Fundraising

Goode Partners closes $225m debut fund

Goode Partners has raised $225 million for investments in the consumer sector, one month after adding trendy boutique chain Intermix to its portfolio.

-

New York-based, consumer focussed private equity firm Goode Partners has closed its debut fund on $225 million (€165 million). The fund, which used Champlain Advisors as a placement agent, exceeded both its initial target of $150 million and its original hard cap of $200 million. 

Goode Partners was founded by David Oddi, Ron Beegle and Joe Ferreira in November of 2005. Oddi came from private equity firm Saunders Karp & Megrue, where he worked in the retail and consumer sectors. Beegle previously worked at Global Consumer Retail Investors, a consulting firm that works exclusively for Credit Suisse First Boston Private Equity, and Ferreira worked for retail consulting firm The Woodclyffe Group.

The three began fundraising in March of 2006. Before closing its first fund, Goode Partners found financing on a deal-by-deal basis, and the firm’s backers committed half of the amount of each investment to the nascent fund. Through this process Goode Partners invested in Elvis-inspired Texas restaurant chain Chuy’s, the line of “shabby chic” designer Rachel Ashwell and Luxury Optical Holdings. The fund held its first close in February, and in July the firm made its first investment in upscale women’s boutique Intermix.

Ferreira said most of the fund’s LPs are institutional investors, with a small segment of endowments and pension funds and one large consumer products company. The consumer products company is valuable not only as a financial backer but also as a strategic partner, Ferreira said, and a possible channel of distribution for his firm’s portfolio companies’ products.

Goode Partners targets investments of between $10 and $30 million, and acquires both majority and minority stakes. The firm does buyouts, though it aims never to finance a transaction with more than 50 percent debt. But the type of deal the firm will specialise in, he said, is growth capital investments.

“The group that we play best to is entrepreneurs that want to retain a portion of their company,” Ferreira said.