Southwest Elevator Company, a portfolio company of Align Capital Partners (ACP), has closed two add-on transactions through a merger with Action Elevator Company and the acquisition of Avery Elevator.
ACP acquired Southwest Elevator, led by CEO Tom Cavinder, in September 2019 as a first step in building a national and independent vertical transportation services (VTS) company.
According to ACP, the VTS sector is fragmented with many independent operators providing a wide range of non-deferrable, safety and compliance services. In addition to the buys of Action Elevator and Avery Elevator, Southwest Elevator recently opened two new branch locations in Las Vegas and Miami.
Action Elevator is a Baltimore-based provider of elevator modernization, maintenance, repair and new construction services for property owners and managers located in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area and in the Delmarva (Delaware, Maryland and Virginia) peninsula. Family-owned and operated Action was founded in 2012 by President John Marshall, Sr.
“Southwest is thrilled to partner with John, his sons and their talented team of employees to serve attractive markets,” said Mr. Cavinder. “Under John’s leadership, we’ll provide additional resources to the team and continue expanding geographically; both organically and through additional add-on acquisitions.”
Like Action Elevator, Avery Elevator is a provider of elevator maintenance and repair services in the Washington DC metro area. The business was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
“Our management team is looking forward to partnering with Southwest and continuing our strong growth and unmatched legacy of excellent elevator service in the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond,” said Mr. Marshall. “Furthermore, we are very excited about the addition of Avery Elevator in our Washington DC market.”
“Align and Southwest are excited to welcome Action and Avery to the Southwest family of elevator service companies,” said Steve Dyke, a co-founder and managing partner at ACP. “We will remain focused on our aggressive expansion strategy and are enthusiastic about the opportunity to grow this exciting company.”
Southwest Elevator is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas and provides its services to commercial offices, educational facilities, medical centers, museums, and restaurants throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.
ACP makes control investments in companies that have from $3 million to $10 million of EBITDA. Sectors of interest include business services, technology, specialty manufacturing, distribution, and healthcare. The firm was founded in 2016 by managing partners Steve Dyke, Robert Langley, and Chris Jones – all formerly of The Riverside Company – and has offices in Cleveland and Dallas.
In addition to Mr. Dyke, the ACP deal team included Operating Partner Dave Perotti, Vice President Kurt Smentek, and Associate Walker Tiller.
Private Equity Professional | December 18, 2020
Arcline Investment Management has acquired Engineering by Design (EBD) from the company’s founders.
Gridiron Capital has held a hard-cap and oversubscribed closing of Gridiron Capital Fund IV LP, and affiliated funds (Gridiron IV), with $1.35 billion of capital.
“With the closing of Gridiron IV, we are grateful to our investors for their partnership and support,” said Tom Burger, a co-founder and managing partner at Gridiron. “Despite navigating a unique and challenging year, we are excited to celebrate the closing of our largest flagship fund to date as well as our 15-year anniversary and look forward to strategically deploying this fund.”
“We are extremely proud of the year we have had at Gridiron,” said Kevin Jackson, a managing partner at Gridiron. “We have kept our businesses healthy, in many cases accelerated growth, generated significant liquidity across multiple investments for our limited partners, invested in four fantastic platform companies with talented management teams, and completed our oversubscribed fundraise for Gridiron IV— all during a global pandemic. We are thankful for the steadfast confidence and long-term commitment of our investor partners who have remained supportive over the last 15 years and during this unprecedented year.”
PaperTech, a manufacturer of paperboard packaging products, has been acquired by May River Capital.
The company’s custom and stock thermoformed products range in size from dessert cups to large pizza trays and are made with 90% or greater renewable and sustainable materials including SBS (solid bleached substrate – the highest quality and most expensive paperboard substrate) or SUS (solid unbleached substrate).
At closing, Jim Morgan, an experienced paper and packaging products executive and a member of May River’s executive resource group, has been named as PaperTech’s new chief executive officer. “Thanks to Larry and Al’s 20-plus years of leadership and PaperTech’s highly skilled employees, the company has earned a fantastic reputation in the marketplace. We are excited to build upon PaperTech’s legacy while continuing to provide outstanding service and quality to our long-standing customers,” said Mr. Morgan.
