Gemspring Capital has agreed to sell Therma Holdings to Blackstone Energy Partners.
Therma specializes in complex HVAC, high purity process piping, and process controls for cleanrooms, laboratories, and high-tech manufacturing facilities. Customers of Therma include general contractors, construction managers and owners in the technology, biopharmaceutical, data center and semiconductor industries.
Therma, which performed the original mechanical work for some of the founding clean rooms and semiconductor fabrication facilities in Silicon Valley, was founded in 1967 and is led by CEO Jeff Sprau. Therma has more than 2,200 employees and is headquartered in San Jose, California.
“Gemspring has been a tremendous partner to Therma and has been instrumental in helping us develop and execute our growth strategy,” said Mr. Sprau. “This is a very exciting new chapter for our company and Blackstone has provided a strong endorsement for Therma and our best-in-class service offering.”
Gemspring acquired Therma in June 2017 and completed four add-on acquisitions including Gilbert Mechanical Contractors, a Minnesota-based provider of mechanical, electrical, plumbing, controls, and fire protection services – including design and build – to commercial customers in the healthcare, commercial, and institutional markets (June 2020); VarcoMac, a Maryland-based provider of electrical systems and services to the data center, healthcare and high technology industries (September 2019);
Integrated Mechanical Systems, a California-based provider of mechanical design, fabrication, construction and maintenance services to commercial, institutional, retail, and light industrial facilities (February 2019); and Yearout Mechanical, a New Mexico-based design and build provider of mechanical, fabrication and maintenance services for HVAC, plumbing and piping systems (December 2018).
“Therma is a fantastic company led by a great team. We are grateful for the opportunity to be a steward of Therma over the course of our ownership and contribute to its growth,” said Bret Wiener, a managing partner of Gemspring. “Therma has been an extremely successful investment for management and our investors. We look forward to the company’s continued success under Blackstone’s ownership.”
“Therma management consistently executed the strategic and tactical goals we collectively developed, nearly tripling annual revenue during our ownership as a result,” said Thomas Zanios, a managing director at Gemspring. “We are thrilled with the outcome of our investment and confident that Therma is well-positioned to continue on its strong growth trajectory.”
Gemspring invests in companies that have revenues up to $500 million and are active in the business services, distribution and logistics, financial and insurance services, healthcare services, industrial services, software and tech-enabled services, and specialty manufacturing sectors. The firm, which held a final closing of its debut fund in November 2016 with $350 million of capital commitments, is based in Westport, Connecticut. In March 2020, Gemspring closed its second fund with $750 million of capital commitments.
Blackstone Energy Partners, the buyer of Therma, is Blackstone’s energy-focused private equity business which has invested over $17 billion of equity across a range of sectors within the energy industry. New York City-based Blackstone (NYSE: BX) invests in private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, non-investment grade credit, real assets, and secondary funds. The firm also provides financial advisory services, including financial and strategic advisory, restructuring and reorganization advisory, and fund placement services.
Jefferies and Lincoln International were the financial advisors to Therma. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year.
© 2020 Private Equity Professional | November 11, 2020