Senneca Holdings, a maker of specialty doors and for commercial and industrial applications, has been acquired by Kohlberg & Company from Audax Private Equity.
Senneca designs and manufactures a portfolio of built-to-order specialty doors including traffic doors, flexible strip doors, specialty glass doors, and data center enclosures. The company’s products are sold under 17 brand names including Chase, Eliason, TMI, Thermoseal and SubZero. Senneca has twelve manufacturing facilities and is headquartered in Cincinnati (www.senneca.com).
Senneca, led by CEO Jeffrey Stark, was formed by Audax in September 2014 to acquire Chase Industries from Sentinel Capital Partners. “We are enthusiastic to be entering the next chapter of the company alongside our new partners at Kohlberg,” said Mr. Stark. “Kohlberg has a three decade track record of successfully investing in industrial manufacturing businesses with a focus toward long-term growth. Kohlberg represents a well-capitalized partner that will accelerate our ability to grow through both organic growth initiatives and strategic add-on acquisitions.”
“Senneca is the clear market leader in specialty doors and enclosure systems, providing its customers a full suite of high quality, customized enclosure solutions,” said Benjamin Mao, a Partner of Kohlberg. “We see exciting growth opportunities for Senneca, and look forward to partnering with management in the next phase of the company’s development.”
Kohlberg & Company invests in companies in the industrial manufacturing; consumer products; business services; healthcare services; and financial services sectors. The firm concentrates on companies with EBITDAs between $20 million and $100 million where it can invest between $50 million and $200 million of equity. In March 2018, Blackstone acquired a minority equity interest in the firm. Kohlberg & Company was founded in 1987 and is based north of New York City in Mt. Kisco, NY (www.kohlberg.com).
Audax Group makes control investments of $10 million to $100 million in middle market companies with transaction values of $25 million to $500 million. Sectors of interest include industrial manufacturing; energy; outsourced industrial services; consumer products; healthcare devices and services; non-asset based logistics; technology; aerospace & defense; business services; and direct marketing. The firm was founded in 1999 and has offices in Boston, New York and Menlo Park (www.audaxgroup.com).
Antares Capital, Golub Capital, Partners Group and Goldman Sachs Asset Management led the debt financing for this transaction.
© 2018 Private Equity Professional | May 14, 2018
