GreyLion Expands Portfolio with Two Investments

NEW YORK, Jan. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GreyLion, a leading private equity firm focused on investing in high-growth businesses in the lower middle market, today announced it has made two new investments in, Webconnex, LLC ("Webconnex") and Norwood Sawmills ("Norwood"). Terms of the transactions were not disclosed.

The respective investments, in concert with GreyLion's value creation playbook, will help both companies scale various components of their businesses, including hiring new personnel, expanding sales and marketing functions, accelerating new product development, introducing enterprise technology systems, and creating new value-add services for their end customers.

"We are delighted to bring Webconnex and Norwood into our family of portfolio companies," said Chip Baird, Managing Partner at GreyLion. "These founder-owned and operated businesses exhibit robust and differentiated competitive positions in their respective industries. They are also led by strong management teams capable of deploying our capital effectively to realize significant progress in the years ahead. We are looking forward to serving as a strategic partner and working alongside their proven management teams to help drive continued growth."

Webconnex is a leading provider of ticketing and event management software as well as fundraising, donor management, integrated payments, and event-based registration solutions. Led by Co-Founders John Russell and Eric Knopf, the Company has helped more than 60,000 organizations process over $3 billion in transaction volume since its inception in 2008. As part of GreyLion's investment, Henry Heinerscheid and Chip Baird will join Webconnex's Board of Directors alongside John Russell and Eric Knopf.

"We are grateful for the success that Webconnex has achieved to date as a bootstrapped company," said Mr. Knopf. "With new strategic capital onboard, our team looks forward to taking the company to new heights."

"GreyLion shares our deep focus on maintaining culture as we commit to long-term growth," added Mr. Russell. "This partnership will allow us to accelerate investments in both human capital and technology accordingly."

As a global outdoor equipment and lifestyle brand, Norwood is a leading provider of portable consumer-sized sawmills, as well as related consumables, accessories, and equipment. The Company's products have strong appeal among a resourceful, outdoor-minded, and hands-on consumer base across more than 100 countries. As part of GreyLion's investment, Dave Ferguson, Dan Leever and John McKee will join Norwood's Board of Directors alongside Ashlynne Dale and Norwood CEO Patrick Racine.

"We are proud to have created a business that affords an international client base the opportunity to build their best futures through wood," said Mr. Racine. "As we look to scale our business and achieve greater growth in the years to come, GreyLion is the perfect partner to help us achieve these objectives. I could not be more excited for what Norwood's future entails."

The additions of Norwood and Webconnex continue to build on an active second half of 2021 for GreyLion. In September, the firm finalized the sale of portfolio company MSA Security, one of the largest providers of comprehensive threat protection solutions including K9 security services, to Allied Universal.

For the Norwood transaction, Angle Advisors acted as financial advisor to Norwood, Torkin Manes served as legal counsel to Norwood, Raymond James served as debt advisor to GreyLion, and Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal counsel to GreyLion.

For the Webconnex transaction, Vaquero Capital acted as financial advisor to Webconnex, Foley Lardner LLP served as legal counsel to Webconnex, and Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal counsel to GreyLion.

About Norwood

Norwood builds hard-working, reliable, productive, affordable, and easy-to-use mobile sawmills. More than 45,000 Norwood sawmills are hard at work in over 100 countries, processing millions of dollars of valuable lumber. With over 70 patents, Norwood is the global leader in portable sawmill technology.

About Webconnex

Webconnex is a Sacramento-based tech company that makes powerful software for events and fundraising. The Webconnex product suite includes TicketSpice, RegFox, GivingFuel and RedPodium which collectively are used to process nearly $1 billion in annual payments for event creators and non-profits globally. Webconnex was founded in 2008 with a focus on developing great products and services for its customers while remaining hyperfocused on maintaining its company culture.

About GreyLion

GreyLion focuses on investing in high-growth businesses in the lower middle market. The firm seeks to partner with existing owners and management teams across the industrial, consumer, healthcare, software and services sectors to deliver capital in tailored and flexible minority and control structures. GreyLion currently manages private equity funds with aggregate commitments of $1.7 billion. For more information, please visit www.greylioncapital.com or contact Jody Shechtman at [email protected]. 

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SOURCE GreyLion