Pfingsten has acquired Advanced Lighting Concepts (DBA Environmental Lights) in partnership with the company’s founders, Greg and Anne Thorson, and its management team.
Environmental Lights is a designer and provider of commercial accent LED lighting used in retail, entertainment, trade show, hospitality, gaming and architectural applications. The company specializes in highly engineered systems that create differentiated visual experiences.
Environmental Lights sells its LED systems through direct sales engineers that are active from project inception, through planning, specification and installation. The company, led by CEO Jamison Day and President Jordan Brooks, was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in San Diego.
“Environmental Lights delivers innovative products that enhance surroundings and drive strong visibility for pre-eminent brands, productions and events,” said Scott Finegan, a managing director at Pfingsten. “We are excited to support the growth of Environmental Lights and will invest in people and product development. We also plan to pursue strategic add-on acquisitions that will provide value to the customer base.”
Pfingsten invests in middle-market manufacturing, distribution and business services companies that have transaction values ranging from $15 million to $100 million, revenues from $20 million to $150 million, and EBITDA between $3 million and $12 million. Since completing its first investment in 1991, Pfingsten has acquired 139 such companies through five funds with total commitments of $1.3 billion. The firm is based in Chicago with representative offices in India and China.
Twin Brook Capital Partners, the middle-market direct lending arm of Angelo Gordon, served as administrative agent on debt financing to support the buy of Environmental Lights by Pfingsten. Chicago-based Twin Brook focuses on loans to private equity-owned companies with EBITDA between $3 million and $50 million, with an emphasis on companies with $25 million of EBITDA and below. The firm targets senior financing opportunities up to $200 million, with hold sizes across the platform ranging from $25 million up to $150 million. Twin Brook’s products include opportunistic investments in second lien, mezzanine, and equity co-investments.
Lincoln International and Canaccord Genuity were the financial advisors to Environmental Lights.
This transaction closed on November 22nd and is the tenth platform investment for Pfingsten’s $382 million fifth fund which closed in March 2016.
© 2019 Private Equity Professional | November 26, 2019
ERP Power, a portfolio company of Angeles Equity Partners since June 2016, has acquired Lumenetix.
ERP Power designs and manufactures LED driver power electronics for architectural, commercial and industrial lighting applications. ERP products are compact, have dimmer compatibility, wireless controls, and programmable output. The company was founded in 2004 and is based near Los Angeles in Moorpark, CA (
Angeles Equity makes control investments in companies with enterprise values up to $200 million that have headquarters and primary operations in the United States and Canada. Sectors of interest include aerospace, automotive, building products, capital goods, chemicals, electronics, manufacturing, metals, transportation & logistics, packaging and distribution. In January 2017, the firm closed Angeles Equity Partners I LP with $360 million in capital. The firm is headquartered in Los Angeles (
SloanLED, a portfolio company of Baird Capital, has acquired Litecorr. Baird Capital acquired SloanLED in May 2015.
SloanLED is a manufacturer of LED-based products that are used in sign and architectural applications (channel letter lighting, lighting for cabinets and boxes, border tubing and accents); lighting systems (retail storefront exteriors and refrigerated display systems); indicator lights (aviation/avionics, industrial controls, electronic instrumentation, and elevators); and spa lighting (includes color-changing LED systems for hot-water spa tubs, lenses, controllers and power supplies). The company was founded in 1957 and entered the LED market in 1970. SloanLED is led by CEO Ervin Cash and is headquartered in Ventura, CA (
“Michael Singh is a pioneer in the lighting industry,” said Andrew Brickman, Partner, Baird Capital. “After actively following this sector for several years and working with SloanLED since 2015, we are thrilled to continue our expansion by acquiring Litecorr.”
Baird Capital makes venture capital, growth equity and private equity investments in the healthcare, industrial products and services, and technology services sectors. The firm was founded in 1989 and is based in Chicago with additional offices in Milwaukee, London and Shanghai (
Fulton Capital and Merit Capital Partners have sold Green Creative, a developer and manufacturer of light-emitting diode (LED) lighting, to the Harbour Group. Fulton and Merit acquired the company in partnership with the company’s founders in December 2015.
Green Creative and ILP will remain as separate portfolio companies within Harbour Group and Cole Zucker and Guillaume Vidal, the co-founders of Green Creative, will continue their leadership roles in the business. “The two brands will remain independent and constitute the foundation for Harbour Group’s foray into the lighting industry,” said Jeff Fox, Harbour Group’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “As sister companies, Green Creative and ILP bring an industry-leading team and product offering to the market.”
Harbour Group invests in North American-based companies with valuations from $30 million to $500 million. Areas of interest include product-oriented businesses that are generally either a provider of proprietary products or are a niche, value-added distributor. Since its founding in 1976, Harbour Group has acquired 196 companies in 41 different industries. The firm is based in St. Louis (
Fulton Capital invests in small and mid-sized companies with revenues between $20 million and $100 million and EBITDA between $2 million and $10 million. Transaction values range from $10 million to $70 million. Sectors of interest include niche manufacturing, logistics, distribution, and service businesses. Fulton Capital is led by its founders Phillip Gerber and David Schlossberg and is headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Northbrook (
Merit Capital Partners invests mezzanine and equity capital of $15 million to $60 million in companies with at least $5 million of EBITDA that are active in the manufacturing, distribution and services industries. Merit was founded in 1993 and is based in Chicago (
manufacturing facilities, offices, schools and parking lots throughout the country. Products include high bay, wet location, stairwell, and outdoor fixtures, as well as retrofit kits. ILP has more than 180 employees and produces more than 20,000 fixtures per month. The company has a 75,000 square foot manufacturing and headquarters facility in Sanford, FL (north of Orlando) and a 15,000 square foot facility in Reno, NV (
