Principal Investments

Creative investment solutions backed by our operational and financial expertise

Our experienced professionals have deep investment and operational expertise with the ability to leverage the resources across our platform in order to identify attractive investment opportunities and deliver financial and operational improvement. Our team develops creative solutions for distressed companies or divisions that exhibit challenging market dynamics. Solutions may include recapitalization, direct equity investment, debt investment, active minority investment and buyouts.

We apply a private equity approach to investing and operating businesses, which drives cash generation and allows us to leverage our small- and mid-cap industry experience and deal flow.

Our unique access to the firm's infrastructure, capital and close relationships with lenders and other financial institutions enable us to have a wide field of view on investment opportunities, thus providing us the ability to self-source proprietary opportunities. We seek to control or influence the operations of our investments to deliver financial and operational improvements that will maximize free cash flow, and therefore, shareholder returns.

Our team has the ability to address a broad variety of transaction types ranging from solutions for clients looking for capital or more efficient back-office operations to public corporations looking to maximize shareholder value or release non-core assets.

Investment Criteria

  • $5-$100MM+ investment size
  • Strong potential for growth of stable, recurring free cash flow
  • Specialize in distressed, orphaned and contrarian situations
  • Ability to control or influence operations of target
  • Partner with key stakeholders and management teams to maximize value
  • Focus on value through synergies in organizational structure and operations
  • Strategic add-on investments for existing portfolio companies
  • Board representation

Transaction Types

  • Buyout and control investments
  • Direct equity & debt investments
  • Special situations
  • Activist situations
  • Liquidation opportunities
  • Corporate divestitures & carve-outs
  • Recapitalization
  • Distressed & turnarounds

NOTABLE EQUITY & CREDIT INVESTMENTS

PUBLIC EQUITY

  • Participated in multiple equity offerings for Lilium [LILM] to support the development of its eVTOL jet. Acted as placement agent for a $119mm equity offering in November 2022 and as sole bookrunner for a $192mm equity financing in July 2023.
  • Led several equity offerings since 2018 for tech platform and media company The Arena Group [AREN], formerly theMaven, helping the company uplist to the NYSE in January 2022. B. Riley currently owns approximately 25% of the company and has two board seats.
  • Led a A$24mm equity offering for Australia-based IperionX [IPX] in September 2021, supporting the development of its titanium metal technologies.
  • B. Riley Securities acted as sole bookrunner in the $114mm IPO of digital games publisher DoubleDown Interactive [DDI] in September 2021. In support of the company, just 11 days later, B. Riley Financial announced a cash tender offer to acquire 2mm ADS of DDI at the original IPO price.
  • Led several equity and debt transactions for containership owner Global Ship Lease [GSL], including a $51mm equity offering in October 2019, a $70mm equity offering in January 2021, and a $58mm block trade in September 2021.
  • Led and backstopped a refinancing of the full capital structure of wireless carrier software provider Synchronoss [SNCR] in June 2021, including a $110mm equity offering. B. Riley currently owns approximately 15% of the Company and has a board seat.
  • Backstopped a $50mm rights offering in April 2019 and led a $298mm equity offering in February 2021 for global supplier of energy and environmental technologies and services Babcock & Wilcox [BW]. B. Riley currently owns approximately 31% of the company and has a board seat.
  • Took energy storage provider EOS Energy [EOSE] public in November 2020 via a B. Riley-sponsored SPAC.
  • Took equipment dealership platform Alta Equipment Group [ALTG] public in February 2020 via a B. Riley-sponsored SPAC. B. Riley currently owns approximately 12% of the company and has a board seat.
  • Acquired a significant stake in franchise platform company Franchise Group [FRG] in July 2018. Advised on and financed multiple M&A transactions. B. Riley currently owns approximately 36% of the company.
  • Acquired a significant stake in bebe stores, inc. [BEBE] in January 2018 and assisted in bebe's transformation to an online-only retailer. B. Riley currently owns approximately 40% of the company and has two board seats.
  • Led a $58mm secondary equity offering for gaming content provider Inspired Entertainment [INSE] in June 2021.
  • Other notable public equity positions have included Marchex [MCHX], NextNav [NN], Perpetua Resources [PPTA], Quantum [QMCO], TransAct [TACT], The Tile Shop [TTSH], and Innovate [VATE].

PRIVATE EQUITY

  • Established fashion brand portfolio in partnership with Bluestar Alliance in October 2019 to hold majority ownership of assets and IP related to licenses of six brands: Catherine Malandrino, English Laundry, Joan Vass, Kensie Girl, Limited Too and Nanette Lepore. Participated as a minority equity investor in Bluestar Alliance's acquisitions of the Hurley, Justice, and Scotch & Soda brands.
  • Backed a management team in August 2022 to fund the rebuild of Atlantic Coast Recycling, a residential and commercial recycling facility in the NYC metro area.
  • Led a $30mm venture round in March 2022 for tort case management software company Torticity.
  • Supported California Natural Resources Group in its November 2021 purchase of California Resources Corp.'s oil and gas fields in the Ventura Basin. B. Riley bridged the acquisition and participated as a minority equity investor.
  • Helped lead the purchase of key assets out of the BJ Services Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020, forming power generation solutions platform Kanaci Technologies. B. Riley owns approximately 20% of the company and has a board seat.
  • Led the acquisition of Italian sportswear brand Sergio Tacchini as majority equity investor. Owned from July 2019 to July 2022.

