ZCG Announces Sale of Premier Thermal Solutions

NEW YORK and LANSING, Mich., July 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Z Capital Partners, L.L.C., the private equity fund management arm of Z Capital Group, L.L.C. (together with its affiliates, "ZCG"), a leading privately-held asset manager, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Premier Thermal Solutions LLC ("PTS" or the "Company"), a leading provider of metal processing services, to an affiliate of Aalberts N.V. The transaction is expected to close before year-end. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

For more than 40 years, PTS has provided commercial metal processing services to a variety of industries, including aerospace & defense, automotive, heavy truck, energy, heavy equipment and other industrial end-markets. Since opening its first plant in Lansing, Michigan, in 1978, PTS has expanded its footprint to ten plants across the industrial Midwest.

Since acquiring PTS in 2017, ZCG successfully established PTS as a platform investment and leveraged its differentiated operational approach to scale the business organically and through acquisitions, while significantly improving profitability and financial performance. ZCG invested in the Company's employees and across the business to streamline and drive growth. In October 2018, ZCG sourced and completed the transformational acquisition of Al-Fe Heat Treating, which significantly expanded PTS' service capabilities and diversified its metal-treatment offering.

"When we acquired PTS as a corporate carve-out from Gerdau, we saw an opportunity to work with a company that could benefit enormously from our deep operational expertise, resources and technical capabilities. We were also confident that, together with Steve and the team we built around him, we could achieve our ambitious growth goals and position PTS as a high-performing standalone company," said James Zenni, Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of ZCG. "Through a combination of consistent organic growth and the acquisition of Al-Fe Heat Treating, PTS has been transformed, and we wish Steve and the entire team nothing but continued success."

"The performance and growth of PTS over the last four years truly exemplifies the strengths of our team  and our commitment to working hand in hand with strong leadership teams," said Rahul Sawhney, Senior Managing Director at ZCG. "By investing heavily in PTS - including in organizational processes, technology systems, state of the art facility upgrades and complementary senior leadership hires - not only did we grow the business, but we scaled the platform and positioned the Company for continued growth in a fragmented metal processing industry."

"The extensive support from the ZCG team to execute on a shared long-term vision for PTS has generated exceptional results," said Steve Wyatt, President and Chief Executive Officer of PTS. "Our business is now positioned to grow, scale and capitalize on new market opportunities with Aalberts, and we look forward to building on this success and identifying more unique and efficient ways to provide our customers with the critical services they rely on us for."

About Premier Thermal Solutions
Premier Thermal Solutions is a leading provider of metal heat treating and processing services. PTS offers high quality products and services with plants located in Lansing, Michigan, Saginaw, Michigan, Canton, Ohio, Defiance, Ohio, Wadsworth, Ohio, North Vernon, Indiana, Wabash, Indiana and Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. PTS has more than 800,000 tons of installed heat treating capacity including annealing, ferritic nitrocarburizing (FNC), normalizing, and quench & temper processing for various industries. The company also offers a variety of other metal processing services including phosphate coating, shot blast cleaning, cutting and testing. It is also the only domestic provider of FNC bars and tubes in the 13-24' range. PTS' FNC process is a "green" alternative to chrome plating, providing improved wear resistance, better lubrication retention, dent resistance, increased service life, and can last up to three times longer. For more information, please visit www.premierthermal.com/.

About ZCG
ZCG is a leading, privately held, investment firm with approximately $4.0 billion of assets under management across complementary private equity and credit businesses.

Z Capital Partners, LLC ("ZCP") is the private equity fund management platform. ZCP's investment philosophy centers on operational value creation and is driven by targeted investment themes, deep sector expertise and strong partnerships with management teams. ZCP Principals have made over twenty-six years numerous investments across industries, including consumer products, consumer food, restaurants, gaming hospitality, manufacturing, media, publishing, metals and business services. ZCP current portfolio companies have worldwide annual revenues of approximately $1.6 billion, sell products in 55 countries, operate 15 manufacturing facilities, and have over 200,000 employees and associates directly and through joint ventures.

Z Capital Credit Partners, LLC ("ZCCP") is the credit fund management platform. ZCCP invests across a range of credit investments including leveraged loans, private debt, and opportunistic stressed credit. ZCCP manages closed and open-ended funds as well as structured vehicles for strategic debt. Developed over twenty years, ZCCP's approach to fundamental credit analysis encompasses proprietary sourcing, sophisticated structuring and comprehensive risk management using the Olympus™ system.

For more information please visit www.zcg.com.

Contact
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
Jonathan Keehner / Erik Carlson
212-355-4449

SOURCE Z Capital Group, L.L.C.

Related Links

https://www.zcg.com/