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By Maureen Flanagan
Breeze Industrial Products Corporation ("Breeze" or the "Company") with facilities in Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, Auburn Hills, Michigan and Frittlingen Germany, is a leading global supplier of proprietary and patented steel clamps for the heavy duty truck, automotive, and industrial markets. Offering 13 product lines for varied clamping applications, the Company sells approximately 13,000 different SKUs marketed under the Breeze, Torca, and Clamp-All brands. Serving growing and diverse markets in more than 40 countries, Breeze is a value-added supplier to a blue-chip customer base and maintains a sole source position as supplier to major OEM automotive platforms. In an August 27, 2004 transaction, Breeze was acquired by Wind Point Partners, a private equity firm that partners with top caliber CEOs to acquire well-positioned middle market companies with a clear path to value creation. In support of the acquisition, American Capital Strategies, Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACAS) provided $12 million of subordinated debt financing.
CEO Craig Stinson brings 20 years of experience as a global industry executive and has personally invested in the opportunity alongside Wind Point. Stinson was most recently the President of ArvinMeritor's Light Vehicle Systems business.
"Breeze has accelerated its growth through the acquisition of complementary clamping product lines and an increased presence in domestic and international markets," said Craig Stinson, the Company's CEO. "Wind Point Partners and I have worked over the past six months to develop a clear path to value creation and have identified several initiatives that we intend to pursue immediately."
Established in 1948, Breeze has a long history of quality, innovative products. In the 1940's the Company invented and patented the first worm-drive hose clamp, which uses a worm screw configuration to tighten, seal and connect pipes and tubes. Today, Breeze's worm-drive product offering consists of a broad range of clamps used in diverse industrial markets, including the OEM and aftermarket heavy duty truck and automotive segments as well as the aerospace, marine, agricultural and construction sectors.
Breeze also offers T-Bolt clamps which are able to withstand higher torque and are used in larger diameter connections as well as highly engineered applications such as turbo-charger systems, pumps and filtration. The Company's V-Band clamps can be added to worm-drive or T-Bolt clamps to seal flanged connections.
In 2003, Breeze significantly expanded its exhaust clamp products through the acquisition of Torca Products. Torca offerings include pipe joining and mounting products used to clamp pipe joint connections, mount heat shield assemblies and hang muffler and pipe components for exhaust systems. These products, the majority of which are patented, are sold into the heavy-duty truck and automotive markets. Also in 2003, the Company acquired Clamp-All, thereby expanding its offerings into no-hub couplings. These products are used in drainage systems for draining storm water and sanitary waste inside and under buildings. No-hub couplings are seen as an entr�e for other Breeze products which could be useful to the drain, waste and vent markets.
Currently, Breeze has 22 U.S. and foreign patents. Over the past decade, the Company has launched 13 new products including the highly successful DuraSeal® exhaust clamp for major light-truck and SUV platforms and the recent introduction of the Coupler® exhaust clamp.
Breeze takes its products through the entire life cycle from development to manufacturing and quality control. In the automotive industry, the Company works with OEMs at the conception stage of a new platform, providing proven clamping solutions that have been internally validated at the Company's in-house testing facilities. After validation, OEMs often request that the applicable Tier 1 supplier include the Breeze product in the platform.
The Company keeps production costs low and manufacturing flexible with extensive employment of robotics at its facilities in the U.S. and Germany. Breeze focuses on continuous production improvement and lean manufacturing techniques to further reduce manufacturing costs.
In the August 2004 acquisition, Antares Capital provided a senior debt facility. American Capital and Albion Alliance provided subdebt financing and Wind Point Partners invested in preferred and common stock of the Company.
Since 1997, American Capital has invested more than $3 billion in the middle market and currently manages a portfolio of more than 100 companies.
For more information about American Capital's portfolio click here. "Breeze has demonstrated its ability to successfully identify and integrate value-enhancing acquisitions," said Todd Wilson, American Capital Principal. "We anticipate this growth to continue as Breeze pursues certain attractive growth opportunities going forward." The Company also sees additional opportunities in connection with the increasing complexity of automobile and heavy-duty truck emissions systems that must meet stringent U.S. and European emissions regulations. This complexity increases the number of parts and components within an emission system and in turn increases the need for clamps to connect various parts and components. The result is greater demand for the reliable, highly-engineered clamping components like those provided by Breeze.
In addition, as automakers increasingly turn to shared platforms to lower costs, the Company's sole-sourced position on major automotive OEM platforms gives Breeze a significant competitive advantage.
The Company's leadership, headed by Stinson, provides the industry experience and expertise to realize the potential of its diverse end-markets. As the Company continues expanding, Breeze will aggressively evaluate global sourcing initiatives with low cost providers, leverage the Company's increased purchasing power, and reduce exposure to raw material pricing.
Breeze is using its experience, breadth and quality products to clamp on to continued profits and growth.
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