Conner Industries, a portfolio company of The Argentum Group, has acquired Continental Timber Company. Argentum first invested in Conner Industries in December 2014.
Continental Timber is a regional lumber processor founded in 1978 by Herb Rea and Ronald Watkins. The company is headquartered north of Wichita in Valley Center, KS (www.continentaltimber.com).
Conner Industries, with annual revenues of approximately $150 million, is a provider of industrial wood products and services to the industrial and materials handling industries. The company specializes in supplying cut lumber (softwoods, hardwoods, and panel woods) needed for pallet, crate and skid parts, and fully assembled products, such as pallets, crates, skids and industrial containers. Conner services its customers nationwide from 13 manufacturing plants located in nine states – Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. The company is led by CEO Joseph McCormick and is headquartered in Fort Worth, TX (www.connerindustries.com).
As a result of the buy of Continental Timber, Conner’s operations have now been expanded to Wichita, KS. The combined company, with more than 650 employees, services over 1,900 customers nationwide from 13 manufacturing plants located in 10 states and annually processes and sells more than 330 million board feet of lumber.
“Having recently completed two acquisitions – Golden Triangle and now Continental Timber – Conner intends to continue to expand and deepen its geographic coverage through strategic acquisitions,” said Kurien Jacob, chairman of Conner Industries. “Conner has a strong balance sheet, as well as the full support of Wells Fargo, our commercial lenders, and Argentum. We welcome all acquisition ideas and opportunities from business brokers and investment bankers.”
Argentum makes control and non-control investments of $3 million to $10 million in companies with revenues from $5 million to $30 million. Sectors of interest include business services; industrial and environmental services; healthcare and pharmaceutical; technology-enabled services; and logistics and specialty distribution. The firm was founded in 1988 by Walter Barandiaran and Daniel Raynor and raised its first investment fund in 1990. Argentum is headquartered in New York (www.argentumgroup.com).
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