Allied to Sell Hillman Cos. to Chicago Equity Firm
Allied to Sell Hillman Cos. to Chicago Equity Firm
Jason Sandefur
Allied Capital Corp. signed an agreement to sell industrial distributor Hillman Companies Inc. to an affiliate of Code Hennessy & Simmons LLC, a Chicago-based private equity firm. CHS will pay $510 million for Hillman, including repayment of debt. Net cash proceeds to Allied are estimated at $192 million. Allied will provide about $47.5 million in new financing to Hillman as part of the deal expected to close during the second quarter of 2004. Hillman�s management will continue as owners in the company, which will still trade on the AMEX.
“Hillman represents an excellent investment opportunity for CHS and leverages our experience with distribution businesses,” said Peter Gotsch, a CHS partner. “The company is an industry leader with a strong track record of profitable growth.”
In September 2003, Allied estimated the enterprise value of Hillman at $430.5 million. Washington, D.C.-based Allied acquired Hillman in 2001 during a management buyout of the company formerly known as SunSource. The sale marks Allied�s exit from the fastener industry.
Hillman reported sales of $286.8 million in 2002, with fasteners accounting for 57% of revenue. The company bought FAS-N-IT and the Anchor Wire/DIY business from Fastenal in 2002. It also acquired certain assets of Lowe�s specialty fastener business from R&B Inc. Cincinnati-based Hillman distributes fasteners, anchors, keys and other specialty items to hardware and home center stores. Web: hillmangroup.com
CHS is a private equity firm founded in 1988 with oversight of $1.5 billion in capital funds. CHS owns 19 companies with combined annual revenue of $4 billion. The firm is headquartered at 10 South Wacker Dr., Suite 3175, Chicago, IL 60606. Tel: 312 876-1840 Web: chsonline.com �2004 FastenerNews.com
There are no comments at the moment, do you want to add one?
Write a comment