Realized Investment Portfolio
BEST
(Blue Entertainment Sports Television)
Blue Entertainment Sports Television ultimately evolved into a unified, full-service sports, sporting events, sports television and media, broadcasting, entertainment, and marketing company. BEST acquired and integrated over 10 prestigious companies in the sector through leveraged buyouts that then grew substantially through cross platform synergies and organic growth. BEST was sold to Lagardére Unlimited (MMB: EN Paris), which boasts one of the largest portfolios of athletic representation, event companies, and sports television rights in the world.
Blue Book
The Bluegrass Telephone Directories company included both English language and Spanish language telephone directories. Blue Equity, LLC sold the English language directories, the Blue Book, to private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson shortly after acquisition for a significant profit and, as a part of the original business plan, ultimately grew the Spanish language directories substantially before an ultimate liquidity event.
Enlace Spanish Yellow Pages
Enlace Spanish Yellow Pages was the retained and rebranded portion of the Bluegrass English and Spanish Yellow Page directories acquisition. Blue Equity, through organic growth and through acquisitions, scaled the Enlace Spanish Yellow Pages from 1 market to over 32 markets in over 18 states and became the largest independent publisher of Spanish language telephone directories in the United States (beating out competitors such as Abry Partners and Duff & Phelps). Enlace was ultimately sold to the leading telecommunications company in Mexico, Telmex (BMV: TELINT), controlled by Carlos Slim and family.
First Omni Mortgage Lending
First Omni Mortgage Lending was a nationally licensed mortgage banking company. First Omni generated and closed nearly half a billion dollars in residential mortgages annually. The First Omni platform also included a complete in-house underwriting department to provide warehousing and bundling services for loans closed by the company. The assets of the division were sold to Envoy Mortgage of Texas in late 2010.
Seccion Amarilla
Sección Amarilla USA was the nation's largest publisher of Spanish language telephone directories. Its Spanish language directories featured advertising from local and national companies that currently serve or seek to attract the rapidly emerging Hispanic market in the United States. Sección Amarilla USA grew from 32 markets to over 60 markets in over 31 states and is the largest independent publisher of Spanish language telephone directories in the United States. Blue Equity was a joint venture equity partner in Sección Amarilla with Telmex International (controlled by the Carlos Slim family) after selling control of the business to Telmex and ultimately exited its remaining equity stake in late 2009.