Charlesbank Capital Partners announced today that it has sold portfolio company Blacksmith Brands Holdings to Prestige Brands Holdings (NYSE: PBH). The purchase price was $190 million, plus a $13.4 million working capital adjustment.
Charlesbank formed Blacksmith Brands in 2009 in partnership with Peter Mann, an industry veteran with more than 35 years’ consumer products experience, and private equity professional Dana Schmaltz. Together they acquired five over-the-counter consumer products brands from Johnson & Johnson to establish Blacksmith. Those brands include Efferdent® Denture Cleanser, Effergrip® Denture Adhesive, Luden’s® Throat Drops, PediaCare® Infant & Children’s cough/cold/allergy remedies, and NasalCrom® Allergy Spray. Since its creation, Blacksmith has launched a variety of new items, many under the PediaCare brand. During the past year, the company has also escalated sales efforts, invested in increased levels of advertising and promotion behind all brands, meaningfully expanded retail distribution, and created a large new product-development pipeline. As a result, Blacksmith achieved significant growth in revenue and operating profits.
Andrew Janower, managing director at Charlesbank, said, “The outstanding management team at Blacksmith fulfilled our every expectation. We are proud to have helped them revitalize these brands and to have partnered with them through this extraordinary period. The transaction with Prestige Brands is a terrific outcome for all parties, and we are confident that Blacksmith’s success will continue as the company pursues its next phase of growth.”
“We at Blacksmith take great pride in the results we have achieved in so short a time,” said CEO Peter Mann. “That we could establish a strong stand-alone company and record such terrific growth over the past year is a tribute to the talent and passion of our small team of managers, as well as to our partnership with Charlesbank, who played a pivotal role in our development and in helping us execute on our strategic plan.”
ABOUT CHARLESBANK CAPITAL PARTNERS
Charlesbank Capital Partners is a middle-market private equity investment firm managing more than $2 billion of capital. Charlesbank focuses on management-led buyouts and growth capital financings, typically investing $50 million to $150 million per transaction in companies with enterprise values of $100 million to $750 million. The firm seeks to partner with strong management teams to build companies with sustainable competitive advantages and excellent prospects for growth. For more information, visit www.charlesbank.com.