Investments
Alex and Ani offers consumers fashionable lifestyle products through multiple retail channels, including corporate owned and branded retail stores, upscale department stores, small chains and independent retailers, as well as e-commerce. At the core of Alex and Ani’s brand is a patented signature expandable bangle invented by Designer Carolyn Rafaelian. The products, which are eco-friendly and made in America, incorporate powerful, symbolic meanings.
Initial Investment October 2012
Sold to Lion Capital December 2014 & 2015
AmeriMark Direct is a leading direct marketer of women’s apparel, name brand cosmetics and fragrances, jewelry, watches and accessories, and health related merchandise. In business for over 35 years, AmeriMark sells its merchandise through several distinctive catalogs and ships millions of packages to its satisfied customers each year. AmeriMark also offers memberships in the Passport to Savings and Passport to Health discount buying programs.
Initial Investment March 2005
Recapitalization June 2006
Bare Escentuals, one of the fastest growing personal care companies in the U.S., is a developer and multi-channel marketer of cosmetics, skin care and body care products. The company’s ID bareMinerals product line is the nation’s leading mineral make-up. Bare Escentuals branded personal care products are sold nationwide through select beauty retailers, direct-response television, the Internet, mail order and company-owned boutiques.
Initial Investment August 1990
Acquired MD Formulations November 2001
IPO September 2006 (NASDAQ: BARE)
Secondary March 2007 (NASDAQ:BARE)
Secondary June 2007 (NASDAQ:BARE)
Today, Bell is a well-recognized consumer brand known not only within auto racing and motorcycle circles, but also by the countless millions of cyclists and parents who purchase Bell bicycle helmets and accessories for themselves and their children every year. Now Bell is back to its automotive roots, offering an array of automotive accessories designed to provide convenience and fun to your everyday driving experience.
Initial Investment December 2004
Acquired Victor Products October 2005
For 25 years, CHEFS has been a leading resource – first in catalogs and now also online – for home chefs and culinary professionals seeking the best for their kitchens. CHEFS selection is constantly expanding to include the most advanced electrics, finest cookware and cutlery, and state-of-the-art tools from the best brands in the kitchen: All-Clad, Calphalon, Cuisinart, KitchenAid, Microplane, Wusthof, and many more.
Initial Investment October 2004
Contenix sales and marketing solutions help premium brands manage and distribute catalog and marketing information to retailers, distributors and media partners. The company’s easy-to-use platform requires no hardware or software and enables brands to deliver vital sales and marketing content to retailers and customers via an iPad, a secure extranet and a brand-controlled digital catalog.
Initial Investment January 2011
Country Home Products d/b/a DR Power Equipment is a designer, assembler, and marketer of professional grade outdoor power equipment for homeowners under the DR and Neuton brand names. The company was founded in 1985 by former members of the Garden Way executive team and is located in Vergennes, Vermont.
Initial Investment March 2006
Design Within Reach is a provider of distinctive modern design furnishings and accessories. The company markets and sells products from prominent designers, such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Charles and Ray Eames, through four highly integrated sales channels consisting of its studios, catalog, website and direct sales force. This seamless channel integration and use of a single, common inventory enable DWR to offer merchandise on an ‘in stock and ready to ship’ basis, versus traditional furnishings retailers, which typically require customers to wait weeks or even months for their products.
Initial Investment January 1999
IPO June 2004 (NASDAQ: DWRI)
Secondary March 2005 (NASDAQ: DWRI)
Dr. Leonard’s Healthcare Corporation is a direct marketer of value-priced healthcare and convenience products through two catalogue titles, Dr. Leonard’s and Carol Wright Gifts. Dr. Leonard’s, in business for 28 years, is America’s leading healthcare catalog. Over the years, Dr. Leonard’s has broadened its product line to include housewares, apparel, shoes and other relevant product categories. Carol Wright Gifts was founded in 1972, and is a leading direct marketer of unique gifts, health, beauty and home products.
Initial Investment December 2007
FIGS creates innovative, comfortable, and supremely functional medical apparel for the modern world.
