Trimaran Capital Partners
Encyclopedia
Trimaran Capital Partners is a middle-market private equity firm formerly affiliated with CIBC World Markets
CIBC World Markets
CIBC World Markets is the investment banking subsidiary of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The firm operates as an investment bank both in the domestic and international equity and debt capital markets...

. Trimaran is headquartered in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and founded by former investment bankers from Drexel Burnham Lambert
Drexel Burnham Lambert
Drexel Burnham Lambert was a major Wall Street investment banking firm, which first rose to prominence and then was forced into bankruptcy in February 1990 by its involvement in illegal activities in the junk bond market, driven by Drexel employee Michael Milken. At its height, it was the...

. Trimaran’s predecessors were early investors in telecom and Internet businesses, most notably backing Global Crossing
Global Crossing
Global Crossing Limited was a telecommunications company that provides computer networking services worldwide. It maintained a large backbone and offered transit and peering links, VPN, leased lines, audio and video conferencing, long distance telephone, managed services, dialup, colocation and...

 in 1997. Trimaran also led the first leveraged buyout of an integrated electric utility.

Since 1995, Trimaran and its successor entities have invested approximately $1.6 billion of equity in fifty-nine companies through transactions totaling more than $10 billion in total value. In addition, Trimaran’s debt business has managed approximately $1.5 billion of leveraged loans across four collateralized loan obligation vehicles.

Since 2006, Trimaran has seen one of its co-founders, Andrew Heyer, lead a spinout of a portion of its team to form Mistral Equity Partners as well as the departure of a number of professionals. In 2008, the two remaining managing partners entered into a venture with Nelson Peltz
Nelson Peltz
Nelson Peltz is an American businessman. He is a board director of Wendy's Group, the franchise parent of T.J. Cinnamons, Pasta Connection and Wendy's. Peltz is the former owner of Snapple.- Background :...

’s Trian to create a new debt-focused business development company
Business Development Company
A Business Development Company is a form of publicly traded private equity in the United States created by Congress in 1980 as amendments to the Investment Company Act of 1940...

.

The firm is named for the trimaran
Trimaran
A trimaran is a multihulled boat consisting of a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls , attached to the main hull with lateral struts...

, a multi-hulled boat consisting of a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls. The firm’s principals had used nautical terms to describe their predecessor entities including argosy, a merchant ship, or a fleet of such ships and caravelle
Caravel
A caravel is a small, highly maneuverable sailing ship developed in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. The lateen sails gave her speed and the capacity for sailing to windward...

, a small, highly maneuverable, two- or three-masted ship.

History

Trimaran Capital Partners was founded in 2000 by former Drexel Burnham Lambert
Drexel Burnham Lambert
Drexel Burnham Lambert was a major Wall Street investment banking firm, which first rose to prominence and then was forced into bankruptcy in February 1990 by its involvement in illegal activities in the junk bond market, driven by Drexel employee Michael Milken. At its height, it was the...

 and CIBC World Markets
CIBC World Markets
CIBC World Markets is the investment banking subsidiary of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The firm operates as an investment bank both in the domestic and international equity and debt capital markets...

 investment bankers Jay Bloom, Andrew Heyer and Dean Kehler. The firm traces its roots back to the 1995 creation of the CIBC Argosy Merchant funds, a series of merchant banking investment funds managed on behalf of CIBC, and before that to the 1990 founding of the boutique investment banking firm The Argosy Group.

The Argosy Group

The Argosy Group was a New York-based boutique investment bank founded in February 1990, and is Trimaran’s earliest predecessor. Originally founded as a 9-person advisory firm by Bloom, Heyer and Kehler, Argosy was one of several private equity and investment banking firms to spring up in the wake of the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert
Drexel Burnham Lambert
Drexel Burnham Lambert was a major Wall Street investment banking firm, which first rose to prominence and then was forced into bankruptcy in February 1990 by its involvement in illegal activities in the junk bond market, driven by Drexel employee Michael Milken. At its height, it was the...

. Before Drexel, the three bankers had all worked together at Shearson Lehman Brothers. Kehler and Bloom had worked together previously at Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb and were joined by Heyer when Lehman was acquired by Shearson/American Express. The Argosy team had been involved in many of the most prominent high yield financings of the preceding two decades, for companies including RJR Nabisco
RJR Nabisco
RJR Nabisco, Inc., was an American conglomerate formed in 1985 by the merger of Nabisco Brands and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. RJR Nabisco was purchased in 1988 by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co...

, Beatrice Foods
Beatrice Foods
Beatrice Foods Company was a major American food processing company. In 1987, its smaller international food operations were sold to Reginald Lewis, a corporate attorney creating TLC Beatrice International, after which the majority of its domestic brands and assets were acquired by Kohlberg,...

 and Storer Communications.

