Tecum Capital Partners is proud to announce its new investment in The Helpful Hardware Company, an Ace Hardware franchisee. Tecum provided subordinated debt and equity to support JPB Partners’ acquisition of HHC. The existing CEO, Darin Workman, will remain with the Company and retain a minority stake. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 2014, HHC is a chain of eight Ace Hardware locations throughout the Southeast U.S. and is headquartered in Midway, Georgia. The former owners, The Capstan Fund, partnered with current CEO Darin Workman in acquiring each of the underperforming locations. Since the chain’s founding in 2014, Darin Workman has leveraged his 25+ years of experience at Ace Hardware in implementing operational discipline and returning these stores to profitability and growth. HHC is poised for continued growth given management’s deep experience and proven strategy in acquiring and continuously enhancing locations.
Ace Hardware, founded in 1924, is a hardware retailer cooperative based in Oak Brook, Illinois. Due to the cooperative structure, each owner of an Ace Hardware store operates independently with the cooperative providing high-level guidance and buying power to reduce inventory costs. Unlike a typical franchisor, each Ace Hardware store owner has the ability to match the needs of their respective markets by fine-tuning the store’s inventory and expertise to support the neighborhood’s demographic.
“Ace Hardware is a growing and vibrant brand in the Southeast,” said CEO Darin Workman, “We are excited to partner with both JPB Partners and Tecum Capital Partners as our financial sponsors to acquire the stores, expand our relationship within the communities we serve, and continue our proud tradition of outstanding customer service.”
Jim Bolduc, Senior Managing Director of JPB, commented on the transaction, “We are excited to partner with Tecum Capital Partners as the senior lender in capitalizing our acquisition of the Capstan Ace Stores. We have worked with the Tecum team in the past with great success, and we believe the strong brand equity of the Ace name, the acquired stores’ strong financial performance, and the acquired management team will provide for another great success for Tecum and us.”
Stephen Gurgovits, Jr., Managing Partner of Tecum, stated, “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with JPB and back a highly-experienced CEO in Darin Workman. We look forward to supporting Darin and his management team through the Company’s next phase of growth. We are confident that the partnership with JPB will further strengthen the Ace brand throughout the Southeast.”
The Deal Team from Tecum consisted of Matt Harnett, Mike Williamson, Paul Oris, and Ian Frazier.
ABOUT TECUM CAPITAL PARTNERS
Tecum Capital Partners is an independent investment firm based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with over $750 million in assets under management. Tecum is a multi-strategy investor and is currently investing out of its second SBIC Fund. The investment team partners with independent sponsors, family offices, business owners seeking succession plans, and management teams to create shared success. Since 2006, Tecum’s investment professionals have invested in over 80 platform and add-on acquisitions. Tecum specializes in growth-oriented, middle market companies across the broader high-value manufacturing, value-added distribution, and business service sectors, with a focus on businesses with EBITDA greater than $2 million. Tecum seeks to invest $5 million to $20 million in potential portfolio companies. For more information, please visit www.tecum.com.
