Tecum Equity Partners has acquired Tidewater Equipment Company, a distributor of forestry and related equipment.
Tidewater’s equipment includes Tigercat brand feller bunchers, skidders, and loaders; and Morbark brand chippers, grinders, and shredders. In addition to selling new and used equipment, Tidewater also provides parts and service to its base of equipment operating in the field.
The company operates 16 dealership locations across the Southeastern US. Tidewater was founded in 1947 and is led by CEO James Young, Jr. and CFO Earl Terry, Jr. The company is headquartered in Brunswick, GA (www.tidewaterequip.com).
“Tecum Equity is the ideal partner and our business will benefit from their additional financial, operational, and M&A resources,” said Mr. Young. “We believe that Tecum’s culture, industry knowledge, and ability to execute made them the right partners to help support us in growing the Tidewater platform to the next level and we look forward to a bright future.”
Tecum Equity is a committed fund backed by a family office, Western Allegheny Capital, focused on control equity acquisitions. The firm invests from $5 million to $20 million in businesses with $4 million to $10 million of EBITDA. Tecum Equity is based in the Pittsburgh suburb of Wexford (www.tecum.com).
“Tidewater is led by a passionate management team with a proven track record of product and service innovation,” said Tecum Equity’s partner Tyson Smith. “We are excited about this partnership and have tremendous respect for the company’s culture and core values, which are part of an impressive foundation built over many years. We see a highly scalable platform with a lot of room for continued growth.”
The buy of Tidewater is the fourth investment for Tecum’s current equity fund within the past twelve months and follows prior investments in Gibraltar Cable Barrier (October 2017), Pittsburgh Brewing Company (January 2018), and The Erosion Company (February 2018).
Middle market investment bank TM Capital was the financial advisor to Tidewater. Debt financing for the transaction was provided by SunTrust Bank.
© 2018 Private Equity Professional | September 26, 2018
