Platinum Protection refinances
By Martha Entwistle
Updated Thu October 21, 2010
Just saw this morning that Platinum Protection has refinanced. Their announcement called it a "significant round of debt financing," but did not divulge the amount.
I have calls into Platinum, but it's still early in Utah, where they are based. I expect to hear from them later today.
I did speak to Bill Dyer of Boathouse Capital just now, Boathouse led the deal. They're a new fund, created by four former partners at Bethesda, Md.-based American Capital. The four, Dyer, (no relation to Platinum founder Dan Dyer), Ken Jones, Chong Moua and Steven Gord, worked at the publicly traded $12 billion mezzanine debt and PE firm for eight years before their branch was closed due to downsizing in May of 2008.
They decided to launch Boathouse Capital and went out and raised their own funds. They're an SBIC fund, which means they're backed by the federal government's Small Business Administration, and will use the money to invest in small businesses, Dyer told me. They're currently a $104 million fund. Boathouse raised $35 million on its own and the Small Business Administration matched their funds 2-1 with a $70 million in debt funding.
This is their first investment in the security industry and their fourth investment overall.
Here's the release Platinum put out.
Platinum was in the news this summer when it held a public auction to sell a 17-percent of the company. Originally founded by seven summer sales reps, the company experienced rapid growth in its first couple of years.
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