Guardian Capital Partners Fund III Hits Its Hard Cap With Final Close at $282 Million

WAYNE, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Guardian Capital Partners (“Guardian”) is pleased to announce the final close of Guardian Capital Partners Fund III, L.P. (“Guardian Fund III”) with $282 million in capital commitments. The fundraise was oversubscribed with strong support from existing limited partners (“LPs”) and several new institutional investors. Fund III is off to a running start, having already acquired two growing platform businesses, Western Shelter Systems (October 2019) and Flat River Group (November 2019).

“To reach our hard cap during a global pandemic is a testament to our high-quality team at Guardian,” commented Peter Haabestad, Co-Founder and Managing Partner. “We sincerely appreciate the incredible support of our LPs and welcome our new LPs, many of whom worked hard to complete their diligence processes after lockdowns started.”

Scott Evans, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, added, “This is an exciting time to be investing as companies begin to rebound and deal with new challenges, including changing consumer behavior, ESG opportunities, sourcing issues, new channel strategies, and workforce management. We built Guardian with the goal of delivering superior returns to our investors, and we believe that demand for Fund III reflects limited partner confidence in our ability to execute on Guardian’s successful strategy.”

Since Guardian’s inception in 2008, the team has closed 45 transactions including acquisitions of platforms and add-ons, as well as divestitures. In conjunction with the fundraise of Guardian Fund III, Guardian added two Partners, Adrian Ironside and Ryan Northington, who will both lead investments in Fund III. Guardian’s four partners are supported by eleven investment professionals, a finance and compliance team, and a strong advisory board.

Latham & Watkins LLP was counsel to Guardian Fund III. Guardian topped off the Fund III capital raise with the support of Shannon Advisors LLC as its exclusive placement agent.

For more information, contact Peter Haabestad phaabestad@guardiancp.com 610-263-0103 or Scott Evans sevans@guardiancp.com 610-263-0107.

About Guardian Capital Partners (www.guardiancp.com)

Guardian Capital Partners is a private equity firm based in suburban Philadelphia that makes control investments in lower middle market private companies located primarily in the United States with annual revenues between $20 million and $100 million and EBITDA between $3 million and $9 million. Guardian is focused on and has expertise in three specific sectors: consumer products, niche manufacturing and specialty business services. Guardian partners with management teams to provide equity capital to lead leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations and divestitures of family-owned businesses and non-core divisions of larger corporations. We believe the private equity experience and complementary skill sets of the Guardian team provide a unique combination of operating and finance capabilities resulting in certainty of execution and meaningful long-term value creation for its portfolio companies. Guardian Capital Partners is a Pennsylvania based investment advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Market conditions can vary over time and past fund performance does not guarantee future fund results.