Alpine Investors announced the close of its latest continuation fund: a single-asset secondary investment in home services company Apex Service Partners. The $3.4 billion fund will support Apex, an HVAC, plumbing and electrical services provider and portfolio company of Alpine Investors VII and VII-A.
In addition to funding Apex’s expansion, the transaction underscores Alpine’s commitment to facilitating the next stage of growth for its services platform. The deal also provides liquidity to the $16 billion private equity firm’s investors, as limited partners of Fund VII were able to receive liquidity for their 2019 investments or roll a portion of their investments into the continuation fund and remain stakeholders. In line with Alpine’s investor-friendly process, LPs were also given opportunities to combine their liquidity and rollover options to varying degrees based on their preferences.
Commitments for Apex included contributions from Blackstone Strategic Partners, HarbourVest Partners, Lexington Partners, and Pantheon, as well as from Alpine’s own Fund IX, which recently reached its hard cap of $4.5 billion in LP commitments. The fund allocated $450 million in Apex alongside the continuation fund.
“We believe the extraordinary people at Apex have only begun to scratch the surface of the market opportunity ahead of them,” said Alpine Investors Founder and CEO Graham Weaver. “We are excited to continue supporting their growth and to have given our investors the opportunity to participate in this collaborative secondary process.”
AJ Brown, CEO of Apex Service Partners, was part of Alpine’s CEO-in-Residence program, and he previously served as CFO of construction software company Avitru, a former Alpine portfolio company. Apex President Will Matson is an additional example of recruiting through Alpine’s talent programs, having been hired through its CEO-in-Training program. Both execs say they are excited about Apex’s next phase of growth.
“Alpine’s support through its industry experience, resources and focus on people supercharged our growth while helping us hire, train and retain exceptional talent.” Brown said. “They’ve been a true thought partner for us at each step in our journey and we’re excited to continue to have them by our side as we seek to scale to new heights with the help of continued and new investors alike.”
Evercore acted as the lead financial advisor for the transaction, along with J.P. Morgan and Cowen. Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel to Alpine, while Morrison Foerster served as debt counsel.
