Kensington invests in White Swan, Providence and Trivest funds

Kensington Private Equity Fund, managed by Kensington Capital Partners, has made three new investments. The fund invested in White Swan Environmental Ltd, a Calgary-based provider of oilfield waste management services in Alberta. No financial terms were released. The Kensington fund also made undisclosed commitments to the second fund of Providence Strategic Growth, an affiliate of U.S. private equity firm Providence Equity Partners, and Trivest Growth Investment Fund, the eleventh fund of U.S. private equity firm Trivest Partners. The latter closed at US$225 million in July. Toronto-based Kensington is an alternative assets investor.

PRESS RELEASE

Kensington Private Equity Fund Closes Three New Investments

July 27, 2016

Kensington Capital Partners is pleased to announce three new investments by the Kensington Private Equity Fund:

White Swan Environmental Ltd

On June 30, 2016 Kensington Private Equity Fund (“KPEF”) completed an investment in White Swan Environmental Ltd (“WSE”), a privately held oilfield waste services company. Based in Northern Alberta, WSE’s disposal facilities are positioned to service the growing demand for disposal sites in the Athabasca oil sands region.

WSE was identified as an attractive investment for KPEF as a result of their advantageous facility locations, regional demand, first-class facility build quality and strong management team.

WSE facilities offer a distinct economic advantage to their clients resulting from their closer proximity to the current waste production sites in the region. Currently WSE is closest available offsite disposal option for most producers by over ~100km and the surrounding geology in the area assists in solidifying this advantage for the indefinite future. This proximity advantage creates an instant cost savings to producers who are charged hundreds of dollars per hour by transportation companies to move their waste to approved offsite facilities. Since commissioning their initial facility WSE has already received strong interest from major producers and continue to see increasing facility utilization.

In addition to the proximity of their locations in the Athabasca region, the province of Alberta has also placed increased scrutiny on the use of tailing ponds (the prior popular alternative to using waste facility sites). The increased scrutiny and regulation in Alberta has resulted in a surge in demand for 3rd party waste facilities. Both proximity and increased demand serve to benefit WSE which currently has one operational facility, and is in the midst of completing their second.

Kensington is excited to work with the WSE team who has substantial experience in oilfield waste management. WSE will be management’s fifth oilfield waste services project, with all four prior projects completing successfully exits through sales to strategic buyers.

Providence Strategic Growth Fund II

Providence Strategic Growth (“PSG”) was formed to make private equity investments in growth-oriented lower middle market companies, primarily in the United States, across technology-enabled services in the information, education and communication sectors.

As technology continues to disrupt large segments of the economy, traditional industries are being reshaped by new services that are smarter, faster and cheaper, creating a significant amount of opportunities to pursue. With their experience and track record, Kensington believes the PSG team is well-positioned to provide transformational capital to lower middle market growth companies in their target sectors.

To learn more about Providence Equity and the PSG team, please visit their website: http://www.provequity.com.

Trivest Growth Investment Fund

Trivest Growth Investment Fund, (“TGIF”) was formed to generate significant capital appreciation from growth and non-control, private equity investments in Founder/Family-owned businesses in the lower middle market. The Fund will be the eleventh private equity fund managed and invested by Trivest, the Firm’s sixth institutional fund, the fourth fund focused on Founder/Family-owned investments and the Firm’s first fund focused on growth and non-control investments.

TGIF will leverage the same competitive advantages and capabilities that the Firm believes have led to the successful performance of its current funds to capitalize on the deal flow for growth and non-control investments already being generated from the same 10,000 business owners, deal generators and intermediaries throughout North America from which Trivest sources its control investments. Trivest believes there is an attractive opportunity to make growth and non-control investments in its targeted sector of Founder/Family-owned businesses. This belief is based on the large number of Founder/Family-owned companies, the excellent risk/return and competitive dynamics of growth investments and consistent value creation opportunities at these companies.

Approximately 90% of businesses in North America are Founder/Family-owned. Trivest is a leader in this sector. Many of these companies are looking for capital and partners to optimize the value of their companies without relinquishing control. Importantly, there are limited providers of value added solutions for owners wishing to retain control. Despite the large number of Family/Founder-owned businesses and what Trivest believes to be an appreciable percentage of those that would embrace growth and non-control capital, there is much less fund capital targeting growth investments than buyout investments.

On July 5, 2016 the firm announced a close of $225(USD) for TGIF. Trivest had initially sought to raise $100M(USD), but given strong investor demand closed substantially above their initial target.

To learn more about Trivest and TGIF, please visit their website: http://www.trivest.com.

Photo courtesy of White Swan Environmental Ltd