metal finishing services

Aterian Adds to Pioneer Metal

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Pioneer Metal Finishing, a portfolio company of Aterian Investment Partners since August 2018, has acquired Pilkington Metal Finishing.

Pioneer Metal is a provider of outsourced anodizing, plating, hardcoat, adhesive, electroless nickel, and other surface treating services. The company has approximately 3,500 customers that are active in numerous end markets including, among others, general industrial, automotive, aerospace, and food & beverage.

Pioneer Metal operates seven facilities across the United States in Michigan (3), Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oregon, Indiana, and one facility in El Marques, Mexico. The company, led by CEO Kevin Stevick, was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Like Pioneer, Pilkington is a provider of metal finishing services – including anodizing, powder coating, wet coating, and non-destructive testing – to companies operating in the aerospace & defense, medical devices, general industrial, and consumer goods sectors. Pilkington, founded in 1981 by Van Pilkington – he was joined at the company by his brother David Pilkington in 1990 – has more than 220 employees and operates from a 100,000 sq. ft. manufacturing and headquarters facility in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“We feel right at home with the Pioneer team, who really understand the metal finishing business,” said Van and David Pilkington in a released statement. “We are highly complementary of the folks at Pioneer and Aterian, who have been welcoming, transparent and straightforward throughout this entire process.  Working together we’re fully enabled to meet the growing demand for metal finishing services here in the West.”

The acquisition of Pilkington by Pioneer represents a continuation of Pioneer’s strategy of acquiring metal finishing businesses across North America and provides the company with additional penetration into the aerospace & defense and medical end markets. “It is great to be partnering with the Pilkington family. They have a great business that builds upon our strategy to acquire metal finishing businesses across North America,” said Daniel Krasnow, a vice president at Aterian.

Aterian invests up to $50 million in small-to-middle market businesses with $25 million to $500 million in revenues that are underperforming, turnarounds or otherwise unique situations. Aterian held a final closing of Aterian Investment Partners III LP with $350 million of committed capital in July 2018. Aterian’s earlier fund closed in December 2013 with $257 million of capital commitments. The firm was founded in 2009 by Brandon Bethea, Michael Fieldstone and Christopher Thomas and is based in New York City.

© 2020 Private Equity Professional | January 29, 2020

Trive Builds Metals Services Platform

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Valence Surface Technologies, a portfolio company of Trive Capital, has acquired Triumph Processing Inc., a provider of metal finishing services to the aerospace and defense industries, from Triumph Group.

Valence Surface Technologies provides specialized metal processing and finishing services to the commercial aerospace, defense, and space & satellite markets.  Valence offers a range of wet and dry processing capabilities for aluminum, titanium, and steel structures and processes more than 16 million parts per year. The company operates 11 facilities with more than 650,000 sq. ft. of total manufacturing space. Valence’s customers include Airbus, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX and others. The company is led by CEO Tracy Glende and is headquartered near Houston in The Woodlands (www.valencesurfacetech.com).

At closing, Triumph Processing – which is based near Los Angeles in Lynwood, CA – was renamed Valence Lynwood. The new unit complements Valence’s current service offering by expanding its capabilities to provide surface finishing on aluminum and titanium parts up to 110 feet in length and 14 feet in width/depth.

“The addition of Triumph Processing to the Valence family allows us to better serve the large part needs of our key customers throughout the global supply chain,” said Mr. Glende. “The Lynwood facility provides Valence with a fully integrated offering to its customers ranging from small, high volume parts up to large, 110-foot fracture-critical structures that no other product finishing company can match.”

“We believe this acquisition further develops the core investment thesis of Valence, which is to build a differentiated, supply chain solution to the aerospace industry for surface treatment technologies,” said David Stinnett, a Partner at Trive Capital. “As aircraft build rate increases continue to put pressure on the market, the company seeks to reduce cycle times, minimize supply chain complexity and provide a single point of accountability across regions and approval requirements in partnership with OEM’s and machine shop customers for mission-critical parts.”

