H.I.G. Capital Sells Amerijet

7/26/16

MIAMI–(BUSINESS WIRE)–H.I.G. Capital, a leading global private equity investment firm with over $20 billion of equity capital under management, is pleased to announce the sale of its portfolio company, Amerijet Holdings, Inc., to an affiliate of ZS Fund L.P., a middle market focused private equity firm.

Since its founding in 1974, Amerijet has grown from a small charter service operator to the leading provider of cargo and logistics solutions to the Caribbean and Latin America. Today, Amerijet operates a fleet of ten aircraft, offering scheduled and charter cargo services and transporting over 200 million pounds of freight annually. The Company maintains its main cargo and flight hub in Miami, a network of field offices throughout the United States, and has over 200 agents across 137 countries. The company is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

“H.I.G. has been an ideal and patient partner over the past fifteen years,” said David Bassett, the founder of Amerijet. “H.I.G. supported Amerijet through numerous strategic initiatives since investing in the Company in 2001, enabling Amerijet to access new markets, expand capacity and continue to offer our customers an unparalleled level of service. Amerijet is well positioned for its next phase of growth with ZS Fund L.P. and Vic Karjian, the incoming CEO.”

“It has been personally and professionally rewarding to work with David Bassett and the dedicated management team at Amerijet,” said Jeff Zanarini, Managing Director at H.I.G. “The Company has outperformed our expectations due to management’s excellent execution of a strong strategic vision. As a result, Amerijet generated strong revenue and EBITDA growth, which resulted in an outstanding investment outcome for management, H.I.G. and its investors. We look forward to seeing Amerijet continue its success.”

About Amerijet

Amerijet is a full-service transportation and logistics provider, offering international, scheduled all-cargo transport via land, sea, and air. Florida-based Amerijet operates offices all over the world, serving destinations throughout the America’s, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Amerijet operates Boeing 727-200 and Boeing 767-200/300 aircraft from its primary hub at Miami International Airport. For more information, please refer to www.amerijet.com.

About H.I.G. Capital

H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with over $20 billion of equity capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Rio de Janeiro, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/ value-added approach:

1. H.I.G.’s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.

2. H.I.G.’s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. is also a leading CLO manager, through its WhiteHorse family of vehicles, and manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance.

3. H.I.G.’s real estate funds invest in value-added properties, which can benefit from improved asset management practices.

Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 200 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com.

About ZS Fund L.P.

ZS Fund L.P. is a private equity firm engaged in making long-term investments in successful middle-market companies in partnership with management. Since 1985, ZS has been focused on transactions that provide liquidity to business owners while enabling them to maintain a significant ownership stake and keep their company independent. Since its inception, ZS has invested in companies in transactions with an aggregate value of approximately $2.0 billion. For more information, please visit ZS’s website at www.zsfundlp.com.

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