CHICAGO — Frontenac announced Wednesday that it has completed an oversubscribed secondary market transaction to fund future growth initiatives of portfolio company Motion & Control Enterprises.
This vehicle will allow for Frontenac’s continued investment in MCE and is expected to fuel the company’s next phase of growth. The transaction was led by Churchill Asset Management and 50 South Capital who join a collection of new and existing Frontenac investors.
MCE is a leading industrial distributor and services provider of highly engineered, full lifecycle fluid, flow, automation, and air solutions. Frontenac acquired MCE in 2018 in partnership with CEO1ST executive Charley Hale. Together, Frontenac and Hale have completed 10 acquisitions and grown EBITDA by more than 15 times. The continuation vehicle provides MCE with the resources to accelerate organic growth initiatives and pursue additional acquisition opportunities.
“Our executive-led strategy is a hallmark of Frontenac’s approach, and this transaction is another example of that strategy at work. With a continuation vehicle, we can continue to support strong companies and executives like MCE and Charley Hale. This continuation vehicle furthers Frontenac’s strategy to build sizeable and long-standing companies,” said Ron Kuehl, managing partner at Frontenac.
“The increase in size and value of MCE is a result of operational improvements, driving significant organic growth, and executing on an established acquisition playbook, which is core to Frontenac’s strategic approach. We still have a long runway for those initiatives to substantially grow the platform. We’re excited about the opportunity to continue building on that momentum in partnership with the MCE team,” said Neal Sahney, principal at Frontenac.
“Frontenac has been a trusted partner from the beginning, and they’ve supported our organic and acquisition-based growth. We’ve transformed MCE into a company that was recognized in 2023 by Modern Distribution Management on its Top Industrial Distributors list. This additional investment allows us to extend our partnership with Frontenac as we continue to scale our company,” said Hale.
Evercore acted as financial advisor for the transaction and Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel for the deal.
