SAN FRANCISCO — Gryphon Investors, a leading middle-market private equity firm based in San Francisco, announced Monday that it has closed a single-asset continuation vehicle for Vessco Water, a market-leading distribution and services platform in the water and wastewater treatment market.
Apollo S3, CVC Secondary Partners and Lexington Partners L.P. acted as lead investors in the transaction, with the company's management remaining large shareholders in the company.
Gryphon's Flagship Fund VI, a $2.7 billion fund, acquired Vessco, in partnership with the company's management team, in November 2020. During Gryphon's nearly four years of ownership, Vessco has transformed its business, growing fivefold by expanding its product base and service capabilities to support its customers and expanding its footprint, while investing in the corporate infrastructure needed to support its local operations.
"We are excited to complete Gryphon's first continuation vehicle with Vessco, which has substantial runway to continue scaling rapidly in a fragmented industry," said Gryphon co-CEOs David Andrews and Nick Orum. "This transaction delivered liquidity to Gryphon VI limited partners and provided them with an option to retain their interests in Vessco through the company's next phase of growth and value creation. The CV also provided new committed capital for growth and investment and will allow us to continue our support of Vessco, its management team, and its employees."
Based in Minneapolis, Vessco is a high value-added distributor in the water and wastewater treatment equipment, and services market. The company serves critical customer needs through a comprehensive suite of products, solutions and services across major market segments, including process equipment, flow control, pump and pump repair, industrial processes, and automation & controls. Its end-to-end solutions encompass design, engineering support, repair and reconstruction, and aftermarket parts and services.
"Our partnership with the Gryphon team has yielded substantial results," said Vessco CEO Brian DeWolf. "With their operational and financial resources, we have advanced our mission to transform the water treatment industry by building strength and stability through a family of companies that provides exceptional products and services to our customers and an unwavering commitment to our manufacturers, employees, and the environment. We look forward to continued success together as we make progress toward our vision of becoming the biggest and best value-added water treatment equipment distributor in our industry, operating in all 50 states."