WHOLLY-OWNED ACQUISITIONS

  • Acquired Targus in October 2022, growing B. Riley's portfolio of steady cash-generative businesses. The company is a multinational manufacturer of laptop and tablet cases, backpacks, docking stations, and computer accessories, and is led by former B. Riley board member Mikel Williams.
  • Built a diversified platform of communications companies with recurring revenue and steady cash flow characteristics, through a series of acquisitions since 2016, including:
    • United Online, an internet access provider that offers dial-up, mobile broadband and DSL services under the NetZero and Juno brands, acquired May 2016.
    • magicJack, a VoIP cloud-based technology and communications provider that offers related devices and subscription services, acquired November 2018.
    • Marconi Wireless and Credo Mobile, MVNOs acquired in 2021.
    • Lingo Management, a global cloud/UC and managed service provider. B. Riley acquired Lingo in February 2022 after owning a significant stake since December 2020. Lingo acquired BullsEye Telecom, a single source communications and cloud technology provider in August 2022.
  • Acquired leading independent investment bank FocalPoint Securities in January 2022 to expand B. Riley Securities' M&A advisory business and enhance its debt capital markets and financial restructuring capabilities.
  • Acquired National Holdings in February 2021, after owning a large stake since 2018. The acquisition meaningfully expanded the advisor and asset base of the B. Riley Wealth platform.
  • Acquired specialty financial advisory services firm GlassRatner in July 2018 to establish a business consulting services vertical for B. Riley, including bankruptcy and restructuring services, forensic accounting and litigation support, valuation services, and real estate consulting.

DEBT

  • Provided a $50mm loan to Applied Digital [APLD] in May 2023 to support the buildout of its AI cloud platform and datacenters.
  • Provided $60mm in debt financing to Harrow Health [HROW] in January 2023 to support its acquisition of the exclusive commercial rights to five FDA approved ophthalmic products.
  • Purchased performing credit receivables from Badcock, a furniture retailer and subsidiary of Franchise Group [FRG]. Cumulative purchase price of $700mm from December 2021 to October 2022.
  • Provided $26.5mm in secured debt to cypto datacenter Greenidge Generation [GREE] in March 2022 to fund expansion.
  • Provided $115mm in debt financing to an SPV alongside Exela Technologies [XELA] in November 2021 to purchase the company's subsidiary debt and catalyze a global restructuring.
  • Led and backstopped a refinancing of the full capital structure of wireless carrier software provider Synchronoss [SNCR] in June 2021, including a $125mm senior notes offering and a $75mm preferred stock private placement.
  • Provided $15mm in debt financing to telehealth company LifeMD [LFMD] to support its growth plans.
  • Provided a $50mm credit facility as part of a $107.5mm refinancing solution in June 2021 for Cadiz [CDZI], a publicly held natural resources company that owns property and water resources in Southern California.
  • Provided $68mm in senior secured notes to support tech platform and media company The Arena Group [AREN], formerly theMaven, in its July 2019 acquisition of theStreet.com and a license to operate Sports Illustrated's media businesses.
  • Provided non-convertible preferred stock to American Natural Gas in support of its June 2019 acquisition of ampCNG, a competitor with a portfolio of 20 CNG stations.
  • Led $150mm last out term loan to global supplier of energy and environmental technologies and services Babcock & Wilcox [BW] in April 2019 to allow the company to exit legacy contracts and focus on growing its core business. B. Riley subsequently led two senior notes offerings and a preferred stock offering in 2021.
  • Provided debt capital to support Traub Capital's October 2018 acquisition of Signature Brands, a manufacturer and distributor of decorating and celebration products.

Investment Strategy

We leverage significant in-house asset valuation expertise to gain meaningful insight into collateral values: this singular perspective on real-time market trends and values enables us to extend beyond standard structures to assign value to traditional and non-traditional assets that other lenders are generally unwilling to finance. Our typical transaction ranges from $10 million to $100 million, with the ability to underwrite larger transactions.

We work collaboratively with management teams to develop optimal credit solutions and often work in partnership with institutional investors, such as commercial and regional banks, private equity funds and family offices to deliver comprehensive, creative solutions tailored to each company's unique situation.

Transaction Types

Our customized capital solutions support healthy and distressed companies by providing an alternative source of capital to meet a wide range of near-and long-term objectives:

  • Working capital
  • Corporate acquisitions
  • Recapitalizations
  • Growth capital
  • Refinancing
  • Restructuring/turnarounds

Transaction Structures

We provide secured debt financing in various forms:

  • 1st and 2nd lien secured loans
  • Unitranche loans
  • Debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing
  • FILO (first in last out) loans
  • Bridge facilities
  • Hybrid/cash flow loans