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Avante Capital Partners – 2022 Year In Review
Though 2022 was a tumultuous year for the credit markets overall, we had much to celebrate this year at Avante. We officially closed on our $450 million Fund III, invested in 3 new platforms, funded add-ons for 3 existing portfolio companies, and had 2 realizations. In addition, we added 3 new members to our growing team and saw many friendly faces in September at our first in-person annual meeting since 2019.
This year, we continued our mission to create opportunities for others and promote diversity and inclusion across our industry. As one of the largest women and minority-owned credit funds, we are proud to lead numerous diversity initiatives including our newly launched Women’s Operating Network (“WON”) and internship programs. If you are interested in learning more or want to collaborate, please reach out to our new COO Susan Black-Beth at susan@avantecap.com.
Thank you to all of our partners, investors, supporters and friends for your continued support. We look forward to working with you in 2023 and wish you health and happiness in this new year!
2022 TEAM PROMOTIONS & ADDITIONS
2022 PORTFOLIO ACTIVITY
New Platforms
Bloom Health Centers (March 2022)
Unitranche Debt & Equity / New Harbor Capital
Leading mental health provider offering comprehensive suite of inpatient and outpatient mental health services, including medication management, psychotherapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and
Spravato.
Radon (September 2022)
Unitranche Debt & Equity / 5th Century Partners
Radon is a leading independent service organization (“ISO”) that services, assembles, repairs, sells, and distributes medical imaging devices, such as MRI, PT / CT, X-ray equipment, among others.
e.Republic (December 2022)
Unitranche Debt & Equity / Leeds Equity Partners
e.Republic is a B2B media platform that connects technology and business services companies with U.S. state and local government agencies.
In addition to the above activity, we supported add-on acquisitions for our existing portfolio companies Radon (Premier), CRI (Crown) and Blueprint Test Prep (Sarah Michelle NP Review).
Exits
Power Digital Marketing (March 2022)
Power Digital Marketing is a full-service, technology enabled digital advertising agency specializing in customized digital marketing strategies for each client to maximiz ROI on critical digital marketing campaigns.
DSG (April 2022)
DSG is a provider of outsourced sales transformation, training, and enablement services to a diverse base of Fortune 1000 companies.
2022 AWARDS, FEATURES & MENTIONS
March 2022: Jeri Harman and Ivelisse Rodriguez Simon were both recognized by the National Association of Investment Companies (“NAIC”) during Women’s History Month for their exceptional leadership and contribution to NAIC and the asset management industry as a whole. Jeri and Ivelisse are both NAIC Women in Alternatives Advisory Committee Members.
March 2022: Jeri was recognized by the American Investment Council (“AIC”) for International Women’s Day for her role in building better businesses and supporting female entrepreneurs across the country.
March 2022: Jeri and Ivelisse were named in the L.A. Times Banking + Finance Visionaries List.
April 2022: Jeri was featured as a guest speaker on Episode 9 of the Middle Market Musings podcast.
April 2022: Jeri and Ivelisse were both recognized as one of the “2022 Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A” by Mergers and Acquisitions.
May 2022: Jeri shared her advice for young professionals and college graduates on the 100th episode of the Northstar’s Private Equity Fast Pitch podcast.
May 2022: Amanda Kim was interviewed in Opus Connect’s Member Highlight.
June 2022: Nicole Vatter participated on a panel titled “Setting the Scene: What Does The New Normal Look Like?” in the 8th annual LPGP Connect Private Debt Conference.
June 2022: Jeri was selected to join the Spring 2022 cohort of the Exceptional Women Awardees Foundation (EWA).
June 2022: Jeri participated as a guest speaker in Opus Connect’s “Helping Shape the Modern M&A World” roundtable where she discussed her career journey and founding Avante.
June 2022: Avante welcomed its third cohort of interns to the Small Business Investing Scholars Program.
June 2022: Ivelisse was featured on Episode 6 of Power Digital’s Soapbox Series.
July 2022: Avante supported MidOcean Partners in their launch of the Women’s Awareness Initiative (“WAI”), a program commited to advancing gender diversity in the asset management industry.
August 2022: Avante announced its final close on its Fund III which was oversubscribed by 50% and closed with a total of $450 million of capital commitments.
September 2022: Nicole participated in a roundtable discussion at the L’Attitude 2022 conference where she discussed how Latino money managers could continue breaking through and receive institutional mandate.
September 2022: Avante cohosts “Demystifying Private Equity” alongside ParkerGale Capital, an in-person event held in Chicago and Los Angeles for undergrads, pre-MBA, and new and tenured women in the finance industry.
September 2022: The DCRO Institute featured Jeri Harman to diicuss Avante’s newly launched Women’s Operating Network (“WON”) initiative.
September 2022: Amanda was featured on the Deal Us In podcast hosted by McGuireWoods LLP where she discussed why diversity is critical to the future of investing.
September 2022: David Ng was selected to participate in the 2022-2023 cohort of Association of Asian American Investment Managers‘ (“AAAIM”) Emerging Leaders Initiative program.
October 2022: Jeri participated in Mergers & Acquisitions‘ panel discussion on key trends and best practices regarding Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
WOMEN’S NETWORK UPDATES
The Women’s Operating Network is comprised of experienced and well-respected women executives and operators across various industries. This network aims to connect our partners and portfolio companies with women for available executive and board member roles. If you have any potential candidates to refer to the program, please contact our new Manager of Community Gabriella Rodriguez at gabriella@avantecap.com.
We are constantly building a network of Women in Private Equity. If you have a resume to share, job posting, or want to be added to the distribution list, please contact Gabriella at gabriella@avantecap.com.
INVESTMENT CRITERIA
Products:
Unitranche / One-Stop Debt
Second Lien Debt
Mezzanine Debt
Minority Equity
Company Criteria:
EBITDA of $3-20MM
EBITDA Margins > 10%
Defensible Market Niche or Competitive Advantage
Stable and Diverse Customer Base
Consistent Historical Financial Performance
Headquartered in the United States
Financing Focus:
Sponsored
Invest $5-45MM per Investment (Up to $100MM for Synthetic Unitranche)
Transaction Types:
Buyouts
Growth Capital
Acquisitions
Leveraged Recapitalizations
Refinancings
Target Industries:
Healthcare
Business Services
Education
Software
Niche Manufacturing
ABOUT AVANTE
Avante Capital Partners is a 100% women and diverse owned private credit and structured equity fund. Avante’s guiding “North Star” is to responsibly and relentlessly deploy the capital we have been entrusted with by achieving strong risk-adjusted returns for our partners. Avante invests in the form of unitranche debt, mezzanine debt and minority equity in high-quality, lower middle market businesses generating at least $3 million in cash flow.