The Transaction represents the successful culmination of Building Industry’s Partners’ four-year partnership with LBM veteran Jim Stockman and Homewood’s management team
BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Building Industry Partners LLC (“BIP”), the leading building industry-focused private equity investment firm, has sold its LBM dealer platform company, Homewood Holdings (“Homewood”), to American Construction Source (“ACS”), a leading national building materials distribution platform backed by private equity firms Angeles Equity Partners, LLC (“Angeles”) and Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. (together with its affiliates “Clearlake”).
Homewood Holdings was founded in early 2016 by BIP and building industry veteran Jim Stockman with a vision to build a best-in-class Western U.S. lumber and building material pro dealer organization. Homewood’s inaugural investment was Homewood Building Supply, a pro dealer in greater Sacramento, CA. After approximately four years, a nearly five times increase in sales, over three-fold growth in employee count, and seven strategic add-on acquisitions, the Homewood Holdings family today consists of five operating companies with eight total facilities in California, Washington, and Arizona.
Homewood’s operating companies include: (i) Homewood Building Supply in greater Sacramento, CA, (ii) Evergreen Lumber, Eagle Creek Siding and Custom Choice Door in greater Seattle-Tacoma, WA and (iii) The Door Mill in greater Phoenix, AZ. Consistent with BIP’s entrepreneurial and de-centralized investment approach to the LBM sector, Homewood’s operating companies have operated with highly autonomous leadership and varying business models optimized to best serve the custom, regional, and national production homebuilders, residential and commercial contractors, and DIY customers in each operating company’s respective local market.
Matt Ogden, Founder & Managing Partner of BIP, said, “BIP has long focused on supporting the building industry’s most talented business leaders in becoming owner-operators and realizing their entrepreneurial visions. We knew Jim for over a decade before we partnered at Homewood, so it’s particularly rewarding for BIP to realize this success together in Jim’s entrepreneurial debut. Over the past four years, Jim assembled an outstanding management team across three major Western markets. His team created and executed their organic game plan exceptionally well by creating outstanding, enduring value propositions for Homewood’s employees, customers and vendors. In turn, BIP provided the strategic, capital structure, and M&A expertise and resources to facilitate Homewood’s overarching buy & build growth strategy. In the process, together we built a premier and highly strategic regional LBM organization. Homewood’s success reinforces for BIP the power of combining our firm’s industry-focused expertise and resources with proven business leaders’ entrepreneurial drive and capabilities.”
Jim Stockman, CEO of Homewood Holdings, said, “We’re very proud of the business we’ve built at Homewood and the seven acquisitions we’ve brought into the Homewood family since 2016. I think we’ve realized our vision of building a pro dealer organization across multiple markets that cares deeply about serving its customers, while also being a place where employees love to work. As our highly successful partnership with BIP concludes, we’re excited about Homewood’s future and continued growth as part of the ACS platform. There is substantial opportunity ahead for Homewood, our employees and our business partners.”
Zach Coopersmith, Managing Partner of BIP, said, “Despite less than stellar housing and commodity price conditions along the way, Homewood was a “textbook” investment for BIP in terms of investment thesis, operator partnership, strategy, and execution. We are thankful to the Homewood employees for their dedication and contribution to Homewood’s success. We view this investment’s success as renewed confirmation of BIP’s people-first investment philosophy. Great people build great companies. BIP’s role is to support those people in building niche-leading businesses that can grow and thrive into the future, long after our ownership tenure is complete. We feel the mission was accomplished here. We are excited for ACS and the Homewood team and look forward to watching their continued success. Homewood has a wonderful foundation and people in place to realize the substantial growth opportunity ahead for the business.”
Holland & Knight, LLP and KeyBanc Capital Markets served as legal and financial advisors, respectively, to Homewood in the transaction. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Background of Building Industry Partners
Building Industry Partners (“BIP”) is the leading private equity investment firm focused on the U.S. middle-market building products industry. Founded in 2008 by Matt Ogden, BIP has offices in New York, Boston, and Dallas and is managed by Mr. Ogden and Zach Coopersmith. BIP invests its principals’ own capital, as well as that of like-minded family office and individual limited partners, including leading active and retired building industry executives. BIP maintains the private equity sector’s largest proprietary network of building industry operators, thought leaders and service providers that support its industry-focused talent and opportunity sourcing, due diligence and portfolio company value creation efforts.
BIP executes a “People First” investment philosophy, its central role being to support proven building industry leaders with the strategic and financial expertise and resources to build niche-leading businesses. Towards 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 of the past decade, 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; over $2.0 Billion in annual sales when sold to Kelso & Company in 2015.
- Kodiak Building Partners, in partnership with Paul Hylbert, Steve Swinney and team; over $500 million in annual sales when sold to Court Square Capital Partners in 2017.
- Rugby Architectural Building Products, in partnership with David Hughes, Drew Dickinson and team; over $300 million in annual sales when sold to Hardwoods Distribution Inc (TSX: HWD) in 2016.
- United Cabinet Holdings, in partnership with Butch Reimer and team
- Homewood Holdings, in partnership with Jim Stockman, Erich Kepner, Scott Blackburn, Keith Elledge, Ron McFarland, Wade Hickson, Jesse Sherwood, and team; sold to American Construction Source in 2020.
- U.S. Fence Solutions Company, in partnership with Jeff Cook, Jim Bockelmann, Hans Vonderhofen and team
BIP continues to seek opportunities to sponsor and support the building industry’s greatest operating talents in realizing their entrepreneurial visions.
Contacts
John Hughes
jhughes@buildingip.com
212-203-6546
