Archives for July 6, 2017

Insight Acquires TSG

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Emerald Transformer, a division of Versatile Processing Group, an Insight Equity portfolio company, has agreed to acquire the Transformer Services Group of publicly-traded Clean Harbors.

Clean Harbors’ Transformer Services Group (TSG) provides specialty on-site transformer services such as transformer sampling, retrofitting and retrofilling, recycling, reclaiming and disposing of waste oils, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other hazardous and non-hazardous components. The customers of TSG include utilities, refineries, steel producers and other large manufacturers.

According to Insight Equity, the acquisition expands the national footprint of Emerald Transformer to 10 locations from coast-to-coast. The acquired TSG facilities are located in Coffeyville, KS; Los Angeles, CA; Philadelphia, PA; Tucker, GA; and Twinsburg, OH. “The combination of the two organizations provides Emerald with national coverage and will allow us to better serve our customer base while we continue to expand into new markets and territories,” said Stuart Prior, CEO of Emerald Transformer.

Emerald Transformer provides electrical equipment services including transformer repair, large transformer decommissioning, refurbished equipment sales, oil processing, and PCB disposal. The operations of Emerald consist of Florida Transformer (DeFuniak Springs, FL), Transformer Decommissioning (Nabb, IN), Environmental Management Systems (Phoenix, AZ), Transformer Gaskets and Components (Pelahatchie, MS), 4-Way Electric (Greenwood, MS), and Garrett and Son (Madison, MS). The company has approximately 275 employees and is headquartered near Pensacola in DeFuniak Springs, FL (www.emeraldtransformer.com).

Insight Equity makes control investments in middle market, asset intensive companies across a range of industries and specializes in partnering with companies in complex and challenging situations, including corporate divestitures, aggressive growth opportunities, restructurings, and transitions from private family ownership.  The firm is based near Dallas in Southlake, TX and also has an office in New York (www.insightequity.com).

Clean Harbors (NYSE: CLH) is a provider of environmental, energy and industrial services, including hazardous waste disposal for large and small companies and governments. The company has approximately 13,000 employees and is headquartered near Boston in Norwell, MA (www.cleanharbors.com).

© 2017 Private Equity Professional | July 6, 2017

Yellow Wood Sells PDC to CVC

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Yellow Wood Partners has sold its portfolio company PDC Brands, a collection of beauty, personal care, and wellness brands, for just over $1.4 billion to CVC Capital Partners.

PDC Brands maintains a portfolio of many category-leading brands across the wellness, haircare, beauty & cosmetics, fragrance, bath & body, and salon professional markets. Company owned brand names include, among others, Dr. Teal’s (wellness and bath & body); Cantu (haircare); Eylure and Elegant Touch (beauty & cosmetics); Body Fantasies and Bod Man (fragrance); Bodycology, Calgon, and The Healing Garden (bath & body); and Salon System (salon professional). The company’s products are sold through major retailers in the US, UK and in 60 additional markets globally.

PDC Brands was formerly known as Parfums de Coeur, Ltd. – which was founded in 1981 – and changed its name to PDC Brands in March 2015. Today, PDC is headquartered in Stamford, CT with an additional office near London in Hayes, UK (www.pdcbeauty.com).

Yellow Wood acquired PDC Brands in September 2012. “Over the past five years of our partnership with PDC, the company has successfully grown into a multinational consumer products company providing unique and innovative beauty and personal care products marketed to the most attractive segments of the global consumer base,” said Dana Schmaltz, Founding Partner of Yellow Wood Partners. “It has been a privilege partnering with James Stammer and the senior management team, as our combined efforts led to PDC quadrupling revenues while increasing EBITDA by more than five times under our ownership.”

The growth at PDC was created through a combination of organic growth and five add-on acquisitions: ME! Bath (May 2017), a seller of bath bombs; Original Additions (April 2016), owner of the Eylure, Elegant Touch, and Salon System brands; Cantu and Bodycology brands (June 2015), acquired from Advanced Beauty; Dr. Teal’s Therapeutic Solutions brand (February 2014), acquired from Advanced Beauty; and Calgon and The Healing Garden (January 2013), acquired from Ilex Consumer Products Group.

