Vander-Bend Manufacturing, a maker of metal products used in the medical device sector and a platform company of Aterian Investment Partners, has added Brian King to its board of directors as executive chairman.
Mr. King has a long and impressive medical device resume. He is the former president and CEO of private equity-owned Viant Medical, a provider of contract manufacturing services to the medical device industry. During his tenure leading Viant, the company quadrupled in size to $1 billion in annual revenues. Prior to Viant, Mr. King spent over a decade at Covidien, where he held positions of increasing responsibility including as group president of the company’s $2 billion emerging markets division and president of Covidien’s Asian operations.
Vander-Bend is a prototyper, developer, manufacturer, and assembler of large-format metal products used primarily in the medical technology sector. The company, led by CEO Greg Biggs, was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in San Jose, California with six facilities and 550,000 sq. ft. of combined manufacturing space.
Aterian acquired Vander-Bend in May 2018 and in December 2020 the company closed on the add-on acquisition of Swiss Precision Machining (SPM), a manufacturer of complex and tight tolerance consumable medical instrument components used in robotic surgery. SPM operates an 82,000 sq. ft. facility near Chicago in Wheeling, Illinois. The buy of SPM followed two earlier add-on acquisitions – TMK Manufacturing, a California-based provider of prototyping and machining services to medical technology companies (May 2020); and J.L. Haley Enterprises, a California-based fabricator of metal components used primarily in medical devices (January 2019).
All told, in its nearly four years of ownership of Vander-Bend, and in addition to the three add-on acquisitions, Aterian has also established and commercialized two new production facilities in Stockton and San Jose, California, completed substantial capital equipment expansion, and significantly invested in human capital throughout the organization. Vander-Bend now operates six facilities across the West Coast and Midwest and employs more than 900 people.
According to Aterian, the addition of Mr. King to the Vander-Bend board is highly strategic and will be instrumental to the future organic and acquisition growth of the business.
“Having Brian join the board as executive chairman is an exciting milestone for the business and a tremendous validation for Vander-Bend and everyone who works for the company,” said Mr. Biggs. “During my more than three decades at Vander-Bend, I’ve had the pleasure of being part of the company’s development from a single-site, family-run organization into an industry-leading, multi-site organization with nearly a thousand employees and unmatched capabilities, and yet all of us at Vander-Bend know there is still so much more we can accomplish. I am truly delighted to have Brian as a teammate on this unfolding journey.”
“We are thrilled to add Brian to the Vander-Bend team as executive chairman,” said Brandon Bethea, a co-founder and partner at Aterian. “When we decided to establish this position, Brian was immediately our first choice. He has a unique blend of differentiated strategic insight, deep industry experience as well as a demonstrated track record of success at each stop in his career.”
“I am excited to join the board of Vander-Bend,” said Mr. King. “Vander-Bend is a special company with a tremendous set of growth opportunities in front of it. Vander-Bend also has terrific people which is the hallmark of any great organization. Greg and his team’s passion for the business, paired with the Aterian teams’ enthusiastic support, is certainly infectious. I look forward to working closely with both Vander-Bend and Aterian as we focus on the company’s continued evolution into a world-class operation.”
Mr. King is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, he holds a master’s degree in civil engineering from Penn State and has an MBA from Harvard University.
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 latest fund, Aterian Investment Partners IV LP, closed in October 2021 with $830 million of committed capital. Aterian has offices in New York City and Coral Gables, Florida.
© 2022 Private Equity Professional | March 4, 2022
Like a sprinting racehorse maintaining its stride on the last turn, middle-market M&A kept its pace as 2021 drew to the finish, according to GF Data’s just-released February report. Valuations in the fourth quarter averaged 7.5x, matching the elevated mark for Q3.
“The most notable thing about this market is that there appears to remain some room for pricing to advance,” said Andrew Greenberg, CEO of GF Data. “While valuations held steady in the fourth quarter, average debt loads also increased, dropping average equity shares to about 52 percent. This suggests headroom — particularly on sub-$50-million deals, where the figure is a few points lower.”
Private deal activity in the second quarter continued to return to congenial pre-pandemic conditions with a handful of notable permutations, according to GF Data’s just-released report.
“These headline numbers could have been plucked out of any period in 2018 or 2019,” said GF Data CEO Andrew Greenberg. “Valuations in aggregate have rebounded after three quarters in which pricing averaged in the high sixes.”
One aspect in which the market may be returning to pre-COVID form is in typical debt structure, said B. Graeme Frazier, IV, GF Data’s co-founder and principal. “In the prior two quarters, subordinated debt compressed to about half a turn of average capital structure. In the second quarter, subordinated debt accounts for .8x of the typical capital structure, more in line with past experience.”
“Despite operating through a continued pandemic, private equity LBO activity in the lower-middle market remains robust,” said Tim Clifford, the president and CEO of Abacus Finance Group. “While deal activity remains strong, the continued supply/demand imbalance resulting from the capital overhang in both debt and equity is ultimately driving up leverage and purchase price multiples in our market.”
GF Data provides reliable external information for use in valuing and assessing M&A transactions to private equity firms, investors, lenders, and other users. The firm collects and publishes proprietary transaction information from private equity groups on a blind and confidential basis. The pool of active contributors comprises 236 private equity firms, mezzanine groups and other financial sponsors.
Excellere has partnered with executive Geoff Hall to pursue a buy-and-build strategy in the medical products sector.
“I’m excited to be working with the Excellere team – they are a terrific group of individuals who have built a strong reputation for performance in an increasingly competitive landscape,” said Mr. Hall. “I look forward to contributing to the firm’s continued success and creating and optimizing value for future medical technology partners and management teams.”
“Joining forces with Geoff enables Excellere to more effectively and efficiently evaluate opportunities within the medical products sector and provides immediate value to our new partners post-closing,” said Ryan Glaws, a managing partner at Excellere. “Geoff’s leadership and industry experience make him a valuable addition to Excellere’ strategic alliance program and resource to our entrepreneur and management team partners.”
“With two successful exits and a portfolio of world-class brands, Sunrise remains well-positioned to continue identifying and accelerating brands in the better-for-you food and beverage space,” said Jamie Manges, a partner at Trilantic. “We look forward to the next phase of our partnership, supporting the next generation of extraordinary founders and scaling their businesses to become category leaders.”
“Joining Sunrise allows me to live my passion of helping founders and management teams scale their business and create tremendous value,” said Mr. Burns. “Millennial consumers are driving a massive shift from legacy brands to emerging brands that are better aligned with their values. I’m excited to join Sunrise because we are uniquely positioned to partner with these disruptive brands and provide the tools and expertise needed to capitalize on this shift in the industry.”
New York City-based Trilantic invests from $100 million to $300 million of equity in North American companies with enterprise values of $100 million to $1.5 billion. The firm was formed in 2009 by former members of Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking and has raised six private equity funds totaling $9.7 billion in capital commitments
Investment bank D.A. Davidson has agreed to acquire Marlin & Associates, a technology-focused investment bank.
“Our entire team at Marlin & Associates is thrilled to join with D.A. Davidson,” said Mr. Marlin. “We have found a partner who will help us to build on a 20-year history of dedication to client success that we at Marlin & Associates are all quite proud of.
At the close of this transaction, Mr. Marlin will serve as the vice-chairman of D.A. Davidson’s technology platform, while Mr. Morgan and Mr. Maxworthy will serve as co-heads of technology investment banking.