WEST PALM BEACH, FL — Comvest Partners has completed the sale of jewelry retailer Robbins Brothers to the Robbins Brothers executive management team, Main Street Capital Corp. and other co-investors.
Headquartered in Azusa, CA, Robbins Brothers operates 15 retail jewelry stores in California, Texas, Washington, Arizona and online, primarily in the bridal segment.
“Our partnership with Comvest has played a pivotal role in the professionalization of our business, helping deliver strong growth as we broadened our product offering, invested in our stores, and scaled very profitably,” said Marc Friedant, CEO of Robbins Brothers. “We are excited about our new partnership with Main Street Capital, which we are confident will enable our next phase of growth.”
Tom Clark, senior partner at Comvest, said, “It has been a tremendous experience partnering with President and CEO Marc Friedant and the rest of the Robbins Brothers management team to build one of the nation’s premier jewelry retailers.”
Krishna Bhadriraju, vice president at Comvest, added, “Robbins Brothers continues to differentiate in the bridal space through a strong brand identity driven by positive and meaningful in-store customer experiences, exceptional service, and an impressive breadth of high-quality jewelry products.”
Robbins Brothers provided additional details in a press release:
AZUSA, CA — Robbins Brothers Executive Leadership Team announces that it recently completed a Management Buyout of the company. Main Street Capital Corporation (NYSE: MAIN) (“Main Street”), along with its co-investors, partnered with the Company’s senior management team to provide funding in a combination of first-lien, senior secured term debt and a direct equity investment to finance the transaction as well as provide capital to support its future growth. Robbins Brothers started as a family-owned business in the 1920s and, most recently, Robbins Brothers had been a portfolio company of Comvest Partners, an operationally focused middle-market private investment firm in West Palm Beach, FL. In its partnership with Comvest, Robbins Brothers built out a high performing professional Executive team, a scalable jewelry platform, and deep operational infrastructure to support its anticipated growth.
Robbins Brothers, with over a 100-year operating history, is a leading independent regional Bridal jeweler that offers its customers the highest quality diamond engagement rings, wedding bands, settings, and fashion jewelry. “Robbins Brothers differentiates itself through its unwavering dedication to superior services, best-in-class selection, a comforting ambience and a steadfast commitment, which results in attractive unit economics” says Diego Fernandez, Managing Director at Main Street. David Magdol, President & Chief Investment Officer at Main Street commented, “Robbins Brothers has a seasoned Executive Leadership Team with over 200 years of retail and consumer experience to navigate and lead the business through key short- and long-term growth initiatives.”
The company is poised for expansion under a multi-faceted growth plan, including de novo unit openings and fill-in opportunities in existing and adjacent markets as well as in-store and online initiatives to drive sales growth and improved profitability. “We are very much looking forward to working alongside Main Street, and with the necessary financing and growth capital that they have provided.” stated Marc Friedant, President & CEO, Robbins Brothers. Marc went on to add, “The company successfully navigated the challenging early stages of the pandemic and emerged with exciting same-store sales and profitability performance, while setting the stage for our future growth initiatives”.
Duff & Phelps, A Kroll Business, and Capstone Partners acted as financial advisors, and McDermott Will & Emery LLP acted as legal advisor to Robbins Brothers.