Archives for March 12, 2018

Duravant Acquires QC Industries

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Duravant, a maker of equipment used in the food processing, packaging and material handling sectors, has acquired QC Industries, a maker of conveyor systems. Warburg Pincus acquired Duravant in June 2017 from Odyssey Investment Partners which acquired the company in May 2013.

QC Industries is a manufacturer of conveyor systems, specializing in low profile conveyor designs and technologies. The company has three product lines: its Automation Series conveyors are built using a rigid aluminum frame, its Sanitary Series conveyors are built on easy-to-clean stainless steel frames and its Industrial Series conveyors are constructed with a single-piece steel frame. QC’s conveyors are customizable and are used by original equipment manufacturers and integrators across an array of industries and applications in the food, beverage, consumer packaged goods, foodservice, automotive, pharmaceutical, and medical industries.

QC Industries, led by CEO David Dornbach, was founded in 1981 and is headquartered near Cincinnati in Batavia, OH (www.qcconveyors.com).

Duravant is a manufacturer of engineered equipment that operates through three segments – food processing, packaging machinery and material handling. Duravant, led by CEO Mike Kachmer, is headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, IL (www.duravant.com). “Our partnership with QC Industries extends our overall solutions offering across our processing, packaging and material handling sectors,” said Mr. Kachmer. “Duravant has experienced tremendous growth in recent years by developing an evolving set of value-added solutions for our customers. QC Industries will certainly accelerate our efforts.”

Duravant’s food processing segment’s products are mainly used in the processing of pork, beef and chicken products for major food companies and are organized into three primary categories: pumps, fillers and dicers, and thermal equipment. This segment’s brand names include Marlen and Carruthers.

The packaging machinery segment’s product line is comprised of components and systems that fill, close, weigh and handle open mouth bags. The segment operates globally under the Fischbein brand name and provides a range of products from manual to semi-automated and fully-automated machines. These products serve a variety of end markets, including agriculture, food, pet food, chemicals and building products.

Duravant’s material handling segment manufactures conveying products that are used in distribution centers and retail stores for the loading and unloading of trucks. The company has a strong market position under the Flexible Material Handling and Best Conveyors brand names and provides products to both online and physical retailers.

Warburg Pincus has more than $44 billion in assets under management and has raised 16 private equity funds since its founding in 1966. In November 2015, the firm reached a final close of Warburg Pincus Private Equity XII LP at the hard cap of $12 billion. Warburg Pincus is headquartered in New York with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Mauritius, San Francisco, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore (www.warburgpincus.com).

© 2018 Private Equity Professional | March 12, 2018

Riverside Partners Adds to Loftware

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Loftware, a portfolio company of Riverside Partners, has acquired Gap Systems, a provider of SaaS-based artwork management services.

Gap Systems is a provider of project management and business process systems used by companies to manage artwork, web graphics and video content during the marketing and development of new products. Customers of Gap Systems typically operate in regulated industries such as consumer packaged goods, food & beverage, and pharmaceuticals. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Leeds, UK (www.gapsystems.net).

Loftware is a provider of enterprise labeling software and services (barcode labels, documents, and RFID smart tags) that are used to design, distribute, deliver and trace labels for supply chain applications. The company’s products are designed to meet both customer-specific and regulatory requirements and the company has more than 5,000 customers in over 100 countries. Loftware is headquartered in Portsmouth, NH (www.loftware.com).

The buy of Gap Systems enables Loftware to now serve the full spectrum of labeling and packaging artwork requirements across an expanded range of industries, with a special focus on pharmaceutical, medical device, manufacturing, food & beverage, chemical, retail, and consumer packaged goods. The combined platform – whether used for labeling, artwork management or both – enables customers to improve time to market, mitigate risk, reduce supply chain complexity, and lower costs. “Loftware and Gap offer truly complementary solutions that the market needs, especially as companies look to standardize on a single platform that can create, manage and print labels and packaging artwork across worldwide operations,” said Gap Systems Founder and CEO, Paul Goldberg. “Now internal and external stakeholders in packaging, regulatory, quality, operations, manufacturing, supply chain and marketing can address a more extensive set of requirements.”

