Bessemer Buys Leonard Valve

Bessemer Investors has acquired Leonard Valve Company, a designer and manufacturer of water temperature control valves and monitoring devices.

Leonard Valve’s products are used in a range of institutional and commercial applications and include electronic mixing valves, high and low master mixers, water tempering systems, emergency mixing valves, and shower valves. The company was founded in 1911 by watchmaker and electrician Frederick Leonard and is headquartered in Cranston, Rhode Island.

Leonard’s management team, led by President Niles Wilcox, will retain a minority equity interest in the company and will continue to lead the company.

“Over more than a century, we have built a successful company serving our customers nationwide and our employees here in the Rhode Island community,” said Mr. Wilcox. “Our partnership with Bessemer will allow us to continue that success while positioning Leonard to execute on exciting new growth opportunities.”

“We are excited to be partnering with the Leonard management team and to support their continued growth,” said Jeff Volling, a principal at Bessemer. “The company is widely regarded as an industry leader and is well-positioned to continue building on its outstanding track record.”

New York City-based Bessemer Investors invests from $50 million to $150 million of equity in companies that have from $10 million to $50 million of EBITDA and enterprise values from $75 million to $500 million. Sectors of interest include industrials, business services, and consumer products and services.

Bessemer was formed in 2018 and is an investment vehicle of Bessemer Securities, a multi-family office led by the Phipps family whose wealth originated from the partnership between Henry Phipps and Andrew Carnegie, and the sale of Carnegie Steel to JP Morgan in 1901. Bessemer Securities is named after the Bessemer steel-making process – developed by Sir Henry Bessemer in 1855 and used by Carnegie Steel – that allowed for the low cost and efficient production of steel from iron.

© 2020 Private Equity Professional | March 10, 2020