Archives for November 23, 2020

Eureka Closes New Fund IV Platform

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Eureka Equity Partners has acquired Perfect Creation (DBA iPEC Coaching), a provider of training and certification services to the professional coaching industry.

iPEC provides continuing education and certifications to its students through both virtual and live training formats in 20 training locations in North America, Europe, and Asia. iPEC’s areas of specialization include training for life coaches, business coaches, coaching jobs, personal coaches, career coaches, leadership coaching, transformational coaching, and certified corporate coaches and mentors.

iPEC was founded in 1999 by Bruce Schneider and is headquartered near New York City in Shrewsbury, New Jersey and is accredited by the International Coaching Federation.

“As a highly sought after company, we were in a great position to be extremely selective in finding the right partner, and from moment one in our interactions, the Eureka team made it very clear to us that they were exactly what we were hoping for,” said Mr. Schneider. “We look forward to the continued interactions with Eureka and expect that their resources, knowledge base, and determination will ensure a continued history of exponential growth while, at the same time, truly enjoying the journey.”

Eureka partnered with iPEC’s senior management team on this transaction. “iPEC Coaching has always been focused on creating a tremendous and positive impact in the world,” said Joan Ryan, CEO of iPEC. “Selecting the right partner to help us grow that impact meant finding a group that was aligned with our values of integrity, community, honesty, and openness. Throughout the entire process, Eureka demonstrated those values along with a deep commitment to our team.”

Equity for the new investment came from the firm’s fourth fund, Eureka IV LP, which closed in October 2020 with $200 million of capital. In March 2020, Eureka acquired its first Fund IV platform with the buy of LegalPartners, a Chicago-headquartered outsourced provider of credentialed legal professionals to law firms and corporate legal departments.

“We are very excited to partner with CEO Joan Ryan and the rest of the outstanding team at iPEC in the next phase of the company’s growth,” said Chris Miller, a partner with Eureka. “iPEC’s proprietary content and unique pedagogy have combined to drive both professional and personal transformational development for its program participants. We look forward to supporting the company’s continued growth and expansion into complementary service lines to further support its highly loyal alumni base of over 15,000 graduates.”

Philadelphia-based Eureka Equity Partners makes control and non-control investments in companies with up to $100 million in revenue. Initial equity investments range from $10 million to $25 million but larger investments can be made with co-investment from the firm’s limited partners. Sectors of interest include business services, health care services, specialty manufacturing and consumer products.

© 2020 Private Equity Professional | November 23, 2020

Turnspire Closes Buy of Goodyear Air Springs

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Turnspire Capital Partners has formed Infinity Engineered Products (IEP) to acquire the Goodyear Air Springs business from publicly traded EnPro Industries.

Goodyear air springs are used by original equipment manufacturers and fleet operators for trucks, trailers, buses, and specialty vehicles. The company’s products are sold under an exclusive license from Akron-based Goodyear Tire & Rubber which developed its air-spring technology in 1957.

Through this transaction, IEP acquired all the assets of Goodyear Air Springs, including full brand licensing rights; all technical and manufacturing facilities in the US and Mexico; and all intellectual property for $32 million in cash and a $7.5 million seller note. David Brinkman, Goodyear Air Springs’ general manager will lead IEP as its new CEO in partnership with Turnspire.

“We are very excited about Goodyear Air Springs as part of Infinity, the exciting new platform that Turnspire created,” said Mr. Brinkman. “Turnspire is an ideal partner for our talented team, given the firm’s strong track record building world-class independently operated industrial companies.  Turnspire’s highly relevant experience, commitment to operational excellence and significant resources will enable us to deploy an ambitious growth plan underpinned on investing in technology and innovation.”

Goodyear Air Springs was acquired by The Carlyle Group in 2007 through its buy of Veyance, a Goodyear subsidiary. In 2014, Continental AG, a Germany-headquartered automotive parts manufacturer, acquired Veyance for $1.9 billion. EnPro acquired Goodyear Air Springs in 2015 from Continental AG for $20 million. At that time, Goodyear Air Springs had annual revenues of approximately $100 million and EBITDA of $4.8 million (a valuation multiple of 4.1x).