“Our investment thesis for Loftware anticipated growth both organically and through selective strategic acquisitions to extend its leadership position in enterprise labeling. With their sustained performance and now the acquisition of Gap Systems, Loftware is well on its way to achieving those objectives,” said David Belluck, General Partner at Riverside Partners.

“Several years ago, Loftware partnered with Riverside Partners to embark on a meaningful expansion of our business. With the support of the team at Riverside, we are transforming the label and artwork management space by delivering this unprecedented platform,” said Loftware CEO, Robert O’Connor, Jr.

Riverside Partners invests in middle market healthcare and technology-oriented companies that have revenues from $20 million to $200 million and EBITDAs from $5 million to $25 million. The firm is currently investing its fifth fund, Riverside Partners Fund V, with $561 million of capital commitments. Riverside was founded in 1989 and is based in Boston (www.riversidepartners.com).

© 2018 Private Equity Professional | March 12, 2018

GTCR Closes Buy of EaglePicher Tech

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GTCR has closed on its January-announced acquisition of EaglePicher Technologies from Vectra, a portfolio company of Apollo Global Management.

EaglePicher Technologies (EPT) designs, manufactures, and supplies batteries, battery management systems, and other energetic devices to the defense, aerospace, commercial, and medical device markets. The company’s batteries use a wide range of chemical technologies including lead acid, lithium carbon, lithium ion, nickel hydrogen, silver zinc, and others. EPT also sells other electronic devices including explosive and pyrotechnic devices and battery chargers and analyzers. The company, headquartered in Joplin, MO, was founded in 1942 and has approximately 800 full-time employees (www.eaglepicher.com).

EPT is one of the few remaining companies related to Eagle-Picher, a manufacturer of paint, lead, batteries, printed circuit boards and other products that incurred significant environmental and asbestos liabilities and filed for bankruptcy in January 1991 and again in April 2005. In February 2010, Eagle-Picher sold EPT to OM Group, a chemical and metals firm based in Cleveland. In October 2015, OM Group was acquired by Apollo and the company changed its name to Vectra and moved its headquarters from Cleveland to St. Louis.

To acquire EPT, GTCR partnered with CEO Gordon Walker and the current management team to separate EPT from Vectra and create a standalone business. “EPT has a storied legacy and is a recognized leader in providing high-performance energy solutions to its demanding end markets,” said GTCR Managing Director Craig Bondy. “Gordon and his team have done an extraordinary job driving strong operational performance while continuing to extend the company’s reach into new applications. We are excited to be partnering with the company to support its next phase of growth.”

GTCR pioneered the investment strategy of identifying and partnering with executives to acquire and build companies through a combination of acquisitions and internal growth. Sectors of interest include business services; technology, media & telecommunications; healthcare, and financial services & technology. Since its inception in 1980, GTCR has invested more than $15 billion in over 200 companies. The firm is based in Chicago (www.gtcr.com).

“The combination of EPT’s best-in-class product portfolio and reputation for reliability makes this an exciting platform investment,” said Neil Willis, a Vice President at GTCR. “We look forward to leveraging our experience in government services and healthcare to help expand the company’s capabilities and accelerate growth.”

With the close of the sale of EPT, the only remaining business of Vectra is Vacuumschmelze, a manufacturer of magnetic materials and related products based near Frankfurt in Hanau, Germany (www.vacuumschmelze.com). “The EPT business is well positioned to continue its strong growth trajectory driven by innovation, quality and its mission-critical products.  With the closure of this transaction, we have achieved a significant milestone in our efforts to maximize the value of the Vectra portfolio of businesses.  We are excited by the future growth opportunities that are available to our Vacuumschmelze business unit,” said Jim Voss, Vectra’s CEO.

Apollo (NYSE: APO) has total assets under management of $242 billion in private equity, credit and real estate funds invested across a core group of nine industries:  chemicals; commodities; consumer & retail; distribution & transportation; financial & business services; manufacturing & industrial; media, cable & leisure; packaging & materials; and satellite & wireless. The firm has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, St. Louis, Bethesda, Toronto, London, Frankfurt, Madrid, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Delhi, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai (www.agm.com).

© 2018 Private Equity Professional | March 12, 2018