High Road Capital Partners has completed the acquisition of The Crown Group, a provider of coating services to the automotive, agricultural, heavy truck and industrial markets. High Road partnered with Charter Oak Equity on the transaction.
The Crown Group provides coatings for electrocoat, powder coat, and liquid applications to the automotive, agricultural, heavy truck and other industrial end markets. The company also provides assembly, warehousing, and sequencing services, as well as component finishing operations and inventory management. The Crown Group has facilities in the Michigan cities of Port Huron, Detroit and Shelby Township; Fort Wayne, IN; Portland, TN; Waterloo, IA; and Greenville, SC. The Crown Group was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Warren, MI (www.thecrowngrp.com).
Frank Knoth, President of The Crown Group, will continue to lead the company post-closing. Mr. Knoth and other members of the company’s management team invested in the transaction alongside High Road and Charter Oak.
“Crown’s disciplined and systematic operational approach, including the ability to seamlessly integrate itself in its customer’s supply chain and provide value-added logistics services, is highly valued by its customers for whom avoiding business interruption or delays is paramount,” said William Connell, High Road Partner. “We are excited to work with Crown’s outstanding management team and Charter Oak to drive multiple growth initiatives.”
High Road Capital Partners invests in manufacturing, service, or value-added distribution businesses with revenues of $10 million to $100 million and EBITDAs of $3 million to $10 million. High Road was formed in 2007 and currently manages over $335 million of committed capital. The firm is based in New York (www.highroadcap.com). William Connell, Partner, and Dan Gaspar, Vice President, led the transaction for High Road. Also working on the transaction from High Road were Bill Hobbs, Partner, and Paul Langley, Senior Associate.
Charter Oak Equity invests in niche manufacturing, packaging, medical products & services, specialty chemicals, consumer products and financial services companies ranging in size from start up to $150 million of enterprise value. Since founding in 1992, the firm has invested over $500 million in 27 portfolio companies and completed more than 50 acquisitions. Charter Oak is based in Westport, CT (www.charteroak-equity.com). Paul Roughan, Managing Partner, and Steve Noe, Principal worked on the transaction for Charter Oak.
Quarton Partners, an investment banking firm headquartered in Birmingham, MI (www.quartonpartners.com), acted as the exclusive financial advisor to The Crown Group in this transaction.
Financing for the transaction was provided by U.S. Bank and Babson Capital Management.
© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 5-10-13