Initial Investment May 2016
Sold April 2017
Founded in 1860 and based in Milan, Frette markets and sells its high-end Italian bed and bath linens and homewear to individual customers and the top hotels and resorts around the world. The company has a rich history supplying the finest linens to aristocratic families throughout Europe, as well as to The Vatican, and Frette sheets have adorned the beds of the world’s most prestigious trains and ocean liners, including the Orient Express and the Titanic. Today, the products are available in over 100 exclusive boutiques throughout the world, in cities including Beverly Hills, New York, London, Paris, Dubai and Tokyo. Top hospitality establishments, such as the Paris Ritz, London Savoy, Singapore Raffles and all of Ritz-Carlton’s US properties outfit their hotels with Frette sheets.
Initial Investment December 2004
GoSMILE is a producer and multi-channel marketer of advanced tooth-whitening and oral care products designed to promote health and beauty on the go. The products have been proven through clinical study to be more effective than competing products on the market. GoSMILE is currently sold through specialty retailers and high-end department stores in both the U.S. and Europe.
Initial Investment June 2005
GREATS was launched in August 2013 and quickly became an instant “Classic” selling out of most styles within 90 days. Greats is the first men’s sneaker brand to be Born In Brooklyn.
Initial Investment April 2017
Image Entertainment is one of the nation’s top home entertainment companies and has been in business over 25 years. With its library of over 3,700 owned or licensed titles, it has one of the richest, most varied archives of entertainment programming in the industry, including award-winning feature films, television programs, music, comedy and audio content. Image pursues, secures and exploits exclusive rights to content on a variety of formats and platforms, including DVD, Blu-ray™ Disc, broadcast and cable television, video-on-demand (VOD), digital, satellite as well as theatrical and non-theatrical exhibition.
Initial Investment January 2010
Founded in 1977 by brothers Kevin and Jay McLaughlin with a single shop on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the brand’s retail presence has grown to 85 freestanding stores in the U.S. J.McLaughlin has established itself as a classic American clothing and accessories brand for men and women recognized for its distinctive flair for color and signature portfolio of prints. The brand’s differentiating design aesthetic combines time-honored style and impeccable craftsmanship with a modern sensibility and an element of whimsy.
Initial Investment November 2011
Sold to Brentwood Associates December 2015
Jurlique International is an Australian-based manufacturer and multi-channel global marketer of natural skin care products. The products are derived from herbs and plant extracts biodynamically grown on the company’s organic farms in South Australia. Jurlique distributes its products primarily in Asia, Australia and the United States, through a network of company-owned stores, distributors, high-end department stores, pharmacies, spas and via duty free. The company was founded by a horticulturist and scientist in 1983.
Initial Investment April 2006
Sold to Pola Orbis February 2012
Kate Somerville Skin Health Experts is dedicated to offering clients real solutions to skin concerns through comprehensive, result-driven products and services. With an emphasis on clinical skincare and advanced technologies, Kate Somerville has garnered a devoted celebrity following and has been widely featured in the media. Kate Somerville products can be purchased through the internet, luxury spas, direct-response television, prestige retail locations, as well as at the flagship Kate Somerville clinic on Melrose Place in West Hollywood.
Initial Investment May 2007
Sold to Unilever April 2015
La Perla S.r.l. is an Italian-based designer and multi-channel global marketer of luxury intimate apparel and beachwear. La Perla’s elegant and sophisticated lingerie is sold through an international network of company-owned boutiques, prestige department stores, high-end shops and online.
Initial Investment August 2007
Lussori is a luxury retailer and etailer of timepieces and jewelry. The company provides discerning consumers with the finest in luxury timepiece and designer jewelry brands, such as Audemars Piguet, Blancpain, Bulgari, Carl F. Bucherer, Chopard, Corum, Girard Perregaux, Glashutte Original, Harry Winston, Hearts of Fire, IWC, Michael Beaudry, Montblanc, Omega, Piaget, Ulysse Nardin, Tag Heuer and many others. Lussori services it’s customers through its flagship retail store located on Ocean Avenue in Carmel, California, its website, Lussori.com, as well as through its concierge call center.
