Wynnchurch Capital, a middle-market private equity firm, announced the sale of Wolverine Advanced Materials to ITT Corp. for approximately $300 million. Wynnchurch generated a return of approximately 4.0 times multiple of invested capital on its investment in Wolverine.
Headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, Wolverine is one of the global leaders in developing and manufacturing proprietary products for automotive braking systems and highly-engineered sealing solutions for harsh operating environments across a range of industries. Over the past 80 years, Wolverine has built a reputation for quality, innovation and thought leadership in material sciences, according to the company. Through customer-focused innovation, Wolverine developed the largest portfolio of specialty elastomer material constructions in its end markets.
Terry Theodore, partner at Wynnchurch, stated, “Wolverine represented an opportunity to reinvigorate a company with great DNA, differentiated products and leading market share. By recruiting fresh leadership and working with the management team to drive operational improvement, bolster the sales and go-to-market strategy, invest in engineering and product development and execute a strategic add-on acquisition, Wynnchurch and the management team were able to significantly grow Wolverine’s earnings and accelerate its topline growth.”
Brian Crumbaugh, managing director at Wynnchurch, added, “Wolverine is a great business and we are proud of the growth and accomplishments that the management team, in close collaboration with Wynnchurch, were able to achieve during our ownership period.”
Wynnchurch acquired Wolverine in December 2010 through a corporate carve-out from EP Management Corp.
UBS Investment Bank served as financial advisor and Foley & Lardner served as legal advisor to Wynnchurch.
