The Transaction caps four years of Binford’s evolution and growth under U.S. Fence ownership, and enables U.S. Fence to focus on building its core fencing installation platform
DALLAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–U.S. Fence Solutions Company, LLC (“U.S. Fence”), a portfolio company of building industry-focused investment firm, Building Industry Partners LLC (“BIP”), has sold Binford Supply (“Binford” or the “Company”) to Fencing Supply Group (“FSG”). FSG is a new investment platform focused on building a group of leading independent fencing distributors, and is an affiliate of The Sterling Group, a private equity firm based in Houston, TX.
Binford Supply was founded in 1950 and has grown to become one of the largest residential & commercial fencing distributors in the U.S. Led by its President, Jeff Cook, Binford has over 150 employees across thirteen locations, currently serving residential and commercial fencing contractors throughout Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado. Binford’s product categories include wood, chain link, pipe and tube, ornamental, vinyl, gates and access controls, barbed wire, staining, concrete, agricultural, and fencing tools. Mr. Cook will continue to lead Binford following this transaction.
Binford President, Jeff Cook, said “We’re very proud of the business we’ve built at Binford Supply and the growth we’ve achieved amidst unprecedented market disruptions. As a team, we’ve successfully opened three new branches in the last two years alone, and we’re just getting started. As the leading distributor of fence products in its markets, Binford has always been an organization that cares deeply about its people and serving its customers, and our dedication to both our employees and our contractor base will only continue to strengthen.”
Zach Coopersmith, Managing Partner of Building Industry Partners, said “We’re grateful for all of the hard work from Binford’s management team and employees over the past four years under BIP’s ownership. Their efforts were especially noteworthy during the last year as the Binford team continued to grow the business through the pandemic and react dynamically to the challenges it presented. Jeff Cook and the management team remained focused on supporting Binford’s customers and providing a safe and rewarding place for its employees to work. More than anything, we attribute Binford’s success to its best-in-class culture and the employees whom we have been lucky to partner with over the past four years.”
Matt Ogden, Managing Partner of BIP, added, “Our journey with Binford began many years ago through our relationship with its prior owner and CEO, Steve Stanley. We feel fortunate to have partnered with Steve in 2017, and later with Jeff Cook when he joined as President of Binford in 2018. BIP is proud to have been a partner to Binford’s people and a steward of Binford’s business, and we’re excited for the organization to join Fencing Supply Group and continue to elevate Binford’s leadership role in the fencing industry. Steve, Jeff, and the Binford team fostered a people-first, collaborative and relationship-oriented culture which has set them apart in the fencing supply industry. Binford’s culture has been an inspiration to the evolution of BIP’s own firm culture and investment approach.”
“Binford has grown quickly because of the exceptional people involved in our business,” Jeff Cook continued. “This can be seen throughout our organization, starting at the branch level and continuing to the team at Building Industry Partners. The support from BIP has been the catalyst to achieve our goals and we look forward to accelerating this momentum with The Sterling Group and our new partnerships.”
Following the successful sale of Binford Supply, U.S. Fence will focus on growing its core fencing installation businesses. U.S. Fence owns Split Rail Fence, the leading fencing installation business in the Front Range of Colorado; Ideal Fencing, the largest highway and bridge guardrail fabricator and fencing installer in Colorado; and Western Access Controls, a leading designer and installer of automated gate and access control systems, serving residential and commercial customers throughout the Rocky Mountain region. U.S. Fence was formed by BIP in early 2016 with the vision of building a best-in-class national fencing platform.
Lincoln International and Holland & Knight served as financial advisor and legal counsel, respectively, as part of this transaction.
Background of Building Industry Partners
Building Industry Partners is the leading growth equity investment firm focused on the U.S. middle-market building products industry. Founded in 2008, BIP has offices in New York, Boston, and Dallas and is managed by Matt Ogden and Zach Coopersmith. BIP invests its principals’ own capital, as well as that of a small number of like-minded family office and individual limited partners, including a number of leading active and retired building industry executives. BIP maintains a large proprietary network of building industry operators, thought leaders and service providers that support its industry-focused proprietary opportunity sourcing, due diligence, portfolio company management and value creation efforts.
BIP invests via an “Operator First” model, serving as an equity capital partner to support proven building products industry leaders in building niche-leading businesses. To this end, BIP provides equity capital to: (1) owner-operators of niche-focused building products manufacturers, distributors and specialty service companies seeking capital for growth, liquidity and/or partial ownership transition and (2) proven building industry operators and entrepreneurs seeking to build a business within their niche of expertise, primarily via acquisition of a platform company and execution of organic and/or “buy & build” growth strategies. The Firm focuses primarily on majority or minority ownership investments involving platform companies with $20 to $250 million in revenues as well as smaller companies with unique growth opportunities or as part of larger “buy & build” acquisition strategies.
BIP principals have co-founded and/or served as the equity capital sponsor for a number of the building products industry’s leading middle-market companies and operators, including:
- U.S. LBM Holdings, now the 3rd largest LBM pro dealer organization in the U.S., in partnership with L.T. Gibson, BlackEagle Partners and team
- Kodiak Building Partners, in partnership with Paul Hylbert, Steve Swinney and team
- Rugby Architectural Building Products, in partnership with David Hughes, Drew Dickinson and team
- United Cabinet Holdings, in partnership with Butch Reimer and team
- Homewood Holdings, in partnership with Jim Stockman and team
- U.S. Fence Solutions Company, in partnership with Jeff Cook, Jim and Matt Bockelmann, Hans Vonderhofen, Alain Brûlé and team
BIP continues to seek opportunities to sponsor and support the building industry’s most talented business leaders in realizing their entrepreneurial visions.
In 2020, BIP kicked off the process of relaunching the firm to accelerate and scale our people-first investment and impact initiatives. BIP is engaging like-minded business and thought leaders who share a vision of advancing the building industry and its workforce over the next decade through investing in the industry’s most critical asset, its people.
Contacts
Zach Coopersmith
zcoopersmith@buildingip.com
