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H.I.G. Exits American Hardwood Industries

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H.I.G. Capital has completed the sale of its portfolio company American Hardwood Industries to Baillie Lumber.

American Hardwood Industries (AHI) is a manufacturer and supplier of hardwood lumber in the United States and abroad. AHI is the largest producer in its regions with over 100 million board feet of annual capacity across eleven sawmills and kiln drying facilities in Virginia and throughout the Appalachian territory. AHI is a vertically-integrated supplier that sells its products under the Augusta, Blue Triangle and Graham Lumber brands, as well as under its Cross Creek wholesale trading division. The company also sells hardwood flooring under the Montebello Flooring brand. AHI was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Waynesboro, VA (www.ahwood.com).

Baillie Lumber is one of North America’s largest hardwood lumber manufactures, distributors and exporters. The company is based near Buffalo in Hamburg, NY (www.baillie.com).

H.I.G. originally invested in AHI, then Augusta Lumber, in 2006. Since that time, the company has completed multiple add-on acquisitions that more than doubled the size of the business and also invested heavily in manufacturing best practices.

“H.I.G. has been an outstanding and committed partner to American Hardwood Industries. Through a series of add-on acquisitions and operational investments, H.I.G.’s support has helped AHI to more than double its revenues, upgrade its equipment, invest in business processes, develop its brands and expand its international reach to establish the company as a leading exporter of US hardwoods,” said John O’Dea, CEO of AHI.

H.I.G. Capital specializes in providing capital to small and medium-sized companies and invests in management-led buyouts and recapitalizations of manufacturing or service businesses. H.I.G. Capital has more than $15 billion of capital under management. The firm was founded in 1993 and is based in Miami with additional offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New York, San Francisco, London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, and Rio de Janeiro (www.higcapital.com).

© 2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 3-26-14

Levine Leichtman Acquires FMC Material Handling

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Levine Leichtman Capital Partners (LLCP) has entered into an agreement to acquire the material handling products business of FMC Technologies. Upon closing of the transaction, expected early in the second quarter, the business will be re-named Syntron Material Handling.

Upon closing, Syntron Material Handling will be a manufacturer of conveyor and vibratory equipment used to load, transport and feed bulk materials. The products are sold to customers throughout the world in the mining, aggregates, packaging and food industries. Syntron will be headquartered in Tupelo, MS and will have operations in Changshu, China and Salt Lake City, UT.

“FMC Technologies’ material handling business has been a market leader in its core markets for decades and is known for manufacturing the highest quality bulk material handling equipment throughout the world,” said Lauren Leichtman, Co-Founder and CEO of LLCP. “We are excited to partner with the experienced senior management team and look forward to supporting the future growth of the company.”

Senior debt financing will be provided by CIT Finance (as Sole Lead Arranger, Sole Lead Bookrunner and Sole Administrative Agent), Siemens Financial Services (as Syndication Agent) and Ares Capital Corporation (as Documentation Agent).

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners manages approximately $7 billion of capital through private equity partnerships, distressed debt and leveraged loan funds. The firm is currently making new investments through Levine Leichtman Capital Partners V, LP; Levine Leichtman Capital Partners SBIC Fund, LP; and Levine Leichtman Capital Partners Private Capital Solutions II, LP. The firm is based in Los Angeles with offices in Chicago, Dallas, New York and London (www.llcp.com).

© 2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 3-25-14

Sentinel Capital Partners Acquires Newk’s Eatery

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Sentinel Capital Partners has acquired Newk’s Holding Company, owner and operator of the Newk’s Eatery franchise.

Newk’s offers a menu of made-from-scratch sandwiches, soups, salads, and pizzas. The company was founded in 2004 by Chris Newcomb (CEO), Don Newcomb (Chairman) and Debra Bryson (Vice President) as a locally owned sandwich shop in Oxford, Mississippi. Today, the Newk’s Eatery system consists of 67 restaurants located across the Southeast. Newk’s is headquartered in Jackson, MS (www.newks.com).

“We are very pleased to be partnering with Newk’s strong leadership team who are pioneers in the fast casual dining market,” said James Coady, a Sentinel partner. “Newk’s is well positioned for accelerating its growth and is very well aligned with the emerging fast casual trend in the restaurant industry.”

Sentinel Capital Partners invests in middle market companies in the United States and Canada in partnership with management. The firm invests in management buyouts, recapitalizations, corporate divestitures, and going-private transactions of businesses with EBITDAs between $7 million and $40 million. Sentinel targets eight industry sectors: aerospace & defense, business services, consumer, distribution, food & restaurants, franchising, healthcare, and industrials. The firm is headquartered in New York (www.sentinelpartners.com).

“Sentinel is a perfect strategic partner whose deep experience and success in supporting high growth restaurant and franchising businesses will allow Newk’s to realize its full potential,” said Chris Newcomb, CEO and co-founder.

In March 2014, Sentinel acquired Checkers Drive-In Restaurants from Wellspring Capital Management. Checkers Drive-In Restaurants develops, owns, operates and franchises approximately 800 Checkers and Rally’s restaurants. Checkers Drive-In Restaurants was founded in1986 in Mobile, AL and Rally’s Drive-In Restaurants was founded in 1985 in Louisville, KT. The two companies merged in 1999. Checkers is headquartered in Tampa, FL (www.checkers.com).

Investment bank Arlington Capital Advisors served as financial advisor to Newk’s. Arlington has offices in Birmingham, AL and Atlanta, GA (www.arlingtoncapitaladvisors.com).

