Empire Auto Parts LLC

www.empireautoparts.com

Management Buyout
Add-On Acquisitions

Press Releases
11/2021

Empire Auto Parts is a leading specialty distributor of aftermarket parts serving collision repair centers. Headquartered in Totowa, New Jersey, Empire operates five distribution hubs and 22 satellite delivery locations across 16 contiguous eastern states. With a vast assortment of top-quality products and a fleet of vehicles providing same-day or next-day delivery, Empire delivers unmatched service to its collision center partners. Empire’s product offering covers more than 40,000 parts, including bumper covers, lamps, hoods, fenders, trunk lids, grills, bezels, door mirrors, and other products.

Empire has built a reputation of providing best-in-class service through a hub-and-spoke model which extends up and down the east coast, and has established a growth playbook based on providing a better buying experience coupled with broad parts availability. Empire's highly experienced and tenured management team is deeply committed to providing world-class support for its collision center customers. Empire has a proven record providing excellent service and a sophisticated infrastructure that enables it to attract new collision repair centers to its network.

MidWest Wholesale Hardware Co.

www.midwestwholesale.com

Management Buyout

Press Releases
02/2007

Mid-West Wholesale Hardware Co., headquartered in Kansas City Missouri, is a leading, full-service wholesaler and distributor of architecturally specified commercial door hardware, including manual and electronic locks, exit devices, door closers and related specialty items.

Founded in 1980, Mid-West carries the broadest line of commercial door hardware in the industry, including products from more than 40 of the world’s leading manufacturers, such as Schlage, Yale, Corbin Russwin and Von Duprin. Mid-West is the only contract hardware wholesaler in the U.S. that represents both of the world’s leading door hardware manufacturers, ASSA ABLOY and Ingersoll-Rand. Based in Kansas City Missouri, Mid-West serves over 4,300 active customers, primarily commercial hardware distributors, throughout the U.S. Through these strategically located facilities, the company can reach 84% of the U.S. population in two business days or less.

Widely recognized as a pioneer in the wholesale distribution segment, Mid-West is well positioned to continue growing its business by adding new product lines, building out sales and customer development functions, increasing its geographic footprint and network density, pursuing e-commerce initiatives and selectively doing add-on acquisitions.

Sentinel Capital Partners and management acquired Mid-West from BancBoston in a buyout transaction. M&I Bank provided senior debt for the transaction, and Bank of New York provided subordinated debt financing. Sentinel originated, sponsored and negotiated the transaction, arranged the acquisition debt and provided private equity financing from Sentinel Capital Partners III, L.P. Mid-West was sold to a financial buyer in August 2014.

Nivel Holdings LLC

www.nivelparts.com

Management Buyout
Transition from Family Ownership
Add-On Acquisitions

Press Releases
10/2007
05/2006
02/2004

Nivel Holdings LLC, headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, is a leading independent distributor of aftermarket golf car replacement parts and accessories.

Nivel supplies over 2,000 golf car part SKUs, including battery parts, bearings, brake parts, chargers, body accessories, motor parts and related replacement parts for all makes and models including Club Car, E-Z-Go and Yamaha. Nivel is recognized for its leading product catalog which is distributed to 1,800 dealers worldwide. Nivel also publishes Golf Car News, a bimonthly magazine targeted at golf car dealers and related service providers, and The Cart Trader, a classified newsletter for buyers and sellers of used golf cars.

Nivel is well positioned to expand in its existing markets and to make complementary acquisitions in the U.S. The demand for golf car replacement parts is expected to continue to grow as more players enter the game of golf and new courses are constructed. Also, since a large portion of the market for golf cars is for non-golf uses such as planned communities, industrial environments and off-road transportation, Nivel's market has attractive growth prospects.

In February 2004, Sentinel Capital Partners and management acquired Nivel in a management buyout transaction. American Capital Strategies provided debt financing for the recapitalization and also became a minority co-investor. Sentinel originated, sponsored and negotiated the transaction, arranged the acquisition debt and provided private equity financing from Sentinel Capital Partners II, L.P.

