CVF Capital Partners provided Subordinated Debt and Equity Financing to Support the Company’s Growth
CONCORD, CA (March 31, 2022) – CVF Capital Partners (CVF) exited its investment in LRT Holdings, Inc. (“LRT” or “LightRiver”) as LRT announced today the sale of the company to a financial buyer. CVF Capital Partners invested a combination of subordinated debt and equity financing from The Central Valley Fund II in November 2015 to support the Company’s rapid expansion plan and further debt financing in June 2017 to acquire LightRiver Software. Financial terms have not been revealed.
LightRiver delivers carrier-grade transport network solutions, including certified design, professional staging services, deployment services, and network automation products to over 150 clients in North America and Europe. The business offers full lifecycle hardware, software, services, and support solutions in multi-technology networking. It specializes in the design, procurement, delivery, and ongoing technical support of heterogenous transport networks and the open software tools to discover, monitor, provision and control multi-vendor packet optical networks.
CVF worked with management, Plexus Capital and Muir Equity to acquire the company from its founders in late 2015. In 2017, both funds supported LightRiver with additional debt investments to acquire LightRiver Software in Holmdel, NJ. This acquisition included what became one of LRT’s flagship products in netFLEX, which enables telecommunications carriers and enterprises to efficiently manage network systems of any size over a broad range of different vendors and technologies.
Glenn Johansen, CEO: “It has been a pleasure working with the CVF team over the past few years as we have been able to grow LightRiver into a more well-rounded software-focused business. They assisted with financial and strategic decisions throughout our partnership and were critical in our acquisition of LightRiver Software.”
According to Ed McNulty, Managing Partner at CVF Capital Partners, “We are delighted to have supported such an experienced management group. Glenn and team were great partners and their dedication led to LRT’s growth as a software service provider, while maintaining their excellence in hardware solutions.”
About LightRiver
LightRiver is the premier provider of next generation, multi-vendor, Factory Built Networks® and netFLEX® vendor neutral, Optical Domain Control Software solutions. LightRiver is an expert in Packet Optical, DWDM/ROADM, MPLS and Carrier Ethernet systems and designs, engineers, commissions, automates and supports next generation, software controlled, transport networks for mission-critical clients that require the highest capacity, reliability, resiliency and manageability that today’s optical communications technology can deliver. LightRiver delivers unique value with turnkey hardware and software solutions, carrier-grade quality and unparalleled customer care in multi-technology networking. For additional information about LightRiver, please visit www.lightriver.com.
About CVF Capital Partners
CVF Capital Partners was established in 2005 to finance later-stage growth, recaps, and buyout opportunities across the lower middle market. CVF invests both mezzanine debt and preferred equity from the $385 million in committed capital it has raised across three funds. The fund has offices throughout California – Davis, Fresno and San Diego. This geographical footprint allows the firm to attend to small businesses seeking capital throughout California and the broader Western United States. For more information, please visit www.cvfcapitalpartners.com.
For more information contact:
Ed McNulty
Managing Partner
Email: emcnulty@cvfcapitalpartners.com
Phone: 530-757-7004 ext. 226