Merit Capital Partners has sold its portfolio company Ferrara Fire Apparatus, which it acquired in March 2009 through its fourth fund, to publicly traded REV Group.
Ferrara Fire Apparatus (FFA) is a manufacturer of pumpers, aerials, tankers and rescue vehicles for municipal and industrial customers. FFA manufactures over 300 fire trucks per year at its Louisiana facility and sells both directly and through a network of independently owned dealers. The FFA product portfolio includes multiple fire apparatus configurations tailored to the specific requirements and demands of the fire service industry – including custom-builds on customer’s own chassis as well as products on commercially available chassis such as Freightliner and International.
FFA has more than 450 employees with annual revenues of approximately $140 million. The company was founded by Chris Ferrara in 1982 and is based near Baton Rouge in Holden, LA (www.ferrarafire.com).
Merit Capital Partners invests mezzanine and equity capital of $15 million to $60 million in companies with at least $5 million of EBITDA that are active in the manufacturing, distribution and services industries. Merit was founded in 1993 and is based in Chicago (www.meritcapital.com).
“The Ferrara brand has a long history of product innovation built around a commitment to heavy duty vehicle construction,” said Dan Peters, President of REV Fire Group. “The addition of Ferrara to the REV Fire Group enables a number of new growth opportunities including expansion of our reach nationwide and adding new geographical regions and key accounts.”
REV Group (formerly Allied Specialty Vehicles) is a manufacturer of specialty vehicles including fire & emergency (fire apparatus and ambulance products), recreational vehicles, shuttle buses, school buses, mobility vans, and industrial (terminal trucks, cut-away buses and street sweepers). The company was formed in 2010 by American Industrial Partners merging of four companies: Collins Industries (buses and ambulances), E-One (firetrucks), Halcore Group (emergency and rescue vehicles) and Fleetwood Enterprises (RVs). Allied Specialty Vehicles changed its name to REV Group in November 2015 and went public in January 2017. REV Group (NYSE:REVG) is headquartered in Milwaukee (www.revgroup.com).
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | May 16, 2017
