Calvert Street Capital Partners has acquired Abrasive-Form, a precision creep-feed grinding manufacturer serving the industrial gas turbine, aerospace, automotive, and general industrial markets.
Creep feed grinding is a method of machining intricate forms and slots in a wide variety of materials. The process has several advantages over other machining and grinding methods, including increased accuracy, efficiency, improved surface finishes, burr reduction and the ability to grind heat treated materials. Creep feed grinding was invented in Germany in the late 1950s by Edmund and Gerhard Lang.
Abrasive-Form’s product portfolio includes more than 400 custom-engineered metal component parts including turbine blades, vanes, shrouds, rotors, and sprockets. Abrasive-Form was founded in 1976 and is headquartered west of Chicago in Bloomingdale, IL (www.abrasive-form.com).
“We are thrilled to have found a partner who shares our vision for the next evolution of Abrasive-Form. With their growth orientation and operational expertise, Calvert Street will help us accelerate the implementation of our strategic growth plan,” said John Harig, President of Abrasive-Form.
Calvert Street makes control investments of $10 million to $20 million in companies that have an EBITDA from $5 million to $15 million and are located in the US or Canada. Sectors of interest include industrial services, business services, healthcare IT, and specialty manufacturing sectors. The firm was founded in 1995 and is based in Baltimore (www.cscp.com).
Mid-market investment bank Livingstone Partners was the financial advisor to Abrasive-Form for this transaction. “Abrasive-Form has developed a leading global market position in the niche precision form grinding sector,” said Karl Freimuth, a Director at Livingstone. “We are proud to have advised Abrasive-Form on a successful sale and to have found an ideal partner in Calvert Street to support the company’s ambitious future growth plan.” Mr. Freimuth led the transaction for Livingstone.
Livingstone focuses on M&A and private capital transactions with values between $30 and $300 million in five sectors: business services; consumer; healthcare; industrial; and media & technology. Abrasive-Form is Livingstone’s latest transaction in the power generation sector, a growing focus for the firm’s industrial team. Livingstone is based in Chicago and has five international offices in Beijing, Dusseldorf, London, Madrid and Stockholm (www.livingstonepartners.com).
Godfrey & Kahn (www.gklaw.com) was the legal counsel to Abrasive-Form and Willkie Farr & Gallagher (www.willkie.com) advised Calvert Street.
© 2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 10-28-15