Case Studies

PARTNERING WITH GROWTH-ORIENTED MANAGEMENT

A. Stucki Company (“A. Stucki” or the “Company”), founded in 1909, is a supplier of new and reconditioned railcar components selling to railcar OEMs, railroads, railcar leasing companies and shippers that own railcars.  At the time of our exit, the Company’s revenue was generated predominately from aftermarket products and services (approximately 85% aftermarket) with its business grouped into three categories: (i) the reconditioning of railcar parts for sale as replacement parts to old cars, (ii) the manufacture of new parts for OEMs and the aftermarket and (iii) the maintenance, repair and overhaul of railcars in fixed and mobile facilities.

A total of 40 employees including the top six members of management re-invested in the equity, rolling the majority of their pre-tax proceeds. As a result, management owned 23% of the Company on a primary basis, which gave us additional comfort in their belief in the business and in our alignment of interests.

EXECUTING THE STRATEGY

With the support of Quad-C, management executed a number of value creation initiatives during our hold period.

• Completed two add-on acquisitions including Precision Roller Bearing in December 2012

• Precision Roller Baring acquisition added a key new product line to the Stucki offering – reconditioned railcar bearings, which further complemented Stucki's wheel reconditioning offering and increased the available "billings per car"

• Added significant capacity in wheel and axle reconditioning to capitalize on the large market opportunity

• Invested in the build out of the corporate infrastructure and finance department

• Enhanced the reporting and analytics functions, which included a global SAP ERP system implementation

• Expanded geographic footprint to western US to capitalize on shale activity and crude by rail expansion

EXIT

Quad-C exited A. Stucki successfully in 2015.