Harvest Partners Portfolio Company Aquilex Holdings LLC To Acquire HydroChem Industrial Services, Inc.
New York, NY - Harvest Partners, LLC ("Harvest"), a New York-based private equity investment firm specializing in management buyouts and growth financings of middle-market companies, announced recently that Aquilex Holdings LLC ("Aquilex"), one of its portfolio companies, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, has signed an agreement to acquire HydroChem Industrial Services, Inc. ("HydroChem" or the "Company") from funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, LLC.
HydroChem is a national provider of industrial cleaning services, providing critical routine daily maintenance work to the petrochemical, refining, utility and pulp and paper industries. The Company's national platform, bundled service offering and excellent safety record allow it to effectively serve its customers' needs in a timely and cost effective manner with the highest level of quality. HydroChem's core services include hydroblasting, industrial vacuuming, chemical cleaning and tank cleaning services which are necessary to improve or sustain the operating efficiencies and extend the useful lives of process equipment and facilities through routine daily maintenance and turnaround programs.
Harvest acquired Aquilex and its subsidiary Welding Services, Inc. ("WSI") in January 2007. WSI is a global provider of outsourced specialty welding solutions, providing critical field and shop services to the nuclear, fossil power, refinery/petrochemical, and other process industries. Both HydroChem and WSI are well positioned to capitalize on the positive trends in the energy market that are increasing demand for industrial cleaning services including: (i) an aging infrastructure; (ii) lower grade feedstocks; (iii) higher capacity and utilization in the petrochemical and refining industries; (iv) increasing emphasis on safety; and (v) customer, vendor and industry consolidation.
Michael B. DeFlorio, Senior Managing Director at Harvest said, "We are excited to bring HydroChem into the Aquilex family. We believe the businesses are complementary to one another and will strengthen Aquilex's service offering, allow it to enter and increase penetration of new markets, and help to solidify its reputation in the market place."
Bill Varner, President and CEO of Aquilex Corporation, added, "We are thrilled by the acquisition of HydroChem, which will further our strategy of providing complementary, value-added services to our customers. With the combination of HydroChem and WSI, Aquilex will be able to leverage the relationships and services of both market leaders."
Harvest Partners Vice President Christopher Whalen and Associate David Schwartz also worked on the transaction. RBS Securities Corporation and Credit Suisse are providing the financing to Aquilex.
SOURCE: Harvest Partners