Grey Mountain Will 'Help Us Move the Business to the Next Level,' Says Custom Components Principal
January 12, 2012

By Sahely Mukerji, smukerji@glass.com

Grey Mountain Partners of Boulder, Colo., recently acquired Custom Components Co. (CCC) of Tampa, Fla. CCC manufactures, fabricates and supplies architectural engineered products, including interior and exterior railing systems, interior aluminum office fronts, stile and rail doors and sun control devices. USGNN.com™ talked to Jim Ellsworth, one of the principals at CCC, about the acquisition and what comes next for the company. Below are excerpts.

USGNN: What led to the acquisition?

JE: Custom Components needed the financial strength of a private equity firm to support its growth initiatives, given the banking communities restrictive lending practices. We solicited over 4,500 private equity firms beginning in March of 2011 and provided our "book" containing company history, business plan and financial history to over 30 interested companies. We entertained nine groups during site visits, that ultimately translated into five letters of intent, of which Grey Mountain was our best choice to help us move the business to the next level.

USGNN: Why did you choose to accept Grey Mountain's (GM) bid?

JE: Grey Mountain Partners' desire to put together a group of synergistic companies with brand identity, that would complement each other, while supporting the needs of the commercial glazing market place, garnered our interest and attracted us to GM. We had nine other equity groups express various levels of interest with several materializing into formal letters of intent. We are very pleased that we were able to consummate a deal with GM.

USGNN: Grey Mountain recently acquired Global Security Glazing, Binswanger Enterprises and Columbia Commercial Building Products as well. Is there a plan that includes all acquisitions or are you expecting to continue to operate independently?

JE: Custom Components Co. and Global Security Glazing will begin to work together and promote to the market its various product brands and continue to operate under their own corporate identity. Custom Components Co. will continue to manufacture aluminum and stainless steel fabricated products that will primarily support the commercial needs for Division 5 and Division 8 specification requirements. I believe that Binswanger will be a stand-alone entity as was evidenced earlier this week … .

USGNN: What kind of changes will CCC go through now that it's been acquired?

JE: It will be business as usual, with no planned changes to employees, sales organization, vendors or facilities.

USGNN: What are you hearing from your employees and customers?

JE: So far, it is pretty early in the process. Even though we closed the transaction in the fourth quarter of last year, we have been operating under confidentiality agreements and have not discussed the transaction until the announcement on January 10, 2012.

USGNN: What are the top three items on CCC's agenda as a newly acquired company?

JE: We will continue to focus on revenue and bottom line growth in the coming year. Custom Components Co. has been able to show real growth in 2011 through this downturned economy … [and] experienced 12.8 percent sales growth in 2011. 2012 looks even more promising as the backlog nearly exceeds all of our 2011 sales. Additionally, CCC will focus on expanding sales of its Al Tech line of aluminum door and window frames for commercial tenant interior construction. Finally, with current market opportunities residing in multifamily housing projects, we make every effort to focus on this market segment and make sure our products aligned for this demand.

USGNN: What do you see as the biggest opportunity for the company in this challenging economy?

JE: We have found that McGraw Hill Construction's forecast over the years to be reasonably accurate. Their most recent industry survey has shown us that we can expect to see growth opportunities, as it relates to our current product offering, in multifamily housing and commercial buildings. There is a pent-up need for apartment units, and this demand has translated into new building starts all around the country. Our architectural railing and sunshade systems are ideal products for these types of projects.

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