Transaction Overview
- Represented Randall Manufacturing, LLC (“Randall”) in its sale to Safe Fleet Holdings, LLC (“Safe Fleet”), a portfolio company of The Sterling Group.
- Randall is a manufacturer of equipment used mainly by food distributors serving the grocery, foodservice, and convenience store markets. Randall’s core products are insulated partitions or “bulkheads” that create distinct temperature zones within refrigerated trucks and trailers. As deliveries are made along the route, bulkheads are used to reduce the space being refrigerated.
- Safe Fleet, based in Kansas City, Missouri, manufactures a wide array of products for fleet vehicles. Under The Sterling Group ownership, Safe Fleet had become a serial acquirer of truck accessory manufacturers.
Key Observations
- At the time of the sale, Randall had recently launched a promising new line of walk ramps and other “access products” aimed at existing customers and new markets.
- During the engagement, new industry trends were emerging in food transportation. Primary among these were regulations requiring food distributors to maintain a constant “cold chain” from the point of harvest to the point of consumer purchase. Hennepin worked with the management team to identify these opportunities, and we made them a major topic of discussion with buyers during the sale process.
- Safe Fleet is the parent company of R-O-M, the market leader for the type of walk ramps that Randall had recently begun manufacturing itself. Hennepin managed the sensitive dynamics between direct competitors throughout the process.