© 2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 3-25-14

Golden Gate Acquires LiveVox

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Golden Gate Capital has acquired a majority stake in LiveVox, a provider of cloud-based contact center software for business process outsourcers and enterprise clients.

LiveVox provides a suite of integrated contact center services, including predictive dialing, automated call distribution (ACD), interactive voice response (IVR), call recording and reporting/business analytics tools, via a unified multi-tenant cloud platform. LiveVox has more than 175 customers that operate across a variety of industries, including financial services, healthcare and telecommunications, as well as outsourced call centers. LiveVox was founded in 1999 and will remain headquartered in San Francisco. The company will also maintain its operations in Atlanta; Denver; Medellin, Colombia; and Bangalore, India (www.livevox.com).

“LiveVox is well-positioned to capitalize on the increasing demands on companies to become more efficient and responsive to customers’ complex and evolving needs,” said Rajeev Amara, Managing Director of Golden Gate Capital. “Already a market leader, LiveVox has strong momentum as evidenced by its impressive track record of growth. We look forward to supporting LiveVox’s highly talented management team as they continue to execute their strategic plan for the company, broadening its reach and enhancing its product set.”

Golden Gate Capital targets companies across a range of industries and transaction types, including leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, corporate divestitures and spin-offs, build-ups and venture stage investing. The firm has approximately $12 billion of capital under management and is based in San Francisco (www.goldengatecap.com).

“This is a very exciting new chapter for our company, and we are thrilled that a world-class investment firm such as Golden Gate Capital has recognized the growth potential in our business,” said Louis Summe, Chief Executive Officer of LiveVox.

© 2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 3-25-14

Sun Capital Exits Certified Power

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Sun Capital Partners has completed the sale of Certified Power, a distributor of fluid power and power train products, to Brinkmere Capital Partners.

Certified Power is a distributor of fluid power and power train products to the on- and off-highway mobile equipment market. The company will also assist its customers with the design, engineering, service and repair of customized products. Certified Power is headquartered near Chicago in Mundelein, IL and has nine locations throughout the Midwest (www.certifiedpower.com).

Certified Power was acquired by Sun Capital Partners in April 2012. “We are pleased that under our ownership, Certified Power has been able to capitalize on the market opportunity we saw when we acquired the business,” said Marc Leder, Co-CEO at Sun Capital. “The strategic efforts to enhance the company’s capabilities and solutions have it well-positioned to continue building on its success.”

This transaction marks Sun Capital’s third exit of 2014. Last year the firm completed eight exits and two IPOs, leading to more than $1 billion in realizations for the year — a record for the firm.

Sun Capital Partners is focused on leveraged buyouts, equity, debt, and other investments in companies that can benefit from its in-house operating professionals and experience. Sun Capital has invested in and managed more than 335 companies worldwide with combined sales in excess of $45 billion since the firm’s inception in 1995. Sun Capital has offices in Boca Raton, Los Angeles, and New York as well as affiliates with offices in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Shanghai and Shenzhen (www.SunCapPart.com).

Brinkmere is a Southeastern-based private investment firm specializing in acquiring and developing small businesses. The firm was founded in 2012 by Managing Director Russell Beard and is based in Jacksonville, FL (www.brinkmere.com).

© 2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 3-24-14

Wind Point to Exit Hearthside Food

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Wind Point Partners has entered into an agreement to sell its portfolio company Hearthside Food Solutions to Goldman Sachs and Vestar Capital. Hearthside Food Solutions was Wind Point’s first acquisition in its most recent fund, Wind Point VII.

Wind Point formed Hearthside in April 2009 in partnership with food industry veteran Rich Scalise, whose previous experience included serving as President of Ralcorp Frozen Bakery Products. Mr. Scalise also spent 18 years with ConAgra Foods in a variety of roles including his last position as President and COO of ConAgra’s $3 billion Refrigerated Foods Division.

Hearthside Food Solutions is the nation’s largest independent bakery and a full service contract manufacturer of grain-based food and snack products. Hearthside operates 20 food manufacturing facilities in eight states and is headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove (www.hearthsidefoods.com).

Under Wind Point’s ownership, Hearthside completed four add-on acquisitions to create a leading contract food manufacturer in North America with over $1 billion in sales. In May 2013, Wind Point merged Hearthside Food Solutions with its portfolio company, Ryt-way Industries, a bakery and a contract manufacturer, which it had acquired in August 2008.

“Over the past five years Hearthside has more than tripled in size. We’ve broadened our product capabilities, significantly expanded our footprint to 20 facilities in eight states, and developed new customer relationships with high-growth, recognized consumer brands. Wind Point has been an involved and supportive partner throughout,” said Mr. Scalise.

“Together Rich and Wind Point successfully re-positioned a small carve-out of a family business as an industry leader with a reputation as a focused, fast and flexible partner. Rich executed on the plan to create value that we established at the outset of the investment, and he is an excellent example of why Wind Point partners with top caliber CEOs to drive value creation at our portfolio companies,” said Mark Burgett, a managing director at Wind Point.

Wind Point Partners invests from $20 million to $70 million of equity in companies with revenues from $100 million to $500 million and EBITDAs of at least $8 million. Industries of interest include business services, consumer products, healthcare and industrial products. The firm has approximately $2.5 billion in capital under management and has completed more than 90 investments and 161 add-on acquisitions across its seven private equity funds. Wind Point Partners is based in Chicago (www.wppartners.com).

Barclays served as exclusive financial advisor to Wind Point Partners and Hearthside Food Solutions; DLA Piper acted as the legal advisor to Wind Point Partners; and KPMG provided accounting services in connection with the transaction.

© 2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 3-19-14