The Argosy Group focused on debt underwriting, private placements, sales and trading, proprietary special situation investing and restructuring advisory assignments for highly leveraged companies. Argosy created a niche raising high yield debt.

Acquisition by CIBC

In April 1995, CIBC's investment banking subsidiary, then known as CIBC Wood Gundy announced the acquisition of The Argosy Group,

The acquisition of Argosy marked an aggressive push by CIBC into the U.S. investment banking business. Prior to that point, CIBC had never done a junk bond deal. Argosy's three major principals had worked on some of the biggest junk bond deals of the 1980s while at Drexel Burnham Lambert. The 52 Argosy employees that CIBC acquired would constitute the core of what would become CIBC's High Yield Group and the CIBC Argosy Merchant Banking funds that were responsible for, among other things, the $2 billion windfall that CIBC would earn from its early investments in Global Crossing
Global Crossing
Global Crossing Limited was a telecommunications company that provides computer networking services worldwide. It maintained a large backbone and offered transit and peering links, VPN, leased lines, audio and video conferencing, long distance telephone, managed services, dialup, colocation and...

. The Argosy principals also managed two collateralized debt obligation
Collateralized debt obligation
Collateralized debt obligations are a type of structured asset-backed security with multiple "tranches" that are issued by special purpose entities and collateralized by debt obligations including bonds and loans. Each tranche offers a varying degree of risk and return so as to meet investor demand...

 vehicles known as Caravelle Funds I and II.

With the acquisition of Argosy in 1995 and Oppenheimer & Co. in 1997, the center of gravity of CIBC’s investment banking operations began to shift toward the United States. CIBC’s High Yield Group began to develop a reputation for financing complex leveraged buyout transactions and worked closely with several of the leading private equity firms. CIBC provided financing for many of the leading private equity firms of this period including: Apollo Management, Hicks Muse, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
KKR & Co. L.P. is an American-based global private equity firm, specializing in leveraged buyouts, based in New York. The firm sponsors and manages private equity investment funds. Since its inception, the firm has completed over $400 billion of private equity transactions and was a pioneer in...

, Thomas H. Lee Partners
Thomas H. Lee Partners
Thomas H. Lee Partners is a private equity firm based in Boston, Massachusetts specializing in leveraged buyouts, growth capital, special situations, industry consolidations, and recapitalizations....

 and Willis Stein & Partners
Willis Stein & Partners
Willis Stein & Partners is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout transactions for middle-market companies.The firm's most notable investments have included Ziff Davis, Roundy's, Jays Foods, Lincoln Snacks Company and Petersen Publishing Company .The firm is headquartered in Chicago and...

.

Bloom, Heyer and Kehler took on increasing responsibilities within CIBC World Markets. Ultimately as Vice Chairmen of the bank and co-heads of Leveraged Finance, the three Argosy founders had responsibilities for leveraged loan and high-yield sales, trading and research, debt private placements, restructuring advisory and financial sponsor coverage. They were also responsible for the creation and management of multiple special situations investment funds and collateralized debt obligation
Collateralized debt obligation
Collateralized debt obligations are a type of structured asset-backed security with multiple "tranches" that are issued by special purpose entities and collateralized by debt obligations including bonds and loans. Each tranche offers a varying degree of risk and return so as to meet investor demand...

 funds, and the creation of a major leveraged finance business in the U.K. In the aggregate, these businesses had several hundred employees in the United States, Canada and the U.K.

Investment in Global Crossing (1997–1999)

In 1997, the CIBC Argosy Merchant funds backed Gary Winnick
Gary Winnick
Gary Winnick is an American financier with a global investment career spanning three decades. He is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Capital Group, a diversified private investment firm founded in 1985...

 and his telecom venture, Global Crossing
Global Crossing
Global Crossing Limited was a telecommunications company that provides computer networking services worldwide. It maintained a large backbone and offered transit and peering links, VPN, leased lines, audio and video conferencing, long distance telephone, managed services, dialup, colocation and...

, which embarked on a project to build optical fiber cable connections under the ocean between Europe and North America. Bloom, Heyer and Kehler, the heads of the CIBC Argosy Merchant funds and all former Drexel bankers, were former associates of Winnick from his days in the 1980s as a salesman at Drexel Burnham Lambert under Michael Milken
Michael Milken
Michael Robert Milken is an American business magnate, financier, and philanthropist noted for his role in the development of the market for high-yield bonds during the 1970s and 1980s, for his 1990 guilty plea to felony charges for violating US securities laws, and for his funding of medical...

