BALTIMORE, MARYLAND (January 8, 2014) – Camden Partners today announced the sale of its interests in Towne Park, a portfolio company in Camden Partners Strategic Funds III and IV, to TA Associates. Towne Park is America’s premier valet parking and parking management experts, offering a range of hospitality services.
Founded in 1988, Towne Park serves hotels, healthcare facilities and other institutions, providing an array of parking and other outsourced staffing solutions. Originating as a small valet service for a single hotel, the company today has 8,500 associates serving more than 530 customers in 50 markets across the United States. Towne Park’s services include valet parking, self-parking, door service, bell service, patient transportation, employee support, concierge, shuttle transport and event services. Major hospitality clients include Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Corporation, Loews Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International, Omni Hotels and Resorts, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and Starwood Hotels and Resorts. Representative healthcare clients include Adventist Health System, Allegent Health, Banner Health, St. Luke’s Health System and Tenet Healthcare Corporation. Towne Park is headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland.
Camden, along with several of its Limited Partners including HarbourVest and ATAPCO, acquired a majority interest in 2007. Since then, Towne Park has acquired two significant valet parking add-ons and has grown EBITDA by over 200%. Camden was ably assisted by directors including Billy Prim, CEO of Primo Water and former CEO of Blue Rhino, Joe Jones, CEO of Center for Urban Families, as well as Gordon Pollock, Founder of Pollock Partners.
Camden Partners’ Senior Partner and Managing Member David Warnock served on Towne Park’s board of directors and Jerry South is the Company’s Founder & CEO.
“Towne Park is a fabulous company and was a wonderful investment for our Strategic Partner Funds,” said David Warnock. “I’m confident they have many years of growth ahead of them. We were happy to receive a valuation that reflected its premier position in the hospitality industry.”
“Since May 2007, I have enjoyed the partnership our management team has forged with everyone at Camden Partners, specifically with David Warnock,” commented Jerry South. “David and the Camden team brought the right influence at exactly the right times over the past 6.5 years. While I am saddened by what feels like the end of a great relationship, I quickly realize how prepared Towne Park is for our next phase of growth! As our company continues its evolution, management is forever grateful for Camden’s guidance and influence during a very critical time in our company’s growth story.”
For more information please go to TA’s press release at http://www.ta.com/News/TA-Associates-Acquires-Majority-Interest-in-Towne.aspx
About Towne Park
Based in Annapolis, Maryland Towne Park is a national provider of contracted hospitality services and parking systems with over 8,500 employees serving 530+ hotels, hospitals and other hospitality locations from coast to coast. Towne Park partners with its clients to provide high quality customer service for their guests. The Company’s principal client service is valet parking, but they also offer a variety of ancillary services including banquet service, doorman, bellman, concierge and consulting services. For more information please go to www.townepark.com.
About TA Associates
TA Associates is one of the largest and most experienced global growth private equity firms. The firm has invested in more than 430 companies around the world and has raised $18 billion in capital. With offices in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong, TA Associates leads buyouts and minority recapitalizations of profitable growth companies in the technology, financial services, business services, healthcare and consumer industries. For more information please go to www.ta.com.
About Camden Partners
Camden Partners is a Baltimore-based private equity firm focused on seed and growth stage investments in healthcare, education, technology and business services companies. For more information, please go to: www.camdenpartners.com.