Trive formed Valence in March 2014 to acquire Los Angeles-based Coast Plating and Wichita-based Chrome Plus International, two metal processing companies with a focus on flight critical parts for the aerospace and defense sectors.

Trive invests from $10 million to $150 million of debt or equity in North America-headquartered companies with revenues of $40 million to $1 billion. The firm is industry-agnostic but has specific experience in the following sectors: aerospace and defense, automotive, building products, business services, chemicals, construction and infrastructure, consumer goods, energy services, food and beverage, healthcare, plastics and packaging, and transportation and logistics.

In September 2017, Trive Capital held a final closing of Trive Capital Fund III LP with $1 billion of capital commitments. The new fund reached its hard-cap in just over three months and was oversubscribed from its initial $750 million target.

Trive Capital was founded in 2012 by Conner Searcy and Chris Zugaro and is based in Dallas (www.trivecapital.com).

© 2018 Private Equity Professional | September 7, 2018

Avem Buys Future Tech Metals

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Avem Partners has acquired Future Tech Metals, a provider of metal finishing services, from co-owners Tim Gearhardt and Art Medina. True West Capital Partners provided both debt and equity capital in support of this acquisition.

Future Tech operates out of two facilities in Southern California and is a supplier of roughing and finishing services to aerospace forging manufacturers with an emphasis on round forgings that are used on aircraft engines and power generated turbines.

The company has full machining capabilities, from CNC turning to conventional machining, with full secondary capabilities and specializes in working with hard, exotic alloys. Future Tech was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Riverside, CA (www.futuretechmetals.com).

Avem Partners invests from $10 million to $25 million of equity in lower middle-market aerospace and industrial companies that have revenues from $10 million to $100 million and EBITDA of at least $2 million. The firm was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Los Angeles (www.avempartners.com). Mike Fourticq, Brian Leibl and Ken Watler – all founding partners – led the transaction for Avem.

True West Capital Partners invests from $5 million to $25 million of junior debt and equity in Western US-based middle-market companies that have revenues of at least $20 million and EBITDA of at least $3 million. The firm has a broad range of industry interests. True West has offices in Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Irvine (www.truewestcp.com). Managing directors Iain Douglas and Brian Hayden, and senior associate Alex Rocca led the transaction for True West.

Studio City, CA-based Backbone Capital Advisors, led by its founder and managing director Britt Terrell, provided debt arrangement services for this transaction (www.backbonecap.com).

© 2018 Private Equity Professional | August 30, 2018

Aterian Acquires Pioneer Metal Finishing

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Aterian Investment Partners has acquired Pioneer Metal Finishing, a Wisconsin-based provider of metal finishing services, from Prairie Capital, which held a minority interest, and other family owners.

Pioneer Metal is a provider of outsourced anodizing, plating, hardcoat, adhesive, electroless nickel, and other surface treating services. The company has approximately 3,500 customers that are active in numerous end markets including, among others, general industrial, automotive, aerospace, and food & beverage.

Pioneer Metal operates seven facilities across the United States in Michigan (3), Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oregon, Indiana, and one facility in El Marques, Mexico. The company was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Green Bay, WI (www.pioneermetal.com).

“This transaction will allow for Pioneer to supercharge into its next stage of growth with an ownership group focused on operations and performance,” said Pioneer’s CEO Bob Pyle. “We are looking forward to Aterian’s support to help the company pursue growth initiatives and continue providing high-quality services to our customers.”

“We are excited to add Pioneer to the Aterian portfolio and for the opportunity to collaborate with management as the company enters the next chapter in its long history,” said Brandon Bethea, a Partner at Aterian. “We intend to facilitate management’s efforts to invest in key growth initiatives across new products and regions and by doing so support the company’s existing reputation for outstanding customer service.”

