Nautic Partners, LLC, a private equity firm with more than $2.5 billion of capital under management, today announced that it has sold portfolio company CLC Group, Inc. (CLC) to FleetCor Technologies. The terms of the transaction were undisclosed. Inclusive of prior distributions, the transaction will yield a return for Nautic of 4.0x their investment and a 39% IRR.
CLC, based in Wichita, Kansas, is a leading provider of lodging management programs to businesses. CLC serves more than 10,000 large and small business clients across the U.S. Annually, CLC’s clients purchase eight million room nights across CLC’s proprietary network of 12,000 U.S. hotels. CLC’s clients typically report savings of 25% to 40% off their overall lodging expenses through a combination of hotel rate and administrative savings. In addition, CLC provides emergency lodging services and payment processing services to agencies of the federal government. For more information on CLC, see the company’s website at www.corplodging.com.
“We are thankful to have partnered with the entire CLC team over the past five years,” said Brad Wightman, Managing Director of Nautic Partners. “The Company’s compelling value proposition as an outsourced provider of complex vendor management solutions has enabled it to grow substantially during this period.”
“I’ve been very pleased to work with Nautic during the past five years,” said George Hansen, CEO of CLC. “Under the Nautic stewardship, CLC has doubled the size of its workforce and expanded its reach into new business and government markets all without losing its focus on superior customer service. This performance is among the many things that attracted FleetCor to CLC.”
“We are pleased that this transaction will deliver a significant return for our limited partners in this challenging economic environment,” said Habib Gorgi, Managing Director of Nautic Partners.
Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., and Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, acted as financial advisor and legal counsel to the sellers, respectively.
About FleetCor
FleetCor (www.fleetcor.com), The Global Fleet Card Company, is the worldwide leader in managing and processing commercial fuel cards, which save businesses money on their fuel purchases while bringing incremental business to fuel merchants. FleetCor serves over 750,000 businesses with its fleet card programs in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. FleetCor’s card programs are marketed under a variety of brand names including: CCS, CFN, FleetNet, Fuelman, The Fuelcard Company, Keyfuels, Mannatec and Smart. FleetCor and its subsidiaries employ more than 1,000 associates located in 15 offices globally. FleetCor is privately owned by management, and a group of institutional private equity investors including Bain Capital, Summit Partners, and Advent International.