Safe Fleet Holdings LLC, provider of safety and productivity solutions for fleet vehicles, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners. Under terms of the agreement, Oak Hill will acquire the company from its current owner, The Sterling Group.
“We have tremendous respect for what Safe Fleet has accomplished. The company has built a unique and growing portfolio of market-leading safety and productivity solutions,” said Brian Cherry, a partner at Oak Hill. “We are excited to partner with Safe Fleet to support the company through its next phase of development, as it continues to grow both organically and through strategic acquisitions.”
“Sterling and a strong management team led by John Knox have transformed the business strategically, operationally, and commercially from two small component suppliers to a leader in safety solutions for fleet vehicles,” said Gary Rosenthal, a partner at Sterling and chairman of Safe Fleet’s board of directors. “The creation and sale of Safe Fleet, a business that didn’t exist before Sterling’s initial acquisitions, is a case study in how Sterling rapidly implements its improvement strategies to build winning businesses.”
“Sterling and the Safe Fleet team successfully executed our shared vision to create a leading safety solutions company serving an expanding group of fleet customers,” said John Knox, president and chief executive officer of Safe Fleet. “We believe our new partnership with Oak Hill, a firm that shares our culture of collaborative engagement and continuous improvement, will even further accelerate Safe Fleet’s growth trajectory as a highly differentiated safety and productivity solutions platform.”
The transaction is expected to close in first quarter 2018 and represents the seventh investment in the Oak Hill Capital Partners IV portfolio.
UBS Investment Bank served as financial advisor to Oak Hill in connection with the transaction. Goldman Sachs Bank USA, UBS Securities LLC, and Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc have underwritten and will arrange first and second lien financing in connection with the transaction. Morgan Stanley & Co LLC and Harris Williams & Co served as financial advisors to Safe Fleet in connection with the transaction.
For more information, visit www.safefleet.net.