New York City-based Turnspire invests in companies with revenues between $50 million and $400 million and valuations up to $125 million. The firm prefers companies that are underperformers and/or in need of an operational turnaround.  Sectors of interest include aerospace and defense; automotive; capital equipment; chemicals; consumer; construction and building materials; food and beverage; industrial equipment; logistics; metals and metal fabrication; paper and packaging; and plastics and synthetic materials.

“We are thrilled to acquire Goodyear Air Springs, which has a leading market position, world-class engineering and testing capabilities, and a robust portfolio of industry-leading products,” said Abel Osorio, a partner at Turnspire. “Through our new company Infinity Engineered Products, we look forward to building on the Goodyear Air Springs legacy by increasing the business’ already substantial investment in research and development, technology and new product development, and other initiatives. We are incredibly excited to support the Infinity team as it pursues attractive growth opportunities and strategic acquisitions.”

Charlotte-headquartered EnPro (NYSE: NPO) designs and manufactures a range of industrial products used in the aerospace, power generation, heavy-duty trucking, mining, and chemical sectors. In 2019 the company had revenues of more than $1.2 billion. The company was founded in 2002 through the spin-out of the engineered industrial products business segment of the Goodrich Corporation.

Fidus Securities was the financial advisor to EnPro on this transaction.

© 2020 Private Equity Professional | November 23, 2020

Live Cat Bounce

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Transactions completed in the third quarter of 2020 suggest a market stunned by the pandemic, but with a cat-like capacity to land on its feet.

GF Data’s 228 active private equity contributors completed 50 transactions in the quarter meeting the data tracking firm’s parameters – Total Enterprise Value (TEV) of $10 million to $250 million and TEV/Trailing Twelve Months (TTM) Adjusted EBITDA of 3x to 15x.

“Completed deal volume stood at about 80% of the year-ago quarter in Q3,” said GF Data CEO Andrew Greenberg. “This is a big improvement from Q2, when the coronavirus hit with full force and volume fell to about 40% of what it would have been.”

“At the same time,” added Mr. Greenberg, “average valuations eased from 7.4x to 6.7x. We thought that the deals that found the finish line in Q2 reflected a healthy dose of survivorship bias. This was bound to abate as more deals got done in Q3. We are mindful that a handful of sectors experienced no diminution in value, and some categories benefitted from changed dynamics. On balance, we think the “COVID effect” is represented more by a rolling average than by the quarter-to-quarter movement in valuations – in other words, an adjustment of .3x to .4x overall.”

“Debt utilization returned to pre-COVID levels, but debt composition continued to reflect a more cautious environment,” said B. Graeme Frazier, IV, GF Data’s co-founder and principal. “Average total debt bounced back to the 3.8x to 3.9x range after tumbling half a turn in Q2. Senior debt, however, was still tamped down.”

“The pick-up in total debt gave needed relief to sponsors,” added Mr. Frazier. “Average equity share on platform acquisitions in Q2 had surpassed 60 percent. But the restrained senior debt piece means a greater share of average capital structure being picked up by subordinated debt providers – a dynamic we have long associated with challenging or at least discerning market conditions.”

“We saw a rebound in deal flow in Q3 after a marked fall-off in first-half volume,” said Spalding White, a partner at Charleston-based Route 2 Capital Partners. “Our firm closed a transaction late in the third quarter with an established sponsor. That experience supported our pre-COVID thesis that established companies with strong management and free cash flow remain available and viable. The data bears out our impression that the ability to be flexible in filling out the middle of the capital stack is more valuable than ever.”

GF Data provides reliable external information for use in valuing and assessing M&A transactions to private equity firms, investors, lenders, and other users.  The firm collects and publishes proprietary transaction information from private equity groups on a blind and confidential basis.  The pool of active contributors comprises 228 private equity firms, mezzanine groups and other financial sponsors.

Data contributors and other subscribers receive five products: (1) a quarterly report containing high-level valuation, volume and leverage data; (2) a quarterly supplement offering detailed information on debt and capital structure trends; (3) a semi-annual supplement on indemnification cap, escrow and other details; (4) quarterly industry drilldown reports; and (5) continuous access, through GF Data’s secure website, to detailed valuation data organized by NAICS code.

For information on subscribing or on contributing data as a private equity participant, please contact Bob Wegbreit at [email protected] or 610-616-4607.

© 2020 Private Equity Professional | November 23, 2020