Park Avenue Equity Partners II, LLC has acquired Coastal Concrete Inc., a Bluffton, S.C., ready mixed producer with a 109-mixer fleet serving 11 fixed
CP STAFF
Park Avenue Equity Partners II, LLC has acquired Coastal Concrete Inc., a Bluffton, S.C., ready mixed producer with a 109-mixer fleet serving 11 fixed and three portable plants in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Coastal is the second industry investment in as many years by New York-based Park Avenue Equity. In 2005, the firm acquired McHenry, Ill.-based Meyer Material Co., a key ready mixed player in Milwaukee and suburban Chicago, selling the 25-plant business to Aggregate Industries in a $231 million transaction last July.
Supporting Park Avenue on the Coastal transaction was a credit facility for which GE Commercial Finance acted as administrative agent. Financing consisted of a $20 million senior-secured revolving credit facility, $93 million senior-secured term loan, and a $30 million unsecured mezzanine loan. Proceeds cover the acquisition and future working capital needs. With the Southeast being one of the strongest areas of demand for construction in the U.S., the ready-mixed concrete industry should continue seeing regional growth, says Gene Leary, Construction Industry Leader for GE-Corporate Lending.
Coastal-Park Avenue continues a string of transactions over the past three years involving key Carolinas concrete operators. Ownership of Ready Mixed Concrete Co. of Raleigh has changed hands twice, shifting from members of the Turner family to a private equity firm-backed management group, then to Colombia cement operator Cemento Argos early last year. The former RMC USA Inc. franchises, RMC Carolinas Materials and Metromont Materials, have been integrated with Cemex USA.