Brazos Private Equity Partners, a Dallas-based private equity firm, has sold BlackHawk Industrial Distribution, an independent value-added industrial distributor of cutting tools, abrasives, and MRO products, to Snow Phipps Group.
Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Based in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, BlackHawk was founded by Brazos Partners in 2010 in conjunction with Bill Scheller, former CEO and President of ORS Nasco, and has grown through 14 strategic acquisitions to one of the top 30 North American industrial distributors. The Company has a national footprint that includes locations across North America and offers a portfolio of over one million SKUs, as well as supply chain and value-added manufacturing services. BlackHawk offers a comprehensive portfolio of products used in mission-critical, consumable applications and provides a consultative, partnership approach with deep technical product expertise to drive value for customers.
“We could not be more pleased with the success of BlackHawk,” says Randall Fojtasek, current Managing Partner of CenterOak Partners and former Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Brazos. “We have a long track record of investing in specialty distribution businesses across numerous end markets and this transaction represents the successful execution of our investment thesis in the industrial distribution space. While completing five platform and 15 add-on investments for CenterOak, our team has also worked tirelessly to build BlackHawk and maximise value for our partners. We are thrilled with the outcome for our investors and for the management team, and we wish them continued success.”
Bill Scheller, former BlackHawk CEO and current CenterOak Operating Partner, adds: “It has been an incredible run with the team and I have truly enjoyed the partnership, leveraging their expertise in the space to generate value for shareholders. BlackHawk has built a leading market position over the last eight years, and we wish the current CEO John Mark and his team success as they focus on the continued growth of the business.”
“We have completed two successful investments and exits alongside Bill Scheller in the industrial distribution space and look forward to working with Bill on a third distribution opportunity at CenterOak Partners,” adds Randall Fojtasek.
Houlihan Lokey served as financial advisor. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP served as legal advisor to Brazos Partners in connection with the sale.