Branford Castle Buys ABC from CID
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Branford Castle Buys ABC from CID

Branford Castle has acquired ABC Industries, a portfolio company of CID Capital since October 2012.

ABC Industries is a manufacturer and distributor of flexible ventilation products and technical fabrics.  The company’s products are used in a range of applications in industrial ventilation, industrial textiles, underground mining and tunneling. While highly durable, the company’s products are often replaced on a regular basis.

ABC was founded as American Brattice Cloth in 1926 and produced flameproofed brattice cloth (used for mining shaft curtains) that was sold to coal mines throughout the Midwest to guide the flow of fresh air in underground coal mines. Today the company is led by CEO Steven Fleagle and has manufacturing plants in Winona Lake, IN (headquarters) and Grand Junction, CO (www.abc-industries.net).

“We are excited to partner with Branford Castle to accelerate new product development, production and process efficiencies, geographic and customer expansion and potential acquisitions,” said Mr. Fleagle.

“Branford Castle is excited about the ABC opportunity. It is a niche market leader in many of its market segments and is well-positioned to continue to grow through a number of organic initiatives under the leadership of its excellent management team,” said Eric Korsten, a managing director of Branford Castle.

Branford Castle invests in companies that have enterprise values of up to $100 million and have from $1.5 million to $15 million of EBITDA. Sectors of interest include industrials, consumer goods & services and transportation & logistics industries. Between its founding in 1986 to 2016, Branford Castle operated as a family office. Branford Castle is headquartered in New York (www.branfordcastle.com).

In October 2016, Branford Castle held a final close of its first fund that was open to outside investors and the buy of ABC is the tenth transaction for this fund. “We are continuing our rapid pace of acquisitions for the fund,” said David Castle, managing partner of Branford Castle.  “We look forward to partnering with management on their next phase of growth.”

CID Capital, the seller of ABC, makes majority investments in lower-middle-market companies that have revenues of at least $10 million and EBITDA of $3 million to $10 million. Sectors of interest include consumer and industrial products. The firm is based in Indianapolis (www.cidcap.com).

TCF Capital Funding provided the senior debt financing for this transaction and Brookside Mezzanine Partners provided mezzanine debt financing and made an equity co-investment.

© 2019 Private Equity Professional | August 6, 2019

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