A major facilities maintenance products distributor, Grainger Inc. (Ticker:GWW), announced the purchase of ACAS' portfolio company Imperial Supplies LLC. Previously described here as a recession-weathering ACAS portfolio component, Imperial is expected by Granger to improve its bottom line by three to five cents per share in 2010.
In 2008, Imperial's sales were $67 million, and the transaction was an all-cash deal. The sales price was not immediately evident, but the transaction evidences ACAS' ability to identify private buyers able to benefit from the capabilities of ACAS' portfolio companies and willing to pay cash to obtain them. In this market, that's not a bad thing at all.
5 comments:
Just found your blog and bookmarked it as a favorite - thanks for the insights. Shouldn't ACAS be issuing a press release detailing its IRR on this investment exit and the amount of cash proceeds realized? I don't understand why they seem to issue so few press releases.
ACAS press releases following successful exits are the norm, but (a) ACAS is sometimes not same-day fast with this, and (b) the buyer may have insisted on confidentiality as a term of the transaction, limiting information release to certain facts. We'll have to see what turns up. At least one report I read claimed there was a confidentiality agreement.
Why so few releases?
One reason is that ACAS exits duds as well as successes, or its portfolio would swell with dogs. Exiting losers isn't sexy press release material.
The other reason, as mentioned above, is the possibility of confidentiality agreements with the parties on the other side of the transaction. Their competitive position may be compromised if competitors (or other sellers) know what they're willing to pay for acquisitions.
Grainger with an 'i.'
Das Sport Optimator:
Thanks for the spelling fix. It's nice to have folks to keep me honest :-)
Post a Comment