Palladium Equity Partners has completed its previously announced sale of ABRA Auto Body & Glass, a national provider of vehicle damage repair services, to Hellman & Friedman and members of the company’s senior management team.
ABRA Auto Body & Glass (ABRA) is a national provider of vehicle damage repair services. The company provides collision repair, paintless dent removal, and auto glass repair and replacement services through 186 company-owned vehicle damage repair centers and 48 franchised centers in 19 states. ABRA’s services enable its insurance company partners to improve customer satisfaction and drive policyholder retention, while reducing repair costs and driving efficiencies in the claims process. ABRA was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park (www.abraauto.com).
Following Palladium’s investment in October 2011, ABRA expanded its repair center footprint from 110 centers in 12 states to 240 centers in 19 states and significantly grew revenue and EBITDA. During this three-year period, the number of ABRA employees more than doubled from approximately 1,455 to 3,300. The investment generated a 6.7x cash-on-cash return for Palladium.
“We are very proud of what we have accomplished in partnership with ABRA’s exceptional management team,” said Luis Zaldivar, a Managing Director of Palladium. “By delivering excellent outcomes for consumers and insurers, the company has solidified its position as an industry leader. We are thrilled to have completed the sale with such a positive outcome for the company, the management team and our investors.”
“Palladium has been an exceptional partner to ABRA and we thank them for all of their support,” said Duane Rouse, ABRA’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are extremely pleased to have worked with Palladium, a firm with many years of experience helping companies grow. This partnership helped ABRA accelerate our national expansion plan and achieve an outstanding record of success in the past three years.”
Palladium invests from $50 to $150 million of equity in companies operating in the financial services, business services, food, healthcare, industrial and media sectors. Palladium has a focus on companies that operate in the rapidly growing US Hispanic market – a market segment where the firm has expertise, a broad network and an extensive track record of investing. Since its founding in 1997, the firm has invested over $1 billion of capital in more than 20 platform investments and over 50 add-on acquisitions. In April 2014, Palladium held a final closing of Palladium Equity Partners IV, LP with $1.1 billion of capital commitments, significantly exceeding the fund’s target. Palladium is based in New York (www.palladiumequity.com).
© 2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 9-2-14