchase price. Additionally, Metropolitan’s funding structure ensured that the sponsor could maintain the MBE status of the company, which is highly coveted given its access to government contracts and other economic advantages.

CEO TESTIMONIAL

“Metropolitan was incredible to deal with. Super easy. Metropolitan was so creative in figuring out the issues and never re-traded.”

Project: Spirit

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Case Study

Project: Spirit
Company that purchases, ages and sells young-aged bourbon and rye barrels in KY & IN

COMPANY AND SITUATION OVERVIEW

Spirit strategically buys, stores, ages, and sells barrels of American whiskey. Spirit’s management team has successfully grown a craft whiskey brand and has an extensive network of both producers and buyers of whiskey barrels. The company had forward purchase agreements to acquire a significant amount of new fill barrels from independent distillers but lacked the financing to do so.

WHY METROPOLITAN?

Metropolitan was able to understand the dynamic supply/demand of this esoteric asset, which was too complex for traditional sources of financing. Metropolitan structured a multi-draw loan to allow Spirit to execute on these purchases and sell the barrels strategically.

CEO TESTIMONIAL

“Prior to diligence, the team prepared me for a process which was ‘get to YES’ versus the usual ‘get past NO’ – and they delivered. Metropolitan made the upfront effort to understand the inner workings of our business opportunity; this enabled us to take advantage of dynamic market dislocations in the early parts of COVID.”

Project: MSP

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Case Study

Project: MSP
Roll up of IT-managed service providers serving small to mid-sized businesses

COMPANY AND SITUATION OVERVIEW

MSP is a buy-and-build roll up of IT-managed service providers serving small to mid-sized businesses with 20 to 1,000 employees. MSP sought capital to acquire a full suite of service offerings and implement proven sales, marketing and operational strategies to accelerate growth and profitability after 20 acquisitions. MSP was under LOI to purchase the platform and had over 100 potential acquisition targets in its pipeline but lacked the financing to execute their business plan.

WHY METROPOLITAN?

By using the run-off value of its existing customer base, Metropolitan was able to create a borrowing base structure that included a flexible approach for MSP to acquire targets. Metropolitan’s creative structuring was a value-add for MSP as the company saw it as a competitive advantage for its acquisition strategy.

CEO TESTIMONIAL

“We selected Metropolitan because their entrepreneurial mindset was in total alignment with ours and because of the expediency with which Metropolitan could move.”

Sohini Roy

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Our Team

Sohini Roy

Senior Advisor

Sohini Roy is a CFO, trusted advisor and Independent Director with strategic leadership experience in asset management, financial services, fintech and healthcare industries. She has a unique combination of entrepreneurial and in-house firm experience, which has helped her scale and institutionalize companies. As Chief Accounting Officer at Bridgewater Associates, Sohini scaled the finance department to 50 people to support both rapid AUM and employee growth, by reimagining how the team was designed and technology was deployed. Sohini received a B.A. in Accounting from Franklin & Marshall College and an M.B.A. from NYU.

Arvind Krishnamurthy

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Our Team

Arvind Krishnamurthy

Senior Advisor

Arvind Krishnamurthy is a Senior Advisor at Metropolitan. Prior to joining Metropolitan, Arvind was a Principal with Paragon Outcomes, a private investment firm focused on real asset and credit-oriented investments. Prior to that, Arvind was a Principal and founding team member of CAM Capital, where he led the firm’s private investments, and was a middle-market private equity investor with Greenbriar Equity Group and Veritas Capital. Arvind began his career as an investment banking analyst at Goldman Sachs and a private equity analyst at Bain Capital. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a B.A. in Social Studies and received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Previously, Arvind was a board member of Ardmore Shipping, Infinity SDC and Interbarge.

John Ioannou

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Our Team

John Ioannou

Senior Advisor

John Ioannou is a Senior Advisor to Metropolitan, where he focuses on managing the firm’s Operating Expert network, as well as talent acquisition. John has held leadership, turnaround, governance or advisory roles in 28 companies across 13 different industries and has built and run several startup software and services companies. He also spent 14 years at IBM where he held leadership positions and was responsible for managing $1 billion in credit facilities and customer receivables. John is a summa cum laude graduate of St. Peter’s College with a B.S. in Management.