Archives for May 30, 2014

Trive Acquires Chicago Miniature Lighting

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AGM Automotive, a portfolio company of Trive Capital, has acquired substantially all of the assets of Chicago Miniature Lighting, a supplier of LED lighting products to the automotive market. Trive first invested in AGM Automotive in January 2014.

Chicago Miniature Lighting (CML) is a supplier of LED lighting products to the automotive market. The company offers design and engineering, manufacturing, assembly, sequencing, and supply and distribution in all major markets, including North America, Europe, Asia and South America.  CML specializes in providing lighting systems, including overhead systems, light pipes, LED ambient lighting and other lighting systems to original equipment manufacturers and Tier I suppliers worldwide. The company was founded in 1910 and has facilities near Detroit in Novi, MI (headquarters) and Costa Rica (www.chml.com).

“Trive is extremely excited about this partnership as we are confident that the AGM/CML combination offers the industry a new market leader in automotive interior lighting.  The CML purchase is consistent with Trive’s collaborative approach to enhancing middle-market businesses,” said Trive Partner Chris Zugaro.

AGM Automotive supplies interior components and systems, including interior lighting, overhead console systems, technical textiles, and other interior assemblies to the automotive marketplace. The company provides value-added assembly, warehousing, and in-line vehicle sequencing from facilities located in the United States and Asia. The company is headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Troy, MI (www.agmautomotive.com).

“Successfully completing the Chicago Miniature transaction exemplifies our commitment to rapidly expanding the AGM platform. Now four months into our partnership with AGM, we continue to look for and capitalize on global growth opportunities within interior lighting,” said Trive Vice President Blake Bonner.

Trive Capital invests from $10 million to $60 million in North America headquartered companies with revenues of $30 million to $500 million. Sectors of interest include automotive & transportation; aerospace & defense; building products; construction & infrastructure; consumer goods; energy services; healthcare; manufacturing and industrials; chemicals; distribution; business & professional services; and communications. The firm as founded in 2012 by Conner Searcy, Managing Partner, and Chris Zugaro, Partner. Trive Capital is based in Dallas (www.trivecapital.com).

2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 5-30-14

Golden Gate Acquires Canada Fluorspar

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Golden Gate Capital has completed the acquisition of Canada Fluorspar, a specialty mineral resource company.

“Canada Fluorspar represents a unique opportunity to develop a world-class fluorspar producer,” said Rajeev Amara, a Managing Director of Golden Gate Capital. “We look forward to partnering with management to reestablish fluorspar production in Newfoundland and execute on the company’s strategy to become a reliable supplier of high quality fluorspar to global customers.”

Canada Fluorspar is a specialty mineral resource company located in St. Lawrence, Newfoundland, Canada engaged in the development of fluorspar deposits (www.canadafluorspar.com).

Fluorspar (also called Fluorite) is the mineral form of calcium fluoride.  Fluorite is a colorful mineral, both in visible and ultraviolet light, and the stone has ornamental and lapidary uses. Industrially, fluorite is used as a flux for smelting, and in the production of certain glasses and enamels. The purest grades of fluorite are a source of fluoride for hydrofluoric acid manufacture, which is the intermediate source of most fluorine-containing fine chemicals. Optically clear transparent fluorite lenses have low dispersion, so lenses made from it exhibit less chromatic aberration, making them valuable in microscopes and telescopes. Fluorite optics are also usable in the far-ultraviolet range where conventional glasses are too absorbent for use.

“We are excited to work with Golden Gate Capital to accelerate development of the project,” said Lindsay Gorrill, CEO of Canada Fluorspar. Mr. Gorrill also said, “The work done to date has validated the potential of the deposits, and our talented team is excited to capitalize on the opportunity to commercialize these resources. Golden Gate Capital’s mining acumen, financial resources, and strategic vision for the project will enable Canada Fluorspar to become a sustainable platform for long term fluorspar supply.”

Golden Gate Capital targets companies across a range of industries and transaction types, including leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, corporate divestitures and spin-offs, build-ups and venture stage investing. The firm has approximately $12 billion of capital under management and is based in San Francisco (www.goldengatecap.com).

Other notable mining investments sponsored by Golden Gate Capital include US Silica, EP Minerals and ArrMaz.

