Deal Details

Tropical Smoothie Is Acquired by Blackstone

Consumer

Tropical Smoothie, a portfolio company of LLCP, sale to Blackstone

Summary

Tropical Smoothie Cafe (“Tropical Smoothie” or the “Company”), a portfolio company of Levine Leichtman Capital Partners (“LLCP”), recently entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Blackstone Inc. (“Blackstone”). The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Baird served as lead financial advisor to Tropical Smoothie on this transaction.

About

Tropical Smoothie Cafe is a leading franchisor of fast casual restaurants built on a mission to Inspire Better® with more than 1,400 locations across 44 states. The Company’s cafes offer a menu focused on inspiring a healthier lifestyle and includes “better-for-you” smoothies, wraps, sandwiches, bowls, salads and flatbreads. With a menu mix of food and smoothies, the Company’s units generate attractive average unit volumes and capitalize on multiple dayparts, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and snacks. The Company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners is a middle-market private equity firm with a 40-year track record of investing across various targeted sectors, including Franchising & Multi-Unit, Business Services, Education & Training and Engineered Products & Manufacturing. LLCP utilizes a differentiated Structured Private Equity investment strategy, combining debt and equity capital investments in portfolio companies. LLCP believes that by investing in a combination of debt and equity securities, it offers management teams growth capital in a highly tailored, flexible investment structure that can be a more attractive alternative than traditional private equity. Since inception, LLCP has managed approximately $14.4 billion of institutional capital across 15 investment funds and has invested in over 100 portfolio companies. LLCP currently manages $9.6 billion of assets and has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Miami, London, Stockholm, The Hague and Frankfurt. LLCP is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California.

Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. Blackstone delivers compelling returns for institutional investors by strengthening the companies in which the firm invests. Blackstone has more than $1 trillion in assets under management including global investment strategies focused on real estate, private equity, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, credit, real assets, secondaries and hedge funds. Blackstone is headquartered in New York, New York.

Consumer

Tropical Smoothie, a portfolio company of LLCP, sale to Blackstone