A majority stake in US LBM Holdings, the nation's seventh-biggest pro-oriented building material dealer, is being acquired by the private investment firm Kelso & Company, ProSales learned today. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.The definitive agreement signed on July 24 and expected to be completed in a few weeks means there'll be a new owner of the fast-growing dealer, but it won't alter the company's management team or business philosophy, US LBM president and CEO L.T. Gibson asserted. "I feel we have found the right partner for our team and our business," Gibson told ProSales today. "Partnering with Kelso allows us to continue to pursue building a great company, as well as giving us resources to find new and better ways to improve and serve our customers in a changing industry.  Our new capital structure will allow us to continue to grow organically and through acquisitions.  The management team and BlackEagle [Partners, US LBM's previous majority owner] are all reinvesting and excited for this next chapter in the US LBM story."

Sandy Osborne, Managing Director at Kelso, said in a statement prepared for the announcement that “We are pleased to be partnering with BlackEagle, L.T. and the impressive team at US LBM, both at the corporate level and at the individual business units. We are excited to support the company as it continues its growth.”  And BlackEagle managing partner Michael Madden said in the same prepared statement:  “We have worked alongside L.T. and his team for six years to build a world-class company, and we look forward to continuing the company’s upward trajectory in partnership with Kelso.” New York-based Kelso first emerged as the potential buyer when a Reuters article reported on July 1 that it was the lead candidate for a deal that would value US LBM at about $1 billion. Based on its investment history, its only LBM-related investment ever is a Canadian timber company called EACOM.US LBM was created just five years ago out of several firms that had been acquired by Stock Building Supply and then cast off when Stock went through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

Gibson--an executive at Stock--teamed up with investment firm Building Industry Partners and BlackEagle to create a company dedicated to a business model that emphasized a tiny central office, substantial local authority, and cross-enterprise sharing of best practices. While officially based in Green Bay, Wis., virtually nobody in the head office works there; all the senior management, Gibson included, live in other cities.business for sale gatlinburg tnUS LBM's model is widely credited with enabling it to outpace its rivals; business for sale goulburnin 2014, its revenues grew 79%, second-best among all ProSales 100 companies, to reach $1.42 billion with profit margins in the upper single digits. business for sale iloilo philippines

Meanwhile, its achievements in technology and education were the principal reasons why the company became this year's ProSales Dealer of the Year.BlackEagle has held the majority stake in US LBM since its inception, while Gibson and US LBM's unit presidents own roughly a quarter of the company. Because most private equity firms typically don't hold a company more than five years, it's been an open secret for half a year that US LBM was for sale. business for sale pewaukee wiThroughout that period, Gibson searched for an investor that would let the company continue the status quo.handyman services hampshireCredit Suisse and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP advised Kelso on the transaction, and Harris Williams and Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP advised US LBM.handyman services west seattle

Samsung Electronics in its acquisition of Dacor, a leading American brand in the luxury home appliance category. Through the acquisition, Samsung, an industry-recognized leader in the home appliance market, will expand its portfolio to premium and innovative home appliances under the Dacor brand. Hotel Shilla in entering into a broad strategic partnership with DFASS Group to become a global leader in duty free travel retail. Under the agreement, Shilla will acquire a 44% stake in DFASS from the existing owner, Travel Retail Group Holdings, and collaborate to develop new and existing duty free concessions, expand in-flight concession services, and strengthen its wholesale distribution business. Kelso & Company, in connection with the $215 million sale of a majority interest, owned by private equity funds Pegasus Capital Advisors, Kelso & Company and Resource Capital Funds, in Traxys Group, a physical metals and minerals commodity merchant, logistics and trading company, to the Carlyle Group and affiliates of Louis M. Bacon of Moore Capital Management.

NCI Building Systems, an integrated manufacturer of metal products in the North American non-residential buildings, in connection with its $245 million strategic acquisition of CENTRIA, a provider of architectural insulated metal panel wall and roof systems and coil coating services the nonresidential construction industry. Zurich Insurance Group AG, the largest Swiss insurance company, in connection with the sale of its general insurance retail business in Russia to OLMA Investment Group, a Moscow-based brokerage and investment-services company, for $30 million. Forest Laboratories, an integrated specialty pharmaceutical company, in connection with its attempted carve-out sale of a business unit to a potential purchaser following its $ 2.9 billion acquisition of Aptalis, a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company focused on gastrointestinal disorders and cystic fibrosis. Tenaska Capital Management, a private equity firm focused on investments in the North American power and energy sectors, in connection with its attempted joint venture investment and successful refinancing to repay acquisition and project-level debt at seven electric generating facilities in the U.S. as well as additional construction and term loan facilities.