JLL Leads Buyout of C.H.I.
New York private equity firm JLL Partners Inc. has acquired garage door maker C.H.I. Overhead Doors in a $195 million secondary buyout from Long Point Capital Inc., JLL senior managing director Ramsey Frank said Tuesday, Oct. 26.
Frank said JLL invested about $75 million for nearly 100% of the fast-growing designer and maker of rolling steel garage doors. C.H.I. sells mainly to dealers east of the Rockies who, in turn, sell to homeowners and residential and commercial builders.
Long Point, a private equity boutique with offices in Royal Oak, Mich., and New York, bought control of Arthur, Ill.-based C.H.I. from the founding Helmuth family for an undisclosed amount in 2002.
William Ughetta, a Long Point executive, declined to quantify Long Point’s return on the investment but said, “It was a very good deal for us.”
According to Frank, C.H.I. will post about $28 million in Ebitda this year. Sales, which have been growing at a 17% average annual clip, will be about $130 million, he said.
“We want this company to do what it’s been doing,” Frank said. “It has a very good management team that has done a good job outperforming their industry sector.”
Jim Overholt, C.H.I.’s president and CEO, will continue to lead the business.
The company is the third building-products supplier JLL has backed. Early this year it bought PGT Industries, a fast-growing, Venice, Fla.-based maker of storm-resistant windows and doors. That deal’s value wasn’t disclosed, but JLL reportedly paid more than $250 million.
JLL also owns Builders FirstSource Inc., a Dallas-based building products distributor that it launched in 1998 as an acquisitions platform. JLL recently put Builders up for sale. It is expected to fetch more than $800 million.
UBS is leading the lenders for the C.H.I. buyout, which will provide a $95 million first-lien term loan and a $30 million second-lien term loan.
Harris Williams & Co. managing director H. Hiter Harris III advised C.H.I.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP’s Robert Pincus was counsel to JLL.
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