prior investments
Companies
Milestone orchestrated the purchase of all the assets of Double Eagle Sports & Events, LLC. The Houston, Texas based division, Aztec Events & Tents, is the largest party and tent rental operation in the metropolitan Houston area. The Birmingham, Alabama division, Shaffer Sports & Events, is the largest vendor to the PGA Tour and provides most all the hospitality structures and tents for PGA Tour events, as well as other sporting and nonsporting events.
In May 2021, Aztec/Shaffer, LLC was acquired by its largest competitor, Arena Events Group, plc, (“Arena”) based in London, England. Arena purchased substantially all of the assets of Aztec/Shaffer, LLC.
In late 2017, Milestone acquired all of the assets of Hilo Material Handling Group. Hilo is the exclusive Hyster Yale forklift dealer in Long Island, New York and the exclusive Hyster dealer for Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. Hilo also offers dock and door service, racking and mezzanines, and lighting products. In a subsequent transaction, the Yale forklift dealership from Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx was also acquired from Eastern Lift Trucks, based in New Jersey. As a result, Hilo is now the exclusive Hyster Yale dealer for all of Long Island and the four boroughs of New York City offering new and used forklifts along with rental, parts and service.
In July 2020, Hilo was acquired by Alta Equipment Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALTG). Alta acquired substantially all the assets of Hilo and retained all management.
In 2009, the Adobe Equipment acquisition entailed Milestone purchasing an 80% interest in two full service forklift dealerships, Caterpillar and Nissan, along with a Trailer Dealership and Construction Equipment Dealership. Both forklift dealerships incorporated new and used product sales, parts sales, equipment service and forklift rentals. The dealerships sold predominately Caterpillar and Nissan products, but also sold complementary products from Kalmar, Mastercraft, Noble, JLG, Capacity, Shuttlewagon, Nilfisk Advance and Barrett. The trailer operation sold and repaired a variety of trailers, including Transcraft, Pitts and Construction Trailer Specialists. The construction equipment operation primarily sold JCB heavy equipment, along with MultiQuip and LayMor Sweepers.
In April 2014, Adobe sold substantially all its assets to Darr Equipment Co. (Dallas, Texas).
Pentacon, Inc. was a successful simultaneous consolidation of five privately-owned companies that distribute fasteners to the OEM market. Milestone participated in this roll up and public offering by providing capital to the sponsor group. This capital was used to finance the simultaneous consolidation of these companies and the company’s public offering costs. The public offering was effected on the New York Stock Exchange.
Tracer was an acquisition of a controlling interest in a petrochemical and industrial services company based in Houston, Texas with offices in Louisiana and Canada. The company provides turnkey design, engineering and construction of heat traced piping in petrochemical and industrial applications. In this transaction, the owners, who were also the top management, sold a controlling interest in the company. This transaction was also structured as a partial recapitalization of the company. The company was sold to a subsidiary of Tyco International, Ltd.
Bluecurrent, Inc. was an acquisition of a controlling interest of a company based in Austin, Texas through a recapitalization transaction. The company is a leading solutions provider of lifecycle management services for technology assets of Fortune 1000 companies. The company also provides installation, de-installation and project management services as well as disposition services for legacy equipment.
OBI was an acquisition of a controlling interest of a company based in Houston, Texas. The company is a leading worldwide distributor of specialized bearings used in oilfield service equipment. The company maintains a larger supply of specialized oilfield bearings under one roof than any other distributor in the world. This transaction included a partial recapitalization of the company and the sale of a controlling interest in the company by the owners, who were also top management. After the investment was made, the company expanded internationally into Canada, Scotland and the United Arab Emirates.
Milestone recapitalized an entity in Beaumont, Texas known as Sweet Leaf Tea Company. The company manufactures and distributes all natural, ready-to-drink iced tea products. Milestone provided equity for working capital, new inventory production and the development of new iced tea flavors and an enhanced geographic distribution network. The company has since added new flavors, expanded distribution throughout the state of Texas and numerous other states and the company has developed a solid presence in major national grocery stores, natural food stores and convenience stores.
Milestone and the owner of Southwest Guaranty Mortgage Corp. (“SGMC”) formed a new operating entity in Houston, Texas known as Southwest Guaranty, Ltd. This new company was capitalized with equity capital from Milestone and operating assets from SGMC. Southwest Guaranty, Ltd. was formed to expand the current small balance commercial real estate lending operations of SGMC. Southwest Guaranty, Ltd. is a direct lender with a regional presence and provides quality service to a neglected niche market for commercial real estate loans between nonbankable loans and hard money loans
