TEXTILES.ORG
Geogrid manufacturer’s second acquisition since 2005.
Atlanta-based Tensar Corp. announced in a July 9 press release that it has been acquired by Castle Harlan Inc., a middle-market private equity firm.
Tensar is a worldwide manufacturer of geosynthetics, including geotextiles, geogrids, and drainage and erosion control materials.
The release said that Castle Harlan, founded in 1987, is a global private equity firm focused on making control investments in middle-market companies. The firm is based in New York City and has offices in Sydney and Singapore through its global affiliate, Champ Private Equity.
Since its inception, Castle Harlan has participated in eight private equity funds, five in the U.S. and three in Australia. Those funds totaled approximately $6 billion in capital commitments, according to the July 9 press release.
Tensar Corp. has been owned since 2005 by Arcapita Inc., a global investment group. The release noted that Tensar and its subsidiaries will continue to adhere to their core businesses-“delivering engineered systems that are a combination of technology, engineering, design, and products.”
The press release quoted Don Meltzer, president and CEO of Tensar Corp.: “By inventing and bringing to market superior cost and technically performing soil and pavement stabilization solutions, Tensar Corporation, through its Tensar International Corporation, Geopier Foundation Company, and North American Green business units have grown into a worldwide provider for key infrastructure markets, including transportation, commercial, residential, industrial and municipal properties, environmental, mining, and well sites. Castle Harlan’s confidence in us is a testament to our market leadership and the company’s tremendous prospects for growth. This transaction brings with it in Castle Harlan a true partner who understands the value Tensar brings.”
According to its website, Tensar was initially formed in 1983 as a joint venture among Gulf Canada Ltd., Netlertewon Ltd. (later Tensar Group Ltd. in the UK) and Dr. Brian Mercer, the owner of Netlon Ltd. Mercer, now deceased, invented the substantial majority of the process technologies used in the world today to manufacture integrally formed oriented polymeric geogrid and mesh structures. In 1988, senior executives of the joint venture in the U.S. purchased the business and managed and operated the entity through 2000. At that time, the business was sold to a private equity investment firm, with the original Tensar executives then retiring and the ongoing Tensar management team retaining a minority interest. Tensar was sold in 2005 to Arcapita, another private equity firm located in Atlanta, with Tensar management continuing to own a minority interest.
-Ron Bygness, senior editor, Geosynthetics