Initial Investment November 2006
Since 1983, MD Formulations has been delivering new and innovative skin care treatments and products that fuse beauty with science. The company develops and markets its leading results-oriented aesthetic skin care line under the brand md formulations, which is distributed nationwide through aestheticians, the Internet, company-owned boutiques and select beauty retailers. MD Formulations was merged with Bare Escentuals in November 2001.
Initial Investment June 1999
Merger with Bare Escentuals November 2001
NapaStyle is a multi-channel lifestyle company founded by Michael Chiarello, acclaimed Napa Valley chef, author and host of the popular cooking shows Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello on the Food Network and NapaStyle on the Fine Living Network. The company expresses a unique style of living, inspired by Napa Valley, through its original, lifestyle-based content and specialty products designed for kitchen, home, garden and entertaining. NapaStyle’s content is distributed across a wide range of media and its products are available through multiple distribution channels, including catalog, company-owned boutiques and online.
Initial Investment August 2000
Neutral Duty Free Shop is the leading Duty Free retailer on the Uruguayan side of the border between Uruguay and Brazil. In business for over 25 years, Neutral Duty Free Shop has retail stores in six different locations in Uruguay and one airport in Argentina. The company offers branded products in categories such as cosmetics, personal care, fragrances, alcohol & spirits, apparel, confectionary, branded food, consumer electronics, home appliances, houseware and toys.
Neutral Duty Free Shop is also the exclusive franchisee of Gap Inc. for Uruguay and Paraguay. The Company operates standalone duty-paid stores in the Uruguayan local market as well as branded store-in-stores at different Neutral duty-free locations on the border between Uruguay and Brazil. Neutral expects to continue growing Gap’s footprint in the region by opening additional branded standalone stores in Paraguay and Uruguay.
Initial Investment May 2011
Ouidad pioneered the curly haircare category over 20 years ago when she opened the first hair salon dedicated to clients with wavy and curly hair. One of NYC’s top salons, it attracts a global clientele that includes celebrities, socialites, members of the press and other NYC influentials. It is here that stylists practice Ouidad’s signature Carving & Slicing(r) cutting technique that is also taught to accredited affiliate stylists across the nation. Ouidad is also the creator of an award-winning, signature haircare line that meets the many needs of women, men and children with a variety of curly hair types. The comprehensive Ouidad collection is currently sold in the Ouidad Salon on 57th Street in Manhattan, select salons with Ouidad Certified Stylists and online.
Initial Investment June 2007
Peet’s Coffee & Tea is a specialty coffee roaster that markets its branded fresh-roasted whole bean coffee and hand-selected tea through multiple channels of distribution. These channels include specialty grocery and gourmet food stores, online and mail order, restaurant and food service accounts, and company-owned stores.
Initial Investment September 1999
IPO January 2001 (NASDAQ: PEET)
Secondary April 2002 (NASDAQ: PEET)
Studio Moderna is the leading direct-response television business in Central and Eastern Europe. Founded in Slovenia in 1992, Studio Moderna now operates in 20 countries across the region and sells products through the internet, television and branded retail stores. Studio Moderna maintains over 100 websites and broadcasts more than 300 hours of programming daily through 300 public and commercial TV stations, including five of its own home shopping channels reaching an audience of 400 million people.
Initial Investment March 2010
TerraCycle creates national recycling systems for previously non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle waste. TerraCycle then converts the collected waste into a wide variety of products and materials. With more than 20 million people collecting waste in over 20 countries TerraCycle has diverted billions of units of waste and used them to create over 1,500 different products available at major retailers ranging from Walmart to Whole Foods Market.
Initial Investment March 2007
For over fifty years, Walter Drake has been a catalog retailer of unique, inexpensive gifts, gadgets and personalized items in addition to household goods and kitchen products. Walter Drake has built a national brand with an established, loyal customer base through its diverse and continually expanding product line and its longstanding reputation for providing superior customer service. Catalog titles include Walter Drake, Home Marketplace, HomeWares and Directions.
Initial Investment October 2001
Sold to Strategic Investor December 2003