Lincolnshire buys Excelsior/Dial-Global
Lincolnshire Management, a leading middle-market private equity investment firm, plans to acquire the majority stake in Excelsior Radio Networks from its present owner, Sunshine Wireless. Excelsior owns X Radio, MJI Interactive and Dial-Global. Through X Radio, Excelsior produces and syndicates more than 25 music programs and prep services in a variety of formats to more than 2,500 radio stations nationwide. Programs and prep services include "Backtrax USA," "Rick Dees Weekly Top 40," "The Countdown" with Walt "Baby" Love and Walt "Baby" Love's "Gospel Traxx," "The Ross Brittain Report," and Russell Simmons' "Hip Hop Laws of Success." Dial-Global reps ad sales for over 50 national radio production companies producing over 100 different programs/services.
Spencer Brown will continue as CEO of Excelsior and David Landau and Ken Williams will remain as co-CEO/Presidents of Dial-Global. All three will be members of Excelsior's board. Allen & Company served as financial advisor to Excelsior in the deal.
Landau tells RBR: "We're very excited about the possibilities in our industry and it's great to have a partner like Lincolnshire, which gives us the financial wherewithal to help expand our potential."
"We like the business because it offers a compelling value proposition to both sets of clients, namely the purchasers of radio advertising and their radio content producers," said Mike Lee, a Principal at Lincolnshire Management. "The management team has done an outstanding job of servicing their clients and this is validated by Excelsior's strong growth and their track record of attracting additional advertisers and producers. This is an excellent opportunity for Lincolnshire to partner with seasoned industry executives in an exciting and growing industry."
Lincolnshire manages several equity funds, including the Lincolnshire Equity Fund, Lincolnshire Equity Fund II, and Lincolnshire Equity Fund III, which in aggregate represent approximately 900 million. Its current portfolio of established company investments include Prince Sports, Transcraft Corp., American Coach Lines, Riddell Sports, 3SI Security Systems and Strategic Materials/NexCycle.
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