New York – March 3, 2023 – AEA Investors’ (“AEA” or the “Firm”) Small Business Private Equity (“AEA SBPE”) team announced today that its fund has closed the acquisition of Chemtron RiverBend (“CRB” or the “Company”). The transaction was completed alongside significant rollover investment from the Company’s management team and employee base. Established in 1987 and headquartered in St. Charles, MO, Chemtron RiverBend is a full-service provider of water and wastewater treatment products and services to a variety of end markets, including food & beverage, commercial & industrial, healthcare and chemicals, among others.
AEA believes that CRB represents an exciting opportunity to invest in the attractive industrial water and wastewater treatment services market alongside an experienced, industry-leading management team with a strong track record of success. CRB sits at the nexus of the industrial water, chemicals and business services sectors, all areas in which AEA has deep expertise. The Company’s differentiated position in a large and fragmented market, demonstrated ability to attract and develop the industry’s most talented and experienced sales representatives and significant organic and M&A growth potential make it a highly attractive asset.
About AEA
AEA Investors LP was founded in 1968 by the Rockefeller, Mellon and Harriman family interests and S.G. Warburg & Co. as a private investment vehicle for a select group of industrial family offices with substantial assets. AEA has an extraordinary global network built over many years which includes leading industrial families, business executives and leaders; many of whom invest with AEA as active individual investors and/or join its portfolio company boards or act in other advisory roles. Today, AEA’s approximately 110 investment professionals operate globally with offices in New York, Stamford, San Francisco, London, Munich and Shanghai. The firm manages funds that have approximately $18 billion of invested and committed capital including the leveraged buyouts of middle market companies and small business companies, growth capital and mezzanine and senior debt investments. AEA SBPE is a strategy within AEA that currently manages $2 billion of invested and committed capital. The team seeks to help grow and transform companies at the lower end of the middle market by sponsoring growing companies with strong management teams and superior business models.
About Chemtron RiverBend
CRB is a full-service provider of water and wastewater treatment products and services to a variety of end markets, including food & beverage, commercial & institutional, healthcare and chemicals, among others. The Company operates two divisions: Chemtron and RiverBend Labs (“RBL”). The Chemtron division consists of products and services for point-of-entry water treatment, such as boilers and cooling towers, and basic wastewater treatments, including clarification and dewatering. RBL, the Company’s wastewater laboratory division, provides customers specialized treatability studies, micronutrients, and biochemical solutions for especially hard-to-treat wastewater. Learn more at https://crbwater.com/.
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