If you ever feared finding a lump of coal in your Christmas stocking as a child, you might appreciate this: Coal is cool again. Coal is growing in popularity due to its domestic abundance. So after digging around a bit for another add-on to its coal industry platform, The Riverside Company -- the largest private equity firm specializing in investments at the smaller end of the middle market -- has purchased Triune, Inc.
Triune is the exclusive distributor to Western U.S. coalfields of a select line of leading branded products that are used in underground mine operations, including the long-wall mining operations that are predominant in the West.
Triune is the second add-on to United Central Industrial Supply Company (UC), a Bristol, Virginia-based platform that Riverside acquired in August 2004 from the firm’s 2003 fund.
In July 2005, Riverside made its first add-on to UC with the purchase of A&C, Inc., the primary distributor of Anaconda electric mining cable in Central Appalachia. Anaconda is one of the leading brands of mining cable, which powers all underground mining equipment and most surface mining equipment.
Triune is highly complementary to the UC platform. Based in Grand Junction, Colorado, Triune provides products like temporary walls -- or “stoppings” -- that ensure proper ventilation while a long-wall miner is in operation. The Company provides foam insulation for stoppings, as well as the conveyor belt, or “long-wall chain,” that collects the coal as it falls. Triune also distributes a range of other products, and services mine communication and monitoring equipment.
“Triune dramatically strengthens United Central’s position,” explained Andrew Strauss, Partner in Riverside’s New York office. “We were #1 in the East, and now we’re #1 in the West. Triune’s products and its market presence will seed new opportunities for United Central’s growth for years to come. Triune’s products can be sold to Eastern coal producers, and United Central’s core products can be sold in the West.”
“Importantly, the addition of Triune’s products will broaden UC’s product line in the Midwest and West,” added Darrell Cole, Chief Executive Officer of United Central. “This will enable UC to offer a compelling value proposition as the one-stop shop for coal producers in these growing regions.”
As any country singer will tell you, coal is big business, and its growth over the past decades has been in the West, where there are numerous accessible seams of low-sulphur coal. “Coal is a growth market, and its growth is in the West,”said Strauss.
Working with Strauss on the acquisition were Loren Schlachet, Jeff Goodrich and Brian Sauer. Riverside financed the acquisition of Triune entirely with senior debt.
About The Riverside Company
The Riverside Company is the largest private equity firm focused on the small end of the middle market and is one of the industry’s most experienced leveraged buyout investors. Riverside specializes in premier companies with enterprise values of less than $100 million, and partners with strong management teams to build companies through acquisitions and value-added growth. Since 1988, the firm has invested in 114 transactions with a total value of $2.1 billion, sales of $2.4 billion, EBITDA of $263 million and 11,000 employees. Its current portfolio in the U.S. and Europe numbers 40. Riverside offers SureClose® (the highest certainty that a transaction will close) and the resources to complete acquisitions smoothly and in as little as 30 days – thanks to its sizeable pool of capital under management (nearly $1.3 billion in six funds and growing), large staff in eight offices (New York, Cleveland, Dallas, San Francisco, Budapest, Prague, Warsaw and Munich), and long-standing relationships with partner lenders. The firm has produced top quartile returns for its investors, which are among the world’s leading pension funds, endowments, funds-of-funds, insurance companies and banks. More information on The Riverside Company can be found at www.riversidecompany.com and www.riversideeurope.com.
About Triune, Inc.
Founded in 1974 and headquartered in Grand Junction, Colorado, Triune is the exclusive distributor in the Western U.S. coalfields of name-brand products used in underground mines, and primarily in long-wall mine operations. Triune has branch locations in Grand Junction; Price, Utah; Rock Springs, Wyoming; Carlsbad, New Mexico, and Henderson, Kentucky. For more information, please visit www.triunemining.com.
About United Central Industrial Supply Company
United Central Industrial Supply Company, L.L.C., is a full-line industrial distributor catering primarily to the coal mining industry. It currently operates over 20 branch locations nationwide and one location in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The Company serves mining operations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada and Montana. For more information, please visit www.unitedcentral.net
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