Bank of America and Deutsche Bank held a bank meeting last Wednesday to launch syndication of a financing to back the leveraged buyout of FleetPride from a group led by Aurora Capital Group, which includes Brentwood Associates. Investcorp, Banc of America Capital Investors and members of the management team completed the acquisition last week. The deal consists of a $40 million revolver and a $160 million term loan. Pricing is LIBOR plus 2 1/2% on both tranches.
Watch Hill Partners served as financial advisors to Investcorp and Banc of America Capital Investors. Harris Williams & Co. served as financial advisor to Aurora Capital Group and its consortium.
Based in The Woodlands, Texas, FleetPride provides vehicle parts and repair services to commercial vehicles and off-road vehicles used in the mining, construction and agriculture industries. FleetPride Corp. was formed after HAD Parts System, a Brentwood portfolio company, and Quality Distribution Service Partners, formed by Aurora in 1998 to acquire nine distributors of truck parts, merged in 1999. Before the merger GDSP purchased three more businesses to have more than 60 locations in the Northeast, Mid-East and Southwestern U.S.
A call to Timothy Gadus, v.p. and cfo, was not returned. A Brentwood partner and an Aurora partner were both traveling and could not be reached for comment. Calls to officials at Investcorp and Banc of America Capital Investors were not returned.