Century City-based private equity firm OpenGate Capital has completed four industrial-related transactions as part of a new institutional fund — and is poised to make two others by the end of the summer, according to the firm’s chief executive.
Andrew Nikou, OpenGate Capital’s founder and chief executive, told the Business Journal that the four industrial acquisitions are among the new fund’s first purchases.
“It’s quick but indicative of the pipeline,” said Nikou of the pace of acquisitions and availability of businesses up for sale.
The four purchases include the Forest Park, Ill.-based Duraco Specialty Tapes, a division of United Kingdom-based Essentra; the Sargent and Greenleaf division of New Britain, Conn.-based Stanley Black & Decker Inc.; the silicon carbide division of French-based Saint-Gobain; and SMAC, a division of French-based Colas.
Financial terms of the transactions were not disclosed. The acquisitions boost OpenGate Capital’s assets under management to $800 million.
A form D filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Sept. 17 said OpenGate had offered to sell $450 million in equity in the second fund, called Opengate Capital Partners II. Nikou declined to comment on the new fund, which has not yet been closed for investment.
The private equity firm’s first fund closed in 2016 with $305 million in equity, he said.
Nikou said OpenGate plans to make two additional acquisitions by the end of the summer in the “software and technical services” niche where “lower middle market” companies generate anywhere from $750 million to $1 billion in revenue. He declined to elaborate on possible targets.
The four business lines purchased by OpenGate, which was founded in 2005, include two based in Europe and two headquartered in the United States.
Saint-Gobain’s silicon carbide division — which will be renamed Fiven — is based in Oslo, Norway. It manufactures grains and powders that are resistant to decomposition by heat, pressure or chemical attack. Fiven is the first investment completed within OpenGate Capital’s second institutional fund.
The acquisition of SMAC, which employs 3,400, is the second Europe-based corporate carve-out completed within Open Gate Capital’s second institutional fund. SMAC, which is headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France, makes waterproofing membranes and resins used on roofs, structures and facades.
OpenGate’s third purchase, Duraco Specialty Tapes, has service centers in City of Industry; Edison, N.J.; and Houston. The company, said Nikou, “shows potential to be a platform for future roll-up acquisitions.”
Duraco, with 133 employees, is a manufacturer of specialty tapes that are used as alternatives for fasteners and glues, for point-of-purchase displays, appliances, transit packaging, construction, signage and heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
The fourth acquisition made by OpenGate Capital was Sargent and Greenleaf, a Nicholasville, Ky.,-based manufacturer of mechanical and electronic locks.
