LongueVue Capital (LVC) has acquired Kingston Brass, a designer and distributor of kitchen and bathroom fixtures, bathtubs, and accessories.
Kingston designs and distributes water fixtures, bathtubs, kitchen and bathroom accessories, and other plumbing products to both residential and commercial customers through both direct-to-consumer and business-to-business channels.
The company’s products – sourced from long term Taiwan-based suppliers – range from kitchen and bath faucets and sinks to matching plumbing trim and includes air gaps, filtration faucets, console vanities, and bathtubs. Kingston’s fixtures are available in traditional and contemporary styles in 14 different finishes including polished chrome, brushed nickel, polished brass, brushed brass, and matte black.
Kingston was founded in 1998 by Erik Chen and Frieda Lin and is headquartered near Los Angeles in Chino, California, and has approximately 150 full-time and part-time employees.
Now in partnership with LVC, Kingston will actively look to grow its business through customer, channel, product, and distribution expansion. “This partnership with LVC allows Kingston to accelerate its growth trajectory,” said Mr. Chen. “We have been focused on finding the right partner that can support us strategically, and LVC is the ideal fit for our organization given the firm’s immense amount of highly relevant experience. We look forward to working closely with LVC on our next phase of growth.”
“We are extremely excited to partner with Kingston,” said Ryan Nagim, a managing partner at LVC. “Given our relevant experience with a highly analogous business, TileBar, we strongly believe that we can immediately add value and strategically support the company’s leadership team. We look forward to driving growth both organically and through acquisitions.”
In April 2023, LongueVue sold TileBar, a New Jersey-based direct-to-consumer provider of mosaic, tile, and other specialty interior products used in residential and commercial applications, to AEA Investors.
During LongueVue’s ownership term, TileBar more than quadrupled its revenues by expanding its sales channels and product categories, launching new showrooms, and investing in its website and technology platform. The company also tripled its employee headcount and doubled its warehouse capacity to 500,000 sq. ft. LongueVue acquired TileBar (then Soho Studio Corp.) in partnership with the company’s founder and CEO Eli Mechlovitz in June 2019.
“Kingston has an impressive track record of organic growth within the kitchen and bathroom fixtures market. With its proprietary, innovative designs and seamless channel integration, Kingston is not just a provider of plumbing fixtures; it’s a lifestyle brand,” said Evan Golden, a principal at LVC. “We are thrilled to partner with the Kingston team, and together we believe the company is well positioned to become a disruptive industry leader.”
“Kingston’s recent successes serve as a testament to the company’s unwavering commitment to excellence in service, unparalleled quality, and continuous innovation,” said Chris Homeister, a consumer operating partner at LVC. “We are delighted to enter this partnership with an exceptional team that deeply appreciates LVC’s collaborative approach and shares our strategic vision and cultural values.”
Abacus Finance Group was the Administrative Agent and Sole Lender for senior secured credit facilities used to support the acquisition of Kingston by LVC. “We are extremely grateful to the Abacus team for their support of nine LVC platforms over the last six years,” said Mr. Nagim. “This was another smoothly executed transaction, which is their hallmark.”
“We are happy to support another strong transaction brought to us by the LongueVue team,” said Tim Clifford, the president and CEO of Abacus Finance. “As in other transactions, our success was a function of our speed, structural flexibility, and certainty of close – key aspects of what we call our Total Partnership Approach™.”
The Abacus transaction team included Managing Director Eric Petersen, Associate Greg Scanlon, and Analyst Matthew Campanella. “LongueVue is a strong partner and always great to work with,” said Mr. Petersen.
Abacus provides cash flow-based senior financing to private equity and family office-sponsored, lower-middle market companies that have EBITDA between $3 million and $15 million. Debt facilities can be as large as $50 million. Since Abacus’s founding in June 2011, it has closed over $3 billion in financings. Abacus, led by Mr. Clifford, is headquartered in New York City and is an affiliate of New York Private Bank & Trust which was founded in 1850.
LongueVue makes equity and debt investments of $10 million to $50 million in United States-headquartered companies that have over $3 million of EBITDA and up to $150 million of annual revenue. The firm is typically the first institutional investor in its founder-owned target companies. Sectors of interest include healthcare, transportation and logistics, specialty manufacturing, industrial services, consumer, food and beverage, and specialty packaging. In October 2022, LongueVue held an oversubscribed and hard cap final closing of LongueVue Capital Partners IV LP with $360 million of capital.
In addition to Messrs. Nagim, Homeister, and Golden, LongueVue’s transaction team included Vice President Erin Saer, Senior Associate Nick Davaz, and Associate Rankin Hobbs.
LongueVue was founded in 2001 and is based in New Orleans with an additional office in Park City, Utah.
© 2024 Private Equity Professional | April 4, 2024
