Let’s keep this economy rolling…

Hamilton Robinson Capital Partners (HRCP), together with management, has recapitalized Tanknology, the global leader in underground storage tank testing, inspection and compliance management. Headquartered in Austin, TX, the Company serves the largest fueling station operators in the world through eight regional offices and over 170 technicians in the United States and a network of international licensees.

“We look forward to partnering with Hamilton Robinson to continue our 30-year history of developing best-in-class testing technologies and services to provide our customers with the solutions needed to keep up with the constantly evolving regulatory requirements,” stated Tanknology CEO, Allen Porter.

Brandon Richter, Managing Director at Hamilton Robinson, stated, “Tanknology embodies everything we love about a business – a mission-critical service, opportunity for growth and a management team excited about the next chapter in its history. Over 50,000 locations a year benefit from Tanknology’s services which ultimately protect drinking water and the environment.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Tanknology as it expands the value it provides to customers through the launch of new, innovative services. Tanknology’s success is a function of its high quality team, national scale, proprietary software and leading-edge testing and compliance management solutions,” added Jim Parmelee, Managing Director at Hamilton Robinson.

Rubber & Plastics News

STAMFORD, CT – August 28, 2019 – Hamilton Robinson recapitalized American Roller in February, investing an undisclosed amount into the company to fuel a growth strategy, said Dan Cahalane, American Roller CEO and president. The company—which provides engineering services and industrial rollers, including rubber and urethane coverings, plasma coatings and core fabrication—set out several years ago to develop more capabilities and a long-term plan to scale up, Cahalane said.

“You have to centralize a lot of your business processes and create a virtual working environment for quote, for order entry, for customer service” he said. “We set out years ago to put business processes in place to allow us to do that.” After developing a plan that integrated more of that virtual environment into the business, the American Roller team saw an opportunity to build up even farther than they had anticipated while remaining mainly a customer service company, Cahalane said.

At the time, about 80 percent of the company’s revenues were from stripping and re-covering customer cores. Customer service shops need to have strong customer service, quality and be local to the customer. “When we put all these processes together, we looked at ourselves and said, we can really scale up but still be this huge customer service organization,” Cahalane said. At the time, American Roller was owned by CM Acquisitions L.L.C., a Chicago private equity firm that had acquired the company in 2001. Cahalane went to the board to discuss plans to acquire more capabilities specific to rollers and geographies in an effort to scale, he said. American Roller, headquartered in Union Grove, Wis., runs locations in both the U.S. and China. “The roller industry does not do much with product development and research engineering,” Cahalane said. “We are one of the only companies that has a staff of engineers.” Over the long term, maintaining that application engineering knowledge sets American Roller apart from competitors, he said.

New investment

CM Acquisitions was made up of more than 30 people, with many individuals over the age of 70. When the plan for greater investment came along, they said it might make more sense to find a new ownership group for the sake of American Roller’s growth, Cahalane said. “It was hard for these owners, because they just loved American Roller. They loved the legacy, they loved the business,” he said. The sale process ran from September 2018 to February 2019, while American Roller met with an undisclosed number of other companies, including both private companies and private equity firms, Cahalane said. By the end of the process, Hamilton Robinson was the top choice. Hamilton Robinson, made up of about 10 individuals, is a “more boutique” investment group.

“We settled on them, just like a lot of things in life, because of the people,” Cahalane said. “They understood the complexity of the business. They picked up on it very quickly in terms of where to improve and what we were already doing well. They do just the right mix of being involved with management to help but not running the company.” Aside from the overall investment, Hamilton Robinson provided insight about where American Roller could benefit the most from improvements. That guidance wasn’t just all about flat numbers, but took into account the people at American Roller and their unique capabilities, he said. “They understand businesses are people. They’ve had a lot of discussion with us on the intellectual capital of our company,” Cahalane said.

American Roller already had a strategic plan in place as it was acquired by Hamilton Robinson, and the investment group has done some minor tweaking to that plan. The existing American Roller leadership team is very forward-looking and progressive, he said. So, having Hamilton Robinson’s input was more like getting a second viewpoint with some additional capital. He said the biggest change is toward rethinking manufacturing from a leaner perspective. “As good as American Roller is, and we’re very proud of it, is that we think we can do better in manufacturing and lean manufacturing, reducing our lead times,” Cahalane said.

“We’re in the process of adopting a lean culture, not just in manufacturing but in all of our business processes.” Hamilton Robinson is bringing experience in lean manufacturing that it’s gleaned from previous companies, suggesting the investment in creating a lean culture throughout to improve the business, he said. Lean efforts are in the process of getting started within the company. “Lean isn’t a project, lean isn’t a program. It’s a way of life,” Cahalane said. “It’s basically a formalized lifelong process improvement program.” American Roller isn’t in a rush to hire a corporate lean position because it then generally falls to that person to manage lean processes rather than something practiced throughout the company, he said. Instead, 10 leaders within American Roller are undergoing a three-day session with a lean consultant to begin the education process. The firm has labeled three focus areas for lean process development and training within the next nine months. “We’re going to have consultants come in and work with us and train us,” Cahalane said. “A year from now, the plan would be that our own resources are lean-trained so we can be self-sufficient on other lean projects going forward, that we just do on our own.”

Continued growth

As American Roller continues to grow, it plans to add more team members, including potential new senior leadership while formalizing the business management going forward. One mode of bringing in new employees will be through upcoming acquisitions, which can fit directly into the American Roller system, he said. Aligning with a larger firm like American Roller brings benefits for both parties, as with potential employees with industry experience at a premium, it can be difficult for smaller firms to maintain business.

