Deerpath Capital Management provided debt financing in support of a new partnership between Southfield Capital, a lower middle market private equity firm, and Alba Wheels Up, a logistics services company providing customs brokerage, freight forwarding and other related services for U.S. importers and exporters.
Alba’s owners, Salvatore Stile and Damien Stile, will remain in their existing leadership roles post-close. The Alba partnership represents the first platform investment from Southfield Capital III LP.
“We are excited to partner with Southfield and believe this partnership will enable Alba to accelerate growth and expand our reach and capabilities for our clients. With Southfield’s resources, capital and support, we will be able to expand our service offerings, enter new markets, strengthen our technology platform and continue our leadership in Section 321 and e-commerce. We have developed a strong relationship with the Southfield team over the last few years and their culture and strategy align well with what we have developed at Alba,” Salvatore Stile said.
“We’ve been following the customs brokerage space for several years now and are fortunate to have been given the opportunity to partner with one of the industry leaders,” Heb James, a partner at Southfield Capital, said. “Alba’s remarkable success is due to the team’s deep sector expertise and relentless customer service. We see significant growth potential with Alba as the company continues to invest in technology and find new ways to add value to its client base.”
Finn Dixon & Herling provided legal counsel and Roll & Harris provided special trade/customs regulatory counsel to Southfield Capital for this transaction.
