Crestline Specialty Lending (CSL), a part of the opportunistic investment group of credit-focused institutional alternative asset manager Crestline Investors, is supporting benefitexpress’ add-on acquisition of benefitsCONNECT.
benefitexpress, headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois, provides a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service platform for employee benefits and health exchanges. The company provides software and services, including benefit enrolment, management and administration, billing services and a call centre, to employers across the US.
benefitexpress was formed in 2001 and is a current portfolio company of LLR Partners, a Philadelphia-based private equity investment firm.
"Since completing the investment with LLR, benefitexpress has been committed to building on our existing momentum and investing in our growth," said Michael Sternklar (pictured), CEO of benefitexpress. "The acquisition of benefitsCONNECT is an exciting milestone in our growth plan, giving employers and insurance brokers access to benefits administration and enrollment solutions for companies of all sizes."
"Crestline provided a creative financing solution on an expedited timeline," says Sasank Aleti, vice president of LLR. "We are pleased to have Crestline as a lending partner and look forward to continuing to work with them."
"Crestline is excited to support LLR and partner with the benefitexpress management team as they continue to execute their growth strategy," says Jonathan Ben-Horin, director at Crestline. "The combined businesses are highly complementary and the acquisition of benefitsCONNECT solidifies benefitexpress' position as a leading provider of benefits administration and enrolment solutions."
