Quad Partners Building Swimming Giant
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Quad Partners Building Swimming Giant

Streamline Brands, a portfolio company of Quad Partners, has acquired Saf-T-Swim, a provider of swimming instruction and water safety education.

With the buy of Saf-T-Swim, Streamline considers itself to be the largest swim school network in North America with locations in 22 US states, Mexico and Turkey. The company’s growth plan targets managing 300 US and international locations by 2020 through both organic growth of its franchise system and add-on acquisitions.

According to Streamline, more than 42 million children and almost half of adults in the US can’t swim or don’t have basic swimming skills. The swim school market is estimated at $17 billion, however, significantly less than $1 billion of the market is currently served.

Saf-T-Swim provides its services year-round through 13 locations in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, NY. The company’s facilities offer programs for all ages, from infants (two months old) to seniors. Many students begin as infants and continue to attend Saf-T-Swim for many years, working their way through the organization’s various swim levels and programs. Saf-T-Swim was founded in 1984 and is led by its owner and CEO Jim Hazen (www.saf-t-swim.com).

“Streamline Brands has established a long-standing reputation and track record for exceptional customer service, quality and franchisee support,” said Mr. Hazen. “Joining the industry’s leading management team of Streamline enhances our ability to deliver personalized, fun swimming instructions to more kids and adults and keep them safe in the water. This partnership ensures the Saf-T-Swim program will continue to serve the families on Long Island for decades to come.”

Streamline Brands is a franchisor of swim schools. The company’s franchisees operate schools under the brands SafeSplash Swim School (147 locations in the US and Mexico); Swimtastic Swim School (13 locations in the Midwest and Florida); and SwimLabs Swim School (20 locations in the US and Turkey). The company, led by CEO Matthew Lane, was founded in 2005 and is headquartered near Denver in Englewood, CO (www.streamlinebrands.com).

“With this acquisition, we are able to welcome a team of professionals that have provided world-class service to the families of New York for over 35 years,” said Mr. Lane. “Saf-T-Swim’s dominant position in the market and focus on water safety, drowning prevention and deep personal instruction for children to build confidence in the water aligns perfectly with the type of service we provide nationwide throughout our swim schools.”

Quad Partners invests from $10 million to $50 million of equity in companies that are active in the education sector including schools, colleges, products, services and technologies. Typical targets have revenues of up to $100 million. Since its founding in 2000 by its Managing Partner Lincoln Frank, the firm has invested in 25 platform companies and closed over 60 add-on acquisitions. Quad Partners is headquartered in New York and is investing out of Quad Partners V LP which closed above target with $229 million of committed capital in September 2018 (www.quadpartners.com).

© 2019 Private Equity Professional | September 19, 2019

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