Kinderhook Industries has acquired Adell Corporation, a supplier of original equipment to the automotive sector.
Adell is a manufacturer of protective door edge guards that are used by automotive OEMs and installed on some of the most popular vehicle platforms in the United States. The company’s production capabilities include engineering, tooling, extruding, injection molding, metal fabricating, painting, and packaging.
Adell was founded in 1952 and has a 162,500 square foot manufacturing facility and headquarters in the Dallas suburb of Sunnyvale, TX (www.adellcorporation.com).
Kinderhook has announced that Adell will serve as a platform for a buy-and-build strategy focused on genuine original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts and accessories as well as parts that are sold to the aftermarket divisions of automotive OEMs.
With the transaction now closed, J Pearson, a Kinderhook operating partner, has been named as Adell’s Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Pearson has 29 years of experience in the automotive sector and has been a Kinderhook operating partner since 2006. Mr. Pearson built Carry-On Trailer, a portfolio company of Kinderhook’s first fund, into the largest trailer manufacturer in the US. Kinderhook sold Carry-On Trailer to American Trailer Works, a portfolio company of Southlake Equity Group, in January 2011.
Adell is the fourth Kinderhook portfolio company that Mr. Pearson has partnered with. “I am thrilled to work with Kinderhook once again and to lead Adell into its next phase of growth as we build a platform of leading value-added automotive OEM accessories,” said Mr. Pearson.
“We feel very proud of the business our family has built over the past 60+ years, and we look forward to J and Kinderhook’s assistance in growing Adell,” said Michael Adell, who will remain with the company as president. “The Adell family is excited for the opportunity to continue to work with the business and deliver the high level of quality and customer satisfaction that we are known for.”
The buy of Adell is Kinderhook’s 17th automotive platform investment and 70th automotive acquisition including follow-ons. “We are thrilled to add Adell to our automotive franchise,” said Tom Tuttle, managing director at Kinderhook. “Adell is the leader in its space with a reputation for quality, innovation, and customer service. We look forward to growing Adell both organically and through acquisitions of other innovative brands serving the automotive OEMs.”
Kinderhook makes control investments in companies with transaction values of $25 million to $150 million in which the firm can achieve financial, operational and growth improvements. The firm makes investments in non-core divisions of public companies, management buyouts of entrepreneurial-owned businesses, troubled situations, and existing small capitalization companies lacking institutional support. Sectors of interest include healthcare services, environmental/business services, and automotive/light manufacturing. Kinderhook was founded in 2003 and is based in New York (www.kinderhook.com).
Kirkland & Ellis (www.kirkland.com) provided legal services to Kinderhook on this transaction.
© 2019 Private Equity Professional | March 19, 2019
