Trident Solutions was assembled by River Associates through six acquisitions over seven years
Trident Solutions manufactures and distributes marking, identification and locating products used by utilities, contractors and other infrastructure customers. Its products include tracer wire, marking posts, soil markers, stake flags and flagging tape used to locate and identify underground gas, water, electric and other utility lines before and during excavation.
September 3, 2026|John McNulty
Align Capital Partners (ACP) has acquired Trident Solutions, a manufacturer of products that mark, identify and protect buried utility lines and industrial equipment, from River Associates.
Trident Solutions makes the physical markers that tell a work crew where buried infrastructure sits and what it is. Its tracer wire is a copper-clad steel conductor buried alongside plastic pipe so a locating crew can find the line years later with a signal detector. Its marking posts and soil markers stand above ground to show where a gas or water main runs, and its stake flags and flagging tape mark a dig site before excavation begins.
Customers of Trident include electric, gas and water utilities, construction contractors, energy companies and equipment manufacturers. Trident has more than 1,700 customers and operates facilities in Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Minnesota. The company, led by CEO Blair Cook, is headquartered in Plano, Texas, about 20 miles north of Dallas.
“I’m extremely proud of what our team has built at Trident and excited about what lies ahead,” said Mr. Cook. “We have significant opportunities to expand our business, broaden the solutions we provide our customers and continue investing in our people and capabilities. ACP shares that ambition, and I look forward to partnering with their team as we take Trident into its next phase of growth.”
Trident was built as a platform under River Associates which assembled six manufacturing brands into the business through a series of acquisitions beginning in 2019.
Today, the business operates under six brands: Presco is a Texas-based maker of engineered films, high-visibility flagging tape and marking flags. This was the original acquisition in February 2019 that formed the platform; Pro-Line Safety Products is an Illinois-based maker of tracer wire and detectable underground marking tape used by utilities and contractors (December 2019); and William Frick & Company is a Pennsylvania-based maker of custom RFID tags and labels used for asset tracking, identification and security applications (December 2020).
The other three brands cover markers and labels: Rhino Marking & Protection Systems is a Minnesota-based maker of soil markers, marking posts, decals and other damage-prevention products used by utilities and infrastructure operators (March 2021); LEM Products is a Pennsylvania-based maker of maintenance and warning labels, hydrant rings, utility pole tags and other industrial identification products (December 2021); and Uticom Systems, a Pennsylvania-based maker of hazard-alerting products and utility graphics used by electric, telecom, security and other infrastructure customers (August 2026). The platform took the name Trident Solutions in October 2021 prior to the buy of LEM Products.
Chris Jones
“Trident embodies the qualities we look for in a platform investment, including a talented leadership team and strong market position,” said Chris Jones, a co-founder and managing partner of ACP. “The company operates in attractive end markets supported by powerful long-term tailwinds, including infrastructure investment, utility modernization, fiber deployment and increasing safety requirements.”
The utility marking sector is a small market that grows steadily. Global sales of utility markers were about $372 million in 2025 and are forecast to reach $740 million by 2035, a compound annual growth rate of 7.1 percent, according to Precedence Research, which puts the United States at roughly $104 million of the 2025 total. The wider underground utility mapping market these products support was about $1.8 billion in 2026 and is growing at 11 percent a year, with North America holding 36 percent of it, according to Fortune Business Insights.
Market demand in the sector tracks excavation rather than new construction. State and federal rules require operators to locate and mark buried lines before digging, and utility spending on aging gas, water and electric networks keeps replacement volumes steady through the cycle. A struck line is expensive and occasionally fatal, which makes marking products a small line item customers rarely cut.
The supplier base is split between broad identification manufacturers and single-product specialists. Brady, a Milwaukee identification and safety products maker founded in 1914 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, competes across labels and signs. Berntsen International, a family-owned Madison, Wisconsin manufacturer of survey monuments and utility markers, and Copperhead Industries, a Minnesota tracer wire specialist, compete in individual categories rather than across the range.
River Associates’ strategy of assembling six brands under one common banner allows a utility to purchase tracer wire, posts, tags and flags under one purchase order. ACP has said it intends to grow Trident through geographic expansion, added manufacturing capability and a broader product range — the same buy-and-build approach River Associates used to assemble the six brands.
Align Capital Partners invests from $20 million to $60 million of equity in companies with enterprise values up to $150 million and EBITDA between $3 million and $15 million. Sectors of interest include software, tech-enabled services, professional business services, industrial services, specialty manufacturing and specialty distribution.
ACP is currently investing from its fourth fund, which closed at its hard cap in June 2026 with $770 million, alongside Align Collaborate Fund II, which closed the same day at $375 million and backs independent sponsors. The firm was founded in 2016, manages $3.2 billion in committed capital, and has offices in Cleveland and Dallas.
Trident is ACP’s second new platform of 2026, following medical imaging services provider Heritage Imaging in May. The firm sold pet wellness manufacturer CompletePet to Blue Sea Capital earlier this week.
River Associatesinvests in United States and Canada-based companies with revenues of $15 million to $100 million and EBITDA of $3 million to $12 million. Sectors of interest include manufacturing, high-margin distribution, industrial services, and business services. River Associates was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The ACP transaction team was led by Operating Partner Ross Fuller, Principal Dave Modi, Senior Associate Ryan Schmidt and Associate Andrew Ameen.
Baird was the financial advisor to Trident Solutions.
