Bain Capital’s Harrington Takeover: OHA and BMO Pave the Way with $1bn Financing

Oak Hill Advisors (“OHA”) served as a Lead Arranger for the unitranche financing to fund Bain Capital Private Equity’s (“Bain Capital”) acquisition of Harrington Industrial Plastics (“Harrington”) from Nautic Partners.

Harrington is a leading specialty distributor of industrial flow control process solutions and serves vendors in a wide variety of end markets, including water and wastewater management, chemicals, manufacturing, life sciences and food and beverage processing.

OHA sourced this transaction through its strategic direct lending partnership with BMO Capital Markets (“BMO”), which includes over $1bn to invest in jointly originated senior secured private credit assets. The combination of BMO’s broad investment banking platform and OHA’s private credit expertise has delivered enhanced deal flow and financing flexibility while adding value for borrowers and private equity sponsors.

“We are pleased to partner with Bain Capital and BMO to support the continued success of Harrington as a leader in the specialty distribution industry and advance its ability to deliver mission-critical offerings to its diverse customer base,” said Eric Muller, Portfolio Manager and Partner at OHA.

 Harrington will continue to operate as a standalone company and be led by its current management team. Financial terms of the private transaction with funds affiliated with Nautic Partners (together with certain of their affiliates, “Nautic”), which have owned Harrington since 2020, were not disclosed.

“Our vendors and customers have long recognized Harrington as a leading supply chain partner and technical expert in the specialty distribution sector,” said Dave Abercrombie, Chief Executive Officer of Harrington.  “As our end markets are benefitting from key macroeconomic trends, we are excited to partner with Bain Capital to accelerate our growth as we continue to support critical industrial sectors across the country.”

“We have built an impressive team of specialists that can quickly help to deliver complex and mission-critical fluid processing solutions for many of the nation’s leading industrial and technology firms,” said Bob Graham, Chief Operating Officer at Harrington.  “Bain Capital’s experience partnering with and providing valued resources to industrial and specialty distribution companies will be very important as we continue to scale the business and serve the needs of our vendors, customers and team members.”

“Harrington has been gaining market share for many years, driven by differentiated technical expertise, product availability, and execution,” said Joe Robbins, a Partner at Bain Capital. “We have a great appreciation for the success the Company has achieved to date, and we are excited to support Harrington’s leadership and continued growth in the years to come.”

Bain Capital Private Equity has a long history of investments in specialty distribution and is one of the most active investors in the sector both in the U.S. and globally.  The firm’s relevant global experience includes investments in US LBM, Imperial Dade, Dealer Tire, PartsSource, Diversey, HD Supply Holdings, Inc., Autodistribution, Brenntag, and IMCD.

Chris Pierce, Managing Director of Nautic, said “Nautic was fortunate to partner with a strong and deep management team to carve out Harrington from its corporate parent and accelerate the Company’s growth trajectory.  We would like to thank Dave Abercrombie, Bob Graham, Frank Yang, and the rest of the Harrington team for their accomplishments during our investment.  Thanks to their efforts and the initiatives they have executed on over the past three years, we believe Harrington is well-positioned to continue to enjoy exceptional growth in the years to come.”

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About OHA: OHA is a leading global alternative investment firm specializing in private lending, distressed credit, structured credit, real assets, special situations, leveraged loans and high yield bonds. OHA manages approximately $61 billion of capital across credit strategies in pooled funds, collateralized loan obligations and single investor mandates as of June 30, 2023. The firm’s global, primarily institutional investor base includes pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, foundations, endowments, fund of funds, family offices and high net worth individuals. OHA is the private markets platform of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ – GS: TROW).

About Harrington: Harrington has been a leading distributor of industrial process solutions since 1959. With a national presence, Harrington distributes and fabricates products that move fluids in corrosive and high-purity process applications. Products include thermoplastic pipes, valves, fittings, tanks, tubing and hose, pumps, filtration, and instrumentation. Harrington has achieved above-industry growth for decades through a relentless focus on customer service and bringing expertise to the table for customers and suppliers. The success of Harrington is built upon a clear set of operating principles which equally value customers, suppliers, and employees.

Source: CISION PR Newswire

Source: Bain Capital

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