KING OF PRUSSIA, PA (January 7, 2014) — Quench, the largest independent provider of filtered drinking water and ice dispensers in North America, announced today that it has secured $38.5 million in equity and debt financing. New investor T. Rowe Price joins existing Quench investors Element Partners, Virgin Green Fund, Douglas Brown, ORIX Ventures, Advent-Morro Equity Partners, Potomac Energy Fund and The Pohlad Companies.
“This funding will accelerate our growth, as we continue to capitalize on the trend of environmentally and financially-conscious business and institutional users who are switching to on-demand filtered water from traditional plastic-jug water coolers,” said Quench CEO Tony Ibarguen. “We are expanding our sales and marketing team to drive organic growth and will continue to target strategic acquisitions of like-minded entrepreneurs in the industry.”
Hugh Evans, who led the investment for T. Rowe Price, added, “Quench is a very attractive platform, having developed a unique market position and recurring revenue business model in the fast-growing water services industry.”
About Quench
Headquartered outside Philadelphia, Quench is a clean-technology company that rents and services “bottle-less” water filtration systems (also known as point-of-use water coolers) and ice dispensers for businesses and institutions across North America. Quench systems purify tap water, providing a more cost-effective and environmentally-responsible solution than delivery of water in 5-gallon plastic jugs. With an installed base of over 27,000 customers across 49 states, Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean, Quench is the largest independent bottle-less water company in North America.
About T. Rowe Price
Founded in 1937, Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ – GS: TROW) is a global investment management organization with $647.2 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2013. The organization provides a broad array of mutual funds, sub-advisory services, and separate account management for individual and institutional investors, retirement plans, and financial intermediaries. The company also offers sophisticated investment planning and guidance tools. T. Rowe Price’s disciplined, risk-aware investment approach focuses on diversification, style consistency, and fundamental research. For more information, visit www.troweprice.com.
About Element Partners
Element Partners invests in high growth companies offering innovative solutions to global energy, resource, and environmental problems. Element is a growth equity investor that is willing to make minority equity investments and become a long-term partner with pioneering companies. Since 1995, Element’s team has successfully managed over $1.2 billion in capital commitments spanning six investment partnerships. These partnerships have all been focused on investing in profitable and growing energy, industrial, and environmental related businesses. Over the course of more than fifteen years, the principals of Element have collectively invested in over 100 companies. For more information, please visit www.elementpartners.com.
About Virgin Green Fund
Virgin Green Fund (“VGF”) is a leading growth capital investor targeting companies in the renewable energy and resource efficiency sectors, primarily in the United States and Europe. Virgin Green Fund seeks to help management teams increase the value of growing businesses by utilizing its equity, experience and global networks to help companies realize their market potential. In doing so, VGF works collaboratively with its portfolio companies, bringing to bear the operational expertise and financial acumen of the VGF Team to help management teams think critically about strategic issues such as market positioning, recruiting, acquisitions and financings. Virgin Green Fund has been launched with the backing of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and a strong network of additional limited partners. For more information, visit www.virgingreenfund.com.
About ORIX Ventures
ORIX Ventures, a business unit of ORIX USA Corporation, provides customized financial solutions to mid- and late-stage companies which have established customers and run-rate revenues of $10 million or greater. Since its inception in 2001, ORIX Ventures has invested in 90 growth companies throughout the U. S. and Canada. ORIX USA Corporation (www.orix.com) is a financial conglomerate with operations or investments across corporate, real estate and public finance markets as well as advisory services and asset management. ORIX USA’s public parent is ORIX Corporation, an, international financial services company established in 1964 with headquarters in Tokyo and operations in 27 countries. ORIX Corporation is listed on the Tokyo (8591) and New York (NYSE:IX) stock exchanges. For more information, visit www.orix.com.
About Advent-Morro Equity Partners
Advent-Morro Equity Partners is the leading U.S. private equity firm based in Puerto Rico and focuses on expansion capital and lower middle market buyouts predominantly targeted at companies led by Hispanic management teams or companies targeting the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American markets. Since its inception in 1989, Advent-Morro has invested in more than 40 companies, generating in aggregate over $3.5 billion in annual revenues and employing more than 3,000 people, making a significant contribution to economic development in the markets where those companies operate. For more information, visit www.adventmorro.com.
About Potomac Energy Fund
Located near Washington, D.C., the Potomac Energy Fund invests in leading companies across four broad themes: alternative energy, energy efficiency, infrastructure development and resource management. The Fund is sponsored by Potomac Asset Management Company, which has been making and managing private equity and mezzanine debt investments since 1995 and investing in clean technology since 2002. For more information on the Potomac Energy Fund, please visit www.potomacenergyfund.com.
About Pohlad Family Capital Fund
The Pohlad Family Capital Fund was created and fully funded in 2010 by the Pohlad family as a permanent capital base with the sole focus of non-control equity investments in private companies. PFCF brings 20+ years of broad transaction experience, a team oriented approach to investing, and a strong network of trusted advisors, professionals and investors, to offer more than just capital. Their family office background provides a unique investment perspective which differentiates PFCF from other financial partners. This background has been shaped through a storied history of entrepreneurial success in building, owning and operating companies in a number of different industries. Since the 1950’s, Carl R. Pohlad and his family have invested in and built a diverse set of businesses encompassing banking, financial services, commercial real estate, retail, automotive, entertainment and technology industries, as well as ownership of Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins. For more information, please visit www.pohladcompanies.com.
