Bertram Capital Secures New Industrial Platform with Investment in AFC Industries

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Apr 20, 2021, 08:00 ET

FOSTER CITY, Calif., April 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bertram Capital ("Bertram") announced today the acquisition of Fairfield, OH-based AFC Industries ("AFC"), a distributor of fasteners and other C-parts. AFC represents the fifth investment completed in Bertram's fourth fund. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

"AFC has established itself as a real partner to customers through its high-touch and value-added distribution model, alleviating many of the pain points related to sourcing C-parts and inventory management," said Kevin Yamashita, Partner at Bertram Capital. "AFC's success reflects the company's extensive technical and industry expertise, deep domestic and international sourcing network, and vast national distribution footprint. We are honored to partner with Kevin Godin and the AFC team."

AFC is a consolidator of choice in the fragmented C-parts industry based on the Company's proven track record of acquisitions and excellent reputation for employee culture and customer service. AFC maintains 22 stocking locations across North America and a presence in Mexico. The Company is well-positioned to serve the evolving needs of a market driven by technical sales and service relationships between distributors and customers, both nationally and locally.

"We are excited to pursue an aligned value creation strategy with the AFC team. We have been extremely impressed with the entire organization and operation at AFC," said Jeff Drazan, Managing Partner of Bertram Capital. "We believe our Bertram Labs technology enablement team will be a significant tool for AFC to leverage to further accelerate growth."

"We appreciate the support of Bertram Capital as we continue to grow our reach, both organically and through acquisitions, while investing to better serve our customers. The Bertram team differentiated itself in the sale process through their clear understanding of our business model and services, shared vision in the value creation strategy, and Bertram Labs resource. We look forward to partnering with Bertram and the Labs team," said Kevin Godin, CEO of AFC.

Bertram would like to recognize the investment banking team at Piper Sandler & Co., led by Ryan Mitchell and Nicole Zenker, for their efforts in closing this transaction and making this partnership possible.

About AFC Industries

AFC is a leading provider of supply chain management services and vendor managed inventory programs to original equipment manufacturers. The Company specializes in fasteners and other C-parts essential to assembly. The Company also provides a wide array of value-added services, including kitting, packaging, assembly, and other customization specific to its customers' needs that reduce pain points and allow OEMs to focus on their core competencies. AFC's fulfillment solutions programs are customized based on customers' unique supply chain needs, with the ability to control and deliver inventory point-of-use on the plant floor, in an in-plant store, dock-to-dock, dock-to-jobsite, and/or on an on-demand basis. With locations across the U.S. and in Mexico, AFC is able to fulfill its customers' sourcing across a wide range of geographies. AFC has long-standing relationships with its customers, with average tenures of 20+ years with top customers, and serves a variety of end markets, including general industrial, medical, electric utility, flow control, scientific instruments, and many others. For more information, please visit www.afcind.com.

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-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, complementary 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.