Smart Business Magazine, April 2020

36 Smart Business April 2020 Deal activity strong in February BY MATT ROBERTS D eal activity in February was vibrant as a number private equity firms as well as public and private companies were acquiring business during the month Local private equity firms were active including The Riverside Co which acquired two platform companies LMG Holdings Inc a provider of ignition interlock devices and Spirion an enterprise data centric audit and protection software business MPE acquired Teel Plastics a leading technology driven manufacturer that specializes in plastic extrusion and injection molding capabilities Align Capital Partners acquired Marco Rubber Plastics as a platform acquisition Marco is a distributor of highperformance gaskets O rings seals and other products Aligns portfolio company Alliance Source Testing acquired METCO Environmental continuing their buy and build strategy with the platform Public companies were also busy CBIZ acquired both Pension Dynamics Co an employee retirement and benefits firm and Alliance Insurance Services Inc an independent insurance agency Eaton announced the acquisition of Power Distribution Inc a supplier of missioncritical power distribution static switching and power monitoring equipment and services for data centers and industrial and commercial customers Also Goodyear acquired Easy Autocentres in the U K as part of the companys ongoing retail strategy Finally there were a few Clevelandspecific deals Kurtz Brothers acquired the Strongsville location of Landmark Lawn and Garden Supply from Fahey Group The transaction is expected to strengthen Fahey Groups position as an innovator in the lawn and garden market as it continues to focus on the robotics sector Leppo Rents acquired Valco Equipment a leader in access equipment sales and parts that rounds out Leppos product offerings SELECTED OHIO MERGERS ACQUISITIONS Clo Ann Target Issuer Name Buyer Investor Name Seller Name Westlake based Hyland announced its acquisition of Learning Machine an innovator in blockchain anchored digital credentialing solutions Learning Machine is a pioneer in leveraging blockchain technology to authenticate documents and content Its credentialing solution facilitates the creation and sharing of blockchain secured digital records that are recipient owned vendorindependent and verifiable anywhere Learning Machines digital credentialing solutions is expected to enable Hylands customers to generate and manage digital documents that are both easily shareable and instantly verifiable Hyland intends to roll out Learning Machines solutions to its higher education customers as well as other markets and geographies in which Hyland is well positioned DEAL OF THE MONTH Local companies in bold Source Pitchbook Copper Run Research Feb 28 Flex Team Staffing Lingo Staffing Feb 27 FirstEnergy Solutions Energy Harbor Corp Feb 26 Tucson Spectrum Retail Value Inc Feb 25 Marco Rubber Plastics Align Capital Partners Feb 25 Power Distribution Inc Eaton Bank of America Business Capital Dunes Point Capital FS Investment Corporation III GSO Capital Partners Feb 25 Manley Performance Products Race Winning Brands Kinderhook Industries Feb 20 Eustis Florida storage location Compass Self Storage Feb 19 MedPilot Hudson River Capital Partners JumpStart North Coast Angel Fund TurnCap Valley Growth Ventures Wavemaker Three Sixty Health Feb 18 Valco Equipment Leppo Rents Highlift Equipment Feb 13 Landmark and Garden Supplys Kurtz Bros Inc Landmark and Garden Supply Strongsville store Fahey Group Feb 13 Proxibid Auction Technology Group TA Associates Primus Capital Feb 12 Spirion The Riverside Co Feb 12 Planet Wise 365 Holdings Feb 12 TROVE Predictive Data Science E Source Align Capital Partners Feb 11 Landmark Elevator Oracle Elevator Bratenahl Capital Partners and L Squared Capital Partners Feb 10 METCO Environmental Alliance Source Testing Align Capital Partners TestAmerica a subisidary of Eurofins Scientific Feb 10 Avesta Systems OnShift Clearlake Capital Group JumpStart Feb 6 Pension Dynamics Co CBIZ Feb 6 Dent Wizard Dealer Tire Bain Capital Ares Capital Bayside Capital Gridiron Capital Ufenau Capital Partners Feb 6 UtiliWorks Consulting E Source Align Capital Partners Feb 5 Teel Plastics MPE Partners Feb 5 Alliance Insurance Services Inc CBIZ Feb 4 Ten Digit Communications VHT Alpine Investors Feb 4 LMG Holdings Inc The Riverside Co Feb 4 BFG Supply Incline Equity Feb 4 Cobra Plastics Silgan Holdings Feb 3 United Community Financial First Defiance Financial Feb 3 Return Polymers The AZEK Co Feb 3 LightBound fiber network Everstream AMP Capital Partners LightBound CLEC business unit Feb 1 Learning Machine Hyland Thoma Bravo Learn Capital Omidyar Network PTB Ventures For more information about the Association for Corporate Growth visit www acg org cleveland Matt Roberts is a vice president with and runs the Cleveland office for Copper Run Capital LLC Copper Run Capital is a middle market investment banking advisory firm For more information on Copper Run please visit www copperruncap com or email mroberts@ copperruncap com DEALMAKERS INSIDER