Svoboda Plans Push In Info Services

Svoboda Capital Partners has invested in Databank IMX through its second fund and the private equity firm is planning to make additional acquisitions to support the company, which provides document scanning and management services.

Already, Svoboda Capital has big plans for its latest acquisition, which it announced Jan. 6. Although the firm declined to specify its stake in Databank IMX (the company’s management team, including CEO Dick Aschman, is also retaining a stake in the organization), Svoboda is planning to make multiple buys to support the data manager’s geographic expansion, according to Rick Harpster, a principal with the PE firm. Databank IMX has locations in Maryland, Massachusetts, Indiana, Texas, Louisiana and California.

Databank IMX provides outsourced imaging and information services, including document transfer and storage and physical and electronic storage offerings.

Fifth Third Bank provided a senior debt facility for the transaction through its Structured Finance Group and Merion Investment Partners provided subordinated debt. Harpster said the company’s board will include members from Svoboda and from the company’s existing team.

The deal marks the sixth transaction from Chicago-based Svoboda Capital’s second fund, which was raised in 2006. Harpster said the firm has mostly sold out of and provided redemptions from its first fund. Svoboda Capital has $250 million under management, according to its Web site. The firm plays in the lower mid-market, generally writing equity checks of $10 million to $25 million for companies with revenue of $10 million to $100 million and EBITDA of $3 million to $15 million. It generally focuses on the distribution industry, business services and consumer products and services, including non-control investments.

Svoboda’s most recent transaction in the business services space was its 2006 investment in Glover Park Group, a Washington, D.C.-based media and marketing services firm. Other investments include Cape Electrical Supply, a distributor of electrical and communications products, and Arizona-based Border Construction Specialties, a distributor of building supplies in the Southwest.