Salt Creek Capital has acquired sister companies Broco, Rankin Industries, and Strong Welding Products (together Broco Rankin).
Broco Rankin is a manufacturer of tools and equipment for underwater cutting and welding, law enforcement and military tactical breaching. Additional applications include rescue, industrial cutting and hardfacing, and protective metal alloys. Customers of the company include the military and special forces, first responders, law enforcement, and fire and rescue units in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Pacific Rim. Broco Rankin is headquartered near Los Angeles in Ontario, California.
Broco was founded in 1968 and is the market leader in underwater exothermic cutting and welding tools including torches, stingers, rods, and electrodes. Broco’s exothermic cutting rods quickly cut or melt cast iron, steel, stainless steel, concrete, granite, nickel, titanium, aluminum, and exotic metals.
Exothermic cutting and welding tools are highly specialized and are used to cut and weld metal components quickly and effectively. These tools use an exothermic reaction—a chemical reaction that releases a large amount of energy in the form of heat—to create high temperatures, allowing for faster cutting or welding. In underwater applications, exothermic cutting and welding provide higher cutting speeds than air-based techniques, produce fewer fumes or sparks, and are much quieter than air-based methods.
Through Rankin Industries, founded in 1938, Broco Rankin manufactures and markets hardfacing products that are used to apply coatings of hard, wear-resistant materials on worn or new surfaces. Rankin also manufactures specialty alloys, and security cabinets and containers.
At the closing of the transaction, Salt Creek Capital announced that Sterling Peloso would be the new CEO of Broco Rankin.
“It has been our great pleasure over the last three decades to build Broco Rankin into the business it is today,” said Richard “Rick” A. Ferry and Richard M. Ferry, co-owners of Broco Rankin, in a released statement. “We look forward to seeing Sterling Peloso and the Salt Creek Capital team continue to grow the business and lead it through its next stage of growth.”
Mr. Peloso is an experienced executive with senior-level experience in the business services, business equipment, and healthcare information sectors. He was the Vice President of Operations for Iron Mountain, a Los Angeles-based document services company, from 2008 to 2011; the Vice President of National Accounts at Aramark, a Los Angeles-based uniform services company, from 2011 to 2013; and the CEO of Ultra Solutions, a seller of used and refurbished ultrasound equipment to hospitals and imaging centers, from 2013 to 2018. Ultra Solutions was a portfolio company of Salt Creek beginning in 2013 and was sold to private equity-owned Avante Health Solutions in 2018. Mr. Peloso continued with Avante Health Solutions as its President of Patient Monitoring & Ultrasound until earlier this month.
“I am thrilled to have partnered with Salt Creek Capital to complete this transaction,” said Mr. Peloso. “Broco Rankin has an exciting future ahead of it, and I look forward to working with our employees, distribution partners and customers to build upon the great legacy created by Rick and Richard.”
“Rick and Richard are exceptional entrepreneurs who built a great business,” said Tyler Romrell, a vice president at Salt Creek Capital. “Broco Rankin is an established leader in the underwater cutting and welding space with a diverse global network of customers. We look forward to working alongside Sterling and the team to continue innovating and expanding the Broco Rankin platform.”
Salt Creek invests in North American-headquartered companies that have revenues of $5 million to $150 million. Sectors of interest include manufacturing, logistics, value-added distribution, B2B and B2C services, food and beverage, healthcare, retail, and hospitality. The firm is headquartered near Menlo Park in Woodside, California.
Shoreline Partners was the financial advisor to Broco Rankin on this transaction.
© 2023 Private Equity Professional | January 13, 2023
