NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
Lightyear Capital LLC ("Lightyear"), a private equity firm that
focuses on financial services, today announced that Lightyear Fund II,
L.P. has signed a definitive agreement to make a significant
investment in Higher One Holdings, Inc. ("Higher One" or the
"Company"), a technology-driven financial services company serving
higher education. Lightyear's investment in Higher One is part of a
leveraged recapitalization through which the Company will repurchase
shares from existing investors. Lightyear will become Higher One's
largest shareholder with a significant minority stake.
Higher One provides electronic financial disbursement and payment
solutions for universities and their students that save the time and
expense associated with handling financial aid refunds, on-campus and
community purchases, payment collections, and more. The Company also
offers a suite of online banking and debit card services to university
students. Founded in 2000 by three Yale students, Higher One today
serves roughly 185 schools with 1.5 million students. Growing demand
for Higher One's solutions resulted in the Company's being ranked 85th
on the 2007 Inc. list of the 500 fastest growing private companies in
America.
"Higher One provides Lightyear with a strategic investment
opportunity in a high-growth area of the payments processing
industry," said Donald B. Marron, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
of Lightyear. "Higher One represents a classic Lightyear investment:
we have identified a strong, talented management team running a unique
technology-focused business that is supported by long-term growth
trends, including the continuing shift toward electronic payments and
the use of debit cards."
Mark F. Vassallo, Managing Director of Lightyear, added,
"Lightyear has been targeting investments in the payments sector as
part of our strategy of identifying niche growth companies where
technology is integral to the delivery of innovative financial
products and services. With our history of investing in higher
education and financial technology, our investment in Higher One is a
perfect fit with this strategy."
Stewart Gross, Managing Director of Lightyear, who will join
Higher One's board in connection with the transaction, added, "Higher
One has developed a distinctive, proven business model with visible,
stable, and predictable revenue streams. Higher One's scalable
operating platform will produce increasing profit margins as the
business grows. We have tremendous confidence in the Higher One
management team and look forward to supporting them as we partner with
the Company to achieve its next phase of growth."
"Lightyear is an ideal investment partner for Higher One," said
Dean Hatton, Chief Executive Officer of Higher One. "We knew we needed
to provide some of our early shareholders an exit strategy, and we
wanted to secure a strong capital partner to support the enormous
growth of our business. Lightyear's strategic management capabilities
and knowledge of both the higher education industry and the financial
technology sector will be invaluable in building Higher One into an
even more impactful player in serving universities and their
students."
Lightyear's legal counsel was Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.
Higher One's financial advisor was Banc of America Securities LLC,
with legal counsel from Wiggin and Dana LLP.
ABOUT LIGHTYEAR CAPITAL
Lightyear is a private equity investment firm providing buyout and
growth capital to companies in the financial services industry. Based
in New York, Lightyear, through its affiliated funds, has managed
approximately $3 billion of committed capital with investments across
the financial services spectrum, including asset management, banking,
brokerage, financial technology, insurance, leasing, related business
services, and other sectors within financial services. Lightyear
brings unique strengths and discipline to its investment process, as
well as operating, transaction, and strategic management experience,
along with significant contacts and resources beyond capital. The
senior team of professionals each has approximately 25 years of
financial services-related experience and includes Chris Casciato,
David Cynn, David Glenn, Stewart Gross, Thierry Ho, Donald Marron,
Richard Sterne, and Mark Vassallo. For more information, please visit
www.lycap.com.
ABOUT HIGHER ONE, INC.
Founded in 2000, Higher One provides higher education institutions
and their students with efficient, convenient and easy-to-use
solutions to handle financial disbursements. These include: student
refunds, on-campus and community purchases, payroll and employee
expenses, as well as the collection of payments from students,
parents, and sponsors.
Higher One offers a suite of online banking services including the
OneAccount, an FDIC-insured checking account, and OneCard, a Debit
MasterCard(R). To date, Higher One has disbursed over $4 billion in
refunds for its clients to more than 2 million students, faculty, and
staff at distinguished public and private higher education
institutions throughout the country.
Higher One recently ranked 85 on the 2007 Inc. List of the 500
Fastest Growing Companies in the United States. Higher One is based in
New Haven, Connecticut.
For Lightyear Capital:
Sloane & Company
Amanda Kiely, 212-486-9500
or
For Higher One:
Edelman
Melissa Kanter, 212-704-8261
or
Kelly Rohrs, 212-819-4852
Copyright Business Wire 2008
