When a portfolio company of ClearLight Partners, Paul Fredrick, sought to refinance its existing bank facility, they partnered with Republic Business Credit. Republic provided a scalable, flexible and growth orientated facility with full availability on inventory, merchant accounts and direct to consumer proceeds to leverage Paul Fredrick’s e-commerce strategy. Paul Fredrick welcomed the opportunity to borrow on the full value of their inventory without a sublimit or cap in relation to their accounts receivable that a traditional asset-based loan would include.
The private equity fund shared with Republic, “We needed a strategic partner that understood Paul Fredrick’s e-commerce and D2C strategy and trusted the team’s experience in the sector.”
Paul Fredrick is a leading designer and retailer of men’s apparel and related accessories. The company was originally founded in 1986 as a seller of dress shirts and has evolved over the years to offer a full assortment of dress and casual menswear. Paul Frederick is headquartered in Baltimore, MD. In December of 2017, Neal Black led a team of former Jos. A. Bank executives in partnering with ClearLight Partners to acquire Paul Fredrick. Paul Fredrick has weathered the COVID storm very well given their direct to consumer strategy and wanted to partner with an entrepreneurial finance company that would support their significant growth aspirations over the coming years. Neal Black, Paul Fredrick’s CEO said, “Republic stepped up to provide the right facility to support our continued growth, allowing us to fully leverage our inventory to keep up with our 2021 growth projections.” Neal added, “While banks typically have a standard formula, Republic really took the time to understand what would enable our business to be successful for the long term. Hats off to the management, underwriting and credit teams for leaning into our business.” David Ullman, COO/CFO of Paul Fredrick who helped structure the financing said, "We are building a great company at Paul Fredrick and Republic’s support combined with our capital partners has positioned our brand for dynamic future growth".
Republic provided a direct to consumer inventory loan facility that provides significant availability on Paul Fredrick’s inventory, accounts receivables, merchant accounts and e-commerce related proceeds. Republic’s funding refinanced Paul Fredrick’s existing bank facility while providing ample liquidity for future growth. The company believes the market will continue to remain unpredictable, but are excited about how well they have performed in 2020. “We enjoy partnering with great founders and strong equity partners that see value in non-dilutive debt financing,” said Robert Meyers, President of RBC. Republic’s COO, Matthew Begley further added, “We have built our platform to help support companies that need a mix of scalable growth orientated solutions across our asset-based lending, direct to consumer and factoring products.”
Republic Business Credit was referred into this opportunity by Mike Toomey of Danu Capital, and Mike commented, “I have worked with Matt for many years, and his team at Republic Business Credit delivered on their promises of speed and availability.” Mike further added, “We explored several debt options for Paul Fredrick, but the Republic team wanted to work with this brand, and their structure was a perfect fit for the company’s growth.” Republic partners with banks, accountants, sponsors, lawyers and investment banks to collaboratively support entrepreneurs across the United States, to create value, by enabling them to focus on growing successful businesses.