Green Leaf Ridge Sprouts Debut Fund –

Green Leaf Ridge Co. LLC this month has secured $10 million from Banc of America Community Holdings Inc. for its debut buyout fund, Green Leaf Partners I. The fund has a target of $100 million and a first closing is set for the first quarter of 2001.

Partners at Chicago-based Green Leaf did not return phone calls for this article.

The fund will make privately-negotiated control investments resulting from industry consolidations, corporate divestitures and management buyouts in companies in the U.S. with annual revenues between $10 million and $100 million. The fund will also seek investments involving minority or women-owned businesses.

Since its formation in 1998, Green Leaf has invested in epixtech inc. (formerly Ameritech Library Services) with 21st Century Group LLC. Epixtech is a provider of library automation products supporting more than 7,600 customer libraries worldwide with a broad spectrum of sophisticated software and hardware that are service-oriented and Internet-enabled.