News

Acquisition

Houston, TX May 20, 2016

Safe Fleet, A Portfolio Company of The Sterling Group, Acquires Rear View Safety

The Sterling Group, a private equity firm based in Houston, Texas, announced that its portfolio company, Safe Fleet, has completed the acquisition of Rear View Safety (“RVS”). This marks Safe Fleet’s sixth acquisition during Sterling’s ownership. Safe Fleet is a leading supplier of safety components for fleet vehicles.

Based in Brooklyn, New York, Rear View Safety is one of the fastest growing providers of back up camera systems and video-based road safety solutions. Rear View Safety has been instrumental in driving the rapid adoption of video systems in commercial fleets including government fleets, recreational vehicles, truck, trailer, commercial van, construction, emergency, bus and shuttle, agriculture and industrial vehicles. Rear View Safety delivers outstanding quality, value and customer satisfaction.

“We are delighted to welcome the Rear View Safety business into the Safe Fleet family. This acquisition supports our vision to build the leading global provider of safety solutions for fleet vehicles,” said John R. Knox, President and CEO of Safe Fleet. “The addition of Rear View Safety expands Safe Fleet’s leadership position in specialty video products for fleet vehicles in North America and one of the top suppliers worldwide. The RVS product line is complementary to Safe Fleet’s existing video products and positions Safe Fleet as a leading video supplier in all of its fleet end markets.”

“Safe Fleet will continue to pursue strategic growth across the fleet vehicle market, expanding our product offering both organically and through acquisition,” said Gary Rosenthal, a Partner at The Sterling Group. “The company has doubled in size during its partnership with Sterling, and with that has come the expanded ability to serve our important fleet customers.”

About Safe Fleet

Headquartered in Belton, MO, Safe Fleet owns a portfolio of brands that provide increased functionality and integrated solutions for fleet vehicle manufacturers and operators around the world. These brands serve five major markets including: emergency services, bus and rail, truck and trailer, work truck, and industrial. With over 1000 employees, the Safe Fleet family of brands operates almost 600,000 square feet of manufacturing space and targets markets with increasing demand for operator, passenger, and pedestrian safety. For more information about Safe Fleet please visit www.safefleet.net.

 About The Sterling Group

Founded in 1982, The Sterling Group is a private equity investment firm that targets controlling interests in basic manufacturing, distribution and industrial services companies. Typical enterprise values of these companies range from $100 million to $750 million. Sterling has sponsored the buyout of 47 platform companies and numerous add-on acquisitions for a total transaction value of over $10.0 billion. Currently, Sterling has over $2.3 billion of assets under management.  For more information, please visit www.sterling-group.com.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results and all investments are subject to loss.