Riverside Co spinout Align Capital eyes $250 mln for debut fund

Three longtime Riverside Co buyout executives teamed up to form Align Capital Partners with a fundraising target of $250 million to $300 million for their debut pool, according to sources.

Lower-middle-market-deal veterans Stephen Dyke, Christopher Jones and Robert Langley moved over from the Riverside Capital Appreciation Fund team to launch Align, with offices in Cleveland and Dallas, earlier this year.

A spokesman for Align declined to comment.

Dyke, Jones and Langley are all listed on Align Capital’s website as managing partners.

Dyke joined Riverside Co in 2000 and worked on a total of 33 acquisitions and exits at Riverside Capital Appreciation Fund, a fund family dedicated to investments in lower-middle-market companies with less than $25 million of EBITDA. He was named partner in 2006.

Jones worked at Riverside for 13 years and was named partner in 2011 (at 34 he was one of the youngest partners in the firm’s history).

Langley also worked on Riverside Capital Appreciation Fund and spent six years at the firm prior to co-founding Align.

The firm also lists a fourth key executive, Jack Parks, vice president, who previously worked at Halifax Group.

Align Capital targets companies with $3 million to $10 million of EBITDA in specialty manufacturing, distribution and business services in several sectors, the website says.

Riverside Co spokesman Graham Hearns confirmed the departure of the executives and said they worked to ensure a smooth transition.

“You never want to see good people leave your team, but what we’ve built up over three decades is bigger than any one person or any one group of people leaving,” Hearns said.

Riverside Co plans to announce a new partner in September from outside the firm for the Riverside Capital Appreciation Fund team, he said. The departure of the trio has also created opportunities for current team members to be promoted, he said.

While Riverside Co has no plans to invest in Align Capital funds, Hearns wouldn’t rule out the possibility of the two firms working together in some way.

“We interact regularly with them,” Hearns said. “I don’t anticipate that changing.”

Riverside Capital Appreciation Fund VI closed in January 2014 with $1.5 billion in commitments, 50 percent ahead of its $1 billion target.

Action Item: Contact Align Capital: http://aligncp.com/

Photo courtesy of ©iStock/Arpad Benedek