Cormark acted as financial advisor; Arena Advisors advised on the transaction; and Stikeman Elliott acted as legal counsel to the special committee of Canada Fluorspar. Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg served as legal advisor to Golden Gate Capital.

2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 5-30-14

Consonance Acquires KEPRO

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Consonance Capital Partners has completed the acquisition of KEPRO, a medical management and cost containment services provider, from The Pennsylvania Medical Society.

“KEPRO is an established national brand with an unparalleled reputation for quality in the medical management space, an area that will continue to experience strong demand as a result of shifting reimbursement models and changing regulatory requirements,” said Stephen McKenna, Managing Partner of Consonance Capital Partners.  “We believe that KEPRO, with its world class employee base and talented management team, is poised for the next level of growth, and our investment and support for the business will help facilitate that success.”

KEPRO is a medical management and cost containment services provider for government and private sector clients in the healthcare sector. KEPRO is URAC accredited in case management, health utilization management, and disease management. Kepro was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Harrisburg, PA.  The company also has offices in Florida, Minnesota, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and Illinois (www.kepro.com).

“We are confident that Consonance’s national reach as well as its financial and healthcare-specific industry expertise will solidify our commitment to our government and private sector customers, while improving outcomes for their members. This partnership will also enable us to accelerate our pace of expansion and contribute to the development of innovative products and services to complement our integrated suite of medical review and care management solutions,” said Joe Dougher, President and CEO, KEPRO.

Consonance Capital invests in healthcare companies that have revenues between $20 million and $150 million. Sectors of particular interest include providers (specialty providers, inpatient and outpatient facilities); payors (commercial, Medicare, Medicaid, and carve outs); distribution (pharmaceuticals, products, and specialty); devices (commercialized products); specialty pharmaceuticals (commercialized and later-stage development products); outsourced services (servicing managed care, pharma, and providers); and healthcare information technology. Consonance Capital was founded in 2005 and is based in New York (www.consonancecapital.com).

The Pennsylvania Medical Society is comprised of 20,000 physicians and medical students working together to represent physicians in public venues, including the government, insurance companies, and the media, in order to advocate for patients and advance public health, public policy, medical science, education, and ethics. The society is based in Harrisburg, PA (www.pamedsoc.org).

Consonance Capital Partners was advised by Latham & Watkins; Foley & Lardner; and Hogan Lovells US. The Pennsylvania Medical Society was advised by McNees, Wallace & Nurick. Fairmount Partners acted as the investment banker for the transaction.

2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 5-30-14

VMG Partners Sells Speck Products to Samsonite

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Samsonite International has acquired Speck Products, a designer and distributor of slim protective cases for personal electronic devices, and a portfolio company of VMG Partners, for $85 million in cash. For the year ended December 31, 2013, Speck reported net sales of $105 million.

Speck Products makes protective cases for portable electronic devices including iPad, iPhone, MacBook, Android devices, Windows Phone devices, tablets and eReaders. Speck’s products are sold in Apple Store locations worldwide. In the US they are also sold at Best Buy, Target, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Toys R Us and other retailers. Speck opened a retail store in 2011 in Palo Alto, California. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Mountain View, CA (www.speckproducts.com).

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of Speck’s employees for their dedication and hard work since VMG made its investment. It has been an extremely rewarding experience working with the talented and passionate team at Speck, and helping them to build a market leading brand in their product category. We are confident that the brand will continue to thrive under Samsonite’s ownership,” said Michael Mauze, Managing Director, VMG Partners.”

“Speck is the second strategic addition we have made to our growing portfolio of brands this year,” said Tim Parker, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Samsonite. “It is an exciting acquisition for us, as it marks our first foray outside of what is considered the ‘traditional’ luggage space, into a different, yet complementary, product segment. Global smartphone and tablet shipments are forecast to grow by 14.4%1 and 15.7% CAGR respectively from 2013-2017, driving the growth of the protective case market, and with many consumers purchasing multiple cases for each device they own, there is enormous potential.”

“We are thrilled about joining Samsonite. Although Speck experienced a temporary setback in 2013 from its historically strong results when the business was impacted by an industry-wide overhang in inventory from 2012, efforts to restructure the business are already well underway,” said Irene Baran, CEO of Speck Products.  “The opportunity to leverage Samsonite’s established infrastructure and excellence in operations and marketing will enable us to take advantage of the anticipated strong growth in the smartphone and tablet industries to position Speck as a global market leader. With our strong foundation in the US mobile device protective case market and Samsonite’s geographic reach, we see new and vast opportunities to grow the Speck brand to its full potential, and reach millions of new customers around the world.”