. They were also instrumental in providing Global Crossing with $35 million in equity financing before the company went public. CIBC would ultimately realize a gain estimated to be $2 billion from its relatively small equity investment in Global Crossing, making it one of the most profitable investments by a financial institution in the 1990s. The investment is also thought to have personally generated millions of dollars for Bloom, Heyer and Kehler.

CIBC’s investment in Global Crossing provided a considerable boost for its investment banking operations in the U.S. and for Bloom, Heyer and Kehler. In fact, CIBC’s gain on its investment in Global Crossing would represent more than 20% of the bank's profits in 2000. Trimaran was founded in 2000, effectively on the back of the success of the Global Crossing investment. In April 2001, Trimaran closed on a $1 billion fund with capital provided primarily by CIBC.

Spinout from CIBC World Markets (2000–2002)

The investment banking operations of CIBC World Markets reached their peak in 1999 and 2000, when the bank cracked the top ten of U.S. issuers of high yield bonds and the top twenty in mergers and acquisitions advisory. From 1995 through 2000, the High Yield Group at CIBC World Markets had grown to more than 120 and had raised more than $80 billion of high yield debt. Following the crash of the dot-com bubble and the shutdown of the high yield markets in late 2000, CIBC World Markets began to suffer a series of setbacks. In July 2001, the Wall Street Journal profiled CIBC World Markets, chronicling the rapid decline of the bank from the peaks of Wall Street's league table rankings.

At the same time, the High Yield Group was restructured with the original Argosy Group founders focusing their responsibilities on their new Trimaran Capital Partners fund and the older CIBC Argosy Merchant funds. Bloom, Heyer and Kehler were succeeded by managing directors Edward Levy and Bruce Spohler, who had worked previously at Argosy and Drexel, together with Bill Phoenix.

By 2002, as a result of these developments, the CIBC implemented a strategy to reallocate resources and capital away from the riskier CIBC World Markets division in favor of its retail operations. As part of this reallocation, and in an effort to reduce conflicts between the bank’s principal investments and its financial sponsor clients, the Trimaran operations would subsequently spinout completely from CIBC World Markets. Trimaran Capital Partners became independent of CIBC in February 2006

Investments (2002–2005)

Although Trimaran had made some investments in telecom and internet startups in 2000 and had also made investments in companies such as Iasis Healthcare
Iasis Healthcare
IASIS, located in Franklin, Tennessee, is a leading owner and operator of medium-sized acute care hospitals in high-growth urban and suburban markets...

 and Village Voice Media, the bulk of its capital from its $1 billion 2001-vintage private equity fund was uninvested after its first year and a half.

From the end of 2002 through mid-2005, Trimaran actively pursued new investments. In December 2002, Trimaran partnered with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
KKR & Co. L.P. is an American-based global private equity firm, specializing in leveraged buyouts, based in New York. The firm sponsors and manages private equity investment funds. Since its inception, the firm has completed over $400 billion of private equity transactions and was a pioneer in...

 to purchase the transmission business subsidiary, ITC Transmission
ITC Transmission
ITC Transmission , also known as International Transmission Company, is an electric transmission company based in Novi, Michigan, a Detroit suburb...

, from DTE Energy. In 2003, Trimaran completed a number of leveraged buyout
Leveraged buyout
A leveraged buyout occurs when an investor, typically financial sponsor, acquires a controlling interest in a company's equity and where a significant percentage of the purchase price is financed through leverage...

s including Reddy Ice (with Bear Stearns Merchant Banking), Norcraft (with Saunders Karp & Megrue)

Trimaran made a series of investments in 2004 including: jewellery retailer Fortunoff
Fortunoff
Fortunoff was a New York-based retailer of home, jewelry and furniture stores founded in 1922 by Max and Clara Fortunoff. The original Fortunoff store was on Livonia Avenue in Brooklyn, New York...

, specialty apparel retailer Urban Brands (Ashley Stewart clothing) and auto parts manufacturer Accuride Corporation. In 2005, Trimaran would add Charlie Brown Steakhouse, which would later acquire Bugaboo Creek Steak House in 2007. Trimaran would also make investments in Jefferson National
Jefferson National
Jefferson National Life Insurance Company provides retirement products for fee-based and fee-only advisers and their clients...

 and Broadview Networks
Broadview Networks
Broadview Networks is a network-based electronically integrated communications provider serving small and medium-sized businesses in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States...

 among others.

Successor entities

Trimaran initially attempted to raise a third, $1.25 billion fund in 2004, but existing limited partners expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the firm had not fully invested its existing fund and had yet to produce sufficient realizations to merit a new commitment. Although Trimaran is still in operation managing its existing investment funds, the key professionals in the firm have embarked on a number of different ventures.

