Aurora Capital has acquired Westcoast Gate & Entry Systems, a provider of automated gate and security products, from Kian Capital Partners.
Westcoast Gate installs, maintains, repairs, and retrofits security gates and other access control systems to both the residential and commercial perimeter security markets. The company was founded by Gary Ovsiowitz in 1998 and since its inception has built a customer base of nearly 10,000 homes throughout California. Today, the company is led by CEO Bob Flecken and is headquartered near Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
“Westcoast Gate has made tremendous strides with Kian Capital, and we are excited to partner with Aurora as we continue our evolution,” said Mr. Flecken. “Aurora has a long history of partnering with market-leading businesses to accelerate growth, and we are grateful to have them as a partner as we continue to scale our platform. The business is primed for the next phase of growth, and our values and strategy are aligned.”
“We are thrilled to partner with Bob and the Westcoast Gate team as the company enters its next stage of growth,” said Andrew Wilson, a partner at Aurora. “The company has become a leading service provider in California, and we believe its scalable foundation provides significant opportunity for the future. We look forward to working with the team to help capitalize on the momentum they and Kian have built over the past several years.”
Kian Capital acquired Westcoast Gate through its first fund, in partnership with Crescendo Capital Partners and company management, in April 2017.
“The success of this transaction for Westcoast Gate, Kian and its investors is a direct result of our outstanding management team, and their execution on the growth plan we collectively developed from the onset of our relationship,” said Kevin McCarthy, a co-founder and partner at Kian. “Bob and his team worked incredibly hard every day, and we thank them for a wonderful partnership. Our team takes pride in working with our management teams to build platforms for the next level of growth, and Aurora is an ideal new home for Westcoast Gate to continue its journey.”
Los Angeles-based Aurora Capital makes control investments of $50 million to $300 million in industrial, manufacturing and service-oriented businesses that are valued between $100 million and $500 million. Specific sectors of interest include industrial services and distribution, engineered products, and technology-enabled services.
The acquisition of Westcoast Gate by Aurora is the fifth investment made by the firm’s fifth fund, Aurora Equity Partners VI LP, which closed in September 2020. Like Westcoast Gate, Aurora has invested in other service businesses including Maryland-based Curtis Bay Medical Waste Services (February 2021), Colorado-based Premier Roofing (August 2020), Texas-based Petroleum Service Corporation (July 2019), and Texas-based VLS Recovery Services (October 2017).
Charlotte and Atlanta-based Kian Capital makes both control and minority investments of $7 million to $30 million of equity and subordinated debt in companies that have revenues of $10 million to $100 million and EBITDA of $2 million to $15 million. Sectors of interest include consumer, services, specialty manufacturing and value-added distribution. In March 2018, the firm held a final hard-cap closing of KMP II LP with total capital of $275 million.
The sale of Westcoast Gate by Kian follows its September 2021 sale of Driven Lighting Group, a designer and distributor of automotive aftermarket lighting products, to Wheel Pros, a portfolio company of Clearlake Capital.
Stifel was the financial advisor to Kian on this transaction and Brown Gibbons Lang advised Aurora. Bank of Montreal arranged the debt financing to support the acquisition of Westcoast Gate.
© 2021 Private Equity Professional | November 19, 2021
