Blue Sage Capital rounded out a productive and rewarding year.
Blue Sage Capital II
In July, we completed the purchase of Marine Accessories Corporation (“MAC”). Located in Knoxville, TN, MAC is the leading designer and manufacturer of wakeboard towers, bimini tops, custom boat covers and related accessories sold to OEMs, dealers and direct to consumers.
In August, we partnered with management to complete the recapitalization of this Hot Springs, AR manufacturer of timber automation equipment. Owned and operated by a team that has worked together for over three decades, Baxley-LogPro manufactures equipment that facilitates the efficient flow of timber in sawmills: scanners, sorters, stackers, edgers, and trimmers, as well as log cranes and de-barkers that are used in the woodyards of saw, paper, and pellet mills.
Blue Sage Capital I
With ten full years elapsed, Fund I is nearing its final wind down. During 2015, we successfully exited two investments from this 2004 vintage fund. In June, we sold Gatti’s Pizza to Sovrano, Inc. In July, we sold Parker School Uniforms to an investor group comprised of Salem Investment Partners, Plexus Capital, and Argosy Investment Partners.
We have now exited eleven of the thirteen investments from our inaugural fund, returning nearly four times invested capital to our private capital Limited Partners. We are grateful to our operating partners, trusted advisors, key intermediaries and gifted service providers who helped us create this value in a wildly disparate economic environment; from formation and fundraising amidst the uncertainty and chaos created by the events of September 11, 2001, through an investment period characterized by a proliferation of new funds and additional liquidity, to a harvest period in which the economy experienced a systemic failure and endured a global recession.
