Confluence Advisors Represents West Penn Non-Destructive Testing in its Sale to Mistras Group

Confluence Advisors is pleased to announce that it advised West Penn Non-Destructive Testing, LLC, a leading provider on non-destructive testing services, on its sale to Mistras Group, Inc. (NYSE:MG).

West Penn, headquartered in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, with additional locations in Richburg, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia provides a wide variety of non-destructive testing services primarily serving aerospace clients, but also provides testing services for the metals, automotive, manufacturing, military and automotive industries. West Penn is Nadcap accredited, ISO 9001 and AS 9100 certified, and complies with an extensive array of client and industry codes and specifications.

West Penn's President Jim DeCellis will function as Mistras Group's regional manager overseeing the West Penn business as part of the Company's Services segment.    

Chief Executive Officer Dennis Bertolotti stated, "We are excited to welcome West Penn to Mistras Group. The entire West Penn team has been extremely focused on developing strong relationships with tier one and tier two suppliers and supports important new product innovations within the aerospace industry. West Penn is not only an important addition to our team, but also a key part of our strategy to increase our aerospace business and our focus on new aerospace engine programs."

Confluence Advisors acted as exclusive financial advisor to West Penn Non-Destructive Testing, LLC and Metz Lewis Brodman Must O’Keefe LLC provided transaction counsel.

Confluence Advisors Represents GrayMatter in Recapitalization with Hamilton Robinson

Hamilton Robinson Capital Partners (HRCP), together with management and co-investors, has recapitalized GrayMatter LLC. GrayMatter, headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, is a leader in the operational and industrial technology industry (IIoT).

Co-founder, CEO and Carnegie Mellon graduate Jim Gillespie says a substantial investment by private equity firm Hamilton Robinson Capital Partners will allow GrayMatter to rapidly expand its efforts to digitally transform industrial operations and empower people at forward-thinking companies across the United States and Canada.

“This acceleration allows GrayMatter to bring more resources, technology and innovation to our customers. We’re thrilled to expand the possibilities of digital industrial transformations,” said Gillespie.

A new wave of digital technology is creating opportunities for extreme increases in productivity and huge savings for industrial companies, but leaders need help with the transformation. That’s where GrayMatter steps in to guide the process and technology implementations.

“We are excited to partner with GrayMatter as the firm embarks on its next phase of growth. GrayMatter has developed a tremendous reputation for delivering data driven, process automation solutions to optimize operations for leading North American industrial companies,” said Brandon Richter, Managing Director at Hamilton Robinson. “GrayMatter’s services and solutions guide customers through a digital transformation of their operations resulting in dramatically increased productivity, improved monitoring and intelligence and enhanced security,” added Jim Parmelee, Managing Director at HRCP.

“This couldn’t come at a more critical time as the promise of Industry 4.0 comes true and industrial companies are realizing incredible value,” says GrayMatter Co-founder and Vice President on Manufacturing Industries Carson Drake

Confluence Advisors Represents A.J. Silberman in Sale to Eby-Brown

Confluence Advisors, LLC is pleased to announce that it advised A.J. Silberman & Company, L.P., a leading wholesale distributor of convenience store products, on its sale to Eby-Brown Company, LLC, the largest family-owned, wholesale consumer products distributor in the convenience industry. Confluence Advisors acted as the sole and exclusive advisor to the sellers in the transaction.

“We are thrilled to welcome the customers and employees of AJ Silberman to the Eby-Brown family. Eby-Brown and AJ Silberman share the cultural value of keeping the needs of the customer first and have grown customer relationships through the delivery of excellent customer service and innovation. We look forward to combining two family-owned, talented teams and are excited to work together on developing new solutions and services that benefit our customers. We will maintain both companies’ commitment to service excellence while delivering increased value with best-in-class category management programs, promotional offerings and sophisticated technology,” remarked Thomas Wake, Co-President of Eby-Brown.

Upon closing the sale, the Indianola facility will operate as A.J. Silberman, a division of Eby-Brown.

Confluence Advisors Represents Ibis Tek, LLC in Sale to Investor Group

Confluence Advisors represented Ibis Tek, LLC in the sale of substantially all of the assets of Ibis Tek, LLC, Ibis Tek Properties, LLC, Verbuck, LLC, and Ibis Apparel, LLC (collectively, "Ibis Tek").  An investment group including DJH Management and Rockwood Equity Partners acquired the business of the former Ibis Tek reincorporating as Ibis Tek, Inc. (the “Company”).  Industry veterans Vince Nardy, a former executive with Hunter defense Technologies and Phillip Won each joined the Company as CEO and CFO, respectively, effective January 1, 2017.

Ibis Tek had been under a long-running investigation of the former officers of the company dating back to activities prior to 2009 related to an isolated program.  The pending nature of the charges were the driving force behind the leadership changes and the sale of the company.

Per Vince Nardy “"We look forward to having this matter having to do with former company executives behind us. Our company was cleared in the related investigation which dates back to activities eight years ago, and we, the over 250 employees of the new Ibis Tek, continue forward on our mission which is toproudly serve the warfighter and our various government customers. Our new ownership and management teams have sterling reputations and we look forward to driving the new Ibis Tek, Inc. into the future.”  Mr. Nardy also shared, “Chris Harsh and the team at Confluence Advisors did a great job in getting the transaction completed given a number of challenging dynamics.  We believe the Confluence team did an excellent job of balancing the needs and interests of the sellers, buyer, employees and customers to create a win-win-win-win outcome for all involved.”