Trinity Hunt Partners has acquired WEXCO International, a provider of litigation-focused forensic engineering services.
WEXCO’s services include premises liability and safety engineering, accident reconstruction, and construction defect analysis. The company was founded in 1969 and has investigated over 10,000 cases, provided more than 2,000 depositions, and testified in over 600 trials. WEXCO is headquartered in Marina del Rey, CA with additional offices in Berkeley, CA and Cedar Park, TX (www.wexco.net).
Trinity Hunt is partnering with Brad Avrit, the company’s owner and president, on this transaction and he remains a significant shareholder of WEXCO post-closing. “WEXCO has embarked on a strategic growth plan to become a market leader in the forensic engineering space,” said Mr. Avrit. “Our partnership with Trinity Hunt will position us with the experience, resources and value creation plan needed to rapidly accomplish this goal.”
Through its partnership with WEXCO, Trinity Hunt intends to acquire similar or complementary businesses across the United States. “Trinity Hunt is extremely excited to partner with Brad and his team, especially given the alignment of business philosophies and core values between our firms,” said Pete Stein, a partner at Trinity Hunt. “Brad has done an exceptional job at positioning WEXCO for future growth and we look forward to working with him to accelerate these opportunities.”
Trinity Hunt has been very active in the legal process outsourcing sector with prior investments in Lexitas, a Houston-headquartered provider of deposition transcription reporting, legal videography, and records retrieval services for law firms and corporate legal departments (acquired in February 2015) (www.lexitaslegal.com); IMS ExpertServices, a Pensacola, FL-based provider of expert witness search, credentialing, and placement services (acquired in November 2017) (www.ims-expertservices.com); and Equivalent DATA (now Consilio), a Washington, DC-headquartered provider of eDiscovery and document review services (acquired in May 2012 and sold to Advanced Discovery, a portfolio company of GI Partners, in April 2018) (www.consilio.com).
“With WEXCO, our fourth investment within the legal process outsourcing space, we plan to bring our full resources and relationships to bear on behalf of the company,” added Mr. Stein.
In September 2018, Trinity Hunt held a final closing of its fifth fund, Trinity Hunt Partners V LP, at an oversubscribed $350 million in capital commitments. The new fund exceeded its initial target of $300 million and closed at the hard cap.
Dallas-based Trinity Hunt invests in founder and family-owned companies that have EBITDAs between $4 million and $25 million. Sectors of interest include business services, industrial growth, non-cyclical consumer products, and healthcare services (www.trinityhunt.com).
© 2019 Private Equity Professional | August 8, 2019
