About This Fund
Eagle Merchant Partners Fund I is the inaugural lower middle-market private equity buyout fund managed by Eagle Merchant Partners, an Atlanta, Georgia-based investment firm founded by Stockton Croft and Bill Lundstrom. The fund closed at over $256 million in August 2023, surpassing its fundraising target and attracting commitments from U.S. and international institutions, endowments, foundations, wealth managers, and family offices. Aviditi Advisors served as placement agent and Kirkland and Ellis LLP as legal counsel on the fundraise.
The fund targets control investments in founder-owned, lower middle-market companies seeking their first institutional capital in the Southeastern United States, focusing on businesses with $2 million to $20 million of EBITDA in the franchise, consumer, and industrial sectors. Eagle Merchant Partners' investment philosophy centers on providing operational and strategic expertise alongside capital, partnering with management teams to accelerate organic growth, professionalize operations, and build scaled regional platforms. The Southeast provides the firm with compelling demographics, a business-friendly regulatory climate, and a fragmented lower middle market where proprietary sourcing advantages are most pronounced.
Eagle Merchant Partners Fund I has been fully deployed across eight platform investments, establishing the firm's track record ahead of the successful launch of Fund II. The team's collective prior investment experience spans more than $1 billion of private equity invested, forming the foundation for the firm's repeatable process for sourcing, evaluating, and partnering with founder-led businesses in the region. The inaugural fund's rapid deployment and realized investment activity validated the firm's differentiated model and paved the way for a $415 million Fund II, closed in just seven months in 2025.