Pelican Energy Partners has sold Multilift Wellbore Technology, a provider of downhole sand management tools associated with electric submersible pumps and other artificial lift systems, to Johnson Specialty Tools.
Pelican invested in Multilift in April 2015 to provide the company with growth capital to expand its market and product offering. Pelican also has an equity investment in Johnson Specialty Tools – in May 2017 the firm provided growth equity to fund capital for both organic growth and for strategic acquisitions.
Multilift was founded in 2013 and designs and assembles sand protection and completion tools that protect and increase the run-time and reliability of electric submersible pumps (ESPs) and other artificial lifts systems. Multilift’s flagship product, SandGuard, catches sand that would otherwise settle on the ESP at pump shut-off and lifts it out of the well upon restart. The company is headquartered in Houston (www.multiliftusa.com).
Johnson Specialty Tools (JST) specializes in the rental of drilling support equipment such as pre-mix mud tanks, mud vacs, transfer pumps, drill pipes, power washers and other similar equipment. The company’s equipment is typically used for containing, controlling and managing both oil and water-based mud on drilling locations. JST is headquartered in Houston with additional locations in Pleasanton, TX and Midland, TX. The company was founded by Craig Johnson and his son Brett Johnson in December 2014 (www.johnsonst.net).
“We are pleased to have had the opportunity to work with the Multilift team and its CEO Paul Shotter through an exciting and dynamic growth period for the company,” said Mike Scott, Founder and Managing Director of Pelican. “We believe that this transaction is a win-win for all parties involved and that the company has tremendous growth potential going forward.”
Pelican Energy Partners invests in small to middle-market, high growth potential energy service and equipment companies. Target companies typically have annual EBITDA between $1 million and $10 million. The firm’s second fund closed in July 2016 with $210 million of capital. Pelican Energy Partners is based in Houston (www.pelicanenergypartners.com).
“The Multilift team is delighted to have grown the company through the recent downturn,” said Multilift’s CEO Paul Shotter, “and this transaction is testimony to the combination of great-value delivering products, a great team and the excellent partners we had at Pelican.”
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | July 10, 2017
