News

Acquisition

Houston, TX July 06, 2017

Construction Supply Group, A Portfolio Company of The Sterling Group, Acquires Carter Waters

The Sterling Group, a Houston-based middle market private equity firm, announced that its portfolio company, Construction Supply Group, has completed the acquisition of Carter Waters.  Construction Supply Group is a leader in the distribution of construction materials and accessories and tools, primarily for professional concrete and masonry contractors in the United States and Canada. The combined company has 72 branches with 1,150 employees and offers over 70,000 SKUs to nearly 25,000 customers.

Carter Waters is the fifth business acquired by Sterling as part of the Construction Supply platform. In late 2016, Sterling acquired Brock White Company, LLC, Border Construction Specialties, LLC and Stetson Building Products to form Construction Supply Group. Brock White, Border and Stetson have strong branch footprints in Western Canada, the Upper Midwest and the Southwest.  The company later executed a carve-out of five Gerdau distribution branches in the Midwest.  The acquisition of Carter Waters’ 19 construction distribution branches will expand the company’s lower Midwest footprint ranging from Kansas to Ohio.

“We are thrilled to welcome the Carter Waters team to the Construction Supply family. They have built an exceptional business that will continue to provide exceptional service to customers while expanding our footprint,” said Mitch Williams, CEO of Construction Supply Group.

The scale of Construction Supply has grown rapidly through the combination of 5 leading distributors, each with no more than 20 branches but with exceptional track records of growth, customer service and loyal customer relationships. Construction Supply Group will continue to seek further additions to its family of construction distribution businesses.

Willkie Farr & Gallagher provided legal counsel to Construction Supply Group.  Raymond James served as Carter Waters’ exclusive financial advisor.

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 51 platform companies and numerous add-on acquisitions for a total transaction value of over $10.0 billion. Currently, Sterling has over $2.2 billion of assets under management. For further information, please visit www.sterling-group.com.

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