GE Antares, a unit of GE Capital, served as administrative agent on a $170 million U.S. credit facility and $10 million Canadian credit facility supporting the acquisition of Innovative XCessories & Services, LLC (“IXS”) by Olympus Partners. GE Capital Markets served as joint lead arranger and joint bookrunner on these facilities.
IXS is a leading designer, manufacturer, and marketer of a broad range of products and services that enable vehicle manufacturers and aftermarket dealers to create unique, customized vehicles for their consumers.
“GE Antares has been a trusted financing partner of Olympus for many years and their certainty of execution, speed to close and knowledge and experience in the automotive aftermarket made them an ideal lender for our acquisition of IXS,” said Jason Miller, principal at Olympus Partners.
“We're thrilled to provide debt financing to Olympus in support of the IXS acquisition,” said Chet Zara, senior managing director of GE Antares. "There are many promising growth opportunities at IXS, and we look forward to supporting Olympus and management as the company expands.”
Innovative XCessories & Services, LLC, is a leading provider of spray-on protective coatings, upfit services, and accessories to the automotive aftermarket and original equipment manufacturers. IXS’ aftermarket division, operating under the brand Line-X, is the global leader in spray-on protective coatings for pick up truck beds, with 465 franchise locations in the U.S. and Canada and licensees in over 50 countries. Line-X also sells accessories to franchisees through its Truck Gear line of distributed products. IXS’ OEM division, operating under the brand Ground Effects, provides spray-on protective coatings for pick-up truck beds as well as a wide range of other upfit services and exterior accessories to automotive manufacturers through a network of 15 co-located facilities across North America.
Founded in 1988, Olympus Partners is a private equity firm focused on providing equity capital for middle market management buyouts and for companies needing capital for expansion. Olympus is an active, long-term investor across a broad range of industries, including consumer products, healthcare, financial services and business services.
GE Antares is a unit of GE Capital. With offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, GE Antares is a leading middle market lender, offering a “one-stop” source for GE’s lending and other services offered to middle market private equity sponsors. GE Antares was recognized by Private Debt Investor and Private Equity International as 2013 Lender of the Year, North America and Mid-Cap Lender of the Year, North America, respectively.