BlackArch Partners announced the sale of Tri-Northern Acquisition Holdings, Inc. (“Tri-Ed” or the “Company”), a portfolio company of Audax Group, to Anixter International Inc. for a purchase price of $420 million, subject to working capital, escrow and other customary adjustments.
Tri-Ed is a North American independent distributor of security, data communications, and low-voltage technology products. The company’s 61 regional branches and two technical service centers provide distinctive value-added solutions to its customer base of over 20,000 dealers and security integrators, including training programs, software programming, product configuration, kitting and technical consultation. Tri-Ed generated approximately $570 million in sales over the trailing twelve months ending June 30, 2014.
BlackArch was retained by Tri-Ed’s management team and financial sponsor, Audax Group, to serve as the primary financial advisor on the transaction. Tri-Ed marks the eleventh recent distribution transaction for BlackArch, and the third distribution client exit to a strategic acquiror in 2014. Tri-Ed’s core end market also represents BlackArch’s latest advisory role to companies supplying products or services in converging technology markets, including security, home automation, commercial building controls and data connectivity.
Pat Comunale, Tri-Ed’s CEO commented, “This was our third transaction at Tri-Ed, and BlackArch’s execution was exceptional in every way – in their articulation of what differentiates Tri-Ed as a company, in the way they approached buyers and the audience they generated for us, and in their relentless desire to help my team land with an exciting new partner.”
Established in 1982, and headquartered in Woodbury, NY, Tri-Ed is North America’s largest independent security distributor. Tri-Ed serves all four major segments of the security market including video, access control, intrusion detection and fire/life safety, and provides approximately 110,000 products to a fragmented base of over 20,000 active dealer and security integrator customers. The Company employs over 600 people across 63 locations in the US and Canada.
Audax Group, founded in 1999, is a leading investor in lower-middle market companies. With offices in Boston, New York and Menlo Park, Audax has over $6 billion in assets under management in its Private Equity, Mezzanine, and Senior Debt businesses.
BlackArch Partners is a leading middle-market investment bank offering a full spectrum of advisory services to financial sponsors, private companies and diversified corporations BlackArch addresses the needs of entrepreneurs, founders and shareholders of private companies with specialized services that include M&A advisory, strategic advisory and private capital solutions. Headquartered in Charlotte, NC, with offices in Houston, TX, BlackArch features a total of 12 industry-focused practices that cover all sectors of interest to middle-market investors; BlackArch professionals have closed over 300 transactions in 16 countries on four continents.