NY Shop Eyes Investment In Bank Start-Up

The Jordan Company LP is looking to team with a small group of other investors to back a bank start-up, a source familiar with the firm’s planning told Buyouts. The move follows the easing of Federal Reserve restrictions on bank ownership.

According to our source, The Jordan Company would like to “capitalize on the opportunity created by what [the firm] expects will be a significant increase in the number of bank failures in the coming years.” The start-up would be structured as a bank holding company, which would allow it to raise capital easier, to take advantage of the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending facilities. This would also, however, subject it to additional government oversight.

The plans are in the early stages and the size of any potential investment, as well as the timeframe by which the firm would hope to make it, are still to be determined, our source said.

The 26-year-old Jordan Company invests in leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, restructurings, industry consolidations, and growth capital transactions of mid-sized companies. Along with financial services, sectors of interest include aerospace and defense, automotive after-parts, building products, business services, health care, industrial products, insurance, metals, packaging, retail, transportation and logistics, and telecommunications.

The firm is currently investing from The Resolute Fund LP, a $3.6 billion vehicle raised in 2005. In August, Jordan Company bought Harvey Gulf International Marine Inc., a Harvey, La.-based owner of towing vessels that operate in the Gulf of Mexico, for $500 million.