Ridgemont Equity closes fund's ninth deal

Ridgemont Equity Partners, the Charlotte private equity firm spun out of Bank of America three years ago, announced Tuesday that it has closed the ninth deal of its first fund independent of the bank.

The firm made an equity investment in Simpleview, a Tucson, Ariz., company that provides online systems for destination marketing organizations, like convention and visitor bureaus. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Telecom and technology is one of Ridgemont's four key focus areas, alongside healthcare, energy and industrials, vice president Kurt Leedy said. Within technology, software-as-a-service companies in a particular industry vertical, like Simpleview, are prime targets.

"We like to buy businesses and invest in businesses that benefit from the growth in digital data," Leedy said.

It's Ridgemont's third deal closed this year. The firm announced a $100 million joint deal with Titan River, a Texas-based oil and gas exploration and extraction company, in March. Ridgemont partnered with another Texas company, Unitex Oil and Gas, to buy oil assets in January.

Leedy declined to say how large Ridgemont's current fund is, or how the firm has progressed with it. Documents filed with the SEC in December disclosed that the fund had sold $586.1 million of its $675 million offering.