Completes First Transaction with $10 Million Equity Investment in
AFN, LLC
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Dallas-based Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HTH) has launched a new
merchant banking business, Hilltop Opportunity Partners (“HOP”), to
pursue investment opportunities across a variety of sectors and capital
structures. As part of Hilltop Holdings, HOP will focus on long- and
short-term, non-control investments.
The effort will be led by Hilltop Holdings Executive Vice President Mark
Plunkett, who will serve as chief investment officer and head of Hilltop
Opportunity Partners, and Hilltop Holdings Vice President Peter Lynch.
“We’ve established Hilltop Opportunity Partners to provide Hilltop
Holdings with an effective platform to identify and execute on
attractive non-bank opportunities for capital deployment,” said Jeremy
B. Ford, president and co-CEO of Hilltop Holdings. “We are excited about
this new venture, and under the experienced leadership of Mark and
Peter, we look forward to expanding this business as opportunities
arise.”
Hilltop Opportunity Partners utilizes excess capital at HTH to employ a
flexible investment strategy and address a variety of capital needs,
targeting middle market investments outside of the banking industry that
range from $5 million to $25 million. Larger or smaller opportunities
are considered on a case-by-case basis. In December 2017, HOP completed
a $10 million preferred equity investment in AFN, LLC, an
Illinois-based, award-winning leader in freight brokerage, third-party
logistics, and transportation management services.
“As demonstrated by our work with AFN, LLC, we seek out exceptional
owners, operators and co-investors to structure investments that best
meet their objectives,” Plunkett said. “AFN Co-founder and CEO Ryan
Daube, is an industry leader and veteran of the logistics space who has
built a top-notch team at AFN over the last 15 years.”
To learn more about Hilltop Opportunity Partners, visit www.Hilltop-Holdings.com/HOP
or email HOP@Hilltop-Holdings.com
for more information. To learn more about AFN, LLC, visit loadafn.com.
About Mark Plunkett
Before joining Hilltop Holdings, Plunkett co-founded and ran Hilliard
Street Capital, a Blackstone and Bridger seeded long/short equity fund,
and served as a partner with Atlas Capital. He has also worked for the
Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle Group; with Hicks, Muse, Tate, and Furst
in Mexico City; and with Cardinal Investment Company in Dallas. He
currently serves as a Senior Advisor to the New York-based private
equity fund Argand Capital and as a director of a Dallas-based bakery
company and a Hong Kong-based global toy company. Plunkett earned a
B.B.A. and B.S. from Southern Methodist University, graduating magna cum
laude with honors and received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
He is also a U.S. Fulbright Scholar.
About Peter Lynch
Before joining Hilltop Holdings, Lynch was a vice president at Argenta
Partners, a private equity firm focused on control-only equity
investments. Prior to that, he worked with the M&A team at Rabobank
International in New York City, and with J.P. Morgan in Buenos Aires,
Argentina and in Santiago, Chile. He currently serves as chairman of
Fleetwood Transportation Services and as a director of NovaLink, Inc.,
OTTR Chronic Care Solutions and Stephen Gould Corporation. Additionally,
he founded ASimpleModel.com in 2013, a website dedicated to making
financial modeling instruction simple and affordable. Lynch earned a
B.A. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
About Hilltop Holdings Inc.
Hilltop Holdings is a Dallas-based financial holding company. Its
primary line of business is to provide business and consumer banking
services from offices located throughout Texas through PlainsCapital
Bank. PlainsCapital Bank’s wholly owned subsidiary, PrimeLending,
provides residential mortgage lending throughout the United States.
Hilltop Holdings’ broker-dealer subsidiaries, Hilltop Securities Inc.
and Hilltop Securities Independent Network Inc., provide a full
complement of securities brokerage, institutional and investment banking
services in addition to clearing services and retail financial advisory.
Through Hilltop Holdings’ other wholly owned subsidiary, National Lloyds
Corporation, it provides property and casualty insurance through two
insurance companies, National Lloyds Insurance Company and American
Summit Insurance Company. At December 31, 2017, Hilltop employed
approximately 5,500 people and operated approximately 475 locations in
44 states. Hilltop Holdings' common stock is listed on the New York
Stock Exchange under the symbol "HTH." Find more information at Hilltop-Holdings.com,
PlainsCapital.com,
PrimeLending.com,
NationalLloydsInsurance.com
and HilltopSecurities.com.
About AFN, LLC
AFN is an award-winning leader in freight brokerage, third-party
logistics, and transportation management services that has served the
needs of major manufacturers, top-20 retailers, and best-in-class
carriers in North America since 2003. Known for its commitment to client
service, AFN has a robust suite of people-first, technology-enabled
solutions -- from truckload, LTL and consolidation services to risk
management, carrier compliance, cargo security and surveillance, and
more. To learn more about AFN, please visit www.loadafn.com
or call 877-562-3236.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results,
performance or achievements to be materially different from any future
results, performance or achievements anticipated in such statements.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and,
except as required by law, we do not assume any duty to update
forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include, but
are not limited to, statements concerning such things as our plans,
objectives, strategies, expectations and intentions and other statements
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“plan,” “probable,” “projects,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “view” or
“would” or the negative of these words and phrases or similar words or
phrases. For a discussion of certain factors that could cause our actual
results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking
statements, please see the risk factors discussed in our most recent
Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q
and other reports that are filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their
entirety by this cautionary statement.
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Hilltop Holdings Inc.
Ben Brooks, 214-252-4047
ben.brooks@hilltop-holdings.com
Source: Hilltop Holdings Inc.