Continental Batteries, a portfolio company of Incline Equity Partners, has acquired Battery Distributors (BDI). Continental Batteries is one of the largest independent battery distributors in the United States.
BDI is a distributor of automotive batteries, commercial batteries, marine and RV deep cycle batteries as well as uninterruptible power supply (UPS) products, chargers, testers and other specialty products. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered near Atlanta in Forest Park, GA (www.batterydistributorsinc.com).
Continental’s aftermarket batteries are distributed to the automotive, commercial, golf, marine and industrial markets. The company provides on-premise delivery to customers in major cities, as well as to those in regional and rural areas through its multi-location branch network with facilities in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. Continental was founded by Ralph McCann in 1932 and is headquartered in Dallas (www.continentalbattery.com).
“Expansion into the Atlanta market was a priority for us. It is important to add branch locations in metropolitan cities given our high-touch delivery and collection model,” said Eric Royse, CEO of Continental.
Incline partnered with the senior management team of Continental to acquire the business from family ownership in December 2017. The buy of BDI is the fifth add-on acquisition since Incline’s original investment. The four earlier acquisitions were Wholesale Battery (Baton Rouge, LA), Standard Battery (Kansas City, MO), Carolina Energy (Ft. Mill, SC) and Battery Distributors SE (Jacksonville, FL).
“We are keenly focused on growth through the continued consolidation of the highly fragmented aftermarket battery industry,” said John Morley, a managing director of Incline. “We plan to partner with other companies like BDI that complement Continental’s product offering and/or expand its geographic reach.”
Incline Equity Partners invests from $15 million to $30 million in support of recapitalizations, buyouts and corporate divestitures of lower middle market companies that have EBITDAs greater than $5 million and enterprise values between $25 million and $300 million. Sectors of interest include value-added distribution, specialized light manufacturing, and business services. Incline was formed in 2011 and is based in Pittsburgh (www.inclineequity.com).
© 2019 Private Equity Professional | February 15, 2019
