![]() “NMSC is proud to partner on this transformational new fund to address the racial wealth gap,” said Kevin Boes, President and CEO of NMSC. LISC and A&H are mission- and values-aligned to drive resources into enterprises and communities of color that have been denied growth finance over the years. “A&H is focused on the latter, especially for workforces of color, which have been shut out of equity ownership for so long.”Ī&H will also announce a Legacy Fund I strategic partnership with LISC’s New Markets Support Company (NMSC), which will become the nationwide partner for the ELBO senior debt tranche. “There are two traditional paths to build wealth in America – you can own your home, or you can own your business,” said Philip Reeves, Co-Founder at A&H. The firm hired its first Associate, Kyle Chin-How, shortly thereafter. Jason Ollison and Natalie Edwards rounded out the partnership in 2021. Co-founder Michael Brownrigg joined soon afterward to help move the concept from one-off deal making into a scalable private equity fund. With a planning grant from Citi Community Development, critical launch funding from the Kendeda Foundation, and additional support from the Kellogg Foundation, DAWI made space and resources available to Leverette and co-founder Philip Reeves to incubate A&H. DAWI is a national organization dedicated to innovation, equity and scale for worker-owned businesses, and will provide technical assistance to A&H portfolio companies. “Making this announcement so close to Juneteenth feels like the right time for us to make this announcement, since A&H is providing a path to financial freedom for workforces of color across the United States.”Ī&H was conceived by Leverette in collaboration with colleagues at the Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI). “We are looking to make life-changing investments with this first fund to address the significant and growing wealth gap in this country, especially for Black and brown workers,” said Todd Leverette, Co-founding Principal at A&H. A&H will focus on companies mainly in waste hauling, landscaping, elder care, commercial cleaning, food processing, and other essential service sectors in America. A&H expects an average worker who benefits from an A&H-assisted buyout to accrue retirement savings of $70,000 – $120,000 each, which can be life changing.Ī&H’s Legacy Fund I intends to buy at least eight closely held companies from retiring founders, converting at least 500 workers over the next five years into employee/owners. In today’s America, 60% of Black and 65% of LatinX workers have $0 in retirement assets making workers vulnerable to financial insecurity as they age and without resources to pass on to the next generation. The fund surpassed its $15 million first close target, with support from leading investors and advisors including the Ford Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation’s Zero Gap Fund, The Skoll Foundation and its advisor Capricorn Investments, Gary Community Investments, Ascension Investment Management, and others.Ī&H is a BIPOC-led private equity fund that has developed an “employee-led buyout” (ELBO) model that gives retiring owners a fair market price for their businesses, often with significant tax advantages, as employees become the employee/owners of the business with A&H’s assistance. |J– Apis & Heritage Capital Partners (A&H) announced its First Close at $30 million for its flagship Legacy Fund I, which is designed to help close the country’s racial wealth gap by transitioning businesses with large workforces of color into 100% employee-owned enterprises.
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