Toronto-based Altas Partners has sold NSC Minerals, a producer of salt and calcium chloride products, to Kissner Group Holdings, a portfolio company of Metalmark Capital and Silverhawk Capital Partners.
NSC is a provider of salt for de-icing, industrial, and agricultural applications. The company offers a range of bulk, industrial, and packaged products used in a variety of applications such as road de-icing.
NSC sells its products to provincial, state, and municipal governments; contractors; and industrial customers in Western Canada and the North Central United States. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Saskatoon, SK with production facilities in Brooks, AB; Vanskoy, SK; Colonsay, SK; and Rocanville, SK (www.nscminerals.ca).
With the transaction closed, NSC will now operate under its existing brand as a subsidiary of Kissner. The company’s production, packaging and storage facilities in Canada and the US will remain fully operational.
Kissner is a vertically integrated bulk salt, specialty packaged salt and evaporated salt producer focused on governmental and commercial customers in the Great Lakes, Great Plains, Midwest and East Coast regions and the province of Ontario. The company owns and operates two rock salt mines located in Detroit, MI and Lyons, KS, as well as an evaporated salt business (US Salt) which has a salt refinery in Watkins Glen, NY. Kissner is headquartered in near Toronto in Kitchener, ON (www.kissner.com).
“NSC is a well-run and highly complementary addition to our growing platform and solidifies Kissner’s position as one of North America’s premier, multi-regional salt companies,” said Mark Demetree, chief executive officer of Kissner. “With its strong position in the Western Canada highway de-icing salt market and growth potential in the calcium chloride market, NSC expands our geographic presence in Canada and enhances our financial scale and flexibility with non-cyclical, recurring revenue.”
Altas Partners acquired NSC in October 2013 from Wynnchurch Capital. “It has been a privilege to partner with Malcolm Leggett, NSC’s visionary founder, CEO Neil Cameron and the entire NSC team over the past many years,” said Andrew Sheiner, founder and managing partner of Altas. “Through a collaborative partnership, we were able to enhance operational performance considerably, driven by logistics optimization and strategic capital investment throughout NSC’s network. We wish the NSC team all the best as they continue to build this wonderful business in the years to come.”
Kissner Group Holdings is the parent company of Kissner and is a portfolio company of Metalmark Capital and Silvertree-KMC II LP (a special purpose vehicle led by Silverhawk Capital Partners and Demetree Salt, a family office). The investor group acquired Kissner in May 2015 from Toronto-based TorQuest Partners. In December 2017, Kissner acquired US Salt, a mining and salt production company located in Watkins Glen, NY, from Crestwood Equity Partners.
“We are pleased to continue to help expand Kissner’s geographic footprint and aggressively support the company’s management team in their growth efforts,” said Jeffrey Siegal, a partner at Metalmark Capital. “We look forward to our continued work with this great company to further its capabilities to deliver exceptional products and service to its customers.”
Metalmark Capital was established by the principals of Morgan Stanley Capital Partners (MSCP) to manage the Metalmark Capital and MSCP funds. Sectors of interest include infrastructure & industrials, agribusiness and healthcare. Metalmark Capital manages funds with $3.7 billion in aggregate capital commitments. The firm is based in New York (www.metalmarkcapital.com).
Silverhawk Capital Partners invests in management buyouts and other private equity transactions in the industrial, energy/natural resources and business service sectors. The firm was founded in 1989 and has offices in Greenwich, CT; Charlotte, NC; and Overland Park, KS (www.silverhawkcapitalpartners.com).
Altas Partners, the seller of NSC Minerals, focuses on equity investments from $150 million to more than $750 million. The firm’s investing partners include large family offices, insurance companies and pension funds. Altas Partners was founded in 2012 and is based in Toronto (www.altaspartners.com).
© 2019 Private Equity Professional | January 17, 2019