Aterian invests up to $50 million in small-to-middle market businesses with $25 million to $500 million in revenues that are underperforming, turnarounds or otherwise unique situations. Aterian held a first and final closing of Aterian Investment Partners III LP with $350 million of committed capital in July 2018. Aterian’s earlier fund closed in December 2013 with $257 million of capital commitments. The firm was founded in 2009 by Brandon Bethea, Michael Fieldstone and Christopher Thomas and is based in New York (www.aterianpartners.com).

“This transaction is a great example of Aterian’s ability to expediently execute on complex situations,” said Daniel Phan, a Vice President at Aterian, “This transaction required agreement among multiple strategic parties in advance of closing and involved international dynamics. We are pleased to have worked with and provided solutions for the sellers throughout the process.”

Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors (www.kaynecapital.com) provided both senior debt and mezzanine financing to support this transaction.

Livingstone Partners (www.livingstonepartners.com) was the financial advisor to Pioneer Metal Finishing.

© 2018 Private Equity Professional | August 3, 2018

Trive Adds On to Valence

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Valence Surface Technologies, a portfolio company of Trive Capital, has acquired Magnetic & Penetrant Services Company, a provider of metal finishing services.

Magnetic & Penetrant Services Company (MAPSCO) provides metal finishing services to its customers in the aerospace and defense industries. Customers of MAPSCO include, among others, Goodrich Aerostructures, Boeing Commercial Airplane, McDonnell Douglas Aircraft and Helicopter, Northrop Grumman, Plessy Dynamics, Raytheon, Spirit Aerosystems, Sundstrand Hamilton, Teledyne and Vought Aircraft. MAPSCO was founded in 1981 and is owned by Frank Milette. The company is based in Seattle (www.mapscofinishing.com).

Valence Surface Technologies provides specialized metal processing and finishing services to the commercial aerospace, defense, and space & satellite markets.  Valence offers a range of wet and dry processing capabilities for aluminum, titanium, and steel structures. These offerings include: anodizing, plating, shot peening, painting, and non-destructive testing. The company operates ten facilities and is one of the largest independent aerospace & defense metal processors in North America.  Valence is led by CEO Tracy Glende and is headquartered near Houston in The Woodlands (www.valencesurfacetech.com).

“We believe this acquisition creates a differentiated supply chain offering to the aerospace industry that should significantly reduce cycle times, decrease supply chain complexity and provide a single point of accountability and partnership,” said David Stinnett, Partner at Trive Capital. “Trive, Tracy and the rest of Valence management were able to offer a creative transaction structure and unique vision for MAPSCO that ultimately made us the preferred partner to Frank and his team.”

The buy of MAPSCO is the eight add-on acquisition completed by Valence since being formed in December 2013 by Trive through the acquisitions of Coast Plating and Chrome Plus International. The other seven acquisitions were: Chrome Plus International (March 2014), Pride Plating (August 2014), Dynamic Paint Solutions (August 2014), Blue Streak Finishers (September 2014), Coastline Metal Finishing (August 2014), Tri-Process Company (June 2015) and Flextronics San Carlos (May 2015).

“Valence provides the expertise and partnership I was looking for when determining the strategic direction and longer term future of my family business,” said Mr. Milette. “We are excited to have partnered with a larger company that we believe clearly understands the metal finishing business and how to strategically invest, grow and establish a clear leadership position in our market.”

Trive Capital invests from $10 million to $60 million in North American headquartered companies with revenues of $30 million to $500 million. Sectors of interest include automotive & transportation; aerospace & defense; building products; construction & infrastructure; consumer goods; energy services; healthcare; manufacturing and industrials; chemicals; distribution; business & professional services; and communications. The firm was founded in 2012 by Conner Searcy, Managing Partner, and Chris Zugaro, Partner. Trive Capital is based in Dallas (www.trivecapital.com).

© 2017 Private Equity Professional | March 22, 2017