Salina, KS – Watershield Industries, LLC (“Watershield” or the “Company”), a portfolio company of B12 Capital Partners, Capital for Business, and Holleway Capital Partners, has been acquired by HKW. Hennepin Partners served as Watershield’s exclusive financial advisor and Husch Blackwell served as legal counsel. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Headquartered in Salina, KS, Watershield is a manufacturer and distributor of fire, rescue & life-safety equipment and components. Watershield specializes in niche firefighting vehicles, apparatus, and mission-critical firefighting components including flow control nozzles, valves, and related protective gear, tools and other related equipment. The Company serves municipal, wildland and industrial end markets across North America through a multi-brand go to market strategy, which includes Weis Fire & Safety, S&H Products and C&S Supply.
“Not only did Hennepin Partners orchestrate a robust sale process, the dedication of their senior bankers was invaluable in navigating complexities associated with the multi-faceted nature of the Watershield business. Watershield is a well-positioned company with an outstanding team of leaders that will do extremely well in partnership with HKW,” stated Mike Wedel, Partner of B12 Capital Partners.
Wes Hampp, Founder and Managing Partner of Holleway Capital Partners and Bill Witzofsky, Senior Vice President of Capital for Business jointly commented that “Hennepin Partners was a true partner, guiding us on the best time to take Watershield to market and leveraging deep transaction experience and industry knowledge to achieve a very successful outcome for all the shareholders and management.”
“Over the past several years we have built Watershield into a platform serving critical fire and rescue applications across North America,” said David Hansen, Chief Executive Officer of Watershield. “We are excited to partner with HKW as we enter this next phase of growth and continue investing in our people, our products, and our ability to support our customers that rely on our equipment.”
“Watershield is an attractive investment opportunity serving resilient, mission-critical end markets,” said Laurence Lederer, Partner at HKW. “The Company has built strong positions in niche firefighting vehicles and specialized equipment, and we believe the platform is well positioned for continued growth.”