M&A: Cadence Petroleum, Hin Leong, Emerson, Prax Group, Authentix

Wellspring Capital Management acquires Cadence Petroleum Group 

Wellspring Capital Management LLC, a New York-based private equity firm, announced that it has partnered with management to acquire Cadence Petroleum Group, a leading distributor of lubricant and fuel products across the eastern and central United States. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Cadence Petroleum Group was formed in 2018 through the combination of industry leading companies. With the Wellspring partnership, Cadence will focus on accelerating growth through increased acquisition activity, in addition to organic growth initiatives. 

“The acquisition of Cadence is an exciting opportunity to build on Wellspring’s successful track record in the petroleum products distribution sector which dates back to 2005. We strongly believe that the value of Cadence rests upon the strength of its employees and strategic suppliers. We are thrilled that Cadence management is investing heavily alongside our investment out of the USD1.45 billion Wellspring Capital Partners VI,” said Alex Carles, a managing partner at Wellspring.

“We look forward to working with the Cadence team to accelerate the company’s growth trajectory and acquisition strategy. We strongly believe that Cadence is uniquely positioned in the lubricant and fuel markets and are excited to help the Company achieve its long-term goals,” said Naishadh Lalwani, a principal at Wellspring.

“We are very pleased that Wellspring has invested in Cadence given the firm’s history of building successful businesses in the distribution sector, people-oriented culture, and focus on growth. We are extremely proud of what our team has accomplished, and we look forward to working with Wellspring on this exciting new chapter for our organisation,” said Tyson Pugh, SVP of Business Development at Cadence. 

McDermott Will & Emery LLP served as legal counsel to Wellspring and Cerberus Business Finance, LLC provided a one-stop financing solution for the transaction. Stephens served as financial advisor and Koley Jessen served as legal counsel to Cadence with respect to the transaction.

Wellspring Capital Management is a leading private equity firm headquartered in New York. Since its founding in 1995, Wellspring has raised more than USD4.0 billion of initial capital commitments through six private equity funds. The firm functions as a strategic partner, providing management teams with top-line support, M&A experience, financial expertise and access to resources. For more information, visit www.wellspringcapital.com.

Cadence Petroleum is one of the largest distributors of lubricants, fuel, antifreeze, diesel exhaust fluid, and other ancillary products for the eastern and central United States. For more information, visit www.cadencepetroleum.com.

Singaporean bunker fuel and lubricant supplier for sale

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the court-appointed judicial managers of Singapore’s Hin Leong Trading (Pte) Ltd, has placed a notice in the local media for the sale of an “independent bunker fuel and lubricant supplier in Singapore.”

Hin Leong Trading’s subsidiaries include bunker supplier Hin Leong Marine International Pte Ltd (HLMI) and Ocean Bunkering Services Pte Ltd (OBS). Hin Leong also operates a 50,000 tonne-per-year lubricant blending plant in Singapore.

The notice, published on October 1, 2020, also said that the majority shareholder of the company was seeking to sell its shares in the firm pending relevant regulatory approval. Expressions of interest are to be sent to PwC by October 15, 2020.

PwC did not respond to requests for comments from Reuters.

Emerson expands industrial automation control with Progea Group acquisition

Emerson has completed the acquisition of the Progea Group, an industry-leading provider of industrial internet of things (IIoT), plant analytics, human machine interface (HMI) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) technologies.

The addition of Progea’s capabilities in analytics, industrial visualization and IIoT will build upon Emerson’s embedded software and control portfolio for manufacturing, infrastructure and building automation applications and enable customers to streamline comprehensive machine and plant control systems to a single partner. This acquisition will help bridge a critical customer technology gap by lowering total cost of ownership and reducing the barriers that come with working across multiple vendors to drive more successful digital transformation and integration.

“The acquisition of Progea strengthens our ability to provide customers with an integrated package of control, visualization and IoT to help our customers improve overall equipment efficiency and accelerate their digital transformation journey,” said Lal Karsanbhai, executive president of Emerson’s Automation Solutions business.  “Progea’s capability and expertise in machine and plant-level visualization and analytics provide customers with a flexible, scalable solution for their programmable logic controller (PLC) applications in discrete and hybrid markets.”

Progea Group is headquartered in Modena, Italy, with approximately 55 employees.

Total sells Zeebrugge Depot in Belgium to Prax Group

Harvest Energy Marine, a member of the Prax Group of companies, has announced that it has acquired the Total Zeebrugge Depot in Belgium.

The Prax Group has worked closely with Total Belgium over the course of the last few months to ensure the smooth acquisition of the terminal. The facility will be re-branded as Prax Terminals Belgium, with Harvest Energy Marine managing all bunkering and commercial operations performed at the terminal.

With a 20,000 cubic metre capacity, the Prax Group will use the terminal for the storage of marine bunker fuels. Its strategic location in the outer port of Zeebrugge means the company can cater to many customers throughout North West Europe, including car carriers, cruise ships, container lines and RORO vessels, offering ship owners and operators a minimum turnaround time in one of the world’s busiest ports. The terminal is ideally situated to enable the Prax Group to focus on its strategic plans to expand its presence in northwestern European coastal waters.

In July, The Prax Group signed an agreement with Total to purchase the Lindsey Oil Refinery and its associated logistic assets, with the deal subject to the conditions of sale being met. The completion date of the acquisition is expected before the end of 2020.

The Prax Group’s long-term strategy is to be fully integrated across the oil value chain from upstream to downstream, said Sanjeev Kumar, CEO of the Prax Group, which is a long-standing and trusted partner of Total.

Authentix acquires Traceless Authentication Group

Authentix, the authority in authentication and information services, has acquired the Traceless Authentication Group from Bibliotheca, Inc. a library systems solutions company serving more than 30,000 libraries worldwide. MHT Partners, L.P. acted as financial advisor to Authentix in this transaction.

Rochester, New York-based Traceless is an industry leader in anti-counterfeiting and diversion control to global clientele including customers in the pharmaceuticals, spirits, and apparel industries. This acquisition includes the company’s complete portfolio of patented covert marking solutions as well as its own enterprise cloud-based digital track and trace software solution. Product lines acquired include Traceless Ultra™, Traceless Pro™, and Traceless Anti-Diversion™ covert marking systems that can be integrated seamlessly into existing product production using virtually any available commercial printing method including continuous inkjet and is certified for use in Domino® inkjet printers. Additionally, the company brings to the deal its own portfolio of custom readers and vision inspection systems. Traceless Brand Protection Cloud™, a patented track and trace cloud-based solution includes encrypted QR code generation along with available digitized labels for smartphone interaction and authentication by consumers, without the need to download a phone app.  

“Authentix has been a dominant leader in the brand protection market for over 20 years serving some of the world’s largest brand owners, and this strategic acquisition expands our security technology offerings available to our growing list of global clients along with the addition of Traceless customers added in this transaction,” saidKevin McKenna, CEO of Authentix, adding “Traceless brings an extensive capability in the worldwide digital tracking of products and consumer-level product marketing, both of which integrate well with our growth strategy.”