Website: aspirent.com
Headquarters: Atlanta, Georgia
Aspirent Consulting, LLC ("Aspirent") is a professional services firm providing a full suite of management and technology consulting services focused on data and analytics. Aspirent provides strategic consulting, cloud development, and project execution services related to data and analytics for blue-chip clients in the Atlanta market.
Website: exactaland.com
Headquarters: Cleveland, Ohio
Exacta Land Surveyors (“Exacta”) is a leading provider of land surveys and field management services used to facilitate the purchasing, selling, and development of residential and commercial real estate. Exacta provides land surveys, utility/municipal lien search services, elevation certificates, and estoppel reports to a variety of customers within the real estate industry.
Website: freedomelectronics.com
Headquarters: Kennesaw, Georgia
Freedom Electronics (“Freedom”) is a leading provider of aftermarket electronic components for use in fuel dispensing and point-of-sale systems across the U.S. and Canada. Freedom remanufactures and sells a portfolio of over 2,300 electronic components for its customer base of retailers, parts distributors, and equipment service companies that require quick turnaround times and quality components.
Website: fast-growing-trees.com
Headquarters: Fort Mill, South Carolina
Fast Growing Trees (“FGT”) is a leading direct-to-consumer e-commerce retailer of trees and shrubs and offers consumers a broad variety of high-quality trees and shrubs through its websites fast-growing-trees.com and brighterblooms.com. The Company provides customers with a best-in-class e-commerce experience and access to over 900 products that are available for on-demand delivery, typically within two days of placing an order.
Website: smartours.com
Headquarters: New York, New York
smarTours, LLC ("smarTours") is a leading provider of direct-to-consumer, value-oriented travel experiences to exotic global destinations. Over 200,000 travelers haven taken a smarTours trip since the founding of the Company, and smarTours has developed a strong and loyal customer base.
Website: carsprotectionplus.com
Headquarters: Murrysville, Pennsylvania
C.A.R.S. Protection Plus ("CARS") is a leading vehicle service contract ("VSC") provider, specializing in the high mileage VSC segment. The company sells contracts at wholesale to over 10,000 used car dealerships across the U.S.
Website: tieindustrial.com
Headquarters: La Vergne, Tennessee
Tennessee Industrial Electronics, LLC ("TIE") is a leading provider of parts and repairs for CNC Systems. Founded in 1992, TIE began by specializing in the sales of refurbished FANUC aftermarket parts such as controls, motors and drives from an extensive inventory of over 75,000 parts. The company grew to become one of the largest providers of aftermarket support for CNC automation in North America.
Website: parkline.com
Headquarters: Eleanor, West Virginia
Parkline, Inc. ("Parkline") is a leading manufacturer of highly-engineered metal buildings for industrial and commercial applications. Formed as an independent company in 1973, Parkline focuses on the production and erection of smaller buildings (widths of < 32') and is well known as a leader in the metal building industry with more than 70,000 structures in service throughout the United States and Canada.
Arkive is a provider of full-service records management solutions to a highly diverse base of over 2,000 business partners and clients. The company's services include storage, destruction, data protection and digital solutions, and Arkive differentiates itself in the document storage industry by offering high levels of customer service, particularly to small and medium sized businesses.
Control Company ("Control") sells an extensive array of private label and branded laboratory equipment including thermometers, timers, tools, humidity gauges, hygrometers, and conductivity tools. These products are sold globally through large distribution partners, and Control enjoys strong, longstanding, and mutually beneficial relationships with the two largest distributors in the industry.
NSi Industries ("NSi") is a leading supplier of a wide variety of electrical connectors, digital time controls, time switches, wire management products, and related electrical components for construction, maintenance, and repair applications. NSi's well-known brands include Polaris™ insulated connectors, Tork® time and lighting controls, and Easy-Twist™ wire connectors.
Charter Brokerage (“Charter") is a non-asset based third party logistics provider to the North American petroleum industry offering a complementary array of information-based, port-related logistics services to a diverse group of energy product importers and major airline customers.
Sentry Security Systems, LLC (“Sentry") is the leading provider of monitored, electric perimeter security fencing for commercial and industrial facilities in the United States. Sentry installs and retains ownership of a security fence installed at the customer's location, and customers pay a monthly monitoring and service fee.
Case Study
Summit Park formed Arkive in 2016 to acquire certain assets from Iron Mountain Incorporated in a government mandated sale process.
Arkive is a provider of records management solutions to a highly diverse base of customers. The Company is one of the largest providers of document storage services in Canada and is a leader in each of the U.S. markets in which it operates. Arkive differentiates itself in the document storage industry by offering high levels of customer service particularly to small and medium sized businesses.
Following the acquisition of Recall Holdings Ltd. ("Recall"), Iron Mountain was required by the U.S. Department of Justice and Canadian Competition Bureau to divest of certain document storage assets in the United States and Canada. The authorities sought to promote local competition within these markets by giving local and regional clients access to another capable document management provider.
Given the carve-out dynamic of the transaction, Summit Park engaged daily with Arkive on its transition towards a stand-alone business, which was completed in under one year. Summit Park supported Arkive in making two accretive add-on acquisitions in the first year of ownership. Arkive also successfully stood up four new business lines to offer customers, including MyKloud, a cloud-based information management system.
