Golub Capital provides $270M senior loan for Strickland Brothers.

Golub Capital has provided a $270 million senior credit package to refinance and back growth at quick-lube operator Strickland Brothers, supporting sponsor Princeton Equity Group as it executes an expansion plan across the US. Golub served as Administrative Agent and Sole Lender on the transaction, which blends working-capital flexibility with term financing.

The financing is structured as a multi-piece senior facility consisting of a revolver, a first-lien term loan and a first-lien delayed-draw term loan. Together the tranches are intended to replace prior capital and provide dry powder for rollouts and franchise support at Strickland Brothers, which operates nearly 300 franchise and corporate-owned locations offering oil changes and routine maintenance.

Golub’s direct-lending team framed the deal as a sponsor-backed refinancing tailored to a high-frequency service business. Spyro Alexopoulos, Co-Head of Direct Lending at Golub Capital, said the firm prioritised certainty and speed to allow Princeton Equity Group to focus on operational growth rather than capital markets timing. Golub has built a footprint in sponsor finance with hold sizes that can reach the mid‑to‑high hundreds of millions and syndication capability on larger credits.

Phil Piro, a partner at Princeton Equity Group, described the facility as the foundation for the company’s next phase of expansion, noting the lender’s capacity to scale with the business over time. This marks the first partnership between Golub Capital and Princeton Equity Group, a sign of growing familiarity between direct lenders and mid‑market buyout firms focused on service chains.

Market context: private credit has become the primary non-bank source of senior financing for sponsor-backed deals, particularly for businesses with stable cashflow profiles such as automotive maintenance. Direct lending continues to capture market share from banks as institutional investors allocate capital to private credit strategies; firms like Golub have emphasised bespoke structures that combine liquidity, amortising term debt and delayed-draw capacity to match sponsor roll-out timetables.

For Strickland Brothers, the new facility aims to underpin franchise growth, equipment investment and working capital as the chain expands in both existing and new markets. Golub Capital reported managing a large pool of sponsor finance assets and positions itself to provide committed capital for multi-year rollouts. The deal underscores how private credit providers are increasingly the go-to counterparties for mid‑market refinancings and sponsor growth financings across consumer‑facing service sectors.