Levine Leichtman Capital Partners Sells Its Investment in Mountain Mike’s Pizza

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Levine Leichtman Capital Partners (“LLCP”), a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, announced today that it has sold its investment in Mountain Mike’s Pizza (“MMP” or the “Company”) to an entity controlled by Chris Britt and Ed St. Geme, the co-CEOs of the Company.

Mountain Mike’s Pizza is a leading franchisor of pizza restaurants with over 245 stores located in California, Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, and Nevada. The restaurants feature fresh, made-to-order pizzas served in a casual, family-friendly atmosphere. Mountain Mike’s was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Newport Beach, CA.

Matthew Frankel, Managing Partner of LLCP, said, “The investment in MMP has been extremely successful for LLCP and the Company’s management team. Since our initial investment in 2017, MMP has substantially increased its store count and expanded into several new states. Additionally, we have accelerated value creation through initiatives such as acquiring territory rights, creating a franchise development team, and successfully launching the MMP mobile app. We are excited to see MMP continue to execute its growth plan and wish the Company continued success in the future.”

Mr. Britt commented, “We are very grateful for our successful partnership with LLCP over the past five years. As we look forward to the continued growth of Mountain Mike’s Pizza across the country, the contributions LLCP has made to our strategy and franchising capabilities have been instrumental to our accomplishments to date.” Mr. St. Geme added, “LLCP has been the perfect value-add partner for us, and their people have been great to work with. We will miss their counsel and our collaboration.”

Honigman LLP served as legal counsel to LLCP in connection with the transaction.

About Levine Leichtman Capital Partners

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, LLC is a middle-market private equity firm with a 38-year track record of investing across various targeted sectors, including franchising, business services, education and engineered products. LLCP utilizes a differentiated Structured Private Equity investment strategy, combining debt and equity capital investments in portfolio companies. This unique structure provides a less dilutive solution for management teams and entrepreneurs, while delivering growth and income with a significantly lower risk profile.

LLCP’s global team of dedicated investment professionals is led by nine partners who have worked at LLCP for an average of 18 years. Since inception, LLCP has managed approximately $12.8 billion of institutional capital across 15 investment funds and has invested in over 90 portfolio companies. LLCP currently manages $8.8 billion of assets and has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Charlotte, Miami, London, Stockholm, The Hague and Frankfurt.