Summit Park has sold Control Company, a portfolio company since June 2011, to Cole-Parmer, a portfolio company of Golden Gate Capital since March 2017. The sale of Control Company marks Summit Park’s first exit from its second fund, Summit Park II LP, which closed in May 2015 with $118 million of capital commitments.
Control Company sells an array of private label and branded laboratory equipment, including thermometers, timers, tools, humidity gauges, hygrometers and conductivity tools. The company’s products are sold globally through large distribution partners. Control Company, led by its President and CEO Mike Blazes, was founded in 1974 and is based near Houston in Webster, TX (www.thecontrolcompany.com).
During Summit Park’s six-year ownership term it helped to expand the company’s sales efforts outside the US in order to capitalize on near-term growth opportunities, and it also reorganized the sales and marketing efforts of Control which included hiring a new senior level sales executive. Other major changes were made to the senior management team including hiring a new chief executive officer, vice president of operations, and a vice president of channel management. Summit Park also backed the company’s entrance into new end markets and grew the company’s product portfolio, including TraceableLIVE, a new product line that provides mobile monitoring and data management of controlled chambers and ambient environments via smartphone, tablet, or personal computer.
“Control Company represents the perfect investment for Summit Park – we invest in great companies and work with their leadership teams to build even better businesses,” said Jim Johnson, Co-Managing Partner at Summit Park. “Mike Blazes and his team did a wonderful job of building on the company’s historical success and have positioned the business for future success as its customers’ needs evolve. We look forward to following their continued progress.”
Summit Park makes investments in lower middle market companies in a range of industries that have revenues between $20 and $100 million or EBITDAs between $4 million and $12 million. Sectors of interest include business and consumer services, light manufacturing and value-added distribution. Summit Park is headquartered in Charlotte, NC (www.summitparkllc.com).
Cole-Parmer’s products are predominantly used in fluid-handling, test and measurement, and electrochemistry applications by customers that are active in the healthcare, biotech, pharmaceutical, environmental, and food industries. Company owned brand names include Masterflex, Ismatec, Oakton, and the Cole-Parmer private label. Cole-Parmer sells its products through its international network of laboratory managers and independent dealers. The company, led by CEO Bernd Brust, is based in the Chicago suburb of Vernon Hills (www.coleparmer.com).
Golden Gate acquired Cole-Parmer in March 2017 from GTCR which had carved the business out of Thermo Fisher in August 2014 to create a standalone company. Golden Gate targets companies across a range of industries and transaction types, including going-privates, corporate divestitures, recapitalizations, and public equity investments. The firm has approximately $15 billion of capital under management and is based in San Francisco (www.goldengatecap.com).
Control Company and Summit Park were advised by Deloitte Corporate Finance (financial advisor) and McGuire Woods (legal advisor).
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | August 16, 2017
