OneAccord Capital has acquired Bestworth-Rommel, a designer, builder, and installer of canopies, wall panel systems and other products used in the petroleum, retail and commercial markets.
Bestworth-Rommel has built service station canopies for virtually all of the leading national and regional petroleum brands in the United States and Canada, including; Chevron, Texaco, Conoco, Phillips 66, Husky, Mac’s, PetroCanada, 76, Exxon, Mobil, 7-11, Tesoro, ESSO, Shell, MAPPCO, Safeway, Brown Bear, Propel and numerous others.
The company’s wall panel systems are manufactured with aluminum composite materials as well as other roll-formed steel panel profiles. BRI can fabricate panels to meet the design ideas for many types of architectural projects including educational facilities, municipal building, offices, commercial, industrial buildings and retail. Wall panel customers include automotive manufacturers such as Toyota, Nissan, Ford, Chrysler, Mercedes, Porsche, Honda, and Lexus; and national retailers such as JCPenney, Bank of America, Grainger and Safeway.
Bestworth-Rommel has approximately 40 employees and maintains a 33,000 square foot manufacturing facility that is equipped with CNC routers, breaks, shears, cranes and other machinery and an adjacent two-story building that houses the company’s engineering, project management and administrative personnel. Bestworth-Rommel was founded in 1983 by Dan and Cathe Rommel and is headquartered north of Seattle in Arlington, WA (www.bestworth.com).
“Bestworth-Rommel has built a reputation for quality and service that is unmatched in its industry, operating by the same principles of stewardship we try to apply at OneAccord,” said Scott Smith, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of OneAccord Capital. “We are excited about where we can take Bestworth-Rommel, and we are digging in together to chart a course for growth.”
OneAccord Capital looks to acquire companies with EBITDAs from $500,000 to $2 million that are located in the Pacific Northwest. Sectors of interest include manufacturing, distribution and services. The firm is headquartered near Seattle in Kirkland, WA (www.oneaccordcapital.com).
“We’ve had suitors before, but OneAccord Capital is the first investment group who I thought could get it – who could understand that Bestworth is special,” said Charlie LaNasa, who bought the company from the Rommels in 2001 and remains as a shareholder, advisor and board member. “Scott and the rest of the OneAccord team share our principles, vision, and commitment to Bestworth’s industry partners, customers and employees.”
“We see the Monday after the Friday, the Day One after the close, both for the business owners and the business itself,” said Darin Leonard, a OneAccord Capital co-founder. “We understand these are extremely difficult decisions for successful business owners who have poured their lives into their companies and communities. We have the perspective and know-how to navigate the complexity required for a successful transition, and to get the business itself to the next level.”
As part of this transaction, OneAccord has installed a new Chief Executive Officer, Mike Eskridge, a US Army veteran with 30 years of manufacturing and operations experience. Most recently, he was the COO of IFH Group West, a designer and manufacturer of personal protective equipment storage and dispensing products, based in Arlington, WA.
“For years, researchers have pointed to a growing trend of baby boomer owners who are reaching retirement age and need to find the right transition path. The numbers are large: tens of thousands of businesses in the Pacific Northwest will change hands over the next several years,” said Jeff Rogers, a OneAccord Capital co-founder. “Yet the capital markets are not prepared and generally are not focused on this type of organization, which puts the companies, the employees and the local communities in jeopardy. OneAccord Capital’s mission is to help close the gap.”
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | May 23, 2017