By October 2007, Nivel had made two add-on acquisitions and had positioned itself to serve customers on a national basis. Having achieved substantially all of its investment objectives, Sentinel sold Nivel to Audax Group in a management buyout transaction. Since Sentinel's original investment, Nivel's sales and profitability have more than doubled. Nivel has a national distribution footprint, and is well positioned to continue growing.

Recreational Group

www.recreationalgroup.com

Management Buyout
Add-On Acquisitions

Press Releases
01/2022
10/2021

Sentinel's investment in The Recreational Group began with our acquisition of Controlled Products in October 2021. During the diligence process, Sentinel was introduced to The Recreational Group ("RG"), a similar-sized and highly complementary business located next door to Controlled Products in Dalton, Georgia. Approximately eight weeks after acquiring Controlled Products, in December 2021, Sentinel acquired RG, combined the two businesses, and renamed the combination The Recreational Group.

Controlled Products is a leading manufacturer and distributor of premium synthetic turf products for landscape, sports, commercial, and specialty applications. Controlled Products develops and distributes a variety of premium synthetic turf through an international network of dealers and customers and to its company owned and franchised Purchase Green® stores. Controlled Products serves a diverse group of residential, commercial, and field customers with leading name brands including GrassTex, SporTurf, and Synthetic Turf International, as well as private label products. With a wide range of high-quality and innovative synthetic turf products, Controlled Products has established itself as a manufacturer-of-choice with leading dealers and architects, and will continue to educate the market regarding the benefits of synthetic turf products across field and non-field applications and encourage adoption.

RG is also a leading designer, manufacturer, and installer of premium recreational surfacing products, including synthetic turf and modular tile. RG serves both the residential and nonresidential markets, including education, municipalities, and religious facilities. The combination of RG and Controlled Products brings together two highly complementary businesses to create the largest and most diversified platform in the premium recreational surfaces market with difficult to replicate manufacturing capabilities. CP increases RG’s sport and landscape turf presence while RG adds deeper penetration of commercial and landscape turf markets and fast-growing modular tile products. Offering a diversified line of innovative and highly complementary products, the combined business serves customers across the U.S., with a focus on the Southeast and Southwest, where water conservation and the need for natural grass alternatives is growing. Moreover, as the industry's only vertically integrated player of scale, the combination offers superior product quality, consistency, and excellent customer service. The combined platform presents an exciting opportunity to grow organically and through acquisition.

Vintage Holdings, Inc.

www.vpartsinc.com

Corporate Carveout
Management Buyout

Press Releases
09/2015
10/2007

Vintage Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a Vintage Parts), headquartered in Beaver Dam, WI, is the leading independent distributor of original slow-moving and inactive OEM replacement parts for automobiles, recreational vehicles, and construction, agricultural and material handling equipment.

Pursuant to long-term agreements with 37 OEMs, including General Motors, Ford, CNH Global, John Deere, Harley-Davidson, Komatsu, and Honda, Vintage Parts purchases old-model inventories of parts and warehouses them for future sale and distribution to more than 75,000 individual customers, many of which are authorized OEM dealers. Vintage Parts today is the single largest independent supplier of original OEM parts with more than one million part numbers.

Vintage Parts plans to grow by increasing the quantity and quality of parts purchased from current OEM relationships and also by purchasing inventory from new OEM customers, both in current targeted industries and in selected new industries.

In October 2007, Sentinel Capital Partners and management acquired Vintage Parts in a management buyout transaction that was a carveout from John Swire & Sons Pty Ltd. Marshall & Ilsley Bank provided debt financing for the transaction. Sentinel originated and sponsored the transaction, arranged the acquisition debt and provided private equity financing from Sentinel Capital Partners III, L.P.

In September 2015, having owned the business for eight years and having achieved our investment objectives, Vintage Parts was sold to another private equity firm. Since Sentinel's original investment, Vintage Parts added 30 new OEM partners, entered several new end markets, and more than tripled its profitability. Vintage Parts remains well positioned to continue growing under the leadership of its outstanding management team.