Case Study
Summit Park completed a majority recapitalization of Control Company on June 3, 2011. Cole Palmer, a portfolio company of Golden Gate Capital, acquired Control Company in August 2017.
Control Company ("Control") sells an extensive array of private label and branded laboratory equipment including thermometers, timers, tools, humidity gauges, hygrometers, and conductivity tools. These products are sold globally through large distribution partners, and Control enjoys strong, longstanding, and mutually beneficial relationships with the two largest distributors in the industry. Unique among its competitors, substantially all of the company's products are individually calibrated and tested and sold with a Traceable® Calibration Certificate issued from the company's calibration laboratory, which is accredited by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation. End users rely on these certificates to evidence the quality of their testing processes to their own managers, customers, regulators, ISO 9000 auditors, and federal, state, and local agencies.
Prior to Summit Park's investment, Control was owned and operated by its entrepreneur and founder, Jerry Cooney, and his wife. At the time of the transaction, Jerry was no longer actively involved in the day-to-day operations of the business. Jerry and his wife wished to facilitate a transaction to diversify their personal holdings.
In June 2015, Summit Park led a recapitalization of Control and the Firm's second fund bought out certain 2011 investors, including the founder and certain individual shareholders
Summit Park built out the Control management team, including a new CEO, COO and VP of Sales, as well as added engineering and marketing resources. Summit Park also supported the expansion of the company's product offering to focus on data logging products and launching TraceableLIVE, a connecting monitoring product and service.
Case Study
Summit Park completed a majority recapitalization of NSi on December 28, 2012.
NSi is a leading supplier of a wide variety of electrical connectors including insulated connectors and mechanical, digital time controls, time switches, wire management products, and related electrical components for construction, maintenance, and repair applications. NSi's well-known brands include Polaris™ insulated connectors, Tork® time and lighting controls, and Easy-Twist™ wire connectors. The company's products are sold to end users primarily through the electrical distributor channel, and NSi enjoys broad placement at over 5,000 branch locations throughout the United States and Canada. NSi differentiates itself through highly recognizable, category-leading brands, a broad product line, high fill and on-time delivery rates, and a consistent pipeline of new products.
Prior to Summit Park's investment, NSi was owned and operated by its entrepreneur founder, Axel Rasmussen, along with three senior members of NSi's executive team. NSi's executives were open to a variety of employment or consulting options post-closing.
NSI's EBITDA grew by 50% during Summit Park's investment period. Additionally, in August 2014, NSi underwent a dividend recapitalization with a substantial amount of the original equity capital invested returned to investors. Summit Park sold NSi to Blue Sea Capital, a private equity firm, in May 2016.
Case Study
Summit Park completed a majority recapitalization of Charter Brokerage on May 31, 2006.
Charter Brokerage ("Charter") is a non-asset based third party logistics provider to the North American petroleum industry offering a complementary array of information-based, port-related logistics services to a diverse group of energy product importers and major airline customers. Charter's services include customs compliance, cargo clearance, inventory tracking, and duty minimization and drawback programs for almost all of the petroleum and petroleum derivative products that enter the U.S. today. Charter's global blue-chip customers rely on the company's highly-specialized, integrated suite of services, proprietary technology, regulatory knowledge and expertise, and market-leading client service. The company's three business lines – Customs Brokerage, Duty Drawback, and Airport Foreign-Trade Zone Services – provide a turnkey solution to parties across the petroleum supply chain.
Charter's extensive knowledge of customs law and longstanding relationships with both importers and exporters of petroleum and petroleum derivative products create significant barriers to entry for potential competitors and permitted Charter to price its services to achieve outstanding profitability. At the time of investment, changes to the regulatory landscape in the importation of ethanol created the opportunity for the company to significantly grow its duty drawback service offering.
Charter's EBITDA more than doubled during Summit Park's investment period. Summit Park sold Charter to Arsenal Capital Partners, a private equity firm, in February 2008. Berkshire Hathaway acquired Charter from Arsenal Capital Partners in December 2014.
Case Study
Summit Park and affiliates acquired a controlling interest in Sentry Security Systems on February 7, 2007.
Sentry Security Systems ("Sentry") is the leading provider of monitored, electric perimeter security fencing for commercial and industrial facilities in the United States. Sentry installs and retains ownership of a security fence installed at the customer's location, and customers pay a monthly monitoring and service fee. The company has installed, and monitors, over 3,000 fences across the country. Sentry's products provide safe and secure barriers, customized for each customers' location that produce a non-lethal shock and audible alarm upon activation.
Prior to Summit Park's investment, the company's product was installed in approximately 1,800 locations throughout the U.S. without any outbound marketing efforts and despite the company having very limited management and financial resources. There was a clear path to building a much larger business, and our investment thesis centered on a number of action items, including: (i) building out the leadership team; (ii) initiating a proactive, outbound sales and marketing effort to raise awareness of the product; (iii) instilling greater pricing discipline; and (iv) providing additional financial resources to fund the company's expansion efforts through a revolving credit facility.
Summit Park recognized the ability to accelerate the company's revenue growth by formalizing pricing policies, standardizing contract terms and launching an outbound sales and marketing effort. Furthermore, the opportunity to upgrade and professionalize the company's senior leadership team and secure a low cost source of financing for new fence installations helped position Sentry for further growth. Summit Park completed a successful exit of their investment in Sentry on May 11, 2009.
