Bertram Capital Completes Sale of Maxcess to Berwind Corporation

Sale of Premier Web-Handling Solutions Platform Represents Bertram's Third Exit This Quarter

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Jul 03, 2018, 08:00 ET

SAN MATEO, Calif., July 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Bertram Capital ("Bertram") announced today the completion of the sale of WH Acquisitions, Inc., the parent company of Maxcess ("Maxcess" or the "Company"), to Berwind Corporation. Maxcess is the leading global manufacturer of systems and equipment for web-handling applications. This transaction represents Bertram's 11th exit since the firm's launch in 2006. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

"The sale of Maxcess is a prime example of Bertram's ability to drive and successfully implement our High Five investment strategy. Through selective and accretive acquisitions and execution of a well-defined value creation plan, Bertram built a powerful industry leader," said Jeff Drazan, Managing Partner of Bertram Capital. "I would like to specifically recognize Bertram's Industrial Team, led by Kevin Yamashita, Tim Heston, Cory Landerfelt, and Soraya Hoberman. We successfully built a global market leader by supporting the vision and tireless work of the Maxcess management team. Our technology specialists at Bertram Labs succeeded in developing end-to-end solutions for Maxcess that improved operational efficiencies and opened pathways for significant future growth."

The Maxcess family of brands holds a leading global position in guiding, winding, slitting, tension control, and precision rolls systems, which are critical components of web processing lines used in a wide array of end markets and material applications. Bertram Capital completed five acquisitions for the Maxcess platform including Webex, Fives North America Guiding, Valley Roller, Menges Roller, and Componex.

"The closing of the Maxcess transaction represents the culmination of a tremendous partnership with an excellent management team, led by Greg Jehlik, and the successful transformation of the Company into a highly strategic global platform," said Kevin Yamashita, Partner and Head of Industrials at Bertram Capital. "The combined efforts of the Maxcess and Bertram teams solidified the Company's global market leadership position, accelerated its growth, and significantly expanded its core addressable market. As the industry's one-stop shop for customers' web-handling needs, Maxcess is well-positioned for continued growth."

The transaction process was managed by Robert W. Baird, whose team was led by Joel Cohen and Trisha Renner. Andrew Lohmann and Lisa Hedrick of Hirschler Fleischer served as the legal counsel for Bertram.

"Bertram supported our growth with talent, ideas, resources and capital every step of the way," said Maxcess CEO Greg Jehlik. "They encouraged us to confidently pursue our global expansion strategy and to seek game-changing acquisitions that transformed Maxcess into a powerful industrial technology platform. Trust and close collaboration were the constant themes of our very rewarding partnership with Bertram, and we cannot thank them enough for their years of support and hard work."

About Bertram Capital

Bertram Capital is a private equity firm with over $1.4 billion in committed capital targeting investments in lower middle market companies. In addition to supplying strategic growth capital, Bertram Capital leverages proprietary processes and services, Bertram High-5^SM and Bertram Labs, to empower its portfolio companies to unlock their full business potential. The Bertram High-5^SM 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.bertramcapital.com for more information.

SOURCE Bertram Capital