High Road Capital Partners has acquired Storage Battery Systems from Supply Chain Equity Partners. This buy is the seventh platform acquisition for High Road Capital Partners Fund II.
Storage Battery Systems (SBS) is an assembler and distributor of branded, rechargeable industrial batteries and test equipment used in warehousing and logistics, and standby and uninterruptible power supply applications. Products and services include Lithium-Ion, Nickel Cadmium, sealed VRLA (valve-regulated lead-acid batteries in both absorbent glass mat (AGM) and Gel formats), wet cell batteries, as well as custom-designed power products; chargers, testing and monitoring equipment; and storage systems. The company, led by its President John Bondy, was founded in 1915 and is headquartered near Milwaukee in 
Menomonee Falls, WI with additional facilities in Greenville, WI; Carol Stream, IL; and Ft. Wayne and Elkhart, IN (www.sbsbattery.com).
Mr. Bondy will continue to lead the company post-closing. He and other members of the SBS senior management team invested in the transaction alongside High Road. “The SBS team looks forward to working with High Road to expand our geographic presence and accelerate our growth in motive power,” said Mr. Bondy. “In addition, SBS is well positioned to capitalize on the significant growth opportunity in the standby power market nationwide and in Canada and, with High Road’s support, will accelerate these growth initiatives.”
“SBS is a leading provider of motive power solutions for the material handling and logistics industries and a trusted service partner for manufacturing and distribution companies in the upper Midwest, as well as a total systems solution provider for the standby power market in North America,” said Ben Schnakenberg, Partner, High Road Capital Partners. “We look forward to supporting the SBS team in expanding geographically and capitalizing on growth within the industries SBS serves.”
High Road invests in manufacturing, service, or value-added distribution businesses with revenues of $10 million to $100 million and EBITDAs of $3 million to $10 million. High Road has completed 42 transactions – 17 platform investments, 20 add-on acquisitions and five exits – since its founding in 2007. High Road is based in New York (www.highroadcap.com).
Supply Chain Equity Partners, which acquired its equity interest in SBS in September 2012 from the Rubenzer family, invests only in wholesale distributors and related logistics companies that are a critical link in the supply chain, regardless of sub-sector. The firm was founded in 2007 by Jim Miller, Jay Greyson, and Nir Gabriely and is based in Tampa, FL (www.supplychainequity.com).
Twin Brook Capital Partners, the middle market direct lending subsidiary of Angelo, Gordon & Co., provided $30 million in financing – as sole lead arranger and administrative agent – to support High Road’s buy of SBS. Twin Brook (www.twincp.com) focuses on loans to companies with EBITDA between $3 million and $50 million. The firm is led by Trevor Clark and Christopher Williams, two of the original founders of Madison Capital Funding.
BB&T Capital Markets (www.bbtcapitalmarkets.com) was the financial advisor to SBS.
High Road’s acquisition of SBS closed on May 19, 2017. Mr. Schnakenberg led the transaction for High Road and was assisted by Nick Martino, Operating Partner; Scott Rubino, Principal; and Tom Cassidy, Associate.
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | May 24, 2017
