Altamont Invests in Douglas Products
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Altamont Invests in Douglas Products

douglas products nf1Altamont Capital Partners has provided equity capital to back Douglas Products’ purchase of the assets of the Vikane and ProFume gas fumigant business from Dow AgroSciences.  The owners of Douglas Products – CEO Bill Fuller and CFO and COO Wes Long – will retain significant equity stakes in the combined company.

As part of the transaction with Dow AgroSciences, Douglas acquired a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Pittsburg, CA (near San Francisco) and has entered into an agreement for Dow to continue to operate the facility on Douglas’ behalf.

profume nf3Douglas Products is a manufacturer and distributor of specialty chemical products for pest management, thermal fluids, and sanitary sewer applications. The Vikane and ProFume businesses will expand Douglas’ presence in both the structural pest control and post-harvest commodity fumigation markets.  The company was founded in 1916 and is headquartered northeast of Kansas City in Liberty, MO (www.douglasproducts.com).

Mr. Fuller and Mr. Long purchased Douglas Products in June 2007 after serving as senior executives and shareholders of Becker Underwood – a provider of seed enhancements and biological products that improve crop sustainability and yields.  While at Becker Underwood, Mr. Fuller oversaw many corporate acquisitions and gained expertise in specialty chemicals, industry compliance, marketing, distribution and manufacturing.   Becker Underwood was a portfolio company of Norwest Equity Partners from August 2004 to November 2012 when it was sold to chemicals giant BASF for $1.02 billion.

“Since acquiring Douglas in 2007, we’ve focused on adding new products to expand our specialty chemicals offerings, and the acquisition of Vikane and ProFume will further diversify our business within the pest control and agricultural markets,” said Mr. Fuller.

“Douglas has built an impressive business and we believe Vikane and ProFume are great additions.  We are excited to partner with Bill, Wes, and the rest of the team to continue to develop Douglas into a leading specialty chemicals platform,” said Randall Eason, Managing Director of Altamont.

Altamont Capital Partners invests in middle-market businesses with specific interest in the financial services, government services, consumer/retail, industrials and healthcare sectors. Altamont was formed in 2010 by Jesse Rogers, Randall Eason and Keoni Schwartz who previously worked together at Golden Gate Capital and Bain & Company. The firm has over $1 billion of capital under management and is based in Palo Alto (www.altamontcapital.com).

Ropes & Gray (www.ropesgray.com) advised and represented Altamont and Douglas.  The Ropes & Gray team was led by private equity partner Howard Glazer (San Francisco) and included intellectual property transactions partner James DeGraw (San Francisco); real estate partner Jason Dunn (Boston); real estate & environmental partner Peter Alpert (Boston); finance partner Steven Rutkovsky (New York); antitrust partner Jonathan Klarfeld (Washington, DC); tax partner Leo Arnaboldi (New York); and business & securities litigation partner Richard Gallagher (San Francisco).

© 2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 7-7-15

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