“Investment firm raising sixth fund”

Nashville Business Journal, by Judy Sarles, April 4, 2003

Tennessee Valley Ventures is organizing its sixth investment fund, but its managers remain mum about its plans.

The firm has filed Tennessee incorporation documents for the fund's general partnership under the name TVV Equity Investors II LLC. Nashville-based Andrew W. Byrd & Co. LLC, which has been in business since 1994, manages Tennessee Valley Ventures LP, a partnership that invests mainly in management-led buyouts of small and mid-sized businesses, primarily in the Southeast.

The principals and advisors of Tennessee Valley Ventures have raised and managed five investment funds since 1987, with a combined value of about $25 million.

Over the years, Tennessee Valley Ventures has recruited several heavy hitters to its investment board, including HCA Inc. Chairman and CEO Jack Bovender Jr., Wiley Brothers-Aintree Capital Chairman and President David Wiley Jr. and John Cooper, general manager of PLC and Maryland Commons. Andrew Byrd, chief manager and president of the private equity firm, and Charles Sell, Andrew W. Byrd director of acquisitions, also serve on the board.

The firm's advisory board includes Orrin Ingram II, president and CEO of Ingram Industries, George Sullivan, former president of Northern Telecom International, and Bruce Sullivan, a former managing partner at Ernst & Young.

Despite the board's high-profile members, Byrd says they have no problems reaching agreement on investments.

"Everybody on the board approves each investment," he says. "It's worked out fabulously."

Organizers have no plans to change the blueprint for operation of the fund, which has remained strong in a tough economic environment. Byrd says the fund's portfolio companies are performing well. Among them are:

• Multi-Link of Lexington, Ky., a developer, manufacturer, and marketer of a variety of telecommunications and related devices for business and personal users,
• Precision Boilers of Morristown, a manufacturer of electric hot water and steam boilers and electric hot water storage heaters,
• Albertville Quality Foods of Albertville, Ala., a poultry processor, and
• Southern Quality Meats of Pontotoc, Miss., a processor of pork sausage products.

Byrd won't discuss the fund in more detail, citing concerns about federal securities law exemptions. Under federal law, publicity can convert private placements into public offerings in the eyes of regulators.