LongueVue Capital and Ironwood Capital have sold St. George Logistics to Wind Point Partners. LongueVue and Ironwood acquired St. George in 2012.
To acquire St. George Logistics, Wind Point has partnered with logistics executives Chris Jamroz and Hessel Verhage. This is expected to be the first acquisition in the development of a larger logistics platform by Wind Point. The firm has been an active investor in transportation, logistics and route-based businesses with previous investments in Dicom Transportation Group, Railworks Corporation and AIR-serv Group.
St. George is a provider of container freight station (CFS) services for ocean cargo imported into the United States. The company also provides logistics services, including distribution, warehousing, air container freight stations and transportation services. According to Ironwood Capital, St. George operates the largest network of independent CFS facilities in North America – its ocean CFS handles over 50,000 containers per year – with proximity to all major ports and metropolitan areas for ocean or air cargo. The St. George customer base includes freight forwarders, neutral NVOCCs (non-vessel operating common carriers), retailers, consumer packaged goods companies, and other businesses. The company is headquartered near Newark in South Kearny, NJ with additional facilities located in the nation’s largest ports and metropolitan areas, including Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, Savannah and Charleston (www.stgusa.com).
“With 15 port and inland facilities totaling 2.2 million square feet, as well as a national network of 66 partner facilities, St. George maintains a leading role in providing mission-critical import/export and value-added warehousing and distribution services to its base of customers,” said Konrad Salaber, a Principal with Wind Point. “We are excited to acquire St. George in partnership with Chris and Hessel, two top caliber global executives with proven track records of value creation.”
Wind Point invests from $20 million to $70 million of equity in companies with revenues from $100 million to $500 million and EBITDAs of at least $8 million. Industries of interest include business services, consumer products, healthcare and industrial products. Wind Point Partners was founded in 1984 and is based in Chicago (www.wppartners.com).
Mr. Jamroz will serve as CEO of St. George’s holding company and Mr. Verhage will serve as President and COO. Mr. Jamroz most recently served as the President and COO of GardaWorld Cash Services, a division of private-equity backed GardaWorld Security. During his tenure, he helped grow GardaWorld into North America’s largest cash logistics company with over C$1.1 billion in annual revenues. Mr. Hessel is the former President of Global Freight Forwarding at UTi Worldwide, where he managed a $2.7 billion P&L. Prior to UTi, he served as CEO and President of Global Link Logistics, a private-equity backed freight forwarder focused on Pan-Pacific trade lanes.
Ironwood Capital provides non-control growth capital to middle market companies. Investments take the form of subordinated debt and preferred stock in amounts ranging from $5 million to $20 million. Ironwood Capital is headquartered in Avon, CT (www.ironwoodcap.com). “We are proud to have played a part in St. George’s development from a niche business in the logistics space to one at the forefront of its industry,” said Roger Roche, Senior Managing Director at Ironwood Capital.
LongueVue Capital makes equity and debt investments in lower middle-market companies that have up to $100 million of revenue. Sectors of interest include manufacturing, business services, energy services, and third-party logistics. The firm was founded in 2001 and is based in New Orleans with additional offices in New York and Salt Lake City (www.lvcpartners.com).
Financing for the transaction was provided by NewStar Financial, Fifth Third Bank, Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, and Oaktree Capital Management.
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