BBH Capital Partners has acquired 700 Valve Supply, a master distributor of specialty industrial valves used in oil and gas refining, petrochemicals and power generation. 700 Valve’s previous ownership group has retained a significant stake in the business.
700 Valve stocks more than 40,000 valves including floating ball valves for high-pressure applications, nickel alloy valves for corrosive applications, bellow seal valves for emission control, low-temperature valve assemblies for cryogenic and refrigeration applications, and chrome materials for high-temperature applications. The company exclusively sells to topline distributors, which, in turn, sell to end users for maintenance, repair and operations usage.
700 Valve is the largest stocking distributor for OMB Valves and the exclusive distributor of Velan nickel alloy valves. The company, led by CEO Keith Southard, was founded in 2014 and is headquartered near Houston in Stafford, TX (www.700valvesupply.com).
BBH Capital Partners (BBHCP) makes control and non-control investments of $10 million to $125 million in North American-based companies with enterprise valuations between $10 million to $500 million. Sectors of interest include healthcare, technology, media and telecommunications, and business products and services. The group’s investments are structured as a combination of equity and subordinated debt. BBHCP is based in Boston. Click HERE for the BBHCP website.
“BBHCP represented the type of value-add partner we were seeking, and we are very excited with this outcome,” said Mr. Southard. “We look forward to working with BBHCP in continuing to grow 700 Valve, both organically and through acquisitions.”
The investment in 700 Valve was made through BBH Capital Partners Opportunities Fund LP (CP Opportunities Fund) which closed in April 2018 at its hard cap of $250 million.
“We are very excited about partnering with such an experienced management team on our first investment,” said Donald Hardie, a managing director of Brown Brothers Harriman and co-manager of the CP Opportunities Fund. “As the valve industry becomes more complex with a growing number of specialty SKUs, 700 Valve’s expertise and experience have proven to be invaluable for its customers.”
The CP Opportunities Fund invests up to $20 million per transaction and specifically targets lower middle-market US companies whose capital needs are below the minimum investment thresholds of BBH Capital Partners.
“We look forward to helping 700 Valve continue its growth trajectory, which has been quite impressive over the last several years,” said Jeffrey Price, a senior vice president of BBH and co-manager of CP Opportunities Fund.
KPMG Corporate Finance was the financial advisor to 700 Valve and its shareholders on this transaction.
© 2019 Private Equity Professional | May 3, 2019
