Littlejohn & Co. has sold its portfolio company Latham Pool Products to Wynnchurch Capital. Littlejohn acquired Latham in 2010 following a Chapter 11 restructuring.
Latham manufactures in-ground and above-ground vinyl liners, polymer and steel pool wall systems, fiberglass pools, steps, ladders, pool safety covers, automatic pool covers and a variety of other pool related accessories. The company has more than 4,000 customer accounts and operates 21 manufacturing facilities in the United States and Canada. Latham was founded in 1956 and is headquartered north of Albany in Latham, NY (www.lathampool.com).
Under Littlejohn’s ownership Latham has been very acquisitive. In October 2014 the company acquired Pool Cover Specialists, one of its competitors in the automatic pool cover manufacturing market. This acquisition marked the fifth year in a row that the company had acquired one of its competitors. In 2010 the company acquired Blue Hawaiian Pools and Trilogy Pools, and in 2012 acquired Royal Fiberglass Pools. In 2013 Latham purchased Plastimayd, a maker of vinyl liners and safety covers.
“Latham has served as a strong platform to integrate a number of key acquisitions and we are proud of the job the Latham management team has done,” said Steven Raich, Managing Director of Littlejohn. “We are very pleased with this outcome which reflects the successful completion of Littlejohn’s strategy to leverage the combined skills of our financial restructuring and operating resources to drive growth and profitability.
Littlejohn makes control and non-control investments in middle-market companies that are undergoing a fundamental change in capital structure, strategy, operations or growth. The firm invests from $50 million to $150 million of equity in middle market companies that have annual revenues of $100 million to $800 million. Littlejohn invests across a range of industries and acquires manufacturers, distributors, and service providers. The firm is based in Greenwich, CT (www.littlejohnllc.com).
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).
Moelis and William Blair served as financial advisors to Littlejohn on this transaction.
© 2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 8-10-15
