Pittsburgh, PA (February 10, 2022) – Tecum Capital (“Tecum”) is proud to announce its investment in Custom Computer Specialists, Inc. (“Custom”), a leading information technology services provider. Custom announced today that it has partnered with Columbia River Partners (“CRP”), a lower middle-market private equity firm focused on control-oriented investments in the business services, industrials and IT services sectors in North America.
Capital to support the transaction was provided by Tecum Capital Partners, Everside Capital Partners, Spell Capital Partners, Unity Hunt, and Enterprise Bank & Trust. Stephen Gurgovits, Jr. of Tecum complimented that “the partnership assembled by Custom, Greg Galdi, CRP, and our investor group is a formidable one, and we look forward to the growth of Custom in the years to come”.
Headquartered in Hauppauge, NY, with offices in Rhode Island and New Jersey, Custom will use the new capital and partnership to expand its technology offerings and services to the education, healthcare, and commercial markets in the Northeast. More specifically, this partnership allows Custom to take advantage of the expanding Chromebook market through CRP’s relationship with CTL, a custom designer and distributor of Chromebooks in the K12 marketplace.
“The pandemic has changed the dynamic in today’s schools, challenging the way our K12 students learn and are taught,” said Gregory Galdi, President and CEO of Custom. “The decision to partner with CRP is one that myself and my leadership team feel will provide us with the resources and expertise necessary to expand our staff to go deeper and wider with our offerings in K12.”
Pooneet Goel, Partner at Columbia River Partners added, “Under Greg’s leadership Custom grew to become a market leader in providing and designing technology solutions and services to the education, healthcare, and commercial markets in the Northeast. We look forward to partnering with Greg and the Custom team to build on that foundation and execute on opportunities, such as new product endpoints in the K12 space.”
The Deal Team from Tecum consisted of Tyson Smith, Jack Surma, Daniel Drew, and Dominic Noel.
Custom Computer Specialists was represented in this transaction by martinwolf, a leading M&A advisory firm serving the middle-market IT industry. Enterprise Bank & Trust provided senior debt financing. Berkeley Research Group provided financial due diligence services. McGuire Woods served as counsel for CRP and Katten Muchin Rosenman served as counsel for Tecum Capital. Lockton provided all employment and insurance due diligence. Geffen Mesher provided tax diligence.
About Custom Computer Specialists, Inc.
Custom Computer Specialists is an innovative technology solutions provider. By offering an extensive range of services including the secure transmission of data, dedicated IT support staffing, proactive monitoring and modern network technologies, our clients improve their competitive advantage, financial performance, and their ability to deliver value. To learn more about our innovative solutions please contact us at 800.598.8989 or visit us at www.customonline.com.
About Columbia River Partners
Columbia River Partners is a private equity firm focused on control investments in lower-middle market companies in North America across the industrials, business services, and IT services sectors. Columbia River’s experienced team of investors and executives seek portfolio company value enhancement through rigorous implementation of transformative strategic initiatives and operational improvements. Columbia River Partners is based in Seattle and San Francisco. For more information, please visit www.columbiariverpartners.com.
About Tecum Capital
Tecum Capital is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based private investment firm deploying capital in lower middle-market companies. Tecum provides mezzanine debt and equity investments in growth-oriented middle market companies across many industries, including manufacturing, value-added distribution, and business services. Our team partners with independent sponsors, family offices, committed funds, business owners seeking succession plans, and management teams to create shared success. Tecum focuses on businesses with EBITDA greater than $3 million and will invest $5 million to $20 million in potential portfolio companies. Tecum manages two Small Business Investment Company (“SBIC”) licensed funds and is currently investing out of Tecum Capital Partners III, L.P, a $300 million fund launched in September 2021. Since 2006, the team has collectively invested more than $850 million in over 100 platform and add-on acquisitions. For more information, please visit www.tecum.com.
About Everside Capital Partners
Everside, an SEC Registered Investment Adviser, is a New York based asset management firm focused exclusively on the lower middle market. The firm is led by a team with extensive backgrounds in credit, direct investing and origination from top global institutions. Everside focuses exclusively on partnering with Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs), primarily by providing partnership capital (“Primaries”), the purchase of secondary investments (“Secondaries”), as well as by participating in select credit co-investments (“Directs”). Everside offers a collaborative solution based on transparency and trust to create long-term partnerships with businesses. For more information, please visit www.everside.com.
About Unity Hunt
Unity Hunt is the company through which the Lamar Hunt family oversees its holdings. It holds a diverse portfolio of companies and investments involved in sports/media, real estate, energy/resources, private and public equity, and hedge funds. For private equity, the firm deploys capital through co-investments, independent sponsor-led deals, unsponsored transactions, and funds. Targeted industries include industrial/manufacturing, business services, consumer, technology services, and health care.
About Spell Capital Partners
Spell Capital Partners is an established manager of private equity and mezzanine capital based in Minneapolis, Minnesota with over 30 years of investment experience. Currently, the firm manages over $1 billion of capital and recently finished investing its fifth private equity buyout fund, Spell Capital Partners Fund V; the firm also invests out of its second mezzanine fund, Spell Capital Mezzanine Partners II. For more information, please visit www.spellcapital.com.
About Enterprise Bank & Trust
Enterprise Bank & Trust is a growing financial services partner focused on guiding people to a lifetime of financial success. We empower privately held businesses to succeed, helping families to secure their financial futures, and invest to advance the quality of life for the communities we serve. Enterprise is built on trusted, personal relationships and offers a range of business and personal banking services, wealth management services and a variety of specialized banking services. Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ: EFSC), with approximately $12.9 billion in assets, is a bank holding company headquartered in Clayton, Missouri. Enterprise Bank & Trust operates 39 branch offices in Arizona, California, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada and New Mexico, and SBA loan and deposit production offices in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington.
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