ADDISON, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Parts Town, the technology innovator and market- leading distributor of OEM foodservice equipment parts, announced today that Los Angeles-based growth investment firm Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. (“Leonard Green”) has made a significant investment in the company. Existing investor Berkshire Partners (“Berkshire”) will retain its majority stake in the company, reinvesting alongside the Parts Town management team and Leonard Green.
These investments will enable Parts Town to accelerate innovation across its supply chain, distribution and ecommerce operations while further investing in its team to drive sustained high growth. The transaction will also support the company’s rapid international expansion and its vision to extend into other mission critical parts categories including residential appliance parts, HVAC parts, and laundry parts.
“We are thrilled that Berkshire Partners has reinvested in Parts Town and will continue to partner with us for years to come. We are also incredibly excited to welcome Leonard Green & Partners to the team. We have huge growth ambitions, and the combination of Berkshire and Leonard Green positions us to rapidly scale and further differentiate,” said Steve Snower, CEO of Parts Town. “We are committed to accelerating innovation, providing a unique customer experience, and acting with complete integrity. We are delighted to have partners who share both our values and our ambition.”
“Parts Town is an incredibly special company. Steve and the entire team are passionate about developing best-in-class technology to serve their suppliers and customers,” said Larry Hamelsky, a Managing Director of Berkshire Partners. “We are deeply proud of our long- standing partnership with this team, and we are excited to collaborate with Parts Town and Leonard Green to support the next chapter of innovation and growth.”
Jonathan Seiffer, Senior Partner at Leonard Green, commented, “We are delighted to be partnering with the exceptional team at Parts Town. We invest in companies that win with people, have a differentiated culture and are market leaders with multiple ways to grow — and Parts Town is the perfect example. The company’s customer-first mission and employee-centric values perfectly align with what we believe at Leonard Green. We have admired Parts Town for a long time and are excited to be partnering with Parts Town management and Berkshire Partners to support the next phase of the company’s growth.”
Parts Town partners with leading manufacturers to grow OEM parts market share, provide innovative tools to make researching and buying parts fast and easy, and improve equipment up-time. The company has grown from five team members in 2004 to over 2,500 today, with over $1 billion annual revenue, and has been named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing U.S. companies for 13 consecutive years.
About Parts Town
Parts Town is the leading, technology-enabled global distributor of genuine OEM (original equipment manufacturer) parts for the foodservice industry. Driven by its commitment to technology and innovation, Parts Town is expanding to serve new segments including HVAC and residential appliance parts. When there’s a hiccup for any foodservice provider or service technician company, Parts Town is ready to jump in and help with the most in-stock parts on the planet, innovative technology, and an unmatched customer experience. Its customized solutions benefit foodservice operators, service companies and a growing list of other customer segments. Partnering with more than 1,100 leading manufacturers, Parts Town improves the supply chain, increases sales of genuine OEM parts, and keeps every customer’s business running like clockwork.
Parts Town’s drive for innovation is led by Red Lightning Group, a new and separate division of PT Holdings focusing solely on innovation to support the foodservice industry and beyond, accelerating the pace of breakthroughs that support the group’s diverse customer base. Red Lightning Group’s mission is to boldly strike at lightning speed to deliver game-changing innovation and technology in an effort to discover the next big thing.
For more information, visit www.partstown.com/.
About Berkshire Partners
Berkshire Partners, a Boston-based firm, has 35 years of investment history. Berkshire Private Equity has made more than 135 private equity investments since its inception and has a strong history of partnering with management teams to grow the companies in which it invests. Stockbridge, the firm’s public equity business, was founded in 2007 and seeks to make public equity investments in high-quality companies with strong competitive positions and long-term growth prospects. The firm has partnered with high-potential businesses for many decades, focusing on the technology, services, industrials, consumer, communications and healthcare sectors. For additional information, and to see a full list of the firm’s private equity investments, please visit www.berkshirepartners.com.
About Leonard Green & Partners, L.P.
Leonard Green is a leading private equity investment firm founded in 1989 and based in Los Angeles with over $50 billion of assets under management. The firm partners with experienced management teams and often with founders to invest in market-leading companies. Since inception, Leonard Green has invested in over 100 companies in the form of traditional buyouts, going-private transactions, recapitalizations, growth equity, and selective public equity and debt positions. The firm primarily focuses on companies providing services, including consumer, healthcare, and business services, as well as retail, distribution and industrials. For more information, please visit www.leonardgreen.com.
