Audax Private Equity has acquired Revolution Dancewear from Incline Equity Partners which acquired the company in July 2010.
Revolution Dancewear is a designer and marketer of dance recital costumes, competition costumes, footwear, and dancewear. The company sources its products from suppliers in Asia and sells directly to more than 12,000 worldwide customers including dance studios, dance schools, public programs, and dancers. Company-owned brand names include Revolution, 10th House, and Plume.
Revolution Dancewear, led by CEO Joe Sclafani, was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Niles, IL (www.revolutiondance.com).
“We’re excited to partner with Audax as we continue to build the Revolution platform both organically and through acquisitions,” said Mr. Sclafani. “Audax’ resources will help us accelerate our growth as we expand into new product lines and geographies and invest in technology tools to support our dance studio partners.”
“Revolution is a recognized leader in the dance costume and dancewear market,” said Geoffrey Rehnert, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Audax. “We look forward to supporting Joe Sclafani and the entire Revolution team to continue growing the business organically and through acquisitions.”
Audax Group makes control investments of $10 million to $100 million in middle market companies with transaction values of $25 million to $500 million. Sectors of interest include industrial manufacturing; energy; outsourced industrial services; consumer products; healthcare devices and services; non-asset based logistics; technology; aerospace & defense; business services; and direct marketing. The firm was founded in 1999 and has offices in Boston, New York and San Francisco (www.audaxgroup.com).
“We are very proud of what we have accomplished along with the management team at Revolution,” said Leon Rubinov, Partner with Incline. “We knew that in order to grow the business we needed to expand both geographically and into new product lines. The team achieved these goals through organic initiatives as well as through three add-on acquisitions. Our combined efforts helped the company more than double in size during our ownership.”
The sale of Revolution Dancewear is the final portfolio company from Incline’s second fund which closed in 2007 and was raised before Incline spun out from PNC Financial Services in 2011.
Incline Equity Partners invests from $15 million to $30 million in support of recapitalizations, buyouts and corporate divestitures of lower middle market companies that have EBITDAs greater than $5 million and enterprise values between $50 million and $300 million. Sectors of interest include value-added distribution, specialized light manufacturing, and business and industrial services. Incline was formed in 2011 and is based in Pittsburgh (www.inclineequity.com).
© 2018 Private Equity Professional | July 9, 2018
