Irving Place Capital, formerly known as Bear Stearns Merchant Banking (BSMB), is an American

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...

firm focused on

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is one company's acquisition of another company using a significant amount of borrowed money ( leverage) to meet the cost of acquisition. The assets of the company being acquired are often used as collateral for the loa ...

and

growth capital Growth capital (also called expansion capital and growth equity) is a type of private equity investment, usually a minority investment, in relatively mature companies that are looking for capital to expand or restructure operations, enter new mark ...

investments in

middle-market companies Authorities provide differing definitions of the middle-market or mid-market companies. While some authorities look to revenue generated by companies to define the middle market, other sources regard either asset size or number of employees as a be ...

in the industrial, packaging, consumer and retail industries. Based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, it has total committed capital across its funds of $5.9 billion. The firm's predecessor Bear Stearns Merchant Banking was founded in 1997 by John D. Howard, formerly a co-founder of Vestar Capital Partners. The group completed its separation from

Bear Stearns The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was a New York-based global investment bank, securities trading and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 as part of the global financial crisis and recession, and was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chase. The comp ...

' owner

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the ...

in 2008.

Investments

Since inception, Irving Place Capital and its predecessor, Bear Stearns Merchant Banking has made a number of investments in notable companies in the

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

consumer products A final good or consumer good is a final product ready for sale that is used by the consumer to satisfy current wants or needs, unlike a intermediate good, which is used to produce other goods. A microwave oven or a bicycle is a final good, but t ...

, healthcare,

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...

, financial and business services, packaging and industrial sectors. Among the firm's most notable investments are the following (separated by the private equity fund from which the investment was made: *Fund I - Aéropostale, Integrated Circuit Systems (),

NRT Incorporated Anywhere Advisors (formerly Realogy Brokerage Group, NRT, or National Realty Trust) is a residential real estate brokerage company in the United States of America. A subsidiary of Anywhere Real Estate, Inc. (formerly Realogy Holdings Corp.), it ...

, Safety 1st (), Standard Hotel *Fund II - CamelBak Group, Multi-Packaging Solutions,

New York & Company New York & Company, Inc. (NY&C) is an American workwear retailer for women. New York & Company apparel and accessories are sold through a nationwide network of retail stores, and through its e-commerce site. New York & Company was founded ...

Reddy Ice Reddy Ice Holdings, Inc. is the largest packaged ice manufacturer in the United States, serving approximately 82,000 customer locations under the Reddy Ice brand name. It was originally a division of the Southland Corporation (the parent company ...

, Seven for All Mankind (jeans), Stuart Weitzman and

Vitamin Shoppe The Vitamin Shoppe (formerly Vitamin Shoppe Industries, Inc., stylized as theVitaminShoppe) is an American, New Jersey-based retailer of nutritional supplements. It also operated three stores in Canada under the name VitaPath from January 2013 ...

. *Fund III - Aearo Technologies, Cabi, Caribbean Financial Group, Chesapeake Packaging Chromalox, Ironshore, Mold-Rite Plastics, Pet Supplies Plus, PlayCore, Rag & Bone, Universal Hospital Services, and Victor Technologies. *Fund III SPV - Dynojet Research, and Ohio Transmission Corporation.

History

1997 - 2008

In 1997, John D. Howard was hired by

to launch a new

and

merchant banking A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in commod ...

effort for the investment bank. Prior to joining Bear Stearns, Howard had been senior vice president of Wesray Capital Corporation and later co-founded Vestar Capital Partners in 1988. In 1998, Bear Stearns Merchant Banking raised its first fund with $200 million of investor commitments. In 2001, Bear Stearns Merchant Banking completed fundraising for its second fund with $1.5 billion of investor commitments including a $500 million commitment from Bear Stearns. In 2006, Bear Stearns Merchant Banking raised its third fund with $2.7 billion of investor commitments.

Spinout Into Independent Firm

Through the intervention of the

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

and other US Government agencies, Bear Stearns agreed to a sale of the company to

on March 24, 2008, which was completed on May 30, 2008. Following the closing of this transaction, Bear Stearns Merchant Banking became a part of

. On November 1, 2008, Bear Stearns Merchant Banking completed a

spin out Spinout or Spin Out may refer to: *Corporate spin-off, also known as a spin-out, a type of corporate action where a company turns a portion of itself into a separate business *Spinout (driving), failure when braking Entertainment * ''Spinout (fil ...

from JPMorgan Chase to become Irving Place Capital.BSMB is Now Irving Place
Private Equity Professional Digest, October 29, 2008 As an independent firm, Irving Place Capital began focusing on its core strengths in industrial, packaging, consumer, and retail businesses, completing seven additional investments in those verticals for its third fund, and also making several exits. In 2014, with several of the third fund's investments needing extra time, Irving Place Capital sought a mechanism to provide liquidity to those limited partners in its third fund desiring it, while also providing those limited partners interested in participating in future value to do so. As a result, in July 2015, Irving Place Capital closed on a new vehicle, Irving Place Capital Partners III SPV, LP, with $1.5 billion in capital commitments. During the same period, Phil Carpenter joined John Howard in managing the firm as Co-Managing Partners.

2015-Present

Since the closing of the new fund, Irving Place Capital has purchased three additional portfolio companies
Ohio Transmission Corporation
a technical distributor of industrial products and provider of related services
Dynojet Research
a manufacturer of aftermarket performance-enhancing parts and accessories as well as diagnostic equipment for powersports vehicles, an
Coker Tire
a manufacturer of vintage-style tires for collector automobiles. In addition, it has made several add-on acquisitions to its portfolio companies, including add-on acquisitions for Alpha Packaging, Ohio Transmission, Pet Supplies Plus, and Universal Hospital Services. The firm has also exited several portfolio companies during this period. In March 2017, the firm sold its investment in Cabi Holdings, a direct seller of women's apparel in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom to Sentinel Capital Partners. In March 2017, it announced its sale of National Surgical Hospitals to Surgery Partners, a transaction which closed in August of that year. In May 2017, it agreed to sell Chromalox, a thermal technology company, to Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc, a transaction which closed in July of that year.

References

External links

* {{Merchant banking private equity groups Investment banking private equity groups Investment companies based in New York City Private equity firms of the United States Companies based in Manhattan Privately held companies based in New York City JPMorgan Chase Bear Stearns Financial services companies established in 1997 1997 establishments in New York City American companies established in 1997