sale to H.I.G. Capital

Industrial
sale to H.I.G. Capital

Summary

Baird served as the exclusive financial advisor to Universal Fiber Systems on this transaction.

About

Universal Fiber Systems (“UFS”), a portfolio company of The Sterling Group (“Sterling”), was recently sold to an affiliated fund of H.I.G. Capital (“H.I.G.”). The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1969, UFS is a leading manufacturer of high-performance, specialty synthetic fibers for niche segments of the commercial carpet, transportation carpet and specialty apparel industries. With a comprehensive offering of fibers derived from specialty nylon and other advanced polymers, UFS serves its customers’ most specialized and performance-critical applications with examples ranging from performance apparel, to commercial modular carpet tile, to wear-resistant vehicle flooring, to high-tenacity parachutes and cargo bags used by the military. UFS is headquartered in Bristol, Virginia.

Founded in 1982, Sterling is a private equity investment firm that targets controlling interests in basic manufacturing, distribution and industrial services companies. Typical enterprise values of these companies range from $100 million to $500 million. Sterling has sponsored the buyout of 46 platform companies and numerous add-on acquisitions for a total transaction value of over $10.0 billion. Sterling is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has over $2.4 billion of assets under management.

Founded in 1993, H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with $19 billion of equity capital under management. With offices in Miami, New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the United States, as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Rio de Janeiro, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies. H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 200 companies worldwide. H.I.G.'s current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion. H.I.G. is headquartered in Miami, Florida.

For additional information about this transaction, please contact:

Chris Cooper +1 704 553-6610
Brian McDonagh +1 704 553-6611
Tom Lacy +1 414 298-7648
Tom Coburn +1 312 609-2545
Satoshi Matsumoto +1 312 609-5446
Michael Wolff +49 (0) 69 1301-4949
Industrial
sale to H.I.G. Capital
Date
October 2015
Company
Universal Fiber Systems
Transaction
M&A
Sectors
Industrial
Target Geography
North America
Acquiror Geography
North America

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