CFW-BoxtonShop.reprint
10/12/07
9:51 AM
Page 1
AUGUST 27, 2007
VOL. XXXIII, NO. 34
Boston Shop Lands Boat Maker After Sitting
Out Previous Sale
Charlesbank Capital Partners recently acquired
MasterCraft after sitting out a previous auction for the
powerboat maker in 2004. The Boston-based private
equity firm teamed up last week with Transportation
Resource Partners, another private equity firm, to
acquire the Vonore, Tenn.-based company from U.S.
Equity Partners, the buyout fund of Wasserstein & Co.
Andrew Janower
Terms of the deal, expected to close in the fourth
quarter, were not released.
At the time of its sale to Wasserstein, MasterCraft was still too small of
a target for Charlesbank, a firm which typically invests $25 million to
$100 million in deals, said Andrew Janower, managing director.
Charlesbank and TRP, which have teamed up for previous deals, followed
the company’s expansion and in early May joined forces when they heard
Lazard was selling it, according to Janower and Jim Hislop, managing
director at TRP. The firms own an equal stake.
Having financing commitments lined up from Jefferies was critical in
winning the deal in the current turbulent debt market, Janower said. He
admitted the financing is not as favorable as it would have been just
weeks ago. He said the firms will put just shy of five times debt to
EBITDA on MasterCraft, but declined to discuss the financing further.
“It’s certainly safe to say that six weeks ago we would have expected a
much better financing package,” he said. “It’s a whole new world today.”
Hislop said the firms will expand MasterCraft’s base business and
survey potential acquisitions. Both firms stand ready to inject more
capital if need be.
Reprinted with permission of Corporate Financing Week