Mistral Equity Partners spinout (2007)

Following the failure of Trimaran to raise its third fund, in March 2007, Andrew Heyer, one of the three founders of Trimaran, left the firm to launch a new buyout firm. Mistral Equity Partners was founded with a team from Trimaran to make investments in the consumer and retail industries.

Trimaran Capital Partners III has a preliminary target range of $700 million to $1 billion. Trimaran plans to raise an interim $300 million to make deals happen while beating the bushes for money for the larger fund. Fundraising for both is slated to start later this year, according to a source close to Trimaran.

Mistral formed a partnership with the Schottenstein family
Schottenstein Stores Corp.
Schottenstein Stores Corp., based in Columbus, Ohio, is a holding company for various ventures of the Schottenstein family. Jerome Schottenstein and Jay Schottenstein are two of the primary holders in the company.-Retail Ventures:...

, which has acquired well-known retailers such as American Eagle Outfitters
American Eagle Outfitters
American Eagle Outfitters is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by Mark and Jerry Silverman as a subsidiary of Retail Ventures, Inc., a company which also owned and operated Silverman's Menswear...

, DSW Shoe Warehouse and Filene's Basement
Filene's Basement
Filene's Basement, also called The Basement, is a Massachusetts-based chain of department stores which was owned by Retail Ventures, Inc. until April 2009 when it was sold to Syms....

. The family made an equity commitment to the new Mistral fund, and Jay Schottenstein
Jay Schottenstein
-Biography:Jay is the son of Jerome Schottenstein and Geraldine Hoffman. Jerome established Schottenstein Stores Corp. and was active especially in supporting Jewish charities. He served as board member of Yeshiva University. In 1976 Jay entered his father's business and later married Jeanne, by...

 assumed a part-time advisory role with the firm.

Joint Venture with Nelson Peltz / Trian Partners (2008)

Trimaran Partners – Jay Bloom and Dean Kehler, co-founders and managing partners of the private equity firm, have reportedly struck out on a venture with the Nelson Peltz-led hedge fund Trian Partners, investing in distressed corporate bonds, bank loans and possible loan-to-own opportunities. The move, reuniting a former team from Drexel Burnham Lambert, does not signal an end to Trimaran, which will continue on as an independent entity. Bloom and Kehler had founded the PE firm in 1995. The jump back to corporate credit is not big leap for Bloom and Kehler. At Trimaran, the pair also oversaw Trimaran Advisors, which invests in below investment-grade corporate debt. David Millison, also a Drexel alum, had managed those funds for Trimaran as the chief investment officer. He is not expected to be joining Bloom and Kehler in the new venture. Bloom and Kehler have been paired off for much of their respective careers. Prior to Trimaran, both Bloom and Kehler had served as co-heads of the CIBC Argosy Merchant Banking Funds, the PE arm of CIBC World Markets.

Miscellaneous

In 2000, following CIBC's investment in Global Crossing
Global Crossing
Global Crossing Limited was a telecommunications company that provides computer networking services worldwide. It maintained a large backbone and offered transit and peering links, VPN, leased lines, audio and video conferencing, long distance telephone, managed services, dialup, colocation and...

, Dean Kehler purchased a $15 million apartment on Fifth Avenue, in what was at the time one the highest prices paid for a New York apartment.

See also

  • Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
    Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
    The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is one of Canada's chartered banks, fifth largest by deposits. The bank is headquartered at Commerce Court in Toronto, Ontario. CIBC's Institution Number is 010, and its SWIFT code is CIBCCATT....

  • CIBC World Markets
    CIBC World Markets
    CIBC World Markets is the investment banking subsidiary of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The firm operates as an investment bank both in the domestic and international equity and debt capital markets...

  • CIBC Wood Gundy
    CIBC Wood Gundy
    CIBC Wood Gundy is the is the Canadian retail brokerage division of CIBC World Markets, a division of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.CIBC Wood Gundy maintains a network of 1,400 brokers working in over 100 branches across Canada...

  • Drexel Burnham Lambert
    Drexel Burnham Lambert
    Drexel Burnham Lambert was a major Wall Street investment banking firm, which first rose to prominence and then was forced into bankruptcy in February 1990 by its involvement in illegal activities in the junk bond market, driven by Drexel employee Michael Milken. At its height, it was the...

  • Global Crossing
    Global Crossing
    Global Crossing Limited was a telecommunications company that provides computer networking services worldwide. It maintained a large backbone and offered transit and peering links, VPN, leased lines, audio and video conferencing, long distance telephone, managed services, dialup, colocation and...

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