New York--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lignetics Inc. ("Lignetics"), the largest consumer-centric wood pellet manufacturer in the United States, and EagleTree Capital ("EagleTree"), representing their private equity fund EagleTree Partners V, announced today that EagleTree has acquired Lignetics from Taglich Private Equity and Mill Road Capital. Lignetics will become a new platform investment in EagleTree's portfolio. After EagleTree's investment, Lignetics' operations, management team and personnel will remain unchanged. Co-investors including Alpha Associates, Bullingham Capital, Farol Asset Management, Manulife Investment Management, Miami Capital, Northwestern Mutual Capital and Thrivent Financial are investing with EagleTree. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Lignetics, headquartered in Louisville, Colorado, is the largest consumer-centric wood pellet manufacturer in the United States with an annual production capacity of nearly 1.4 million tons. Since 1983, Lignetics has been upgrading wood waste to household heating pellets, and since 1990 it has been upgrading to high-quality barbecue pellets. Every year, Lignetics loads more than 2,000,000 tons of wood waste or more than 100,000 trucks into renewable, sustainable, and value-added consumer products. Today, Lignetics is committed to providing consumers with innovative products of various brands, including Green Supreme (residential heating), Lignetics (residential heating), Bear Mountain BBQ (family barbecue), Lumber Jack Grilling Pellets (family barbecue) and Catalyst Pet ( High-performance sustainable cat litter). The company is committed to providing the highest quality environmentally friendly products and 100% natural products in its business line and brand portfolio.
"We are excited to work with EagleTree and use their extensive consumer product expertise to further accelerate our growth," said Brett Jordan, CEO of Lignetics. "EagleTree's partnership will allow us to expand our manufacturing capabilities to better serve customers who rely on Lignitics for home heating. We see our brand of barbecue pellets, Catalyst cat litter and other new products under development We look forward to cooperating with EagleTree to continue to implement our strategy. I would like to thank Taglich PE and Mill Road Capital, especially Will Morris and Doug Hailey, for their strong support and commitment to our shared vision. We have created together An industry-leading business, I look forward to working with the EagleTree team to build on this success."
"We are very pleased to add Lignetics to EagleTree's product portfolio and to work with the excellent management team of Brett Jordan and Lignitics. Lignetics has established a market leading position in the consumer wood pellet industry, upgrading more than 2,000,000 tons of wood waste to sustainable All natural products. George L. Majoros, Jr., co-managing partner of EagleTree, said that we believe the company can make good use of the attractiveness of residential pellet heating, pellet grilling and wood pet waste markets. “We believe that Lignetics is the next stage. The growth of the company will bring considerable value to customers, partners and employees, and we look forward to supporting their tremendous development momentum. "
William Morris, Managing Director of Taglich Private Equity, said: "In the past few years, I am very happy to work with Brett and the Lignetics management team. "We are proud of the business we have built together, and we are very happy that Lignetics has found a strong home in EagleTree. And excited about the future of the team. "
Justin Jacobs, Managing Director of Mill Road Capital, said: "We are proud of the company the Lignetics team has built and thank its employees for their hard work and dedication. "The team at Taglich Private Equity has always been very good. Partners, we look forward to the continued success of Lignetics and EagleTree. "
Raymond James Consumer Investment Banking team acted as exclusive financial advisor, Dentons Durham Jones Pinegar acted as legal advisor, and Moss Adams acted as Liignetics' due diligence advisor. Jones Day Law Firm served as EagleTree's legal counsel, and Alvarez & Marsal served as EagleTree's due diligence consultant.
Headquartered in Louisville, Colorado, Lignetics is the largest residential wood pellet manufacturing company in the United States. The company's innovative environmentally friendly products include high-quality wood pellets for ultra-efficient home heating, barbecue pellets with a natural seal and perfect wood-burning flavor, and a high-quality all-natural high-performance cat litter. Lignetics provides these innovative all-natural products through national retail partners, and provides these products directly to consumers through the only national wood pellet manufacturing plant network in 22 different factory locations in the United States and Canada. For more information about Lignetics and all of its products, please visit www.lignetics.com.
EagleTree Capital is a leading mid-market private equity firm headquartered in New York, with assets under management of US$4.8 billion as of December 31, 2020. The company has completed more than 35 private equity investments and more than 75 additional transaction years in the past 20 years. EagleTree invests mainly in the following areas in North America: media and business services, consumers, water and professional industries. For more information, please visit www.eagletree.com.
Taglich Private Equity is a value-oriented financial sponsor headquartered in New York, focusing on investing in the low-end market. They focus on capital restructuring, management buyouts and majority equity investments, with targets for manufacturing, business services and consumer goods companies. TPE focuses on finding good investment opportunities, taking advantage of the company's advantages, discovering new market opportunities, and providing strategic support to competent management teams. TPE hopes to work with a management team that can use its expertise and background to optimize the company's growth potential and create long-term value. For more information, please visit www.taglichpe.com.
Mill Road Capital is a private investment company that focuses on investing in and cooperating with small public companies in the United States and Canada. Since its establishment in 2004, the company has successfully executed its investment strategy of identifying and cooperating with a management team focused on long-term value creation. The limited partners of the Mill Road Fund include well-known and highly regarded national and corporate pension funds, foundations and endowments. Mill Road's current investment portfolio includes companies in a wide range of industries, including retail, manufacturing, business services and consumer products.
Lignetics Citrus Public Relations Department Kelly Leathers 303-909-5716 kelly@citruspr.com
EagleTree Capital Sard Verbinnen & Co. Stephanie Pillersdorf/Bridget Nagle 212-687-8080 EagleTree-SVC@sardverb.com
Taglich Private Equity Bill Cooke 212-661-6886 x315 cooke@taglichbrothers.com
Lignetics Citrus Public Relations Department Kelly Leathers 303-909-5716 kelly@citruspr.com
EagleTree Capital Sard Verbinnen & Co. Stephanie Pillersdorf/Bridget Nagle 212-687-8080 EagleTree-SVC@sardverb.com
Taglich Private Equity Bill Cooke 212-661-6886 x315 cooke@taglichbrothers.com