“The reality is that so many manufacturers face a shortage of people,” Cahalane said. “For those that are in the roller industry that are like a 15-person shop, plugging into the American Roller network might be the only way to survive. If you can partner with American Roller, you can get access, technical resources, back office resources, that right now you’re just desperately struggling with.”

American Roller isn’t just acquiring for the sake of doing so, but is looking for opportunities, where geography, people and products fit not only for American Roller but the seller, he said. Acquisitions will be more selective, where culture meshes well more so, than just the overall numbers. There isn’t a goal timeline for bringing on more acquisitions, but some movement could happen within the next six months.

The firm also is continuing to look for opportunities in the Chinese market beyond its current presence, he said. In serving the local market there, American Roller has grown its business in China by about 10 percent every year.

Looking for acquisitions, the target isn’t to reduce employment, especially because many smaller shops don’t have overlap such as a director of quality or director of safety and environmental like American Roller, he said. “Our industry needs to know, American Roller is a great platform, a great place and great people. Give us a call if you’re interested in joining the family,” Cahalane said. “We’re sending the message loud and clear: We value people, we want to bring you into our family.”

Hamilton Robinson Capital Partners (“HRCP”), a lower middle-market private equity firm, announced today that it sold its investment in Sound Seal Holdings, Inc. (“Sound Seal” or the “Company”). Based in Agawam, Massachusetts, Sound Seal is a leading manufacturer of acoustical noise control solutions including soundproof enclosures, doors and windows, noise curtains and barriers, fabric wrapped wall panels, floor underlayments, HVAC silencers and acoustic louvers. Sound Seal works across a wide range of noise control applications including industrial, architectural, medical, retail, entertainment and other end markets. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Through Hamilton Robinson’s ownership period, Sound Seal more than doubled in size, driven by significant investments and acquisitions to develop new products and markets. “We are proud of the Company’s accomplishments during our partnership,” said Christian Lund, Partner at HRCP. “We identified opportunities to expand our portfolio of products, and together with our management team we executed three accretive add-on acquisitions which added significantly to our suite of noise control solutions and geographic reach.

Hamilton Robinson successfully guided Sound Seal through a transition from family to institutional ownership. “We made critical investments to build management depth and transform the culture at the Company,” noted Brandon Richter, Managing Director at HRCP. “Sound Seal is now a world-class organization devoted to growing the business and delivering industry-leading products and service to its customers.”

“Hamilton Robinson supported us in every way,” said Joe Lupone, Sound Seal’s CEO. “They started with a focus on a vision of what the business should look like in the future, which led to developing the strategic initiatives necessary to achieve it. Hamilton Robinson’s support over the past five years helped us expand our product portfolio and secure our leading position in the market.”

Cowen, Finn Dixon & Herling, and BDO advised Sound Seal and Hamilton Robinson Capital Partners.

Hamilton Robinson Capital Partners (“HRCP”), together with management and co-investors, has recapitalized American Roller Company, LLC (“American Roller”). American Roller, headquartered in Union Grove, Wisconsin, is a leading provider of engineered services and industrial rollers including rubber and urethane coverings, plasma coatings, and core fabrication.

CEO, Dan Cahalane stated, “This substantial investment will allow American Roller to build upon its strong foundation by providing it with additional resources to increase its responsiveness to customers and accelerate its growth plans. It also provides the additional capital to pursue add-on acquisitions that will leverage our broad infrastructure and help us expand into new markets. We are really excited about the potential opportunities this partnership creates and our bright future ahead.”

“American Roller is exactly the sort of company that HRCP is interested in as a partner – a leading service provider in the industrial segment with a strong ambitious management team focused on taking its business to the next level. We are very fortunate to have this opportunity and will immediately be able to add value and support management in achieving their expansion plans,” said Adam Fitzner, Managing Director at HRCP.

“Over the last 80 years, American Roller has developed its strong reputation as a technical leader and innovator in its core markets. By purchasing the web processing division, we will empower management to dedicate their full focus and resources to the web processing industry, accelerating its growth and providing enhanced solutions to its customers,” said Chris Lund, Partner at HRCP.

Hamilton Robinson is pleased to announce the sale of its British Columbia, Canada-based portfolio company Unifiller Systems to the Linxis Group, a leader in specialized equipment solutions for the bakery and health industries.

“We are very pleased to join the Linxis team, we share the same passion for innovative solutions and the same focus on operations. Our strategic view is fully aligned and we are convinced that Linxis can help us in the next phase of our expansion,” said Mark Soares, CEO of Unifiller.

Chris Lund, Partner at Hamilton Robinson stated, “Mark Soares and his management team were great partners. The firm-wide focus on operational excellence and continuous improvement resulted in significant growth in just over 2 years. I am confident that the Unifiller brand will continue to grow and expand into new markets as part of the Linxis Group.”

“The Unifiller management team embraced Hamilton Robinson’s focus on building a strong corporate culture through transparent and continuous communications. When everyone in the room is pulling in the same direction with common objectives, great things can be achieved, and this was the case at Unifiller,” stated Brandon Richter, Managing Director, Hamilton Robinson.

“With its portfolio of market-leading equipment, strong reputation and robust track record of success, Unifiller is a perfect fit for Linxis. We share the same values and continuous focus on delivering the highest quality standards to our customers. We are very pleased to welcome Mark and his team: they will bring their deep industry expertise,” added Didier Soumet, CEO of Linxis Group.

Hamilton Robinson would also like to thank its partners in the transaction, William Blair & Company, LLC who served as financial advisor, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP who served as counsel and Crowe LLP who served as accounting advisor. At Hamilton Robinson we believe successes are always built on the foundation of great partnerships.