NORTH WALES, Pa., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- LLR Partners Inc. ("LLR") and Greenhill Capital Partners, LLC ("Greenhill Capital") announced today the completion of a $56.2 million recapitalization of First Equity Card Corporation ("First Equity" or "the Company"), a credit card issuer focused exclusively on the small business market. Citigroup Global Markets Realty Corp. ("Citigroup") provided debt financing and participated in the equity investment. As part of the transaction, Mitchell Hollin of LLR and Kevin Bousquette of Greenhill Capital have joined the board of directors of First Equity.
First Equity markets its innovative commercial credit card specifically towards the 40 million small businesses with fewer than 10 employees, one of the most rapidly growing and profitable segments of the overall credit card industry. First Equity's products give customers a separate line of credit for their business, specialized account management reports and additional cards for employees with individualized spending limits.
"First Equity is an exciting specialty finance business that we have been closely tracking for several years," said Mitchell Hollin, Partner at LLR. "The Company has achieved tremendous growth in proving a market need for its products."
Kevin Bousquette, Managing Director at Greenhill Capital, said, "We are highly impressed with the First Equity management team and their analytical approach to running the business. We look forward to partnering with CEO Tim Clarke and his team to continue to build a major player in the commercial credit card market."
First Equity CEO and Co-Founder Tim Clarke, said, "This transaction has allowed us to provide significant liquidity to our early investors while at the same time form partnerships with three premier financial services investors in LLR, Greenhill Capital and Citigroup. The experience and talent that LLR and Greenhill bring to the First Equity board will be invaluable."
About LLR Partners Inc.
LLR is a $620 million private equity firm that provides capital to middle market growth companies with proven business models in a broad range of industries, including financial, healthcare, software and business services. LLR is flexible in its approach, investing up to $50 million, taking minority or control positions and leading transactions ranging from expansion and growth capital to recapitalizations and buyouts. LLR creates value beyond its capital contribution by partnering with existing management and providing advice and access to its extensive business network. For more information about LLR, please visit http://www.llrpartners.com/.
About Greenhill Capital Partners, LLC
Greenhill Capital manages several private equity funds with an aggregate of $1.3 billion in committed capital, focusing on the financial services, energy and telecommunications industries. Its publicly traded portfolio companies include: Global Signal Inc., Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. and Hercules Offshore, Inc. Greenhill Capital is an affiliate of Greenhill & Co., Inc. , an independent global investment banking firm with offices in New York, London, Frankfurt, Toronto and Dallas. For more information about Greenhill Capital, please visit http://www.greenhillcapitalpartners.com/.
About First Equity Card Corporation
First Equity, located in North Wales, Pa., specializes in the provision of business credit solutions, including a highly innovative credit card program designed around the needs of small businesses. First Equity seeks customer relationships with business owners directly and through partnerships with strategic intermediaries and is pursuing business with a proprietary approach known as Information Based Value Management. For more information about First Equity, please visit http://www.firstequitycard.com/.
Contact: Jeffrey Taufield
Kekst and Company
(212) 521-4815
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