SCI Flooring, a portfolio company of Rainier Partners, has acquired United Carpet, a provider of floor coverings to the multi-family, commercial, and residential markets.
United Carpet’s commercial customers include schools and universities, hotels and casinos, retirement communities, and healthcare facilities. United Carpet’s products include carpet, vinyl, ceramic tile, hardwood and laminate, with the business also providing a range of services including product selection and installation. According to the company, United Carpet is one of the largest flooring providers in the Midwest region. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered near St. Louis in Hazelwood, Missouri, and has a second location near Chicago in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.
“Partnering with SCI marks an exciting new chapter in our story,” said Gary Russo, a co-founder of United Carpet. “We have known the SCI leadership team for years and share a mutual respect. We are excited to bring together two highly complementary businesses and look forward to leveraging the strength of the combined platform to better serve our customers throughout the Midwest.”
SCI Flooring, led by CEO Dave Elberson, is a full-service provider of soft and hard surface floor covering to multi-family, commercial, and single-family property managers and builders. The company was founded in 1980 and operates as SCI Floor Covering in Detroit, Michigan; MC Flooring in Kansas City, Missouri; and Eastpointe Interiors in Grand Rapids, Michigan. According to SCI, it has a leading market position in the southern Michigan and Kansas City metropolitan areas.
“Joining forces with United Carpet will help scale the platform in the attractive multi-family channel and allow us to increase our service of commercial and residential customers in the large and growing St. Louis and Chicago markets,” said Mr. Elberson. “Rainier has helped us continue to execute on strategic M&A as part of our collective growth strategy, and we are thrilled to partner with Gary and the United Carpet team as we continue to develop the platform.”
Rainier Partners acquired SCI Flooring in June 2023 from Corridor Capital which had first invested in the business in November 2013. The acquisition of United Carpet is SCI’s first add-on acquisition under Rainier ownership and will expand its operations to several complementary markets across Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas.
“The buy of United Carpet will bring incremental scale and diversification to the SCI platform, and we look forward to continuing to help drive the company’s mission of delivering differentiated service and value to its customers,” said Luke Bench, a vice president at Rainer.
Rainier and SCI continue to seek additional add-on opportunities of other flooring businesses.
Rainier Partners invests from $10 million to $50 million of equity in lower middle-market businesses, primarily in the Western US and Canada, which have from $5 million to $25 million EBITDA. Sectors of interest include business services, financial services, industrial services, and consumer services. Rainier primarily invests in control buyouts, with a focus on family-, founder-, and privately-owned businesses and corporate carve-outs. In February 2023, Rainier held a final and above-target closing of Rainier Partners Fund I LP at its hard cap of $300 million.
© 2023 Private Equity Professional | December 19, 2023
