J.F. Lehman & Company has sold its portfolio company Drew Marine, a provider of maritime services, to The Jordan Company. Concurrent with the sale of Drew Marine, J.F. Lehman also sold its portfolio company ACR Electronics to The Jordan Company.
Drew Marine, acquired by J.F. Lehman from Ashland Inc. in August 2009, is a supplier of marine water treatment, maintenance, welding and refrigeration, fuel treatment and fire, safety and rescue products and services to ship owners, ship managers and shipyards. The company is headquartered in Whippany, NJ and employs approximately 325 people (www.drew-marine.com).
Since acquiring Drew Marine in 2009, J.F. Lehman worked with the company’s management team to reinvigorate Drew Marine’s core business of providing global maritime customers (representing over 11,000 ocean-going vessels) with products and services across approximately 1,000 port locations in 50 countries around the world. These organic growth initiatives were augmented by two add-on acquisitions which increased Drew Marine’s product portfolio, customer base and distribution channels.
“We are proud of the profitable growth and expansion that Drew Marine has achieved over the past four years,” said Len Gelosa, President and Chief Executive Officer of Drew Marine. “J.F. Lehman has been instrumental in helping solidify our reputation and brand portfolio, expand our capabilities through organic growth and acquisition, improve our infrastructure and recruit key talent to our team. We look forward to continuing this momentum under The Jordan Company.”
“Our successful partnership with management since 2009 enabled Drew Marine to firmly establish a proven track record as an industry leader. In addition, the sale of Drew Marine represents an excellent outcome for our investors, whose support has been essential to our organization’s continuing success,” said Louis Mintz, Chairman of Drew Marine and a Partner at J.F. Lehman.
Simultaneous with the sale of Drew Marine, J.F. Lehman also sold its portfolio company ACR Electronics to The Jordan Company. ACR Electronics, acquired by J.F. Lehman in July 2012, is a provider of safety and survival products including emergency rescue beacons and safety and signaling lighting to aviation, marine, military and outdoor recreation markets worldwide. The company is headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale, FL (www.acrelectronics.com).
J.F. Lehman & Company is a middle-market private equity firm focused primarily on the maritime, defense, and aerospace sectors. The firm was founded by Dr. John Lehman, who served six years as Secretary of the United States Navy. To date, J.F. Lehman has made investments in companies with an aggregate transaction value of approximately $1.6 billion. The firm was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in New York with additional offices in Washington, DC and London (www.jflpartners.com).
The Jordan Company is a middle-market private equity firm with over $6 billion of assets under management. The firm is headquartered in New York and has offices in Chicago and Shanghai (www.thejordancompany.com).
Evercore Group and Rothschild served as financial advisors to J.F. Lehman and Jones Day provided legal counsel.
© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 11-20-13
