Singer Equities sold to investment firm and management team

Industrial Distribution staff -- Industrial Distribution, 6/5/2008 5:30:00 AM

LLR Partners Inc. of Philadelphia, Pa., a private equity firm, is partnering with the senior management team of Singer Equities Inc. to acquire the business from Paul Singer and his family. 

Singer consists of a group of value-added distributorships in the industrial rubber products industry operating through five companies: Allied Rubber and Rigging, Hampton Rubber Co., National Hose and Accessory, PRC Industrial Supply and R/W Connection.

Singer services a national customer base through its 11 branches located in Maryland, Maine, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Texas. 

Singer was formed in 2005 after Allied Rubber and Rigging, Hampton Rubber Co. and R/W Connection were jointly spun out from the Indusco Group, a fabricator and supplier of wire rope and rigging equipment. PRC Industrial and National Hose and Accessory were acquired by Singer in 2006 and 2007.

"I have enjoyed tremendously working with Paul Singer over the past thirteen years and am equally excited about partnering with LLR,” Otis Dufrene, president and CEO of Singer, said. “Paul and I decided that at this point in Singer's evolution it was time to find a partner with the financial and strategic resources of LLR to continue our growth and acquisition plans."

"The growth of Singer and the relationship developed with Otis Dufrene have exceeded my highest expectations. I look forward to helping the business continue to grow under LLR," said Paul Singer, who will remain on the board of directors.

"The Singer management team has a proven track record of successfully increasing market share and rapidly expanding through successful acquisitions," said Howard Ross, a partner at LLR. "The key to Singer's success lies in the senior management team's ability to understand and meet the needs of both its customers and the associates of its operating companies."  

Alongside LLR's and management's equity capital, the existing lender, Sovereign Bank, led by senior vice-president Robert Mindick, and Commerce Bank provided debt financing for the transaction.

LLR Partners is no stranger to the distribution sector. In 2002, LLR and Thomas Cressey Partners of San Francisco purchased Prophet 21, a leading software distributor provider. Three years later, Prophet 21 was sold to Activant Solutions.