Prairie Capital's fourth fund partnered with Daniel Oswald to form Fortis Business Media LLC, providing $15 million in preferred and common equity to support Fortis's initial acquisition of M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC. Based in Brentwood, Tennessee, Fortis was established to acquire specialty information publishing businesses, and plans to leverage M. Lee Smith's customer base and product offerings to grow as a business-to-business information company.
Prairie Capital IV provided $18.5 million in preferred and common equity and senior subordinated notes to support the buyout of Pioneer Metal Finishing by its CEO, Robert Pyle, and other managers. Based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and operating four plants in the U.S., Pioneer is a leading metals finisher, specializing in anodizing aluminum and electroless nickel plating of ferrous and non-ferrous metals.
Prairie Capital provided $13.9 million in preferred and common equity to support the management team's acquisition of Navman Wireless from its publicly traded parent, Brunswick Corporation (NYSE: BC). Based in Auckland, New Zealand, Navman provides GPS-enabled fleet tracking solutions to small and mid-sized enterprises and customized GPS technologies to original equipment manufacturers.
Prairie Capital IV, L.P. has invested in Titanium Solutions, a mortgage services company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Titanium provides loss mitigation and home preservation services for mortgage servicers nationwide, using a network of consultants and brokers to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.
Prairie Capital IV, L.P., provided $12.7 million in preferred and common equity to support management's acquisition of Chicago Deferred Exchange Company—a leading Qualified Intermediary for investors. Founded in 1989, CDEC is based in Chicago. Prairie Capital partnered with Financial Investments Corp., U.S. Ameribank, and management on this transaction.
Prairie Capital IV, L.P., provided $13.5 million in preferred and common equity to support the formation of EIC Holding, Inc., and its acquisition of the Saba University School of Medicine and the Medical University of the Americas, two leading for-profit universities that award four-year graduate degrees in Doctors of Medicine. Prairie Capital partnered with Equinox Capital to acquire the two universities.
Prairie's fourth fund, Prairie Capital IV, L.P., announced its acquisition of Administar Services Group, a provider of administrative services related to the efficient management of bankruptcy, class-action, mass tort, and government settlement processes. Prairie Capital partnered with David Leininger, Administar's founder and CEO, and Cheesman & Company in the transaction.
Prairie Capital has officially closed its fourth fund with $250 million of capital, consisting of $200 million of investor commitments and a $50 million committed bank facility. Prairie will continue its strategy of investing in change of ownership transactions at the lower end of the middle market, and intends to make control equity and subordinated debt investments in increments of $5 million to $15 million. Capital for our fourth fund was provided by high-net-worth individuals, bank groups, and strategic investors—a substantially high percentage of whom were investors in one or more of our previous funds.
