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Blue Point Sells Smith-Cooper to Tailwind

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Blue Point Capital Partners has sold its portfolio company Smith-Cooper International to Tailwind Capital. Blue Point acquired Smith-Cooper in October 2012 through its second fund, Blue Point Capital Partners II LP, which closed in 2006.

Smith-Cooper is a designer, producer, importer and distributor of pipe, valves and fittings to the commercial and industrial, energy, chemical and petrochemical refining, and fire protection markets. Smith-Cooper offers over 15,000 SKUs and serves more than 2,000 customers globally. Company-owned brands include SCI, Sharpe and FPPI.

Smith-Cooper was formed in 1993 and is headquartered near Los Angeles in Commerce, CA (www.smithcooper.com).

“Smith-Cooper provided a great opportunity for Blue Point to support management with a number of operating improvements, including Asian supply chain management, pricing optimization and analytical tools to enable data-driven decision making,” said Juli Marley, a Partner with Blue Point.  “The leadership team focused on several key initiatives which improved profitability and operational efficiency, allowing us to continue to invest in the business and the team to build a true platform ready to support additional growth.”

Blue Point Capital Partners is a lower middle market private equity firm that invests in manufacturing, distribution and service businesses that have from $20 million to $200 million in revenue and EBITDA greater than $5 million. The firm has over $825 million in committed capital and has offices in Cleveland, Charlotte, Seattle, and Shanghai (www.bluepointcapital.com).

“Blue Point took a thoughtful approach to our partnership, providing resources and strategic support to enable us to execute our growth strategy,” said Jason Hild, CEO of Smith-Cooper.  “We sincerely appreciated Blue Point’s collaboration and multiple dimensional support for our investments in the management team, operational infrastructure and both organic and acquisition-based growth initiatives.  Having further strengthened the company’s foundation, we are excited to continue executing our growth strategy in partnership with Tailwind.”

Tailwind invests from $25 million to $100 million of equity in middle market companies that have enterprise values of up to $300 million and EBITDA from $10 million to $30 million. Sectors of interest include healthcare, business services and industrial services. Since its founding in 2003, Tailwind and its portfolio companies have completed over 85 acquisitions.  The firm currently manages over $3 billion of committed equity capital and is based in New York (www.tailwind.com).

© 2017 Private Equity Professional | November 28, 2017

Wynnchurch and Comvest Exit U.S. Pipe

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Wynnchurch Capital and Comvest Partners have sold their portfolio company USP Holdings Inc. (US Pipe) to Forterra Building Products. Wynnchurch and Comvest acquired US Pipe through a divestiture from Mueller Water Products in April 2012.

US Pipe is a manufacturer of ductile iron pipe products, fittings and joint restraints that are used in drinking water and wastewater systems. Customers include distributors, residential and commercial construction contractors, utilities, and government municipalities.  The company is headquartered in Birmingham, AL (www.uspipe.com).

US Pipe was founded in 1899 as the United States Cast Iron Pipe and Foundry Company and at that time was responsible for approximately 75% of the production capacity of cast iron pipe in the United States.

Over the past four years, Wynnchurch and Comvest have grown US Pipe both organically and through five add-on acquisitions. “Wynnchurch and Comvest have been valued partners as we have continued to build on our position as the leading provider of ductile iron pipe products in the US,” said US Pipe CEO Paul Ciolino. “Each firm has significant investment and operational expertise, which helped management grow the business, drive continuous improvement and execute on our strategy.  In addition, Wynnchurch and Comvest were critical in leading and executing several strategic acquisitions furthering our efforts in becoming a full-service, world class organization.”

Wynnchurch Capital makes investments of $10 million to $90 million in middle-market companies that have revenues of $5 million to $500 million. Sectors of interest include niche manufacturing, business and industrial services, energy and power services, logistics, transportation and value-added distribution. The firm was founded in 1999 and is located in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont with additional offices in Detroit and Toronto (www.wynnchurch.com).

Comvest Partners provides debt and equity to middle-market companies. For debt investments the firm will invest from $2 million to $20 million per transaction in companies with $10 million to $200 million of revenue that have positive or negative EBITDA. For equity investments the firm will invest from $25 million to $100 million of equity per transaction in companies with $15 million to $500 million of revenue that have positive or negative EBITDA. Comvest is based in West Palm Beach (www.comvest.com).

Forterra Building Products is a provider of infrastructure and water management products and a manufacturer of concrete and clay building products. Company divisions include Forterra Pipe & Precast, Forterra Pressure Pipe, Forterra Structural & Specialty Products, and Forterra Brick. Forterra employs approximately 5,400 people and has more than 125 facilities. The company is based in Irving, TX (www.forterrabp.com).

Moelis & Company (www.moelis.com) was the financial advisor to US Pipe and Foley & Lardner (www.foley.com) provided legal services.

© 2016 Private Equity Professional • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 4-19-16