Aug 8 2006
Huron Capital Partners LLC announced today that its portfolio company, Quest Specialty Chemicals, Inc. has recapitalized Matrix System Automotive Finishes, Inc. in partnership with Matrix' management and combined the business with Quest's wholly-owned subsidiary, Raabe Company LLC.
Founded in 1983, Matrix is the largest independent supplier of automotive aftermarket refinish coatings in the United States and has developed an extensive product line of acrylic and polyurethane coatings for the high performance requirements specified in automotive finishes. These include a complete intermix paint system capable of matching over 60,000 automotive colors, clearcoats, primers, hardeners and single stage top coats. Based in Walled Lake, Michigan, the Company supplies paint products to automotive refinish paint distributors across the entire U.S. for sale to collision repair shops. Mr. W. Kent Gardner, Founder and President of Matrix, will continue to serve as the President of the Company and has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Quest.
In 2003, Huron formed a strategic market entry initiative with specialty chemical industry executives Frederick Quinn and Gerry Loftus and long-time chemical industry investor Carol Bramson. In 2004, Huron invested a significant amount of equity in Quest to acquire Raabe as part of a buy-and- build acquisition strategy in the specialty coatings markets. Since acquiring Raabe, Quest has been exploring acquisition opportunities in the coatings, adhesives & sealants and films markets, which resulted in the 2005 acquisition of Foxcolor, Inc. The Foxcolor acquisition provided an extension of Raabe's market penetration with ready-to-apply custom match touch-up paints that closely match original equipment coatings and are used to repair the surfaces of industrial and commercial products along all points of the supply chain.
Huron Capital and Quest were represented by Honigman, Miller, Schwartz and Cohn (Detroit). Quest's existing lenders, Marshall & Ilsley M&I Bank (Milwaukee) and BMO Mezzanine Fund (Chicago), provided financing for the Matrix transaction. Huron separately announced that Raabe completed a sale and leaseback transaction in June involving Raabe's plant in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, with Gladstone Commercial Limited Partnership.
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