Fulton Capital and Merit Capital Partners have sold Green Creative, a developer and manufacturer of light-emitting diode (LED) lighting, to the Harbour Group. Fulton and Merit acquired the company in partnership with the company’s founders in December 2015.
Green Creative products are sold to the commercial, industrial, and specification markets (the specification market is composed of interior designers and architects that specify the use of a particular product on building projects). Many of Green Creative’s customers are commercial retailers and hospitality chains. Green Creative is headquartered and manages product sales and distribution through its offices in South San Francisco and oversees research & development, sourcing, manufacturing, packaging and marketing of the company products from its facilities in Hong Kong and Shanghai (www.gc-lighting.com). The company was founded in 2010 by Cole Zucker and Guillaume Vidal.
In April 2017, Harbour Group acquired ILP (Industrial Lighting Products) from Pfingsten Partners. ILP is a manufacturer of a variety of high efficiency LED, fluorescent, and induction commercial lighting fixtures used in warehouses, manufacturing facilities, offices, schools and parking lots throughout the country. Products include high bay, wet location, stairwell, and outdoor fixtures, as well as retrofit kits. ILP has more than 180 employees and produces more than 20,000 fixtures per month. The company has a 75,000 square foot manufacturing and headquarters facility in Sanford, FL (north of Orlando) and a 15,000 square foot facility in Reno, NV (www.ilp-inc.com).
Green Creative and ILP will remain as separate portfolio companies within Harbour Group and Cole Zucker and Guillaume Vidal, the co-founders of Green Creative, will continue their leadership roles in the business. “The two brands will remain independent and constitute the foundation for Harbour Group’s foray into the lighting industry,” said Jeff Fox, Harbour Group’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “As sister companies, Green Creative and ILP bring an industry-leading team and product offering to the market.”
“Under the same group, the companies have highly complementary offerings with minimum overlap,” said Jason Hendren, the founder of ILP. “Combining Green Creative’s lamp, commercial and residential downlight, and track products with ILP’s industrial, commercial, and outdoor products allows our channel partners to complete an entire project with a unique product mix.”
Harbour Group invests in North American-based companies with valuations from $30 million to $500 million. Areas of interest include product-oriented businesses that are generally either a provider of proprietary products or are a niche, value-added distributor. Since its founding in 1976, Harbour Group has acquired 196 companies in 41 different industries. The firm is based in St. Louis (www.harbourgroup.com).
Green Creative was Fulton Capital’s fifth specialty distribution platform and its third investment in the lighting industry.
Fulton Capital invests in small and mid-sized companies with revenues between $20 million and $100 million and EBITDA between $2 million and $10 million. Transaction values range from $10 million to $70 million. Sectors of interest include niche manufacturing, logistics, distribution, and service businesses. Fulton Capital is led by its founders Phillip Gerber and David Schlossberg and is headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Northbrook (www.fulton-capital.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).
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | October 23, 2017
