Saw Mill Capital has sold Meteor Education, a provider of classroom furniture, to Bain Capital Double Impact.
Meteor is a provider of classroom, technology, and administrative furniture to the educational and institutional markets. The company’s services include design, consulting, project management, and installation to public and private schools in the K-12 market.
The company specializes in larger projects where a school district is undergoing a major expansion or modernization program. Meteor currently serves more than 800 school districts across the United States and is headquartered in Gainesville, Florida.
Saw Mill acquired Meteor with equity from its second fund from Hudson Ferry Capital in December 2017. Over the term of ownership, the company increased its EBITDA by more than fourfold through a combination of organic growth and add-on acquisitions including the buys of Premier Furniture & Equipment, an Iowa-based distributor of K-12 classroom furniture, in November 2021; and Worthington Contract Furniture, a Texas-based dealer of auditorium seating, bleachers, science labs, libraries, and full-school turnkey furniture projects, in March 2022.
“Saw Mill was an exceptional partner to Meteor throughout these past five years,” said Bill Latham, CEO of Meteor. “They were highly supportive of our vision for impacting schools, our growth strategies and made key investments that fueled our success. In addition, we were able to navigate through the market challenges of the past several years and create a stronger set of talent, systems, and further professionalize our organization – helping us prepare for the next chapter of our growth.”
“It has been a privilege working alongside Meteor’s talented management team to execute on our shared strategic vision,” said Travis Foltz, a principal at Saw Mill. “Through our investment research team, we identified an attractive market opportunity with strong secular tailwinds and executed a diverse growth strategy to create value for all of Meteor’s stakeholders. We are fortunate to have had the opportunity to be a partner to Meteor and its management team over our hold period, and we believe the team is capable of tremendous future success.”
Saw Mill invests in North American-based manufacturing, industrial and commercial services, and specialty distribution businesses with $25 million to $200 million of revenues and $5 million to $25 million of EBITDA. The firm was founded in 1997 and is headquartered north of New York City in Briarcliff Manor, New York.
Bain Capital Double Impact was founded by Bain Capital in 2015 to pursue investments that achieve targeted financial returns and social and environmental goals. The Boston-based firm’s investments range from $20 million to $80 million per transaction in the healthcare, education, energy, sustainable food, and agriculture sectors.
© 2023 Private Equity Professional | March 8, 2023
