Newport Beach-based private equity firm Solis Capital Partners LLC has sold its majority interest in Tigers Ltd., a Hong Kong-based transportation and logistics company, to GeoPost S.A. in France.
GeoPost is one of Europe’s largest express parcel carriers and had $5.32 billion in revenue last year. It now owns 63.75% of Tigers.
Tigers was a result of a merger in 2011 between a Solis portfolio company called Kamino Logistics Group Ltd. and Hong Kong-based transportation company WLG Inc. GeoPost joined Solis as a financial partner and took a 2% ownership of Tigers at the time.
“Ultimately it was likely that we would exit to them,” Solis Managing Director Dan Lubeck said.
Solis recently closed its second fund at $61 million in capital commitments.
The firm also has effectively cashed out of its first fund, which invested in five portfolio companies, including Kamino and Certi-Fresh Foods Inc. in Wilmington.
“Other than some trailing economic interest, we have no involvement in the Solis I portfolio,” Lubeck said. “The first fund investors got 3.4 times their capital.”
Lubeck added he’s looking at a handful of deals for the second fund.
Solis typically invests between $2 million and $25 million in companies that have revenues ranging from $15 million to $100 million.