Chicago-based 
Odyssey Investment Partners has agreed to acquire Protective Industrial Products from Audax Private Equity.
“We look forward to pursuing a multi-pronged growth strategy for PIP, including both organic initiatives and strategic acquisitions,” said Henry Bendit, a principal at Odyssey. “Given its scale and proven success with integrating prior acquisitions, PIP is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the fragmented global PPE market to grow within its current core offerings, while expanding further into adjacent PPE categories, both in the US and internationally.”
“The acquisition of PIP builds on Odyssey’s history of investing in the PPE and industrial safety sectors,” said Craig Staub, a senior managing principal at Odyssey. “PIP, over many years, has a proven track record of product innovation and differentiated service to its customers across multiple segments and channels. We are delighted to partner with Joe and the entire PIP team to execute on our shared growth vision in the years to come.”
Redwire, a portfolio company of AE Industrial Partners (AEI), has acquired aerospace company LoadPath.
“LoadPath brings market-leading capabilities to augment Redwire’s space infrastructure portfolio and broaden our range of technology products and services to support our customers’ missions,” said Peter Cannito, the CEO of Redwire. “We are excited to work with Adam and Greg and the LoadPath team to leverage their impressive technology flight heritage and advance their capabilities as a part of Redwire.”
AEI formed 
“We’re thrilled to support the ongoing growth of Redwire, as it continues on its course to become the leader in mission-critical solutions for the space industry,” said Kirk Konert, a partner at AEI. “LoadPath brings new technologies to the organization, allowing Redwire to better serve its customers.”
Boca Raton-based 
Periscope Equity has held a final, above target, and oversubscribed closing of its second institutional fund, Periscope Equity II LP, with $225 million of capital commitments.
“The durability and growth of our existing portfolio during the pandemic demonstrates the benefits of our consistent investment strategy, as we have never wavered from targeting companies with mission-critical offerings, a history of sustainable profitability, and a stable base of recurring revenue,” said Steve Jarmel, the founder and a partner at Periscope.
“With Fund I nearly deployed in less than three years, we are thrilled to continue on our growth path and to execute our strategy of partnering with innovative, entrepreneurial companies on a larger scale,” said John Findlay, a partner at Periscope.
New Harbor Capital has agreed to sell Wedgewood Pharmacy, one of the largest veterinary drug compounders in the United States, to Partners Group.
“We sincerely enjoyed working with Marcy and the entire Wedgewood team over the last five years,” said Jocelyn Stanley, a partner at New Harbor. “We greatly value their partnership and shared commitment to growth, excellence, and collaboration. It has been a privilege supporting the company during this exciting growth phase and we wish them great success moving forward.”
“Partners Group takes a thematic approach to investing, and Wedgewood Pharmacy’s model of caring for animal patients through the provision of specialty healthcare fits well within this framework,” said Chris Russell, a managing director at Partners Group. “We pursue resilient, growing businesses benefiting from transformative trends, including the elevated importance of pets in our families. We look forward to working with Wedgewood Pharmacy on building further value in the business on behalf of all its stakeholders.”
Enhanced Healthcare Partners (EHP) has made an investment in Hallmark Health Care Solutions.
“It was clear early on that EHP’s expertise in growing healthcare companies would align well with our company vision, product development and expansion efforts,” said Mr. Ullatil. “We are thrilled with the partnership and believe together we will continue to build raving fans of our solutions.”
“COVID-19 has put immense clinical and logistical pressure on health systems in effectively identify, sourcing, deploying and delivering scarce resources across healthcare systems,” said Matthew Thompson, a general partner at EHP. “Hallmark solves these fundamental complexities leveraging state-of-the-art software to aid hospitals and provider groups that ultimately provide the front-line care that benefits the entire U.S. healthcare system.”
Resource Label Group, a portfolio company of First Atlantic Capital and TPG Growth, has acquired Labels West.
“The talented team at Labels West has been extremely successful in building top-level customer relationships,” said Emilio Pedroni, a managing director at First Atlantic. “They represent another important addition to the Resource Label organization, and we look forward to continued growth.”
