Auxo wraps up inaugural fund at $50 mln

Auxo Investment Partners has closed its debut fund at $50 million. The backers of Auxo Growth Holdings I include family offices and institutional investors. The Grand Rapids, Michigan-based investment firm seeks to invest in North America-based manufacturing, industrial, value-added distribution or business-services companies that have an EBITDA between $1.5 and $15 million.

PRESS RELEASE

September 4, 2018 (Grand Rapids, Mich.) – Auxo Investment Partners, a Michigan-based private equity firm, today announced the final closing of its first investment fund, Auxo Growth Holdings I LLC. The firm raised $50 million in committed capital from prominent family offices and institutional investors.

Reaching the hard cap is an important milestone for Auxo, which was founded in late 2016 by three veteran investors and operators: Jeff Helminski, Jack Kolodny and Fred Tedori. Combined with direct co-investment from family offices and modest leverage, the inaugural fund will deploy approximately $150 million of equity in 10 to 15 companies over the next three years – and has already invested over $30 million of equity in four acquisitions, including an industry-leading cutting die-manufacturing platform and a niche maritime transportation platform.

Auxo Growth Holdings I is guided by the firm’s strategy of partnering with owners and management teams of companies at transition points, including owner-operators seeking retirement, entities seeking family succession planning solutions and leadership teams seeking capital for growth. Auxo focuses on North America-based companies in the manufacturing, industrial, value-added distribution and business services industries with EBITDA (cash flow) of $1.5-$15 million.

“We’ve established tremendous momentum since we launched – and we’re very proud to have strategically attracted value-added investment partners who share our vision of investing in companies for the long term,” said Jeff Helminski, managing partner of Auxo Investment Partners. “We’ve been able to build strong relationships with substantial and active family offices who created their wealth in the industries we’re looking to invest in, which offers immense benefits both to Auxo and our portfolio companies. Our unique approach has become a true differentiator in the market for attracting capital and in being selected as the successors to family-owned businesses. We believe there is no private equity firm like it anywhere.”

Unique Alignment, Total Transparency
Under Auxo’s model, investors, or Founding Partners, invest not only in its portfolio companies, but also in the firm itself. They participate in all economic benefits generated by Auxo, including carried interest and fees, with a priority position ahead of the Management Partners. That ownership structure, along with a heightened commitment to partnership and transparency, provides unprecedented alignment of interests between investors and managers.

“We view ourselves not just as investors but as stewards — of our investors’ capital and of the legacies of our portfolio companies and their owners,” said Jack Kolodny, managing partner of Auxo. “Auxo’s unique capital structure provides the flexibility we need to make decisions based on what’s best for all of our stakeholders in the long-term.”

Since its October 2016 founding, Auxo has acquired four companies through its initial fund and direct co-investment. Through these efforts, the fund has developed a platform of industry-leading cutting die manufacturers:

Bernal Rotary Dies produces complex solid Rotary Pressure dies, crush cut dies and state-of-the-art, high-volume rotary converting systems for medical products, battery and energy storage, abrasives, folding carton, automotive, food processing, aseptic and liquid packaging, general consumer products and general converting.

Midway Rotary Die Solutions designs, manufactures and sharpens crush cut rotary dies for customers in the automotive, packaging, medical, food processing, tag-and-label, specialty and photo-cutting industries.

Atlas Chem-Milling produces both narrow and wide flexible rotary dies to meet the cutting needs of markets requiring intricate, precise cutting such as greeting cards, lottery and gaming tickets and folding cartons.

Atlas Die develops high performance steel rule dies for complex cutting needs in the consumer products, packaging, food and beverage, medical and pharmaceutical industries.

Auxo also purchased M/G Transport Services, a leading inland barge transportation and logistics company that carries more than 5 million tons of non-hazardous dry bulk cargo each year.

A Long-Term, Collaborative Approach
Helminski, Kolodny and Tedori founded Auxo with an investor-centric business model and a commitment to integrating environmental, social and governance concerns (ESG) into their investment practices. Auxo was named after the ancient Greek goddess of growth and the firm seeks to partner with companies that meet the following investment criteria:

North America-based Manufacturing, industrial, value-added distribution or business-services industries
EBITDA (cash flow) of $1.5-$15 million

Owner-operators seeking retirement or family succession planning solutions; or teams seeking capital to grow their businesses

Prefer majority-control investments but will consider select minority-partner opportunities
Auxo’s flexible capital model allows for long-term, growth-oriented decision making without artificial deadlines. The structure was specifically designed for family businesses facing a generational hand-off or seeking outside capital or partners to fuel growth.

About Auxo Investment Partners
Auxo Investment Partners is a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based private investment firm that partners with owners and management teams of companies at transition points in their history. Auxo works to instill the infrastructure, processes and talent needed to help them grow to their full potential with a long- term investment approach. Auxo’s unique philosophy aligns the interests of its companies, their employees, the communities in which they are located and its investors to achieve optimal outcomes for all. As our name reflects, we are not merely investors, but partners. For more information, please visit www.auxopartners.com