March 29, 2016
J. America Partners With Private Equity Firm
Apparel supplier J. America (asi/62977) announced it has reached a partnership to recapitalize the company with private equity firm Blue Point Capital Partners. Financial terms of the agreement were not revealed. Company co-founders Jeff Fenech, Jeff Radway and Peter Ruhala will continue to run the business and own a significant stake in the company.
“Blue Point’s strategic focus, e-commerce expertise and access to significant resources both in the U.S. and in Asia will further enhance our ability to provide industry-leading designs in apparel and headwear to our customers,” said Fenech. “We have great opportunities ahead of us to grow our business and are very excited about working with the Blue Point team to take advantage of them.”
Founded in 1992, J. America has doubled its revenue in the past five years to over $100 million. The company sells to distributors and through multiple Top 40 apparel suppliers as well as college bookstores, specialty retail and department stores, farm and fleet stores and more. The company is the global apparel licensee for John Deere and recently won exclusive non-sideline apparel rights for The Ohio State University.
Based in Cleveland, Blue Point Capital Partners manages over $800 million in committed capital. The private equity firm specializes in middle market companies, and has additional offices in Charlotte, Seattle and Shanghai. “J. America is unique in its ability to grow quickly in both the licensed and wholesale blanks apparel and headwear markets,” said Chip Chaikin, a partner with Blue Point. “With a groundbreaking exclusive partnership with Ohio State University and strength in product design and sourcing, J. America is very well-positioned to continue that growth. We want to help bring tools to the company to enable them to double revenues again over the next five years.”
Headquartered in Webberville, MI, J. America operates out of three manufacturing facilities in the United States as well as a design office in Ohio and a Hong Kong-based sourcing office.