Abacus Finance was the provider of senior debt facilities to support the formation of Automated Handling Solutions (AHS) by May River Capital. In providing the financing, Abacus acted as the sole lender and the senior secured credit facilities administrative agent. Abacus also made an equity co-investment to back the formation of AHS by May River.
Automated Handling Solutions was formed by May River in April 2022 through the combination of Cablevey Conveyors, an Iowa-based manufacturer of tubular drag and disc conveying systems; and Spiroflow, a North Carolina-based manufacturer of material handling equipment including flexible screw, aero, cable, and chain drag conveyor systems. Spiroflow also provides control systems integration services. Cablevey Conveyors was acquired by May River in January 2022 and Spiroflow was acquired simultaneously in April 2022 with the formation of AHS.
“This was a very smooth process from our perspective,” said Angela McCoy, a principal at May River. “Given our prior experience working with Abacus, selecting them as our senior lender on the AHS transaction was an easy choice.”
In September 2019, Abacus backed May River’s buy of Kason Corporation. In this transaction, May River formed Advanced Material Processing (AMP) as a new platform to combine New Jersey-based Kason with May River’s existing portfolio company, Iowa-based Marion Process Solutions. Today, AMP is a maker of material processing equipment with a specialization in mixing, drying, separating, and thermal/moisture control equipment and systems.
“Abacus was pleased to utilize its Synthetic One-Stop product offering to assist May River with this transaction,” said Tim Clifford, the president and CEO of Abacus. “We pride ourselves on offering seamless execution and were pleased to partner once again with the May River team.”
Abacus provides cash flow-based senior financing to private equity and family office-sponsored, lower-middle market companies that have EBITDA between $3 million and $15 million. Debt facilities can be as large as $50 million. Since Abacus’s inception in June 2011, it has closed over $2 billion in financings. Abacus is headquartered in New York City and is an affiliate of New York Private Bank & Trust which was founded in 1850.
“We were excited to have closed on our second platform with May River Capital,” added Seth Friedman, a managing director at Abacus. “The firm’s experience in the vertical afforded us the ability for a quick and easy underwriting process.” Working on the AHS transaction alongside Mr. Friedman was Senior Associate Austin Rendell.
Chicago-based May River invests from $15 million to $75 million of equity in companies with revenues of at least $10 million, EBITDA of $3 million to $15 million, and enterprise values of $20 million to $150 million. Sectors of interest include precision manufacturing, engineered products and instrumentation, specialized industrial services, and value-added industrial distribution services. May River was founded in February 2012 and is investing from its second institutional fund which closed in December 2019 with $300 million of capital.
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