VMG Partners invests in branded consumer products companies in the lower middle market. Targeted industries include food, beverage, wellness, pet and household products, personal care and lifestyle brands. The firm is has offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles (www.vmgpartners.com).

Samsonite International is the world’s largest travel luggage company, with a heritage dating back more than 100 years. The company is principally engaged in the design, manufacture, sourcing and distribution of luggage, business and computer bags, outdoor and casual bags, and travel accessories throughout the world, primarily under the Samsonite, American Tourister, High Sierra, Hartmann, Lipault and Speck brand names and other owned and licensed brand namnes. The company’s core brand, Samsonite, is one of the most well-known travel luggage brands in the world. Samsonite is headquartered in Luxembourg (www.samsonite.com).

2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 5-30-14

Angeleno Group Invests in Kinematics Manufacturing

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Angeleno Group has made an investment in Kinematics Manufacturing, a maker of motion control products.

Kinematics Manufacturing (KMI) is a supplier of precision motion controls servicing the solar, oil & gas, mining, construction and other industrial markets. The company’s products provide motion control and positioning of payloads, such as solar panels or truck-mounted personnel carriers. The company is headquartered in Phoenix with manufacturing operations in Jiangyin, China (www.kinematicsmfg.com).

Angeleno Group invests growth capital for next generation clean energy and natural resources companies.  The firm invests opportunistically in a range of deal types, with a strategy that is sector-focused, stage-agnostic and research-driven. The firm has investment professionals operating in the US, Asia and Australia. Angeleno Group was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Los Angeles (www.angelenogroup.com).

Lincoln International acted as exclusive financial advisor to Kinematics Manufacturing in this transaction, working closely with its management team throughout the sale process. This included providing advisory expertise and managing the preparatory, marketing, negotiation and due diligence phases of the transaction (www.lincolninternational.com).

2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 5-30-14

NXT Capital Backs Recap of CI Portfolio Company

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NXT Capital has provided a $100 million senior secured credit facility to support the refinancing of Material Handling Services, a portfolio company of CI Capital Partners.  NXT Capital acted as the Joint Lead Arranger, Joint Bookrunner and Administrative Agent for the transaction.  CI Capital Partners acquired Material Handling Services (dba Total Fleet Solutions) in July 2012.

Material Handling Services is a provider of brand-independent fleet management and asset management services to Fortune 2000 manufacturing, distribution, healthcare and hospitality companies.  Through its nationwide network of affiliates and owned service centers, Material Handling Services delivers maintenance, repair, sales and installation, equipment modernization, diagnostics and analytical services to more than 16,000 customer locations throughout North America. The company is based west of Toledo in Holland, OH (www.tfsglobal.com).

“NXT Capital is a valued financing partner and we are pleased to work with them once again,” said Tim Hall, Managing Director, CI Capital Partners.  “NXT developed an understanding of Material Handling Services’ business and provided a flexible financing solution to support the company’s growth.”

NXT Capital provides structured financing to middle-market and growth companies through its Corporate Finance, Equipment Finance, and Real Estate Finance groups, originating transactions directly on a national basis. NXT Capital targets senior financing opportunities up to $150 million with a hold size up to $50 million. NXT Capital is led by former principals of Merrill Lynch Capital and was formed in 2010 by Stone Point Capital and the founding management team. The firm is based in Chicago with offices in New York, Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Dallas, Kansas City, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Phoenix, San Francisco and Silicon Valley (www.nxtcapital.com).

CI Capital Partners invests from $25 million to $100 million in middle market companies in the following sectors: business services, consumer services, distribution, government services and defense, and light manufacturing. Since the firm’s inception in 1993, CI Capital and its portfolio companies have made more than 100 acquisitions representing over $6 billion in enterprise value. CI Capital’s existing portfolio consists of companies which collectively generate annual revenue of approximately $4 billion, EBITDA of approximately $350 million, and employ approximately 15,000 people. The firm is based in New York (www.cicapllc.com).

2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 5-30-14