Aterian Investment Partners has acquired a majority interest in Allentown, a provider of lab equipment used in the life sciences sector, from Heartwood Partners.
Allentown’s products include reusable and single-use housing equipment for rodents, primates, rabbits, guinea pigs and poultry; biological safety cabinets; cabinet washing and sterilization; and monitoring and animal census systems.
Allentown’s customers include academic research institutions, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, private laboratories, governmental research institutions, and contract research organizations. The company was founded in 1968 by the Coiro family and is headquartered in Allentown, New Jersey.
Heartwood Partners (then Capital Partners) acquired Allentown in October 2019 in partnership with CEO John Coiro, a second-generation family member. During its ownership term, Allentown’s sales increased by more than 25% and EBITDA grew by more than 125%.
The buy of Allentown is the first platform investment made by Aterian’s $830 million fourth fund, Aterian Investment Partners IV LP, which closed in October 2021 after just nine weeks of fundraising.
“We are thrilled to partner with John and the talented Allentown team to continue developing an already global leader in the biomedical research and life sciences equipment space,” said Brandon Bethea, co-founder and partner at Aterian. “Over its history, Allentown has demonstrated impressive product innovation, customer service and quality. We believe our investment in Allentown fits nicely within Aterian’s emphasis on industries with considerable white space and we look forward to assisting Allentown in becoming the industry consolidation partner of choice for other like-minded founders and owners.”
“We could not be more excited to embark on this new partnership with Aterian as we march into Allentown’s next phase of growth,” said Mr. Coiro. “Throughout this process, the Aterian team consistently demonstrated excitement about our business and strategic growth initiatives, commitment to maintaining our company culture established over decades, and relevant experience in partnering with businesses in our space as well as family-oriented businesses. We are confident that Aterian is the perfect partner to help us execute on our organic and acquisition-based global growth plan.”
“It has been a privilege to partner with the talented Allentown team over the last few years and we are all proud of what has been accomplished. The management team successfully executed an ambitious strategic growth plan while mitigating challenges stemming from the pandemic. Everyone at Heartwood is looking forward to following Allentown’s next phase of growth,” said Mark Allsteadt, the managing partner of Heartwood.
“The Allentown platform represents another Aterian platform in the broader healthcare manufacturing space, as well as one with family and founder origins,” said Daniel Phan, a managing director at Aterian. “We are excited to partner with John and the broader Allentown team to help them execute on their growth plan that includes a plethora of actionable organic and M&A levers as we continue to expand this platform within the life sciences market.”
Aterian invests from $10 million to $100 million in middle-market businesses with $50 million to $750 million in revenue and $10 million to $50 million in EBITDA. The firm’s sectors of interest include industrials, niche manufacturing, chemicals and material science, industrial services, business services, value-added distribution, consumer, and transportation and logistics. Aterian has offices in New York City and Coral Gables, Florida.
Connecticut-based Heartwood invests in United States-based companies that have revenues from $30 million to $400 million and EBITDA between $5 million to $30 million. Sectors of interest include agriculture, auto and truck aftermarket, consumer products, distribution, food, industrial services niche manufacturing, packaging, and specialty chemicals and materials.
Heartwood closed its third fund, Heartwood Partners III LP, at $600 million in September 2020. The firm is currently raising its fourth fund, Heartwood Partners IV LP, and has raised $297.9 million of its $700 million target according to its most recent regulatory filing. The Norwalk, Connecticut-based firm was founded as Capital Partners in 1982 and changed its name to Heartwood Partners in September 2020.
BlackArch Partners was the financial adviser to Allentown on this transaction. Aterian was advised by Configure Partners, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Kroll, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges.
© 2022 Private Equity Professional | May 19, 2022
