Investcorp and Trilantic North America have agreed to acquire RoadSafe Traffic Systems from ORIX Capital Partners.
RoadSafe is the largest national provider of pavement marking, sign installation, and traffic control services and equipment to roadway construction, state transportation, railroad and utility customers. RoadSafe, led by CEO David Meirick, is headquartered in Chicago and has more than 50 locations with over 1,600 employees.
ORIX acquired RoadSafe in February 2016 from Falcon Investment Advisors and Aperion Management with Aperion continuing with the company as a minority investor. During ORIX’s ownership term RoadSafe closed five add-on acquisitions including the buys of Innovative Marking Systems, a Utah-based provider of roadway striping, pavement markings, and sign installation services (March 2021); A Cone Zone, a California-based provider of traffic management equipment and services (January 2020); Optim Earth, a Nevada-based provider of 3D subsurface information required to plan and build roads, bridges, and tunnels (August 2018); Beth’s Barricades, a Pennsylvania-based provider of traffic control services and products including traffic signals, message and arrow boards (July 2017); and Protection Services, a Pennsylvania-based provider of traffic control and pavement marking services (October 2016).
According to Investcorp and Trilantic, RoadSafe will continue to focus on expanding geographically across the US and will seek add-on acquisitions.
“RoadSafe represents a highly attractive growth opportunity, driven by several macroeconomic tailwinds, including the critical need to upgrade the country’s aging infrastructure, the wide-scale rollout of 5G systems and the re-marking of roads to support future new technologies,” said Amit Gaind, a managing director at Investcorp.
“Dave and the RoadSafe team have done a tremendous job growing the company into the leading national player in this essential and underinvested segment of the infrastructure market,” said Charles Fleischmann, a partner at Trilantic. “Private capital will play a crucial role in rebuilding and modernizing US infrastructure and we are thrilled to partner with the RoadSafe and Investcorp teams to strengthen this entrepreneurial business’ leadership position in a highly fragmented industry.”
Investcorp is active in alternative investments including private equity, real estate, absolute return investments, and credit management. Since its founding in 1982, Investcorp has closed more than 195 private equity transactions across a range of sectors including retail and consumer products, technology, business services and industrials. Investcorp, with $35 billion of assets under management, has more than 430 employees with multiple offices including in New York City, London, and Bahrain.
Trilantic North America makes control and significant minority investments of $50 million to $300 million in North America-based companies that have enterprise values of $50 million to $1 billion. Trilantic was formed in 2009 by former members of Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking and is based in New York City.
© 2021 Private Equity Professional | April 13, 2021