Rock Hill Capital Group has acquired LeBlanc Marine, a provider of marine construction, barge & tug services, and material offloading services along the Gulf Coast.
LeBlanc Marine was founded in 2004 by its CEO Ben LeBlanc and began operations by providing barge cleaning and repair services as well as tug support from its primary facility in New Iberia, LA. Mr. LeBlanc partnered with Cody Fortier in 2015 to launch the company’s marine construction division which provides dredging services, levee construction, and coastal restoration. Also in 2015, LeBlanc Marine began providing offloading services for many of its material vendors along the Gulf Coast and Mississippi River (www.leblancmarine.com).
“We believe Rock Hill’s involvement will provide the strategic insight and operational guidance needed for us to elevate to the next level. We are excited to have found a partner that recognizes the opportunity for growth and thinks about the business like we do,” said Mr. LeBlanc.
“Ben and Cody have built a robust platform to provide marine construction and ancillary services along the Gulf Coast. The LeBlanc team is highly entrepreneurial, we look forward to helping them broaden their geographic footprint and expand into new service offerings,” said Randall Hale, Managing Director of Rock Hill.
Rock Hill invests in small-to-lower middle market companies with enterprise values up to $75 million and EBITDA of $4 million to $10 million that are located in the South and Southeast regions of the US. Sectors of interest include industrial products and services. Rock Hill was founded in 2007 and is based in Houston (www.rockhillcap.com).
LeBlanc Marine represents the third investment by Rock Hill’s third fund which closed in January 2017 with $151 million in capital commitments. The firm’s earlier fund closed in 2013 with $88 million in commitments.
Debt financing for the buy of LeBlanc Marine was provided by BBVA Compass (www.bbvacompass.com).
© 2018 Private Equity Professional | February 8, 2018