Yellow Wood Partners invests in consumer brands and companies with revenues between $30 million and $200 million. Sectors of interest include branded consumer products across a variety of channels including mass, drug, food, specialty, club and e-commerce. The firm was founded in 2011 and is based in Boston (www.yellowwoodpartners.com).

CVC Capital Partners, the buyer of PDC, currently manages over $65 billion of capital, and funds managed or advised by CVC are invested in 50 companies worldwide. The firm, founded in 1981, is based in London and has a network of 20 offices and 420 employees throughout Europe, Asia and the United States (www.cvc.com).

© 2017 Private Equity Professional | July 6, 2017

Wind Point Closes Fund VIII

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Wind Point Partners has held a final closing of its eighth fund, Wind Point Partners VIII, with $985 million of capital commitments. The fund exceeded its initial hard cap of $750 million and marks the largest fund closing in Wind Point’s history.

The strategy for Fund VIII is consistent with the firm’s earlier funds and will focus on partnering with experienced CEOs to acquire middle market companies that have revenues from $100 million to $500 million, EBITDAs of at least $8 million, and that are active in the consumer products, industrial products, and business services markets.

Fund VIII has already invested over $280 million and committed an additional $140 million of equity capital in six portfolio companies: Evans Food Group (April 2016), a maker of branded and private label pork rind snacks; St. George Logistics (September 2016), a provider of container freight station services for ocean cargo imported into the United States; Aurora Plastics (August 2016), a provider of custom compounding services of rigid polyvinyl chloride into powders, pellets, foams and alloys; Paragon Films (December 2016), a maker of stretch films used in storage and transit applications; Vee Pak (March 2017), a contract maker of beauty and personal care products; and Valicor (June 2017), a provider of non-hazardous wastewater treatment services.

Wind Point’s Executive Advisor Partners (EAP) will also continue to play an integral role in the firm’s investment activities. The EAPs are a network of seasoned and accomplished CEO-level executives who contribute insight and industry expertise throughout all aspects of Wind Point’s strategy. Additionally, EAPs invest alongside Wind Point at both the fund and portfolio company level.

Wind Point Partners was founded in 1984 and over its 33-year history has raised over $3 billion in capital and acquired more than 100 platform companies and 250 add-on acquisitions. The firm is headquartered in Chicago (www.wppartners.com).

Moelis & Company was the placement agent for this fundraise and Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel.

© 2017 Private Equity Professional | July 6, 2017

Stellex Closes First Fund

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Middle market private equity firm Stellex Capital Management has closed its debut fund, Stellex Capital Partners LP, at $870 million, exceeding its $750 million target.

Stellex invests from $25 million to $100 million per transaction in companies experiencing some form of financial, operational or industry-driven distress. Target companies will typically have an enterprise value of $50 million to $500 million and will be located in the United States or Europe. Sectors of interest include automotive, aerospace, building products, defense, industrial equipment, metal fabrication and transportation.

Stellex’s founding partners – Ray Whiteman and Michael Stewart – have worked together for over 14 years. Prior to forming Stellex in 2014 they were both partners of The Carlyle Group and co-heads of Carlyle Strategic Partners.

“We are pleased with the support of our limited partners and their underlying constituents and we are focused on creating value for them. Our team has deployed capital into multiple investments and maintains a robust pipeline of interesting middle market opportunities,” said Messrs. Whiteman and Stewart in a released statement.

Stellex is currently invested in three companies: Marine Hydraulics International (November 2015), a provider of major marine repair and conversion services to the US Navy and commercial ship owners and operators; Morbark (March 2016), a maker of equipment for the forestry, recycling, tree care, sawmill and biomass markets; and Dominion Hospitality (November 2016), an owner and operator of hotels and pubs in the UK.

Stellex has offices in New York and London (www.stellexcapital.com).

© 2017 Private Equity Professional | July 6, 2017