Hammond, Kennedy, Whitney & Company (HKW) has sold its portfolio company Qualis Automotive to CWD, LLC (DBA Centric Parts). HKW acquired Qualis Automotive in June 2004.
Qualis is a supplier of brake, chassis and hydraulic products to the North American automotive aftermarket. Products include drums and rotors (2000 SKUs), steering and suspension components (5000 SKUs), and hydraulics such as cables, brake lines & hoses (5000 SKUs). The company sells to retailers, national installers, warehouse distributors and original equipment suppliers. Qualis was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Troy, MI with a distribution center in Hebron, KT (www.qualisauto.com).
Centric Parts is a manufacturer and supplier of aftermarket brake components and systems for cars, work-duty vehicles and performance vehicles under the Centric, StopTech and PosiQuiet brands. Centric was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in City of Industry, CA (www.centricparts.com).
Quarton Partners (www.quartonpartners.com) acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Qualis. Quarton provides mergers and acquisitions, private capital raising, restructurings, valuations, and other financial advisory services to privately held and publicly traded companies as well as private equity firms. Quarton Partners is headquartered near Detroit in Birmingham, MI and is an affiliate of Spearhead Capital (www.spearheadllc.com).
Hammond, Kennedy, Whitney & Company invests in companies with revenues between $20 million and $200 million and EBITDAs between $2 million and $20 million. Over the past 29 years, HKW has completed 44 platform management buyouts of small middle-market companies throughout North America as well as 48 add-on acquisitions. The firm was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Indianapolis with an additional office in New York (www.hkwinc.com).
© 2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 2-26-14
