Archives for September 1, 2020

Roark Capital Invests in US Sports Camps

by

Rapidly following its buy of Divisions Maintenance Group earlier this month, Roark Capital has now made an investment in US Sports Camps.

According to Roark, US Sports Camps (USSC) is the nation’s leading youth sports camp company, serving more than 100,000 campers across more than 1,200 camps in 48 states.

USSC is the licensed operator of Nike Sports Camps and supports more than 19 different physical sports including baseball, basketball, field hockey, football, golf, soccer, softball and others; e-sports including Call of Duty, Fortnite, Minecraft and others; and academic programs for campers ranging from 6 to 18 years old. The company was founded in 1975 by Charlie Hoeveler and is headquartered near San Francisco in San Rafael, California.

As part of this transaction, EVP Justin Hoeveler, the son of the founder who has been with the company for nine years, has been named as the new CEO of USSC. Charlie Hoeveler will remain with the company as a member of its board of directors and as manager of its tennis division.

“Sports and other connected activities are instrumental to the development, health, and well-being of kids,” said Justin Hoeveler. “We are excited to partner with Roark to leverage their experience growing multi-location, consumer businesses, as we continue to expand our youth activities platform across sports and beyond.”

“We have great admiration for what the US Sports Camps team has accomplished over the past 40+ years,” said Mike Thompson, a managing director at Roark. “We love US Sports Camps’ purpose-driven model that enables talented coaches and camp directors to focus on coaching and youth development. We are excited to partner with Justin, Charlie, and the team as they embark on their next phase of growth.”

Roark Capital Group invests in companies that have revenues from $20 million to $5 billion and EBITDA from $10 million to $500 million. Sectors of interest include franchised and multi-unit business models in the retail, restaurant, and service sectors; consumer products; consumer and business services; and environmental services. Roark is headquartered in Atlanta with an additional office in New York City.

In November 2018, Roark completed fundraising for its two newest funds, Roark Capital Partners V LP and Roark Capital Partners II Sidecar LP, with a total of $6.5 billion of capital commitments.

Private Equity Professional | September 1, 2020

Spire Invests in TBM Services Provider

by

Spire Capital has made an investment in Advocate Networks, a provider of technology business management (TBM) and technology expense management (TEM) services.

Advocate provides TBM and TEM services to more than 600 enterprise customers – whose annual IT spend is between $50 million and $500 million. The company’s services are used to manage IT expenses and contracts, to plan IT expenditures, and to assemble business and data analytics. Recurring revenue for Advocate accounts for nearly 70% of its annual revenue.

Since its founding in 2001, Advocate has assessed over $50 billion in IT spending and in the last two years alone, has helped its customers save over $200 million. The company is headquartered near Atlanta in Norcross, Georgia.

Spire is partnering on this transaction with Advocate’s co-CEOs, Tim Wise and Scott Fogle.

“Tim Wise and Scott Fogle have built an incredible company and assembled a deeply talented management team that has grown to become the leader in managed services for TBM and TEM,” said David Schaible, a partner at Spire. “Spire bases its investment thesis on the conviction that IT services represent an ever-evolving area of opportunity. Advocate has positioned its platform and service offerings alongside its software partners to deliver tremendous value for its customers. We are proud to partner with the company to effectuate their next stage of growth.”

New York City-based Spire invests from $15 million to $50 million in companies with revenues of at least $10 million and EBITDA of at least $3 million. Sectors of interest include technology-enabled business services, media, communications, and education.

“After a rigorous process that started in 2019, we selected Spire Capital as our strategic partner,” said Messrs. Wise and Fogle in a released statement. “We feel the culture fit is strong, the strategic alignment is sound, and the opportunity to scale the business with David and his team is outstanding. We are delighted to start the next chapter of growth, innovation, and TBM leadership with Spire.”

Synovus Bank provided debt to support Spire’s buy and Citizens M&A Advisory was the financial advisor to Advocate.

The investment in Advocate is Spire’s second platform through its fourth fund.

Private Equity Professional | September 1, 2020

White Wolf Keeps Building CMT

by

White Wolf Capital continues the build of its precision machining platform, Consolidated Machine & Tool, with the acquisitions of Specialty CNC and Waiteco Machine.

Specialty CNC designs and fabricates precision metal and plastic parts that are used in a range of applications in the medical, dental, automotive, aerospace, and government sectors. The company, led by President Mike Baker, was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana.

Waiteco provides contract machining, welding, fabrication, and assembly services to industrial manufacturers nationally. The company was founded in 1982 by William Waite and is headquartered 60 miles northwest of Boston in Devens, Massachusetts.

Consolidated Machine & Tool (CMT) was formed by White Wolf in March 2017 to acquire US manufacturing businesses with revenues of $5 million to $50 million that specialize in precision machining, fabrication, assembly, and design of engineered components used in aerospace and defense applications.

The buy of Specialty CNC and Waiteco are the sixth and seventh acquisitions for CMT and follow the buys of:

  • Astro-Tek Industries, a California-based precision machining company that builds specialized equipment used by Tier 1 aerospace and defense companies to manufacture, maintain, and service aircraft, satellites, rockets, and missiles (June 2017);
  • LCP Machine, a Florida-based CNC machining company serving the aerospace, defense, energy, and industrial sectors (February 2018);
  • RLS Machining, a Wisconsin-based provider of precision machining and prototyping services (January 2020);
  • Mill Creek Machining, an Iowa-based provider of contract machining and assembly services (January 2020); and
  • Murphy Machine Products, an Illinois-based provider of precision machining and light assembly services (January 2020)

White Wolf makes control investments in manufacturing, business services and information technology companies that have revenues up to $150 million and EBITDA up to $15 million. Typical transaction values range from $5 million to $50 million. The firm was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Miami.

The White Wolf transaction team for the buy of Specialty CNC and Waiteco was led by Managing Director Elie Azar, Managing Director Rich Leggio II, and Vice President Andres Gutierrez.

“We are really excited to partner with the talented folks at Waiteco and Specialty CNC and look forward to supporting their continued growth,” said Mr. Azar. “With the additions of Waiteco and Specialty to the CMT family, CMT has closed on five add-on acquisitions this year alone. We are enthusiastic about CMT’s continued growth and what this means for our employees and customers.”

George & Company was the financial advisor to Waiteco and Generational Equity was the financial advisor to Specialty CNC.

Private Equity Professional | September 1, 2020