Tree Line Capital Partners and CVC Credit Partners have provided an increase to their existing credit facility to Ingenio, a portfolio company of Alpine Investors.
With the new increase, used to support an add-on acquisition which closed in August, the Tree Line /CVC Credit facility with Ingenio now totals $127 million. Tree Line was the Administrative Agent and Lead Arranger on the transaction.
Ingenio is an online platform that connects advice-seekers with coaches and advisors. Since founding, the Ingenio platform has enabled over 40 million phone, chat, and web-based personal advice conversations.
The company’s brands include Keen.com (personal advice); PsychicCenter.com (a community of astrologers, tarot readers, and clairvoyants); LiveAdvice.com (life-coaching, relationship coaching, and career advice); Ether.com (provides phone and email monetization tools to advice providers); Horoscope.com, Astrology.com, Horoscopo.com and AstroCenter.com (free horoscopes, paid astrological reports, games, and content).
Ingenio was founded in 1999 and was acquired by AT&T in 2007. It was acquired by Alpine from AT&T in May 2013, and in July 2015 Ingenio completed the add-on acquisition of Horoscope.com. The company, led by CEO Warren Heffelfinger, is headquartered in San Francisco.
“We have enjoyed building a lasting relationship with the Tree Line and CVC Credit teams across several transactions,” said Mr. Heffelfinger. “They have reliably answered the call when it has come to additional capacity for add-on acquisitions coupled with a creative approach to tailoring debt structures to a transaction’s requirements.”
“We have been extremely pleased with Ingenio’s strong performance and the long-term partnership we’ve built since 2015,” said Frank Cupido, a partner at Tree Line. “Our relationship with Ingenio is a great example of our ability to grow with a borrower from initial platform acquisition through various stages of growth and capital needs, including acquisitions, recapitalizations and other flexible financings. Warren and the team have built a best-in-class organization and we look forward to working with them in the years ahead.”
Tree Line provides first lien term loans, unitranche term loans, and equity co-investments to North America-based lower middle market companies that have EBITDA from $3 million to $30 million and transaction sizes up to $150 million. The firm has extensive direct lending experience – it has completed more than 110 transactions – across multiple economic cycles and has generated significant repeat investment opportunities from private equity sponsors. Tree Line is headquartered in San Francisco with additional offices in New York City, Los Angeles, and Austin.
CVC Credit Partners, the credit strategy arm of private equity firm CVC, invests in senior secured loans to middle-market companies that have EBITDA from $10 million to $40 million. The credit group has offices in New York City and London and manages $26 billion of assets.
San Francisco-based Alpine invests in control buyouts, majority recapitalizations, and corporate carve-outs of recurring revenue software and services businesses, with enterprise values from $5 million to $400 million and EBITDA of $1 million to $40 million. In November 2019, the firm held a hard cap close of Alpine Investors VII LP with $1 billion in limited partner capital commitments. The new fund was oversubscribed and handily beat its original target of $750 million.
Private Equity Professional | October 2, 2020
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