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With private capital fundraising on the decline and a growing number of high-quality independent sponsor professionals, the Align Collaborate team views the current market as a catalyst to carve out a dedicated strategy to partner with this distinct group of investors. Collaborate will target $5-30 million equity investments per transaction in support of platform companies with between $2-15 million of EBITDA.

"Align Collaborate is a great complement to ACP's flagship fund strategy and our collective commitment to helping lower-middle market businesses grow. Our new strategy will allow us to have a dedicated team and equity capital focused on serving as a true growth partner to independent sponsors," said ACP Co-Founders and Managing Partners Chris Jones and Rob Langley. Since its founding in 2016, Align Capital Partners has raised over $1.5 billion in committed capital and closed 98 total acquisitions.

Prior to forming Align Collaborate, Grant and Michael Kornman co-founded NCK Capital, a boutique independent sponsor that acquired controlling interests in lower-middle market companies. The pair completed five platform acquisitions across a variety of industries during their time at NCK Capital.

"Based on our prior experience at NCK, we understand the importance of helping independent sponsors answer the inevitable seller question - where does your money come from?" said Align Collaborate Partner Grant Kornman. "We are excited to be part of the Align Collaborate strategy, where our goal is to provide speed and certainty to what often is the most important deal of an independent sponsor's career."

"We recognized the need for value-added equity capital for independent sponsor transactions," said Align Collaborate Partner Michael Kornman. "Under the ACP umbrella, we aim to offer not only greater certainty of funding, but a partnership approach that combines our direct experience leading independent sponsor investments with growth resources from the Align Capital Partners toolkit."