Oct. 16, 2009 (PR Newswire) --
BETHESDA, Md., Oct. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Capital Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACAS) announced today that on October 13 it completed the sale of its portfolio company Imperial Supplies Holding Inc. to W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW). American Capital received $66 million in proceeds and realized a loss of $5 million during the fourth quarter from the transaction, subject to post-closing adjustments. American Capital's compounded annual rate of return, including interest, dividends and fees earned over the life of its investment was 9%. The proceeds received by American Capital were greater than the second quarter 2009 valuation of the investment by $16 million, or 34%.
"We are very pleased with the results of our equity and subordinated debt investments in Imperial Supplies," said Jeff MacDowell, Managing Director, Buyouts. "Since our initial investment in October 2007, the company has performed well, expanding its market reach, broadening its product offering and consistently increasing its market share despite the challenging macro-economic environment. Imperial Supplies' deep management team, efficient sales process and new partnership with Grainger, North America's leading broad line distributor of facilities maintenance products, will all position the company to build on its impressive history of excellence."
Imperial Supplies is a value-added distributor of after-market components to fleet and facility-based markets. American Capital first invested $112 million in the One Stop Buyout (TM) of Imperial Supplies in October 2007. American Capital's investment took the form of a revolving credit facility, a senior term loan, senior and junior subordinated debt and preferred and common equity. Shortly thereafter in December 2007, American Capital syndicated $46 million of the senior term debt and revolver commitment. For more information about American Capital's investment in Imperial Supplies, please go to http://www.americancapital.com/our_portfolio/companies/imperial_supplies.html.
Since American Capital's August 1997 IPO through the second quarter of 2009, the company has earned a 15% compounded annual return, including interest, dividends, fees and net gains, on 264 realizations of senior debt, subordinated debt and equity investments, totaling $12 billion of committed capital. These realizations represent 49% of all amounts invested by American Capital since its August 1997 IPO. Proceeds from these realizations exceeded the total associated prior quarter valuation of the investments by less than 1%. American Capital earned a 30% compounded annual return on the exit of its equity investments, including dividends, fees and net gains.
