European Capital Invests In Partnership With Kartesia In The EUR 27.5 Million Unitranche Financing Supporting The Acquisition Of Sausalitos By Ergon Capital Partners

ST. PETER PORT, Guernsey, Sept. 15, 2014 – European Capital Limited and its consolidated subsidiaries (“European Capital”) announced today that they invested in the EUR27.5 million unitranche financing supporting the acquisition of Sausalitos, one of the top five German leisure restaurant chains, by funds advised by Ergon Capital Partners (“Ergon”).  In this transaction, European Capital invested a total of EUR10.0 million in unitranche bonds and holds EUR2.0 million of the undrawn capex facility along with Kartesia Advisor LLP.

European Capital and Kartesia have partnered on several prior transactions, however this investment represents European Capital’s first transaction backing Ergon.

Founded in 1994, Sausalitos has grown to a nationwide chain of restaurant bars.  Sausalitos operates 22 owned locations throughout Germany offering customers an extensive, innovative cocktail menu of over 200 cocktails complemented with a selection of Californian-Mexican food.  Sausalitos is headquartered in Munich and employs 900 largely part time employees.

“We are delighted to partner with Ergon and to support them in their acquisition of Sausalitos,” stated Matthew Gordon Clark, Managing Director of European Capital Financial Services Limited (“ECFS”).  “This transaction demonstrates our ability to provide tailor-made financing solutions to mid-market companies, which are flexible enough to cater to the needs of growing businesses, their management teams, and owners.  We continue to focus on originating high quality private debt opportunities in midcap businesses with commitments of up to EUR100 million across Europe.”

“A proven track record of margin improvement, high quality IT systems and stringent, centralized, real-time controlling, has created a strong roll-out platform which we believe positions Sausalitos to further expand in the German market,” added Marcus Maier-Krug, Investment Director at ECFS.  “We look forward to supporting Ergon and the Sausalitos management team in their next phase of expansion.”

ABOUT EUROPEAN CAPITAL

European Capital is an investment company for pan-European equity, mezzanine and senior debt investments with EUR0.9 billion in assets under management. European Capital is a wholly-owned affiliate of American Capital, Ltd (“American Capital”). It is managed by European Capital Asset Management Limited (the “Investment Manager”), a wholly-owned affiliate of American Capital. The Investment Manager has offices in London and Paris with 55 employees.. Since its inception, European Capital Limited has invested EUR3.6 billion in over 100 companies in Europe. European Capital and its affiliates will consider senior, mezzanine and unitranche debt investment opportunities from 10 million to 100 million in either euros or sterling and up to 400 million for One Stop Buyouts®. For further information, please refer to www..EuropeanCapital.com.

ABOUT AMERICAN CAPITAL

American Capital, Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACAS) is a publicly traded private equity firm and global asset manager.  American Capital, both directly and through its asset management business, originates, underwrites and manages investments in middle market private equity, leveraged finance, real estate, energy and infrastructure, and structured products.  American Capital manages $19 billion of assets, including assets on its balance sheet and fee earning assets under management by affiliated managers, with $83 billion of total assets under management (including levered assets).  Through an affiliate, American Capital manages publicly traded American Capital Agency Corp. (Nasdaq: AGNC), American Capital Mortgage Investment Corp. (Nasdaq: MTGE) and American Capital Senior Floating, Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACSF) with approximately $11 billion of total net book value.  From its eight offices in the U.S. and Europe, American Capital and its affiliate, European Capital, will consider investment opportunities from $10 million to $750 million.

Source: http://www.hospitality-industry.com