CVF and California State University, Fresno co-host 7th Annual Central Valley Venture Forum in Fresno

The seventh edition delivered diverse topics of interest to entrepreneurs, business owners, the banking community, angel investors, venture capitalists, and private equity funds from the Central Valley region and throughout California.

Among the main topics, the event offered a Hispanic Business Success Panel, which recognized successful Central Valley Hispanic entrepreneurs and business owners discussing diverse subjects relating to how they have achieved their success. In addition, the panel shared their view on future opportunities related to current Hispanic demographics in the U.S. and exporting their products to Mexico and Asia.

A panel of three experienced investors included Ed McNulty, Principal at the Central Valley Fund, who discussed and answered questions on how to raise investment capital and relate to the investment community. The panel presented how businesses in different growth stages have different capital needs allowing venture capital, private equity funds, and investment banks to play their different roles in the financial markets ecosystem.

The event’s Keynote Speakers, CalPERS Board of Administration Member Tony Oliveira and California State Controller John Chiang, talked about the state of California’s economy and answered a diverse set of questions from attendees.

Finally, the Forum hosted its annual highlight, the “Valley Entrepreneur Showcase Competition”, where a group of entrepreneurs presented their business project to an experienced panel of judges. This year’s competition winner was Amalia’s Cocina, a Fresno based startup looking to expand the market presence of its homemade style, healthy Mexican salsa assortments.

The Forum was attended by over 200 individuals along with local media and has become a mainstay of the local business community in the San Joaquin Valley. CVF is looking forward to co-hosting next year’s event.

For more information and to obtain media coverage, please visit the following links:

http://www.valleyventureforum.com/cvvf/ – The Central Valley Venture Forum’s official website

http://univisionfresno.univision.com/videos/video/2011-11-04/-negocios-e … – Channel 21 Univisión (español), November 3, 2011.

http://www.thebusinessjournal.com/small-business/11988-amalias-cocina-na … – The Business Journal (Fresno), November 4, 2011

http://www.kmph.com/category/170789/video-landing-page?clipId=6383992&au … – channel 26, Fresno, November 3, 2011

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/business&id=8418478 – Channel 30, Fresno, November 4, 2011

Source Logistics honored as fast growing Hispanic 3PL Firm

Inc. 5000 honoree and Top 100 Logistics

Montebello, CA – Source Logistics, LLC (“Source”) announced today that it has been named one of Inc. 500/5000 fastest-growing private companies list and now ranks among the top 100 Logistics & Transportation companies in the country. The 2011 list measured revenue growth from 2007 through 2010. To qualify, companies must have been in operation during this period of time, based in the U.S., privately held, for-profit, and employee-based.

Source saw its revenue grow 82% during this period of time and is expected to approach $20 million in revenue by the end of 2011. The company manages over 600,000 sq. ft. in warehouse space across four locations – Los Angeles, Laredo, Houston, and New Jersey – providing a nationwide footprint for its customers, who continue to grow rapidly, demanding expanded services. The company provides valuable logistics solutions to leading Mexican and Latin American consumer product manufacturers exporting to U.S. retailers, who have surpassed most forecasts regarding trade volumes in the last few years.

The source was founded in 1999 by Marcelo Sada, Raul Villarreal, and Fernando Ramirez who established their first warehouse in Los Angeles to provide Mexican manufacturers looking to export into the complex U.S. network of food and consumer product retailers throughout the country, a complete logistics solution, including storage and freight services.

Marcelo Sada, Source’s President, and Chief Executive Officer remarked, “We are pleased to have been able to stick to our business plan and service rapidly growing volumes of customers exporting Latin American products to the U.S. While the U.S. customers saw their volumes drop in 2008 and 2009 we saw substantial growth from large Latin American consumer brands.”

In addition, Mr. Sada commented, “We had bootstrapped the Company with our own capital and in the last four years with our private equity partner The Central Valley Fund (“CVF”), who has helped propel our growth with their capital and resources. To allow ourselves to scale and accommodate the solid double-digit, we have experienced and continue to see in the foreseeable future, it is nice to have an investment partner.”

Jose Blanco, a partner with CVF, stated, “Source’s management team continues to build a very solid company, based on quality products and first-rate customer service.” According to Jose Blanco, “The macro-environment supports the case for continued demand for quality 3PL logistics services – a rapidly growing U.S. Hispanic population, new trade pacts with Colombia and Panama, U.S.-Mexico trade doubled the last 10 years and evolving U.S. tastes and preferences (i.e.- the U.S. consumes more salsa and tortillas than ketchup or sliced bread since 2006).

About Source Logistics LLC

Source Logistics LLC was founded in 1999 to provide third-party logistic solutions for the storage and freight handling of consumer products primarily for Mexican and Latin American manufacturers. The Los Angeles based company utilizes its network of warehouses and a range of value-added services to permit its customers to increasingly expand their sales levels throughout the U.S. For more information, please visit www.sourcelogistics.net.

About The Central Valley Fund

The Central Valley Fund was established by the principals of Gael Partners, LLC to finance later stage growth through mezzanine and preferred equity investments. The fund has offices in Davis, CA and Fresno, CA. It is focused on making investments in California’s Central Valley and throughout the state. For more information, please visit www.centralvalleyfund.com.

For more information contact:

Marcelo Sada, President & CEO

Source Logistics Holdings, LLC

marcelo@sourcelogistics.net

(323) 271-4560

CVF Principal, Stefan Okhuysen, Shares His Strategies For Generating Deal Flow

In Opus Connect's latest Member Highlight segment, Stefan Okhuysen shared his thoughts around building out CVF's pipelines. Stefan highlighted his strategy and key lessons from his 15+ years of deal generation experience.

Lesson #01: Be Broad in Your Search

It is a numbers game. The more deals you see, the more likely you will close a deal. Being broad in your search increases the likelihood of finding an investment prospect that fits your firm’s criteria, he said.

“We’d like calling it internally kissing a lot of frogs to find a prince,” Okhuysen said. “We’re trying to see as many companies as we can, through as many different referral sources as we can to really find the right fit for strategy.”

Lesson #02: Keep Networking

Networking is time-consuming, but it is good for business. As Okhuysen noted in the interview, it’s those relationships that will continue to give you referrals and introductions as well as help close deals.

“You might talk to somebody today who may have nothing to offer in terms of a new deal,” he said. “But that person may remember you for any particular reason, a couple of months down the road, or maybe a year down the road, and they can refer you a deal that is actually a good fit for you.”

In other words, genuinely be interested in people and remember to follow up.

Lesson #03: Pipelines Need Nurturing

Okhuysen pointed out how important it is to strike a balance between cultivating and maintaining existing relationships as well as nurturing new ones. At his company, he said they have their own approach of how to keep pipelines filled.

“We all do a little bit of everything,” he said. “I know some firms have people who are solely dedicated to deal flow. At our firm, we all tried to do a little bit of pipeline generation and being out there.”

A significant advantage of this approach is that the firm is not dependent on one person for its referrals.

“That also means that when somebody in the team is busy, the other person can step in and continue doing business development. We kind of see the pipeline like this thing that’s alive and needs to be nurtured and taken care of and continuously growing.”

About Opus Connect

Opus Connect is a lower middle market and middle market M&A; focused professional organization with members in fields of private equity, banking, finance, and other transactional professions. As an Opus Connect member, you will expand your professional network with like-minded, high caliber professionals, while increasing your sector expertise and deal-making opportunities.