Kinderhook Industries has sold its portfolio company QCSA Holdings, a salvage vehicle remarketing companies, to Copart.
“QCSA’s outstanding management team was able to execute upon its growth strategy which was accelerated through a successful buy-and-build initiative,” said Paul Cifelli, Managing Director at Kinderhook Industries. “The breadth and scale of QCSA operations offers significant strategic value to Copart and QCSA is well-positioned to continue to expand its business under Copart’s leadership.”
QCSA Holdings is the result of a consolidation program by Kinderhook which included four follow-on acquisitions after the initial platform acquisition of Quad Cities Salvage Auction in December 2009.
QCSA is a remarketer of vehicles including commercial and industrial vehicles, cars, trucks, motorcycles, ATVs, RVs, boats and personal watercraft. QCSA Holdings was founded in 1999 and is based in Eldridge, IA (www.qcsa.com). The company operates under three brand names: QCSA Direct, Crashed Toys and DVAA.
- QCSA Direct is a provider of salvage vehicle auction and related services. Salvage auctions act as an intermediary between salvage vehicle suppliers (primarily insurance companies) and salvage vehicle buyers (recyclers, dismantlers, rebuilders, and scrap metal producers).
- Crashed Toys specializes in salvaged motorcycles, boats, recreational vehicles and powersports equipment.
- DVAA is a wholesale auto auction in California which specializes in serving the needs of charities in the auto donation industry.
“The Kinderhook team fully supported the company’s growth strategy through both organic growth and strategic acquisitions. Our partnership with Kinderhook has been pivotal in getting QCSA to this important day,” said John Lindle, CEO of QCSA.
Copart (NASDAQ: CPRT) provides vehicle sellers with remarketing services to process and sell salvage and clean title vehicles to dealers, dismantlers, rebuilders, exporters and end users. Copart sells vehicles on behalf of insurance companies, banks, finance companies, fleet operators, dealers, car dealerships and others as well as cars sourced from the general public. The company currently operates 203 facilities; with operations in the United States and Canada, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany and the United Arab Emirates. Copart was founded in 1982 and is based in Dallas (www.copart.com).
“The sale of QCSA demonstrates Kinderhook’s investment strategy of partnering with strong management teams and building successful companies that attract strategic buyers”, said Cor Carruthers, Managing Director at Kinderhook.
Kinderhook Industries is a manager of private equity funds with $770 million of committed capital. Kinderhook primarily makes control investments in companies with transaction values of $25 million to $100 million in which the firm can achieve financial, operational and growth improvements. Kinderhook pursue private equity investments in non-core divisions of public companies, management buyouts of entrepreneurial-owned businesses, troubled situations and existing small capitalization companies lacking institutional support. The firm is based in New York (www.kinderhook.com).
Three Oceans Partners (www.threeoceanpartners.com), an investment bank based in New York, served as the exclusive financial advisor to QCSA Holdings.
© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 6-3-13
