Bertram Labs
FOSTER CITY, CA: February 17, 2021 — Bertram Capital announced today it has entered into an agreement with KKR, a leading global investment firm, to acquire Flow Control Group, a leading distributor of mission-critical flow control and industrial automation products. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Flow Control Group serves as a trusted, value-added distributor and advisor to more than 10,000 customers and 2,000 suppliers in North America for technical flow control and industrial automation products and related services. Customers rely on Flow Control Group for their engineering expertise, technical support, and service capabilities for high value products including air equipment, pumps, valves, process control, and industrial automation, amongst other product categories.
“We are fortunate to have had the opportunity to partner with Flow Control Group, under the exceptional leadership of CEO David Patterson, to achieve our shared vision of creating a leading independent player in the industry,” said Kevin Yamashita, Partner at Bertram Capital. “Working closely with the Flow Control Group team, we exceeded our growth plan through strategic add-on acquisitions, organic growth initiatives, the addition of key executive talent, and operational improvement.”
Bertram’s value creation strategy, the Bertram High 5sm, coupled with the firm’s in-house IT team, Bertram Labs, were critical drivers to the rapid growth and platform expansion realized by Flow Control Group during Bertram’s ownership.
“We are thrilled to have the support of KKR as we continue to grow our reach across the flow control and industrial automation sectors while investing to better serve our customers and supplier partners,” said David Patterson, CEO of Flow Control Group.
R.W. Baird and Hirschler served as advisors to Bertram Capital on the transaction.
About Bertram Capital
Bertram Capital is a private equity firm targeting investments in lower middle market companies. Since its inception in 2006, the firm has raised over $1.9B of capital commitments. In addition to supplying strategic growth capital, Bertram Capital leverages proprietary processes and services, Bertram High-5SM and Bertram Labs, to empower its portfolio companies to unlock their full business potential. The Bertram High-5SM is an operationally-focused value creation strategy, which includes management augmentation, operational initiative implementation, complimentary business acquisition, sales and marketing improvements and leveraging technology and IP. The cornerstone of this strategy is Bertram Labs, its in-house technology team, which drives growth and value through digital marketing, e-commerce, big data and analytics, application development and internal and external platform optimization. Visit www.bcap.com for more information.
Contact:
David Hellier
650-358-5000
