CenterOak invests in property services biz; Bregal Sagemount and TorQuest Partners in logistics deals

Good morning Hubsters, Craig McGlashan here with the Tuesday Wire.

We’re focusing on a couple of sectors this morning, as we take a look at CenterOak Partners inking a deal in property services – a sector where we’ve seen a lot of business of late.

Next we switch to logistics, with deals from Bregal Sagemount in the airport sub-sector and TorQuest Partners in the field of supply chain management.

We then round things out with the latest deal from an acquisitive packaging company backed by Advent International.

Property services
One trend we’ve seen of late on the Hub is private equity interest in companies that offer services to commercial property owners. An advantage, say PE firms, is that these services are non-discretionary and recession-resilient – although I’m hearing from a lot of sources that the outlook for the US economy is so far past a possible recession that it’s moved from a soft landing to a ‘no landing’.

Anyway, the sector keeps attracting investment. CenterOak Partners has recapitalized Nashville-based Guardian Access Solutions, which maintains, repairs and installs exterior access control equipment.

CenterOak aims to expand Guardian’s service line capabilities, add technical and sales resources, and make a push both in its existing and new markets.

“Guardian has a strong reputation for providing high-quality, specialized service to its commercial, industrial and government customers,” said Mark Langer, managing director of CenterOak in a statement.

Other recent deals in this sector include Trinity Hunt adding two businesses to its Visterra Landscape platform and One Rock Capital Partners investing $500 million in BrightView Holdings.

We’ve also seen plenty of action in this sector over on PE Hub Europe. You can see a roundup of some of the recent deals in this listicle by Irien Joseph.

Logistics
The other trend I’ve spotted today is in the logistics sector.

Bregal Sagemount has made a majority investment in Bradford Airport Logistics, a Houston-based provider of advanced logistics services to airports and other transportation hubs.

Domestic growth is the target of the investment, according to a release.

Meanwhile, TorQuest Partners has invested in Brimich Logistics, a full-service supply chain management and third-party logistics business based in Brantford, Ontario. Brimich’s existing owners, the Fergus family, will remain significant shareholders in the company. No changes will be made to Brimich’s leadership team.

Packaged deal
Advent International portfolio company Imperial Dade has been on a bit of an add-on tear of late and added another business today. The company has acquired Ralik, a Blainville, Quebec-based distributor of paper goods, packaging materials and other safety and janitorial products.

Imperial Dade is a distributor of foodservice packaging, printing papers and janitorial supplies. It was acquired last year from Bain Capital Private Equity.

Just last week, the company acquired Prime Paper & Packaging, which is in the same business as Ralik.

Right, that’s a wrap (excuse the pun) – Chris Witkowsky will be with you tomorrow for Wire Wednesday.

Cheers,

Craig