08/26/2015
Citizens Bank leads $60 million in new financing for The Rockport Group
Funds will be used in New Balance Holding and Berkshire Partners’ acquisition of shoemaker
BOSTON – Citizens Bank announced today that it has closed $60 million of new senior secured credit facilities for The Rockport Group, a Canton, Mass.-based shoe designer and manufacturer.
Berkshire Partners LLC, a Boston-based investment firm, together with New Balance Holding, Inc., the investment arm of New Balance, announced earlier this month the completed acquisition of The Rockport Company from the adidas Group. The Rockport Company is a leading designer and marketer of high-quality comfort footwear for men and women. As part of the transaction, Drydock Footwear LLC, formerly a New Balance affiliate and home to the Cobb Hill, Aravon and Dunham brands, joined together with The Rockport Company to form The Rockport Group with Bob Infantino serving as CEO. The Rockport Group, which remains based in the Greater Boston area, is a new stand-alone company offering high-quality dress and casual footwear to customers globally across four brands — Rockport, Cobb Hill, Aravon and Dunham.
Citizens Bank acted as Sole Lead Arranger, Bookrunner and Administrative Agent on the new senior secured credit facilities.
“The Rockport Group transaction continues our long-term relationship with Citizens Bank,” said Dave Bordeau, Managing Director of Berkshire Partners. “Citizens is a valuable financial partner to Berkshire Partners on a number of other portfolio investments and we look forward to working with them more in the future.”
“We are very pleased to have worked with Citizens Bank on this transaction,” said Bob Infantino, President and CEO of The Rockport Group. “The deal team at Citizens brought a number of great ideas to the table and executed the new transaction seamlessly. The credit facilities provide significant liquidity and flexibility for The Rockport Group to help facilitate growth as a combined company.”
“This is an exciting time for The Rockport Group and we are glad to have been able to help the management team execute this transition,” said Quincy Miller, President of Citizens Bank, Massachusetts.
For more information, please go to the Citizens Commercial Banking website.
About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest financial institutions, with $137.3 billion in assets as of June 30, 2015. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens offers a broad range of retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle‐market companies, large corporations and institutions. In Consumer Banking, Citizens helps its retail customers “bank better” with mobile and online banking, a 24/7 customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 3,200 ATMs and approximately 1,200 Citizens Bank branches in 11 states in the New England, Mid‐Atlantic and Midwest regions. Citizens also provides mortgage lending, auto lending, student lending and commercial banking services in select markets nationwide. In Commercial Banking, Citizens offers corporate, institutional and not‐for‐profit clients a full range of wholesale banking products and services including lending and deposits, capital markets, treasury services, foreign exchange and interest hedging, leasing and asset finance, specialty finance and trade finance.
Citizens operates through its subsidiaries Citizens Bank, N.A., and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. Additional information about Citizens and its full line of products and services can be found at www.citizensbank.com.
